Gold Fever

by Lyn Denison

  They both stood up, and Rosemary walked across to stand close to Kate.

  “Unless you’d like me to stay the night?” she asked lightly.

  “I’m pretty tired,” Kate put in quickly. And I have a lot to do at work tomorrow.”

  Rosemary shrugged exaggeratedly. “Now why did I know you were going to say that? But its okay, Kate.” She crossed to the door. “Will I see you for lunch tomorrow?”

  “Of course.” Kate walked across the carpet and kissed Rosemary lightly. “And thanks, Rosemary.”

  “For what, exactly?” Rosemary asked.

  Kate shrugged. “For listening maybe. For the advice.”

  Rosemary rolled her eyes expressively. “Well, I have warned you. I haven’t got such a good track record myself when it comes to old loves,” she said dryly. She shook her head, went to walk away, and turned back. “Kate, just be careful. As much as I love a happy ending, I have to admit its sometimes not a good idea to try to turn back the clock. It doesn’t always work terribly well.”

  “I have no intention of doing that,” Kate told her, wishing she believed herself. One touch of Ashley’s lips, and ten years had disappeared in an instant.

  “I don’t want to see you get hurt.” Rosemary touched Kate’s mouth with one finger and held it up to show Kate. “She wears a very becoming shade of lipstick.”

  Kate flushed at the sight of the smear of pink on Rosemary’s finger.

  “Subtle and unpretentious, but it doesn’t suit your coloring.”

  Kate rubbed at her lips and Rosemary laughed softly.

  “I think I’d better exit before I throw discretion to the wind and overstate my case.” Rosemary walked out onto the veranda, and Kate followed her. “See you tomorrow?”

  Kate nodded and could only stand and watch as Rosemary walked out to her car and drove away.

  Fortunately for Kate, the next two days at work were so busy she barely had time to think. Getting a selection of books and a display ready for loan to one of the local schools and then going over the final estimates for next year’s budget meant Kate had little time during the day to dwell on Ashley and that kiss.

  The nights were the problem. Once Kate slipped into bed, those few erotic moments when Ashley’s mouth had been on hers replayed over and over in Kate’s mind. And she taunted herself with the knowledge that not only had she allowed Ashley to kiss her but she’d returned the kiss in kind. So much for being cool and withdrawn. One touch of Ashley’s lips on hers, and all Kate’s resolve had fallen apart.

  Kate spent Monday night tossing and turning, and when Tuesday night promised more of the same she switched on her reading lamp and reached in desperation for her copy of Gold Fever.

  Gradually she calmed as she became involved in the story. The characters came alive, and she could almost hear the sounds of picks on shale, of rushing water in crude makeshift sluices, the jangle of horse bridles, the heat and the buzz of insects.

  Kate became engrossed in the plight of Clare Darby, and she could identify with the strangeness the heroine felt as she tried to fit in with her new family. Clare moved into the rough shack that her uncle had built on his mining lease. Her aunt, Clare’s mother’s sister, quietly welcomed her niece’s help with the daily chores as she cooked and washed for her husband and his two brothers, who had pitched their tent nearby.

  Her three uncles worked the mine from daylight till dusk, convinced they would find the mother lode. That Clare’s aunt had given up any hope of that happening was apparent to her young niece.

  Kate could feel the young woman’s sadness as she pined for her parents and the other life she’d led in Brisbane. Then Clare met Tess, who, she learned, was the daughter of a shopkeeper in the township. Tess was to marry Clare’s youngest uncle as soon as Caleb had enough gold to buy a cattle property. Tess was Clare’s age, and she visited regularly. Soon Clare began looking forward to the young woman’s visits.

  More often than not the two young women met in the shade of a cluster of trees by the shallow creek. The heat danced about them as they clasped hands.

  Kate turned the page to read on, and suddenly she stilled. Turning back a page she reread the few paragraphs and her blood ran ice in her veins.

  As Tess pressed a passionate kiss on Clare’s lips Kate grew hot all over. She studied the dialogue with an ominous sense of déjà vu. The impassioned exchange between the two young women seemed so true to life, was so familiar…

  Kate gasped, her fingers pressed to her lips, as the unbelievable truth dawned.

