Her mouth opened and shut. What did she get out of this? A chance to save Radnor? A chance to forget about Derek? A chance to feel that her life was an adventure, rather than a black hole? But how could she explain that to Noah?
‘I think it’s what Uncle Angus hoped I might do,’ she said at last.
Small lines at the corners of Noah’s eyes creased as he smiled. ‘And I’d say that’s as good a reason as any.’
Thank heavens he hadn’t quizzed her more deeply. Kate was terrified he might guess that somewhere, buried among all the plausible reasons she’d considered, she’d hidden another reason she didn’t want to leave. But, no, she couldn’t possibly still be in love with him.
Could she?
Of course not.
Just a little, perhaps?
Surely not?
‘OK,’ she said, skipping briskly away from that quandary. ‘Now, you can tell me all about the cattle drives.’
‘Why do you want to know about cattle drives?’
‘I thought we might be able to walk your cattle to the better pasture they need.’
Noah swallowed a grin. ‘I’m sorry, Kate.’ He began to chuckle, and pressed a closed fist to his mouth as he checked his mirth. ‘Taking you on a cattle drive is not an option.’
‘Why not?’
‘I’m sure you’re an adaptable girl, but I couldn’t turn you into a drover.’
How patronising. Kate could feel her dander rising. He might as well have said straight out that she was a useless English city-girl.
‘Don’t you need a cook?’ she demanded. ‘Uncle Angus told me about the mustering camps. You always have someone driving a truck with cooking gear and bedding and things, don’t you?’
‘We do,’ he admitted, and he took another slow sip of whisky. ‘But I wouldn’t dream of asking Ellen.’
‘I could drive a truck. I can cook.’
He didn’t answer immediately, but then he said, ‘What about Liv? I wouldn’t like to leave her here with just Ellen for weeks on end.’
‘I—I thought that perhaps Olivia could come too, and I could help her with correspondence lessons.’
Noah’s eyes widened. Kate could see a warm gleam stealing into them, and she knew he was picturing the possibilities. With quietly contained excitement, he said, ‘I guess I could ring around and check out the areas that still have good grass.’
‘We could contact the education department about lessons for Olivia.’
‘I could get young Steve Hatton from Mercury Downs to help with the droving.’
His fingers tapped an upbeat tattoo on the leather arm of his chair. ‘I’d be worried about trying to walk the cattle all the way from here. There wouldn’t be enough feed. But at a pinch, we could afford to take them by road train out of this really dry country into somewhere near Cunnamulla. They’ve had some rain there and the country’s in better shape. There’d be grass on the stock routes and we could walk them the rest of the way into the Roma saleyards.’
‘It would be a real adventure,’ Kate said. ‘I could take photos of the entire trip. Lots of magazines would grab a photo essay of an Outback cattle drive.’
Grinning now, Noah tipped his glass to his lips and downed its contents, and leaned back in his chair with slouching elegance. ‘We’re getting carried away.’
‘Not really. We could do it, Noah.’ Kate was feeling more animated by the minute. If she was looking for a way to forget about Derek, what better way than this?
Noah, however, was looking solemn again. ‘You have no idea how rough it would be, camping out night after night. No bathroom, no home comforts.’
‘But what’s the alternative—watching our cattle waste away? Selling them now and not getting a fair price?’
He rose to his feet, jaw belligerent, thumbs hooked behind his belt buckle. ‘You wouldn’t last the distance. You’d soon get sick of the heat and the dust and the lack of privacy. And you’d have to put in a lot of time with Liv.’ He ran a large brown hand over his face and sighed heavily. ‘It wouldn’t work.’
Dismayed, Kate jumped to her feet. ‘Noah.’ Reaching out, she pulled his hand away. ‘We can make it work. Just think, if we get the cattle to sale in good condition, we’ll turn off something like a million dollars.’
Good grief. Had she really said a million dollars? Derek had always complained that she couldn’t even manage her modest savings account and credit card. Now she was pulling millions of dollars out of thin air.
