Bride at Briar's Ridge

by Way, Margaret

  He fancied his mother’s presence went with him. Strangely, it was a lovely feeling instead of sad. She was never far away. He made a leisurely inspection of the ground floor, all the while with ideas flitting through his mind. He liked the proportions of the rooms. The kitchen probably needed a total make-over, but there was no real hurry. It was quite adequate as it was. Indeed, it was great to have absolute freedom and not have to dodge an over-sexed stepmother.

  The golden timber staircase led to the second floor, where four of the bedrooms—there were five—were strung along the rear of the house, affording a splendid view of rolling hills and the broad valley. He walked out onto the verandah, resting his hands on the timber railing, drinking it in. The country wasn’t as lush and green as he was used to in New England, close as it was to tropical Queensland, this area had the dryness of the bush. But there was a small creek that wound its way through the property. Its waters flashed silver in the brilliant sunlight. He wouldn’t have much trouble adapting here.

  He had asked Daniela because he wanted, needed, to see her. He hadn’t the slightest doubt she would come up with ideas that would please him—that was if she was interested in pleasing him—but her presence was what he really wanted. He knew something about houses. He had always been interested in them. He wasn’t about to change anything that didn’t need changing—he needed to address its country feel—but he had already got a list going in his head.

  Some time around ten he had a chat with George and Buddy. Both looked pleased to see him. He asked Buddy what he was planning to do that afternoon.

  ‘Have fun, Boss!’ Buddy gave his big engaging grin.

  ‘Well, you’ll be needing your wages, then,’ Linc said, withdrawing two envelopes from his shirt pocket.

  ‘That’s okay, Boss.’ Buddy threw up his hands. ‘Mr Radcliffe paid us.’

  George twitched the broad brim of his hat. ‘That’s right,’ he agreed gruffly, his leathery face burning with what looked like embarrassment.

  ‘Well, it’s all official now,’ Linc said. ‘I’m the new owner. I’m paying you in advance.’

  ‘Yeah?’ Buddy gave a smile. ‘That’s great. I’m planning on having a big dinner in town. Maybe that Italian place. Everyone reckons it’s tops.’

  ‘What about you, George?’ Linc asked, passing each of them an envelope.

  ‘I’ll just roam around.’ George coloured hotly. ‘Tonight I’m having dinner with some of my folks. My eldest sister Joyce and her husband. Joycie always tries to be kind.’

  Should one have to try? Linc thought, divining the depth of the man’s loneliness.

  Buddy had opened his envelope. Now he was looking overjoyed. ‘Did you check this, Boss?’ he asked breathlessly, as though Linc might have made a mistake.

  ‘I did, Buddy.’ Linc nodded. ‘You’re on a man’s wage from now on.’

  ‘He earns it.’ George gripped Buddy’s shoulder tight. Buddy had been a big help that morning.

  ‘Well, off you go, Buddy,’ Linc said. ‘Have a nice day.’

  ‘You, too, Boss.’ Buddy all but danced away. ‘See yah, G!’

  Linc gave an amused chuckle, then turned back to his foreman. ‘I wanted to have a private word with you, George.’

  George threw up his big weatherbeaten hands. ‘That’s okay—you got someone else.’ He had leapt to the wrong conclusion.

  Linc shook his head. ‘That’s not what I was going to say. I’d like to keep you on full-time, George, if you’re agreeable. I even thought you might like to live on the property, like Buddy. There’s that little bungalow near the creek that’s standing vacant. I’ve had a look at it. A lick of paint, a few furnishings and it could be made very comfortable. What do you say?’

  George took a deep breath, staring up at a flight of pink and pearl-grey galahs. He sighed heavily.

  ‘No problem if you want to stay in town, George,’ Linc said. ‘I just thought it might make it easier all round?’

  More silence. George took another deep breath, like a man in a haze. Linc was starting to think George couldn’t quite believe what was being offered.

  ‘If you’d like to think it over first…?’ he suggested.

  ‘Hell, no!’ George came suddenly alive. ‘It’s very good of you to offer. The bungalow would suit me fine. I’d like that.’

  ‘Hey, George, this will suit me as well as you,’ Linc pointed out with a smile. ‘I’ll open some accounts in town—the hardware store first up. You can buy all you need. Paint, brushes, whatever.’

