Captivity

by Margaret Pargeter

  Suddenly Chase shrugged, his hands, which had left her quivering shoulders, lifting in a gesture of surprising indifference. 'Let's forget about it, then. I refuse to waste an entire weekend arguing with a beautiful girl. You may decide to come to Coolabra yet.'

  Beneath his cool gaze Alex felt very young and didn't know where she found the strength to continue defying him. If it hadn't been for the remarks she had overheard, would she have been able to? Now, one more remark he had added to the list helped strengthen her resolve not to be swayed by his undoubted attractiveness. He had declared decisively that a word from him would be enough to release her from the office. Wasn't it time someone said no to him and meant it?

  All the time they swam she kept her distance, even while she was aware of an increasing desire to be near him. When he did come close, his powerful limbs cutting effortlessly through the water, her heart would begin reacting uncomfortably and she would move away, hating the open mockery in his eyes as she did so.

  Later, they dined out again. Alex was surprised, after their conversation earlier on the beach, that Chase bothered to ask her. She was even more confused when he asserted that there was no need to go back home and change. They would dine as they were.

  Doubtfully, she agreed, telling herself firmly that it didn't matter how she looked, but knowing all the time it did, at least to her. Chase might tell her that her fair hair and sand-hazed skin had a bloom that was wonderful, but she wasn't so sure. She thought his eyes stayed on her almost continually because she looked more like a sea-washed oddity than anything else!

  Always, no matter what he wore, Chase managed to look superior. His good looks were outstanding. His face was hard, as was his decisive jaw, while his dark eyes never missed a thing. Alex was glad he was leaving Melbourne immediately, as she might not be able to hold out against him indefinitely, for all her pride shrieked loudly that she had more reason to now than ever.

  Pride stiffened her resolve again as they reached the flat and he unexpectedly bent over her.' This has to be goodbye,' he said softly, 'but it's been nice knowing you. In fact, I'm beginning to realise I might be going to miss you. Don't you think you're going to miss me, Alex?'

  'No!' she gasped, outraged by his audacity as he swiftly bent his dark head. His breath was on her mouth before his mouth swerved to descend on her cheek. It was a chaste kiss, one which he might have bestowed on the aunt whom Ruby said looked after them, but she knew he meant it deviously, as a reminder of what she would be missing.

  As he feathered her face lightly, but as though his lips were surprisingly reluctant to leave it, she felt his strong body tense. For a moment it was as if he had been struck by lightning, for she had the hazy impression, as a sudden heat leapt from his mouth to fuse them together, that he was tensely fighting an urge stronger than anything he had ever known. That at some point the lesson he had set out to teach had rebounded, in some far from welcome way, upon himself.

  Alex felt an urge within herself too. A driving, confusing desire to turn in his arms, to have them closely around her, to curve her own about his neck, to feel the full force of his dominating mouth against her own. It was only when her breasts went taut, an achingly unfamiliar sensation, that alarm whipped through her, causing her to draw back breathlessly. She was much too grateful that something had saved her from making a complete fool of herself to understand what had been happening to her.

  Their eyes met, clinging for long enigmatical seconds while Alex found her voice. 'Goodnight and goodbye, Chase,' she whispered, a strangled sound which she wished could have been an angry shout, as she almost thrust herself from his car. It didn't help that his own brief farewell was mockingly harsh as she slammed the door.

  In her bedroom, Alex sank down on her bed, her head whirling. She felt slightly sick, every pulse in her body seemed to be throbbing. All this she tried to dismiss as the result of fright, but there was no comfort to be gained from knowing Chase Marshall could affect her so strongly. She had been kissed before, but never had she felt like this.

  It couldn't be that she was attracted to him. Why should she feel attracted towards a man who roamed from one place to another, treating women so casually? He probably ate little girls like herself for breakfast! No woman with any looks at all might be safe from him. It was crazy to wish she could have known him better. More intimately, an inner voice taunted, yet so persistently that she jumped up with relief when the telephone rang.

  Because Chase hadn't had time to get back to his apartment, she knew it couldn't be him. Thinking of this, she managed to pick up the receiver with a relatively steady hand. Dully she gave the flat number.