  She read on into the early hours of the morning, not stopping until she’d turned the last page. And then she lay in the dark, a myriad thoughts chasing each other busily in her mind. She yearned for the oblivion of sleep, but no matter how hard she tried she was unable to slip over into unconsciousness.

  She was almost relieved when dawn flooded her room with light and she could climb from her bed and occupy her mind with fixing herself some breakfast and getting ready for work.

  On Wednesday afternoon Kate was walking back to the library desk after helping an elderly borrower choose some books when Ryan’s storytelling group burst from the activities room. Twenty or thirty youngsters scrambled to the desk to have their loans processed.

  Kate began to scan their books into the computer, her mind running on habit, the various children’s faces not really registering until a familiar voice claimed her attention.

  “Hi, Kate! How are you?”

  And even as Kate’s gaze settled on Jennifer Andrews’s smiling face, her body tensed as she wondered if Ashley was here with her daughter. But Jenny was looking at her expectantly.

  “Oh, hello, Jen. Did you enjoy the storytelling session?” she asked with far more equanimity than she was feeling.

  “It was excellent.” Jenny beamed.

  “Is your mother with you?” Kate was horrified to hear herself ask the child.

  Jenny shook her head. “No, Gran wanted her to help her with some stuff for the party, so Aunt Belinda dropped us off. Oh.” She drew forward a young boy of about her own age. “This is my cousin, Josh.” Jen made the introductions. “He’s a few months older than me.”

  “Nice to meet you, Josh.” Kate gravely took his politely extended hand.

  “Josh hasn’t read many books, but I’ve given him some suggestions.” Jenny indicated the books her cousin clutched under his arm, and Josh rolled his eyes eloquently.

  “I just haven’t read the same books Jenny’s read,” he said resignedly, and Kate hid a smile.

  “I loved the books on the history of the gold mining around here that Ryan picked out for me last weekend. They were cool, weren’t they, Josh?”

  “They were interesting,” Josh conceded.

  “Mum told me about the old Eureka mine and that you both played out there sometimes, looking for gold,” Jenny said, her face alight with excitement.

  “Not in the mine,” Kate said quickly. “It’s all boarded up because it’s not safe. But we did look for gold in the mullock heaps.”

  “Josh and I are going fossicking one day.” Jenny’s blue eyes grew large. “We might even find a really big nugget.”

  “What’s this? Another case of the dreaded gold fever?” A woman’s voice broke in, and Kate looked up to find herself facing Ashley’s sister, Belinda.

  Kate assessed the smiling woman who had her arm around Jenny’s shoulder. She’d gained a few pounds, but she scarcely looked her thirty-five years.

  “Hello, Kate. Long time no see. Are these two asking for treasure maps?”

  Kate smiled back at her. “If we had any of those we’d all be out trying our luck.”

  “Isn’t that the truth.” Belinda brushed a strand of Jenny’s hair back from her face. “You’ll have to ask Uncle Tim to take you out. He used to go panning for gold himself years ago, didn’t he, Kate? Or was that Baden?”

  “Tim, I think. He found some, too. If I remember rightly he kept it in a small vial, and none of us we
re allowed to so much as breathe on it. And he wouldn’t tell us where he got it.”

  “That’s right. He was a real pain about it.” She laughed. “I wonder if he ever got it assayed.”

  “Do you think he’s still got it, Aunt Belinda?” Jenny asked, obviously fascinated.

  “You’ll have to ask him when he arrives on Friday night.” Belinda looked back at Kate. “And talking of the weekend, are you coming to Mum’s birthday party on Saturday night, Kate?”

  Kate paused. Surely Belinda remembered the dissension between herself and Ashley when Ashley got married? Patsy Maclean may not have told her elder daughter everything, but Belinda must have been surprised when Kate didn’t attend Ashley’s wedding.

  “The party?” she repeated banally. “Oh, no. I don’t think so. I wasn’t planning on coming.”

  “Well, feel free to,” Belinda said lightly. “The noise will probably keep you awake anyway so, as they say, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. I’m sure Mum would be pleased to see you.”

