by Margaret Way
“Big secret, is it?”
She didn’t smile and she had the most beautiful smile in the world. Lovely white teeth, finely cut mouth. An aristocrat yet with no vanity or ostentation. “I guess you’re going to know about it soon enough,” she said, “but I’d like you to keep it to yourself.”
“Sure.”
She nodded, knowing he was as close lipped as she was and very loyal. “Let’s walk down to the creek, shall we?”
He dared not speak. What could he say? I’d walk to the ends of the earth with you? He’d been on Coronation Hill the best part of two years with hardly a day when she hadn’t been stuck in his head. Truth be known he was well and truly smitten with Ms Meredith McKendrick. Enormous effrontery but he’d learned from early childhood how to cover up his feelings. The men, never slow to catch on, hadn’t a clue, though Tom, the retiring overseer, had muttered to him just before he left: “Reckon you could handle McKendrick, son. Why don’t you have a go?”
He would, too, only he had precious little to offer a woman like Meredith McKendrick. He couldn’t even offer her a clean name. All because of Lancaster! It had been tough growing up, as he had, in a family with various shades of blond hair when his was as black as a crow’s wing. His eyes, instead of being the Lockharts’ azure-blue, were more gold than brown. Eyes were a dead give-away. They showed one’s ancestry. Meredith, for instance, had the McKendrick eyes. They were so blue in some lights they looked purple. Cal had his mother’s eyes—dark green with a jewel-like quality. Steve was barely ten when he discovered his “foreign” colouring didn’t come from his mother’s side of the family as she had always claimed. His colouring came directly from Gavin Lancaster.
He remembered hiding out on the verandah, listening to his mother crying in the bedroom until her tears must have blinded her. He remembered Jim Lockhart berating her, full of an impotent rage now the secret was out. No one could touch Gavin Lancaster. He was too powerful. But Gavin Lancaster could make life very hard for a stockman like Jim Lockhart and his family. He had two half brothers and a half sister. All of them, including his mother, had long since packed up and moved to New Zealand, putting the Tasman between them. The Outback was Lancaster’s territory. A man needed to be frightened of Gavin Lancaster and his vengeance.
All except him. He sure as hell wasn’t frightened. He had remained. No one was going to separate him from the land he loved. Certainly not the man who had sired him.
He followed Meredith’s lead down to the bubbling stream, a small tributary of a much larger billabong, their boots bruising hundreds of tiny wildflowers he thought were native violets.
“Let’s sit here,” she said, sinking wearily onto the pale golden sand and throwing off her wide-brimmed hat. She had beautiful hair…long and thick and gleaming, burnished at the temples with streaks the colour of champagne. He would love to see it out, streaming over her shoulders. A dream?
Slowly, he lowered his long length beside her—he was six-three—relishing the moment but keeping a respectful distance. “Problems?” he asked, slanting her a glance. No one would have known he was suffocating inside, just to be near her. The two of them alone together. It rarely happened. He calmed himself, feeling the slick of sweat on his brow.
Meredith stared across the creek that could swell to a river in the Wet. The late-afternoon sun was flooding the area with light, throwing rose-gold bands across the rippling surface of the water. “I’m telling you this, Steven, because I trust you. Cal does, too.”
She was the only one to ever call him Steven. He loved his own name on her lips. “You know anything you tell me remains private.”
She nodded. “It will all come out eventually.”
“It can’t be that bad if it has to do with Cal?”
“I’m hoping with all my heart it will be good,” she burst out emotionally. “This all has to do with a woman.”
“Most things do.” He sounded solemn.
“The only woman for Cal,” Meredith said. “It started four years ago. Some of the family took a long holiday on a Barrier Reef island, a small privately run luxury resort. A friend of my aunt’s owns it. Our group, extended family and friends took over the island. It only caters to around thirty. On the island was a very beautiful young woman called Gina. She was working in the university vacation as a domestic, waitress, whatever was required. Cal fell madly in love with her and I could have sworn she fell madly in love with him. It was really something to see them together.”