She looked directly into Noah’s bleak grey eyes. ‘It will solve your problems. You can pay out Liane without losing Radnor.’
He rubbed his jaw. ‘We’re a long way off converting our cattle into money in the bank. It could be a disaster in the making.’
‘And it could be a huge success.’ Her chin lifted defiantly. ‘Noah, I can do this.’ Her chin inched higher. ‘I am not Liane.’
At first, she saw no sign that her words had registered, and Kate felt herself going cold all over. She knew it was silly to feel rejected, but this was like a very loud echo of her departure from Radnor nine years ago.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said briskly, perhaps too briskly. ‘I’m being pushy.’
‘Exactly.’ He glared at her, and his jaw jutted another notch. ‘And you have a steady boyfriend. Surely he would object if he knew you planned to take off with another man for weeks on end?’
‘I told you that’s—absolutely all—all right.’
Kate wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but there seemed to be something very odd about this. She and Noah were standing inches apart, staring rather breathlessly into each other’s eyes, while he wanted to talk about Derek.
She knew that one of them should step away, but for the life of her she couldn’t move. This was Noah Carmody. His lips were practically kissing-close, and there was no way she could be the first one to break the spell.
A hectic pulse beat in her throat. Noah’s eyes burned into her, and in the silent room seconds stretched into infinity.
She lifted her chin another fraction of an inch, and she knew that Noah sensed it, knew he recognised her hesitant invitation. He didn’t back away.
Blood pounded in her ears and her lips parted ever so softly.
His breathing became ragged as he lifted his hand to touch her chin. It was the barest whisper of a caress with the tips of his fingers. A soft gasp escaped her as his fingertips traced a shaky path over her jaw, and she closed her eyes, recklessly pressing her cheek into his palm.
‘Kate,’ he whispered, and she felt his hand tremble against her skin.
She didn’t dare to open her eyes. She was too afraid that at any moment this wonderful magic would stop.
When Noah traced the texture of her lower lip with his thumb, she couldn’t hold back a small, needy sigh. She heard his answering groan, and then exactly what she had feared happened. Noah stepped away.
Clear away.
He gave a slow, dazed shake of his head.
Kate couldn’t think what to say, and she looked down at her hands and clasped them together.
Noah turned abruptly and walked across to the corner of the room where a large desk stood almost completely obscured by a mess of papers, Manila folders and books. He picked up a fat book, flicked through its pages, set it down again, and made a small, throat-clearing sound. ‘If we go on this cattle drive, I can assure you, you’ll be quite safe.’
‘Oh? That’s good to know.’ She lifted her hands, flapped them awkwardly. ‘But what exactly are you saying? Are you promising to make sure I’m not trampled by a bullock? Chased by a snake?’
His eyes flashed darkly. ‘You know exactly what I mean.’
Oh heavens, yes. Kate knew. She would be safe from him.
She tried to ignore the frantic pulse in her throat, and managed a small smile.
Apparently Noah was happy that the matter was settled. He visibly relaxed his shoulders, and glanced at his wrist-watch. ‘It’s getting late, and you must be tired
. I’m sorry, I completely forgot you’re probably still jet-lagged.’
‘I am rather sleepy.’ It seemed the safe thing to say.
‘There’s not much more we can discuss tonight,’ he said. ‘First thing in the morning, I’ll ring young Steve at Mercury Downs and find out if he’s available. And I’ll put through a call to the education department.’
Kate knew this sudden busy chatter was simply Noah’s way of covering any lingering awkwardness.
‘Right,’ she said. ‘If that’s everything, I’ll say goodnight, Noah.’
‘Goodnight. I hope you sleep well.’
Annoyed by his retreat into stodgy formality, she picked up her glass and drained the last of it in one fiery gulp.
He held out his hand. ‘I’ll take that.’
‘Thank you.’
Their hands touched briefly and a tremor flashed through her. She looked up and again their eyes met, and for a split second she saw his emotions unmasked and her heart almost stopped.
‘Get to bed,’ he ordered gruffly.
Her nerves in tatters, Kate hurried to the doorway. Behind her, Noah turned out the light.