  George’s eyes had turned inward. ‘I’ve got plenty of furniture stored,’ he announced, his dour face so bright he looked years younger.

  ‘Then it’s all settled.’ Linc held out his hand. ‘Better check your wages.’

  ‘They’ll be fine.’ George slapped his thigh. His expression said it all. He liked and trusted Linc.

  ‘Well, then…’ Linc held out his hand. George took it.

  ‘Welcome home, Mr Mastermann,’ he said.

  ‘Linc.’ Linc waved the ‘Mr Mastermann’ away. ‘Only my dad gets called Mr Mastermann, George. Though I don’t mind Buddy calling me Boss. He gets a kick out of it, anyway.’

  ‘He’s a good lad. I can teach him a lot,’ George said. ‘Anything against my moving in by next weekend?’ George wasn’t going to admit it, but he found town life depressing.

  ‘No problem.’ Linc started to turn away. ‘Oh, and Buddy might like to give you a hand with the bungalow?’

  George was too jammed up with emotion to reply.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  HE DROVE her to Briar’s Ridge and she hardly spoke a word for the first few minutes, looking out of the window as they made a smooth exit from town.

  ‘This is a beautiful car,’ she said appreciatively. ‘It suits you.’

  He gave an ironic laugh. ‘You think so? I inherited the Lincoln passion for fast cars. My dad said it was a bad choice. He made it sound like me.’

  ‘You and your father are not good friends, then?’ she asked, turning her head to study his handsome, clean-cut profile.

  ‘I don’t think we ever were,’ he muttered, almost to himself. ‘It’s always been a kind of confrontational relationship.’

  ‘Your temperaments clash?’

  His voice firmed. ‘That’s one form it takes.’

  ‘What’s another?’

  He shrugged. ‘My father is a tough, aggressive man, yet I seem to make him feel threatened. I don’t know why that is. I’ve done nothing to make him feel like that. He gets on a whole lot better with Chuck—that’s my brother, Charles. Dad abandoned the “Charles” very early in the peace. Chuck was named in honour of my grandfather—my maternal grandfather—a real gentleman of Guy Radcliffe’s mould. Dad always tended to resent my mother’s family as being a bit too grand when really they couldn’t have been kinder or more generous.’

  ‘Then how did your father win your mother’s hand?’

  He took a left, driving off the highway. In a grassy paddock two beautiful horses were racing each other around the perimeter, a bright chestnut and a glossy bay, manes and tails flying, a glorious sight. The car rode on seamlessly, as though it already knew the route by heart. A quarter of a mile on was the main thoroughfare that wound through the valley.

  ‘Obviously I wasn’t there at the time, but I think he played a loving role for as long as he had to. My mother was a beautiful woman—very gentle, very feminine. To be honest, I don’t know how she got involved with my father. They didn’t have a thing in common.’

  ‘Outside sexual attraction?’

  His laugh was dark-edged. ‘That’s the danger of sexual attraction, isn’t it? If that’s all you’ve got, a marriage mightn’t have much of a chance. In time I guess passion banks. Maybe affection was always lacking? Disappointment and disillusionment were bound to set in.’

  She looked at him in a searching way. ‘My parents and my grandparents share much love.’

  ‘Then you’ve been blessed,�
� he said shortly, his grip firming on the wheel as they took a sharp curve.

  ‘I know.’

  ‘You have no siblings?’

  ‘I’m an only child. My parents wanted—prayed for more. But it was not to be.’

  ‘Well, they got a one-off.’ He glanced at her with a taut smile.

  She was wearing a very pretty silk blouse, sunshine-yellow with little wings for sleeves, over cream linen trousers. The decorative gold buckle of her belt matched the half-dozen thin bracelets she wore on her right hand. She had a real feel for style. He was sure it was innate.

  ‘As a child I missed not having a brother or sister,’ she said. ‘I had to deal with the question of identity as a first-generation Australian.’

  He turned his head swiftly. ‘You surely didn’t have a bad time?’