“Sounds like it ended badly?” he said, feeling truly sorry. How could anything end badly with a guy like Cal McKendrick who had everything?
“Very badly,” Meredith said. “Gina left the island without saying a word to Cal. He was devastated. She didn’t say anything to me, either, though we quickly got to be friends. She did, however, speak to my aunt.”
Aah, Steve thought, gazing off to the opposite bank where graceful sprays of crimson flowers were blossoming amid the trees. The uppity Aunt Lorinda. A fearful snob like the rest of them except Cal and Meredith who were totally devoid of that defect.
“Gina told my aunt it was just a mad fling,” Meredith said quietly. “It didn’t look like it at the time. Anyway, Cal has never forgiven or forgotten her.”
“Yet he got himself engaged to Kym Harrison?”
Meredith ran a finger down her flushed cheek. “I know. But it was a big mistake. There’s always been a lot of pressure on Cal.”
“His shoulders are plenty wide enough,” Steve said admiringly.
She turned her face to him, surreptitiously studying his profile. Steven Lockhart was a great-looking guy, the golden eyes, the inky-black hair, the strong, regular features. He had an inherent authority to him. The Lancaster Legacy, though he’d bust anyone in the nose for saying it. “Cal thinks a lot of you, too.”
“That’s good,” he reacted with dry amusement. “I always get the impression your dad would like to see me move on.”
What could she say? I don’t know why my father is as he is? Maybe her father had intercepted one of her stray looks in their overseer’s direction. “That won’t happen while Cal’s around,” she assured him. “Cal is running the station, as you know. Dad has more or less semiretired. Cal’s very happy with you. Didn’t he leave you in charge?”
He turned his sleek black head to look smilingly into her eyes. “I thought you were?”
“Me?” She gave a bittersweet little laugh that nevertheless was music to his ears. “I’m not in charge of anything. No, that isn’t true. I run the office. I do lots of things.”
“Too smoothly,” Steve said, unconsciously echoing Cal. “You make the job look too easy. People take the super-efficient for granted. Anyway, go on. I want to hear this story. I’ve sensed, underneath, Cal is far from happy on the personal front.”
“Who is?” she asked, suddenly serious. “Are you happy, Steven?”
I’ve been happier than I’ve ever been in my life since I met you.
He couldn’t tell her that, instead he managed casually, “I’m happy sitting here with you. Or aren’t I supposed to say that?”
She caught the metallic glint. “You’ve got a big chip on your shoulder, Steven Lockhart.”
“I’ve got a big chip on both shoulders,” he commented. “That’s why I’m so well balanced. So this trip of Cal’s is connected to Gina?”
“It’s all about Gina. He’s dead-set on bringing her home.”
“What, here to Coronation?” That stopped him in his tracks.
“This is his home.”
“So they’ve reconciled after all this time?” he asked more quietly.
“There’s more.”
“Of course there’s more.” He picked up a pebble and sent it skittering across the ruffled surface of the water. “There’s always m
ore.”
Meredith could still feel the shock of her brother’s revelation. “Gina had a child, a little boy,” she said simply. “His name is Robert, Robbie.”
“And the child is Cal’s,” Steve finished for her.
Meredith released a pent-up breath. “Apparently he’s the image of Cal at the same age, even to the green eyes. He’s convinced Gina they should get married.”
Steve gave a little grunt. “So marriage it will be, knowing Cal. What do your parents think?” He knew perfectly well the McKendricks still had their hopes set on Kym Harrison, who was a nice enough down-to-earth person, but no match for Cal.
“They don’t know anything about it as yet,” Meredith told him, her tone tinged with worry. “It’s going to come as an enormous shock and they don’t like shocks. Cal rang me to tell me the news. Cal and I are very close.”
“I know that.” He picked up another pebble. He had to do something with his hands. “How do you feel about it? I mean, you have a nephew you didn’t know about.”