  'Alex darling, is that you?'

  It was her mother. A few minutes later Alex replaced the receiver, this time with her hand shaking. She was altogether stunned, both by herself and the news she had received.

  Her mother had said she was coming to Melbourne at the end of the week with her English friend, and Don Fisher would be bringing them. He would also be staying with them. Tomorrow he was booking their accommodation. His father was giving him a few days off, specially. And Mrs Latham's voice had dropped to the level of that used when secrets are being triumphantly betrayed Don was bringing a ring, one of the most beautiful she had ever seen.

  'His father's a really big name in Sydney now, Alex,' she had continued complacently. 'You could scarcely do better, and he told me personally that he approves of you and Don being married. He would like Don to settle down and have a family.'

  'But I can't marry Don Fisher!' Alex had gasped. 'For one thing, I don't love him.' Her mother said, 'Nonsense, darling!' in the exact tones she used when squashing opposition on one of her committees. Don will soon help you change your mind.' 'I won't be here.'

  'Not there?' Mrs Latham's voice had grown colder. 'Why not, pray?'

  'I...' with great difficulty Alex steadied her own voice, which was rising like an octave out of control, 'I have to go north for the firm.' 'North?'

  'Yes,' Alex improvised wildly. 'They need extra help in the office, on one of the larger cattle stations. It sometimes happens, you know, and I can't refuse.'

  Heaven forgive me, she prayed silently, in the sudden silence. Or help me, she readjusted her prayer as she realised this meant she had burnt her boats, so to speak, and would have to go to Coolabra, after all. If Chase Marshall hadn't changed his mind about taking her. She might have to beg. She almost groaned aloud at the prospect, but wouldn't anything be better than staying in Melbourne and becoming engaged to Don Fisher? That she didn't love him might count for nothing against the combined weight of his and her mother's persuasions.

  'Do you know how long you'll be away?' Mrs Latham sounded both suspicious and cross. 'Maybe two or three weeks, I'm not sure.' Alex drew a deep breath. 'If you like you can ring the office here in Melbourne.'

  'Oh, well,' grudgingly, 'I suppose if it's only for a short time, but Don's going to be very disappointed. I'll get him to ring your office later in the month to ask when you'll be back. I think you should seriously consider handing in your notice and coming home.'

  I'll think about it,' Alex heard herself murmuring in a cowardly way, as usual shrinking from all-out opposition. Anything could happen, must happen, in the next few weeks. If she liked the north she might even look for a job in Darwin. Anything to escape her mother's clutches without a lot of unpleasantness. It was far from easy to ring Chase and tell him she had changed her mind. Ruby had his number scribbled down on a pad and Alex sat staring at it for a long time before finding sufficient courage to contact him. He would naturally believe those few moments she had spent in his arms had made her think again. He had only kissed her cheek, yet his experience was such that he must have gauged the depth of her response. She could only hope it wasn't something he would ever be tempted to try again. Wishing her heart would stop beating so unevenly, she began dialling. 'Yes?' he answered, so curtly, she almost shrank.

  'Alex Latham, Mr Marshall. I…I've decided I'
d like to come to Coolabra after all.' A short silence suggested that he was startled, but of course he never would be about anything. 'This is a sudden change,' he remarked dryly. 'Why?' She didn't want to go into that. It would involve Don Fisher and her mother. How could she explain to someone like Chase Marshall what her mother was like? Or about Don? Chase would simply laugh. And while she didn't mind about Don, for her father's sake if nothing else, she couldn't bear having Chase laughing about her mother. It was the same old sense of loyalty, she supposed, rearing its familiar head, but she was never able to ignore it.

  Despairingly she tried to gloss over it. 'I did change my mind suddenly, I'll admit. I'm a bit like that…'

  'It's always interesting to know,' he returned sardonically, while giving no indication as to what he thought of her change of mind, in this instance.

  Hastily she said, 'My mother has just called and I told her I was going to Coolabra.'

  'You're taking a lot for granted, aren't you? After the way you refused me only a few minutes ago?'