  ‘No.’ She looked out at the surrounding countryside with its stands of banksia, urn-fruited peppermint and scribbly gums. ‘A good time, really. Maybe at first there were difficulties. My family spoke a different first language, and I had acquired an accent, but I was bilingual. My grandmother to this day doesn’t speak good English. And we looked different. We ate different food. We were Europeans, as opposed to the migrant families from the British Isles. They fitted in naturally. Most of the population is of British descent anyway. Those of us from the Mediterranean seemed to be cut off from the old home. But gradually I found my way and I became popular.’

  ‘All you needed was to be yourself. I understand the difficulties,’ he said. ‘But I sense it has made you stronger. And there have been huge changes. You will have seen that yourself. Australia embraces its cultural mix.’

  ‘Didn’t someone say if you speak like an Aussie, you are an Aussie?’

  He laughed quietly. ‘Were you happier in London?’

  She hesitated. ‘I lived another sort of life there. London is a great city. It taught me much. But, like all ex-pats, I’m glad to be home.’

  ‘You had problems there.’

  It wasn’t a question. She turned her lustrous head away, thinking he was too good at mind-reading. ‘Don’t we all have problems? I would have thought with your family background you would have wished to remain close to home. Yours is a working station—an important one, I understand. Or will your brother as the firstborn son inherit? You haven’t spoken of any other family members?’

  ‘That’s because there’s just Chuck and me. And of course Cheryl.’ He had to struggle to keep out the derisive note. ‘Dad is as fit as a fiddle—a big, strong, handsome man—but Gilgarra will eventually pass to both of us. The only reason for that is because Lincoln money really put Gilgarra on the map. I’m part of the deal. My mother looked after both her boys.’

  ‘But you were the favourite?’ She caught his silver-green eyes. ‘There’s always one.’

  ‘If I was my mother didn’t show it. At least I don’t think she did. In any case, Dad favoured Chuck.’

  ‘And who does your stepmother favour?’

  ‘I hope you’re not looking for an answer, Daniela?’ He gave her a swift, sidelong glance, cool and sizzling at the same time.

  She knew it was an incautious question, but she couldn’t seem to help herself. ‘So you thought striking out on your own was the best policy?’

  ‘I should have done it years ago, but Dad really needed me. Gilgarra needed me.’

  ‘Your father and Chuck can’t do the job on their own?’

  ‘They’re going to have to,’ he said. ‘Are you finished with the questions?’

  ‘For the time being,’ she said lightly. Nothing could subdue the dangerous sense of excitement that shimmered between them.

  She didn’t see the homestead until they had broken out of the luminous green and gold speckled light beneath the crossed arms of sentinel trees. Then the broad circular driveway welcomed them, its fine gravel a dazzling white under the hot sun.

  The word that immediately sprang to Daniela’s mind for the homestead and its setting was an old one—picturesque. She sensed that for many years it had been a happy place. Alana had told her her mother had been killed in a tragic car crash with her father at the wheel. That would have been an awful lot of grief to contend with. Since then she had learned Alana’s father had never thrown off an unwarranted sense of guilt. It appeared that guilt in the end had become too much for him.

  She had taken for granted she was the only person Carl had invited, but a young woman was there before them. Lilli Denby. She was leaning back against the side of a silver Mercedes sports car, looking for all the world like a top model on a shoot. As they approached she made a move away from it, dropping her turquoise shoulder bag to the ground. It was impossible to tell if Lilli looked pleased Linc had a female with him. Lilli was wearing designer sunglasses with big black lenses, a stylish floppy-brimmed white hat on her blond head. A very trendy turquoise, black and white trapeze dress skimmed her ultra-slim body. Turquoise sandals were on her feet.

  ‘It looks like your friend Lilli beat us to it.’ Daniela spoke casually even though she was shrinking inside. She hadn’t taken to two out of the three Denby sisters—Alana’s cousins. Rose, the youngest, was by far the nicest, but Rose’s two elder sisters had come across as incredibly snobbish. ‘You might have told me she’d be here as well.’

  ‘Oh, that?’ he remarked dryly. ‘The thing is Lilli neglected to tell me. You know perfectly well I didn’t invite her.’

  ‘That’s okay. I believe you. You may well not have invited her today.’ Going on what she had witnessed at the wedding, women threw themselves at him. It made her shiver. ‘The wedding was obviously the start of a beautiful friendship.’