With a sigh she fell back against the sand, looking up at the luminous sky that was filling with birds homing into their nests. “And I can’t wait to meet him. It will be wonderful to have a little nephew to love. I want to love Gina, too. I know Cal has never stopped loving her. Cal feels very deeply. I could tell he was shocked out of his mind to find he had a son but I could hear the joy, as well. This is what he truly wants.”
Steve put a hand to his head, painfully aware of the length of her slender body beside his; the swell of her breasts, the curve of her hips, her lithe thighs and long legs. He got a tight rein on his feelings. Man, don’t let go or you’ll go straight to Hell! But didn’t she realise the way she was lying back like that presented a danger? He felt he was teetering on the brink. Relaxed around women, he was like a cat on a hot tin roof with Meredith. To counteract it he said almost sternly, “Why didn’t she tell him? I can’t see Cal turning his back on her, or his child!” The likes of Lancaster certainly, but not Cal McKendrick. “I don’t think I could forgive a woman for doing that to me. Just think what he’s missed out on. The boy must be…three?”
“They’ll have to work it out, Steven,” she said, and her voice wobbled a little. “Gina is from a migrant family. Italian. They had a sugar farm in North Queensland. Her heritage shows. She’s very beautiful.”
“More beautiful than you?” Now, why the hell had he said that? He never got too personal. It was taboo.
“Most certainly,” she said, flashes of excitement heating her body. She was deeply attracted to Steven Lockhart. She’d known that for a long time. Just as she knew his prime concern had to be survival. At twenty-eight he’d made overseer on one of the nation’s premier beef-producing stations, which was no mean feat. He was well paid, lots of perks. He had a future, providing he didn’t get on the wrong side of her father. An adverse word from Ewan McKendrick could harm him in the industry. There was no future as Gavin Lancaster’s illegitimate son. Lancaster refused to acknowledge him.
She shut her eyes, so now Steve was free to look down at her beautiful face. She had lovely clear skin, with a healthy gloss to it. He loved the soft dimple in her chin. He loved her finely cut mouth. He wanted to kiss it. So badly. He wanted to pull her long thick hair out of its plait. He wanted to arrange it the way he had often imagined himself arranging it around her face. “Don’t you want to hear you’re beautiful?” he asked, unable to keep some of the spiralling sensuality out of his voice.
Meredith’s dark blue eyes flew open. The very air was trembling.
“Not from you, Steven,” she said, swift and low.
He pulled back. Looked away. “Right! I get it. I’m out of line.” Some part of him wanted to teach her a lesson. One she wouldn’t forget. He wanted to reach for her and haul her into his arms. He could feel the dark force in him, the driving male need. Managed to get it under control, but hell, did it have some power!
“I’m not sure you do get it,” she said, swinging up into a sitting position. “I didn’t mean to offend you, Steven. I know that came out badly. I’m sorry. We’re rarely alone together. I’m nervous. What I was trying to say is, we can’t go anywhere.”
His golden eyes had sparkles of light in them. “I didn’t think we could, actually,” he returned, his tone as cutting as a blade.
She put out a shaking, conciliatory hand; let it hover. She was frightened to touch him. She was frightened what touching him might do to her. She could see the lick of sweat on his darkly tanned skin. She wanted to put her tongue to it. “I’ve hurt you.”
“Never, I hope.” He flashed her an upbraiding look. “Relax, Meredith. I’ve put the man back in the box. I’m the dumb employee again So when are they arriving?” Crisply, he changed the subject.
The snap in his voice stung. “Cal is coming home Saturday. Gina and Robbie will follow at a later date.”
And the Duke and Duchess didn’t know? Only Cal McKendrick could pull that off.
“Well, I hope with all my heart it comes off.” And he meant it. Cal McKendrick was not only his boss but a good friend, a supporter.