  Kate wasn’t so sure about that. And now that Ashley was home and not safely the length of the continent away, Kate was convinced Patsy Maclean would be less than pleased to see Kate.

  “Well, kiddos. If you’ve chosen your books, we’d best get back home to the whirlwind of preparations. See you later, Kate.”

  The next afternoon Kate walked back through the doors of the library and sighed. Phillip was a pain in the derriere. His penny-pinching meant she would have to redo the majority of the budget. If she could see any advantage in what he’d suggested she wouldn’t mind. But as Kate saw it, it was all simply a convoluted way of making more work for her.

  Walking over to the desk, Kate gave Ryan a rueful grin. “I’d kill for a cup of coffee. I don’t suppose there’s one brewed for a librarian who’s just been subjected to bureaucratic overkill and who’s reached the end of her tether?”

  Ryan grinned. “Perking as we speak.”

  “You’re an angel.” Kate went to walk through to the staff room but Ryan called her back.

  “Kate. Just a minute.” He bent forward and lowered his voice. “She’s here.”

  “Who is?” Kate frowned.

  “Our author.”

  Kate stiffened, feeling herself flush, and she glanced quickly around the library. “Leigh Mossman? Where?”

  Ryan nodded and motioned his head in the direction of Kate’s office. “She came in about fifteen minutes ago and asked to see you.”

  “I thought she’d ring first,” Kate began, and Ryan shook his head.

  “Well, she did ring. Not long after you’d left. I told her you’d be back by two. I thought that would give you time to have lunch, but I should have known Phillip the Pompous would keep you the best part of the day.”

  Kate half smiled at Ryan’s nickname for the town clerk before glancing at the closed door of her office, a sense of foreboding in the pit of her stomach.

  “Took me a moment to realize who she was, but I think you’ll recognize her too.” Ryan grinned. “Shouldn’t you go on in and see her?”

  Kate continued to stand undecided.

  “I’ll bring you your coffee and a cup for her too, okay? And how about some of my Mum’s cookies?”

  Kate took a steadying breath and nodded, making no move to cross to her office.

  “You better go in. She’s expecting you. I rang Phillip’s office, and they said you were on your way back so I told her you’d only be five minutes,” Ryan encouraged. “Shall I give you a couple of minutes before I bring in the coffee?”

  “What? Oh, the coffee. Yes, please, Ryan.” Kate pulled herself together, made herself walk across to the door.

  She paused before entering, tried to push the feeling of betrayal from her mind, but her stomach muscles clenched as she remembered the book she’d finished on Tuesday night and hadn’t been able to get out of her mind since.

  Betrayal. The word flashed before her eyes, and her anger overrode the anticipation of seeing her again. For it had to be her.

  Kate pushed open the door and strode purposefully inside.

  She was sitting in the easy chair off to the right, leafing through a magazine Ryan must have given her, and she looked up with those incredible blue eyes. A slow smile lit her face, and Kate felt that ever-present quickening of desire.

  “Hello, Kate. Did you guess?”

  Kate walked around her desk and sat down, her fingers smoothing the lapel of her tailored jacket. She was glad she’d chosen to wear her suit. Somehow it cloaked her in professionalism and put some small barrier between herself, her very vulnerable self, and this so inconceivably attractive woman.

  “Did I guess you were Leigh Mossman? Not until Tuesday night, about page one hundred and twenty-five.” Kate sat down behind her desk, another small bastion of refuge.

  “My agent suggested I take out that subplot or change it, but I held out. I wanted Clare to be attracted to Tess.”

  Kate looked at Ashley’s smiling face, let her eyes wander over Ashley’s body. She wore a silk shirt tucked into a pair of white tailored slacks, and the azure color of her blouse reflected the bright blue of her eyes.

  “Why did you do it, Ash?” Kate was amazed at the evenness of her tone.

  “I wanted to write about the power of women’s love —”

  “Not just that. The whole thing. Why did you put it in the book? All the things we said to each other, and did, for all the world to read. What point were you trying to make?”

  “No point. At least, not the way you mean it. I just …” Ashley shrugged. “I suppose I just wanted you to know how much I treasured what we had.”