  He glanced at her, a glint of amusement in his cool silver-green eyes. ‘I promise she won’t stay long.’

  They all stood out in the dazzling sunlight. A flight of brilliantly plumaged lorikeets flew through the iridescent air, heading for the wealth of nectar-bearing grevilleas. ‘Hello there, Lilli,’ Linc called in his dark-timbred sexy voice. ‘You’re looking for me?’

  ‘Who else?’ she responded, with a sexy lilt of her own. ‘I was on my way into town, so I thought I’d stop on the off-chance you were here.’

  ‘You were lucky.’ Linc smiled down at her, his deep dimples coming into play. ‘The property was only settled yesterday.’

  ‘I know.’ She whipped off her sunglasses to give him an ‘insider’ smirk.

  ‘Really? It wasn’t exactly front-page news.’

  Lilli’s big blue eyes sparkled. ‘We Denbys have our sources.’

  He’d already learned that. The Denbys were an old family, but as far as he could gauge not terribly well liked. ‘You know Daniela, of course.’ Linc turned his head towards Daniela, standing so quietly.

  Now Lilli’s gaze held outright condescension. ‘Didn’t we meet at Guy’s wedding?’ She frowned, as though to place Daniela. ‘Ah, yes! You work at your family’s little bistro in town, don’t you?’

  ‘Let’s just say I’m helping out,’ Daniela answered with composure. Over the years she had met many women more arrogant than Lilli, and heaps further up the social scale.

  ‘We must try to pop in some time,’ Lilli said, as though the experience would amuse her. Immediately she turned back to Linc. ‘Any chance of seeing through the house?’ She twisted an arm through his.

  ‘You’re joking?’ he scoffed. ‘You must have been here countless times, what with Alana and Kieran being your cousins?’

  Lilli gave a little grimace. ‘Actually, while their dad was alive we stayed away. He wasn’t the easiest man in the world. Quite the rough diamond, in fact. It was Alana’s mother who was the Denby. Surely Guy told you?’

  Daniela felt herself cringe at the snobbery and tried to disguise it.

  Linc’s answer was level enough. ‘He didn’t get into bloodlines, Lilli. It was Alana who told me you and your sisters are her first cousins. So how long is it since you’ve been here?’

  Lilli hooted. ‘Too long to tell. I’m sure you�
�re going to want to do the place up?’ She controlled a splutter of laughter, as though the homestead was all but falling down. ‘Perhaps give a housewarming party? Is that why Ms Adami is here?’

  Linc shook his curly raven head. ‘Daniela is here at my invitation.’

  Lilli picked up quickly on the steely note in his voice. ‘Ouch!’ She gave a tiny mock screech. ‘No offence, Daniela.’

  ‘None taken.’ Daniela inclined her elegant head. ‘I’ve handled many a housewarming party over the last few years.’ She could have dropped a few world celebrity names, but she didn’t. Her clients trusted her—and her discretion.

  ‘Well, shall we go inside?’ Linc put a good face on it. It was just impossible to get rid of Lilli, he thought. She had a remarkably thick skin. More than anything he had wanted Daniela to be the first one he showed over Briar’s Ridge, but now Lilli had made her move. In a way she reminded him a bit of Cheryl. Cheryl, too, liked to take the initiative.

  Lilli stayed perhaps thirty minutes, prodding Linc in the chest as she pointed out an endless list of things she considered had to be done. Not a room escaped criticism, nor he her little prods, accompanied by some sort of complicit grin. Daniela might not have been there for all Lilli included her in the conversation.

  ‘Lilli, if you’re interested you’re going to leave me black and blue,’ Linc said, not altogether in jest.

  ‘A big strong guy like you?’ She eyed him appreciatively from head to toe.

  Lilli was definitely interested, Daniela thought. She would have found out all she needed to know about Linc Mastermann—a few comments from Guy, the rest on the pastoral grapevine. Neither Violette nor Lilli was currently in a steady relationship, she understood from Alana. She thought of Alana with nostalgia. She was a wonderful young woman, as lovely inside as out. So far as her cousins were concerned, Linc Mastermann must have appeared on the scene like God’s gift to women.