“That’s very nice of you, Steven,” she said softly, feeling, inexplicably, about to cry. And she never cried. She had learned early not to.
“I’m a sweet guy,” he said with an ironic twist to his truly sexy mouth.
“No, you’re not.” A little laugh escaped her. “You’re a good person but that’s not the same thing. You’re a very complex man. You’re carrying a lot of baggage.”
“And you’re not?” His black brows shot up in challenge. “Now, aren’t I being outspoken today?” Extreme sarcasm charged his expression.
She stared back at him, wanting for a long time to know all about his life, aware of his deep reserve. “It must have been tough for you growing up?” she asked gently. “When did you find out about Lancaster?” The question should come as no surprise. Everyone knew the story.
He was silent for so long she didn’t think he was going to answer. “I’m sorry if I’m intruding on a private grief. You don’t want to talk about it?”
“I’m surprised you want to hear,” he said, his mind spinning, as all of a sudden picturing himself having a child with her.
“No, you’re not!” She surprised him by saying. “You know I want to hear. I like you, Steven.”
“How very gracious of you, Ms McKendrick.” He didn’t hold the sarcasm back.
“Does it help to mock me?” she asked, turning her eyes on him.
“It does actually.” He shrugged. “The difficulties of our situation and so forth. To answer your question I found out that Lancaster had fathered me when I was around ten. The man I thought was my father, Jim Lockhart, had always been a bit uncertain of me. My mother explained away my colouring as being on her side of the family. She was a honey-blond. I was the black crow among all the white-feathered cockatoos. Lancaster, strangely no great womaniser, took a fancy to my mother—she was, probably still is, a very pretty woman. She said he raped her.” He laughed harshly. “You can bet your life it was a lie. That was just a story to serve up to poor old Jim. Even he wasn’t fooled. Lancaster didn’t have to rape any woman. He could have any woman he wanted. Mum loved Jim, the father of three of her children. But sleeping with Lancaster was like sleeping with a god. A wicked one at that. She wasn’t supposed to get pregnant.”
“But it happened.”
“It must have. I’m here. I’m so much like him we don’t need any DNA. They took off for New Zealand where Lockhart had family. I hear from them from time to time. Jim could never take to me, especially after, but he did his best.”
“So when was this? When were you on your own?” Sadness jolted her heart.
“Fourteen. I couldn’t go with them, too difficult for Jim, my mother explained, too destructive to the
marriage. I was sent to boarding school for the next three years. They must have had to dig deep. It was a top school. My friends came from Outback properties all over Queensland. That’s how I finished up as a station hand.”
“Who very quickly rose to the top,” she reminded him. “Have you ever spoken a word to Lancaster?”
“I couldn’t trust myself to speak to him,” Steve said, tasting violent anger at the back of his throat. “I despise the man. He’s supposed to be Gavin Lancaster, the big man, the cattle baron! He’s a spineless, gutless, wimp. One day we’re going to come face-to-face. One day—”
He broke off, his expression so dark, Meredith caught a glimpse of his inner demons. “You don’t need him, Steven. You’re going to make your mark on your own.”
“I intend to,” he said. Somehow he knew he was capable of extraordinary things. “You know, I’ve got half brothers everywhere. A Lancaster, two Lockharts. A half sister—she was a sweet little thing—yet I feel connected to no one. Cal comes the closest.”
Meredith’s tender heart smote her. She saw in her mind’s eye a vision of the fourteen-year-old left all alone while his family started a fresh life in another country. “Give me your hand,” she said very gently, reaching out to him.
His tall, powerful body went taut. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he warned, knuckles clenched white, obviously agitated when he was usually so in command.
“I want you to think of me as your friend.” It seemed very important to her he did. “Please, Steven. I told you. I like you. I…”
She never got to finish that hopelessly inadequate sentence. With an explosive oath, he lifted her forcibly, effortlessly into his arms, so she was lying across his chest, staring up into a face brilliant with a passion he couldn’t control.