CHAPTER SIX
AN IDYLLIC VISION lay before Noah. Hundreds of Radnor cattle lumbered majestically down a mile-wide grassy stock-route. Great shiny beasts in a patchwork of grey, red and brown moved at a steady pace, feeding quietly, while Noah and young Steve followed on horseback, eager dogs at their heels.
Grass stretched as far as the eye could see—a miracle after the dry, burnt-out country they’d left back at Radnor.
It was all happening, an impossible dream coming true.
The past ten days had been hectic, crazy, intoxicating.
Radnor had become a veritable hive of bustling activity. Phone calls had flown back and forth. Trips had been made into town to stock up on provisions and school books. Noah had worked late into the night in the machinery shed, giving the four-wheel-drive truck and the horse trailer complete overhauls.
He and Steve, a lanky young fellow of twenty, had spent three full days mustering and yarding the huge mob of cattle. And, once the mob had calmed down, they’d filed up the loading ramp into the road trains that had taken them out of the drought-stricken country into Cunnamulla, ready for droving.
In the Radnor homestead, the kitchen had become a laughter-filled, fragrant, flour-dusted classroom. Kate had seconded Ellen to teach her everything she knew about stockcamp cooking, and whenever Noah had poked his nose in there he’d found Kate, pink cheeked and smiling, up to her elbows in bread dough, wielding a ferocious chopping-knife, or lifting a mouth-watering casserole from the oven.
Liv had been there, too, working at her schoolbooks at one end of the long kitchen table, or ‘helping’ when the cooking activities had become too enticing. His daughter had never looked so contented.
In any spare moments, Kate had grabbed the chance to practise driving the truck, getting used to the heavier gear shifts and to towing the float that would carry their spare horses.
And now here they were on the track. Noah found it hard to believe that little more than a week ago he’d been weighed down by problems of Himalayan proportions.
Who would have thought that a girl from England could have given him such a shot in the arm? He had to hand it to Kate—her challenge had been the trigger that had knocked him out of his gloom and set this whole exciting venture in motion.
He’d been worried last night—their first night in the bush—hadn’t been sure that Kate would cope with sleeping in a tiny tent and having nothing more than a canvas shower-bucket strung in a gidgee tree for bathing. He needn’t have worried; as Kate had pointed out once before, she was not Liane.
And this morning she had looked confident and happy when she’d set off with Liv in the truck, trailing the horse float behind her. She was going to drive to the far side of Linfield Creek—he’d pointed it out on the map—where they would stop for lunch and to spell the mob in the heat of the day.
Then she would drive on to their campsite. She planned to spend the afternoon supervising Liv’s lessons, and then she would run out the electric fence—he’d shown her exactly how big the temporary paddock needed to be—ready for when he and Steve arrived with the cattle.
Everything was working out just fine. Noah could sense that his luck was changing.
Kate’s stomach dropped when she saw the creek crossing.
She stopped the truck and stared through the dusty windscreen, horrified by what she saw. The track dipped into a sandy gully, which was scary enough, but then it swooped sharply into a creek filled with water the colour of day-old milky coffee.
Was she really supposed to drive into there?
She reached for the map and checked her position. Damn. There was no getting out of it; this was definitely where she had to cross. She almost swore aloud, then remembered Olivia sitting beside her.
Well… She’d wanted an Outback adventure and now it was starting.
‘Stay here for a minute, Liv. I’m going to take a quick walk out there to check how deep that water is.’
A blast of dry heat hit Kate as she stepped down from the air-conditioned truck. She reached for her wide-brimmed hat, tucked her hair under it and made her way down the sandy bank. She looked again at the stretch of murky water and decided to keep her shoes on.
Yuck. She hated the thought of wet, muddy shoes and socks, but she wasn’t taking them off. Who knew what dangers lurked on the creek bottom?
The water was cool at least and, for the first few steps, gravel crunched beneath her boots, but then she reached mud. Kate’s stomach tightened. The water was so muddy it was completely opaque, and she had no idea how deep it was.