  Kate bit off an exclamation of disbelief. “Oh right. And you’ll tell the truth to your grandchildren.”

  “Yes, I will, if you want to tell them. As long as you’re there to tell them too.”

  Kate stood up. “Stop this, Ashley. I can’t take much more of it. How can you expect to come home and just pick up where you left off as though nothing had happened.”

  “This isn’t the first time I’ve been home looking for you.”

  Kate watched the play of emotions flicker across Ashley’s face.

  The first time I came back Jenny hadn’t even been born. My mother wouldn’t help me, and all your aunt would say was that you’d gone to Brisbane. I was distraught. I pleaded with her to tell me where you were, but she sent me away. I searched the Brisbane directory for a phone number, but you weren’t listed.

  “Then my parents called the doctor and a social worker. They convinced me to go back to Dean. They told me marriage took time and patience and working together.”

  Ashley sighed. “They thought they were doing the right thing, but they didn’t know Dean. My parents are normal, loving people. They couldn’t know how possessive, how controlling Dean could be. When he came home every day he’d cross-examine me. Who had been there? Whom did I see? Whom had I talked to? What did they say? Was I attracted to the guy next door?”

  She shook her head. “It went on and on until finally I made it worse by telling him I didn’t love him, that I loved someone else. He never forgave me for that.”

  “You told Dean about us?” Kate asked in disbelief, and Ashley gave a short, humorless laugh.

  “Oh, no, I didn’t make that big a mistake. No specific names or gender were mentioned. I knew Dean by then. He’d have gone ballistic if I’d told him I was in love with a woman. Anyway, it doesn’t matter anymore. Dean’s someone else’s problem now”

  In love with a woman? Did that mean… ? Kate forced the wildly electrifying thoughts from her mind and absently played with the paperweight on her desk, but before she could comment there was a soft tap on the door and Ryan stuck his head into Kate’s office.

  “Ready for coffee?” he asked brightly, blushing when Ashley turned her smile on him.

  “Coffee would be wonderful,” she said, and Ryan came inside, setting down the tray on Kate’s desk before turning eagerly back to Ashley. />
  “I can’t believe you’re Leigh Mossman. I mean, your brothers played football with my brother, and I think Tim used to go out with my sister way back.”

  “It’s a close-knit little town, isn’t it?” Ashley said with a soft laugh.

  Ryan blushed again. “Yes. You can’t say anything about anyone in case they’re related.”

  They laughed together, but Ryan sobered when he glanced across at his boss. “Looks like you can use the coffee too, Kate.” He turned back to Ashley. “As well as haggling over the budget all morning, Kate was up all night on Tuesday reading your book. That’s why she still looks so seedy. I warned her not to start Gold Fever at night because she wouldn’t be able to put it down.”

  “So my book kept you awake?” Ashley turned back to Kate, the tone of her voice setting Kate’s nerve endings jangling. Kate tried to relax back into her chair, aware of Ryan’s interested presence.

  “You write very well,” she said flatly, and Ashley laughed.

  “Remember I used to say when I was at school that I was going to be a writer one day?” She turned back to Ryan. “But no one believed me except Kate. She always had faith in me.”

  Ryan looked from one to the other.

  “Kate and I were best friends at school,” Ashley explained.

  “Hey, that’s great. I didn’t know that. I was a long way behind you guys but, as I said, I do remember my brother playing football with Tim.” Ryan passed Ashley the sugar. “The locals are sure going to be surprised at the Meet the Author afternoon we’ve got planned. It’s going to be really popular.”

  Ashley pulled a face. “We hope.”

  “Oh, it will be. As I said, we all loved the book. And Mum’s especially excited. She can’t wait to meet you.”

  “Well, that’s one person who’ll be here,” Ashley teased.

  “One person? Loads of people have booked in to come along and hear you read from Gold Fever. Ryan enthused. “There’ll only be standing room, you’ll see.”

  “Now you’re starting to make me nervous.” Ashley feigned concern.

  “Don’t be. Everyone will hang on your every word, no matter what you talk about. You’re a local girl turned famous and, besides, we don’t get many writers here, do we, Kate?”