  'Then you don't want me…?'

  'I didn't say that.' He paused decisively. 'You're necessary, to straighten things out for Ruby.'

  Alex swallowed at his frankness, but caution warned her to make the best of it. 'You said you'd be able to fix things at the office?'

  'Yes. You can leave everything to me, now that I know for sure. Thank you, Miss Latham. I'll be in touch.'

  Fancying he sounded slightly contemptuous, she slowly replaced the receiver. It was obvious that he was convinced she had intended going with Ruby from the beginning and had only pretended otherwise so as to get what she could out of him. She wished she could have brought herself to tell him she was only going to Coolabra in order to escape being pushed into an engagement she didn't want. That she had let him spend money on her this weekend only because she had overheard him saying she bored him. Now, as often happened when looking back, she wished she had ignored what he had said. If she hadn't gone out with him he would never have held her as he had done in the car, and she was sure that if this should complicate her stay at Coolabra in any way, she would only have herself to blame!

  Three rather turbulent days later she was at Coolabra. Ruby and she flew up to Alice Springs where they were met by the station manager and taken to Coolabra in Chase Marshall's private plane.

  'One of them,' Ruby informed her, glancing with surprise at Alex's wide-eyed face. 'He travels everywhere by plane and has several.'

  Alex, like the average Australian, was no stranger to air travel, but she hadn't ever flown in a small plane. As they left Alice Springs, the famous town in the Centre, she felt decidedly apprehensive.

  Ruby said unkindly. You'd better relax, otherwise you might never make it.'

  Drew Blake, the station manager, smiled at her kindly, keenly aware of the nervousness which darkened eyes more vividly blue than any he had ever seen before. The frank admiration in his own might have been enough to give confidence to the average girl, but he added a few words to it. 'We tend to wobble about a bit on the air currents, but believe me, you could be running more risk on the track down there.'

  Alex, glancing beneath them, saw the Stuart Highway winding its endless way north to Darwin and ruefully closed her eyes. Opening them again immediately, she smiled at the lean, suntanned man at the controls who kept glancing at her anxiously. 'I hope I'll make it!'

  'It just takes time,' he drawled. 'It just takes time.'

  She believed him, but didn't point out that she wouldn't have much time. Only two or three weeks at the most, according to Ruby, who still grumbled about having to come at all. For all this, under her bored veneer of sophistication, Alex felt Ruby was rather pleased about something. Once she had caught the other girl's eyes positively dancing, when she thought no one was looking.

  Drew Blake was a youngish man in his thirties, with a pleasantly good-looking face. Ruby began talking to him. 'I don't know why Chase is going to so much trouble, Drew, dragging me back home. Alex and I were going to the Reef.' She didn't seem at all bothered that this was the first time Alex had ever heard her mention it.

  'We don't question your brother, Ruby,' Drew replied. 'I dare say he has his reasons.'

  'Is he still at Coolabra?'

  Drew laughed. 'He only arrived yesterday. I'll just say this, he talks about staying.'

  'Usually he only stays a couple of days you must have misunderstood.'

  Alex listened with mixed feelings, her interest torn between Chase Marshall and the view below her. She got the impression of a barren landscape, a desolate, barren land, but one possessed of a strange and haunting beauty. Occasionally a few trees or a lonely homestead stood out like sentinels on the bare red earth which was covered by saltbush and spinifex. The distances were immense, a wilderness of plains and remote ranges, dry river valleys and stony terrain, and over it all hung a vapour of afternoon heat that hazed the limitless horizon.

  How far was that horizon? Alex, straining her eyes towards it, couldn't make out, but she would have liked to have known. Chase would have told her, she felt sure. On their trips out from Melbourne he had been a mine of information. Apart from an hour, when he had arrived at his sister's flat with air tickets and instructions, she hadn't seen him for three days. It surely wasn't possible that she was missing him?

  Beneath them a herd of Santa Gertrudis cattle suddenly seemed to appear, men on horseback with them.

  Drew told her, That's Dintlaw Downs. I wonder how many of ours they've got?'