She suspected she’d been too cocky when she’d assured Noah she would cope. It had been a matter of pride. It was still a matter of pride. She wanted to prove to him that she was tough enough for the Outback. And perhaps, in some obscure, backhand way, she was trying to prove something to Derek too. Or to herself.
But had her pride got in the way of reason? Until a few days ago she had never driven a truck, let alone a truck weighed down with camping equipment while towing a horse trailer. She’d ventured into some pretty tough terrain in Scotland, searching for the perfect wildlife photograph, but she’d never been a great risk-taker.
Cautiously, she kept going. Muddy stones rocked and wobbled beneath her, but the water was still only ankle deep. Perhaps it would be all right. She turned and gave Olivia a cheery wave and continued on.
To her surprise the creek didn’t get much deeper. By the time she reached the middle, the level was still only as high as her knees and, although the bottom was silty and studded with rocks, it seemed quite stable. She decided it should be safe enough to cross.
‘Piece of cake,’ she told Olivia when she got back.
The little girl gave her an encouraging grin and Kate mentally crossed her fingers, turned on the motor and inched the truck down the sloping bank.
Plumes of spray sheered out on either side of them as they entered the water. Rocks wobbled and slipped beneath the truck’s heavy wheels. Fighting an urge to panic, Kate kept steady, slow pressure on the accelerator and the truck—bless it—kept creeping…creeping…inching forward.
‘Like driving on the M1,’ she joked to Olivia.
‘What’s the M1?’
‘It’s a big motorway in England.’
Crunch.
The truck lurched sickeningly and stopped.
Kate cursed. ‘Sorry, Liv.’
Olivia seemed unfazed. ‘What’s happened?’
‘I’m not sure. Probably nothing to worry about.’ Kate turned on the ignition and the motor roared back to life, and she gently depressed the accelerator.
Nothing moved.
‘Come on,’ she urged through gritted teeth. She pressed the accelerator a little harder; the engine yelled. The truck’s wheels spun and sent up sprays of creek water, but they wouldn’t budge.
On
ce again she tried, accelerating even more boldly this time, and the engine roared and strained. Kate closed her eyes and prayed, but still the truck didn’t move.
‘Damn!’ She thumped the steering wheel and her eyes filled with tears.
‘Are we stuck?’ asked Olivia.
Kate dragged in a shuddering breath; she knew she would frighten the child if she was weak and wimpy. ‘I think we’re bogged.’ She gulped. ‘But don’t worry. We’re not in any danger.’
‘We could wait for Daddy.’
Yes, she could call Noah on the two-way radio and ask for his assistance, but she had so wanted to pull her weight on this trip, to be of use, not a hindrance.
Now, she was scared she’d given Noah false expectations. Was this all too much for an English city-girl? ‘I won’t bother your dad,’ she said bravely. ‘I’ll think of something.’
The mob made good progress and reached the creek shortly before noon. Cattle could smell water from a long way off, and Noah knew there was always a chance they could rush. But he’d watered his mob at a bore yesterday, and there’d been good grazing along the track today, so he was quietly confident that they’d be easy to handle.
‘Hey, Noah!’ Steve called from up ahead. ‘Looks like the truck’s stuck in the creek.’
Noah’s reaction was instant. Digging his heels in hard, he urged his horse into a quick gallop. Swinging out in a wide arc away from the wings of the mob, he sped to the creek.
When he reached the top of the high bank, he reined in for a brief scrutiny of the scene below, and saw the wide riverbed creased by a band of water. The truck and horse float were clearly stuck in the middle, and the first of the cattle were already rumbling forward, lumbering down the slope, eager to get a drink.
He pulled his hat brim lower against the glare, and scanned the far bank, hoping to see Kate and Olivia sitting in the shade of one of the big river red-gums, waiting for him.
No sign of them. Surely they weren’t still in the truck?
He urged his horse forward again, hooves striking stones as they flew down the bank. Any minute now the truck would be surrounded by cattle, milling and shoving and making one hell of a racket. Olivia would probably find it exciting, but Kate could be terrified.
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