  Ruby smiled idly without replying, as though Drew's remark was too familiar to need comment. It seemed to tell Alex two things that someone was stealing Chase Marshall's cattle and that they must be getting near Coolabra. Two things she found slightly alarming.

  'Don't you ever do anything about it? If the cattle are being stolen, I mean,' she asked Drew, her voice slightly incredulous.

  'Oh,' he grinned, poker-faced, 'I wouldn't go so far as to say those fellows down there are criminals! We have our little arrangements, that usually work all right, to the satisfaction of everyone concerned. It's not like it used to be.'

  'Not always,' retorted Ruby dryly.

  Feeling frustrated because of things she didn't understand, but which the other two clearly thought too commonplace to need explaining, Alex was glad to hear Drew's whoop of satisfaction.

  'There she is, Miss Ruby. Coolabra!'

  While Ruby remarked coldly that she hadn't been away for years, Alex drew her breath in sharply on catching her first glimpse of Coolabra from the air. From here it looked like a field of English mushrooms, that she could still remember, spread out in white clumps. Nearer she saw a large homestead surrounded by trees with other buildings and yards scattered around it at varying distances.

  Even at her first sight of it something clutched at her heart, threatening never to let go. It was as if a place down there had been waiting all her life for her, ready to welcome her with open arms.

  Ruby's sharply voiced opinion of Alex's rapt expression was no more scornful than Alex's own silent one. She had always considered herself to be sane and well balanced and made an effort to pull herself together.

  Swiftly she lowered her lashes to hide her telltale eyes and took another deep breath.

  The plane circled, landing some distance from the homestead, very stylishly, as though Drew felt he was bringing in royalty and wished to make an impression. They bumped slightly on the plane's first contact with the ground, but she could tell it was an expert landing. When they came to a standstill, Ruby was on her feet within seconds, well used to small planes and suffering no ill effects. Alex didn't think she did, but her legs felt slightly unsteady as she groped her way out after Ruby and Drew. Blinking in the strong sunlight, she saw a utility approaching at speed, Chase Marshall at the wheel. Bemused, her gaze remained fixed on him. She had known he was here but hadn't expected him to be on the runway meeting them. As he stopped and slid from behind the wheel, she noticed he was wearing a pair
of moleskin trousers, with a checked shirt and wide brimmed hat. At once he looked different more authoritative, if this were possible, than he had done in Melbourne. The clothes he wore, fitting closely to his tall body, seemed to lend strength to the sheer impact of his vital personality, which she had already been too aware of in the city.

  She was conscious of Drew turning to assist her, his smile warmly concerned on her suddenly tense face. Then he was curtly brushed aside and Chase was helping her to the ground. 'Good afternoon, Alex. Welcome to Coolabra.' His glance went slowly over her delicate fairness. Closely he studied the faint shadows of stress under her eyes, the slight beading of perspiration on the wide, intelligent brow and provocative upper lip. Narrowly he came back to her eyes, and for a short space of time Alex felt they had the world to themselves.

  Ruby broke in impatiently, not used to being ignored, even by her brother. 'Alex is quite capable of looking after herself, Chase. She may look breakable, but believe me, she isn't.' Turning on her curtly, Chase snapped, 'Any fool could see she was ready to fall from the plane. This kind of flying takes getting used to.'

  I suppose so.' Indifferently Ruby walked towards the truck, leaving Alex to follow, while Chase and Drew started on the luggage.

  Alex hadn't brought a lot, but she thought what she had packed would be suitable. It was a whole lot warmer here than in Melbourne, and while she could feel herself responding to the heat she longed to get into something cooler.

  Ruby said she had better ride in the back of the truck, which she did. Whether this arrangement pleased Chase or not, he didn't say. Alex couldn't tell, as he got in the driving seat and swung round to look at her, for his eyes were cool and expressionless. Only his mouth seemed to suggest a momentary anger as it hardened to a straight line as, for no reason she could think of, he stared intently at her. When they reached the house she met Miss Marshall, the aunt who looked after it for Chase. She was a true autocrat, in her late sixties and still very good-looking. Her kindly face was full of character and Alex suspected she would be a good judge of it.