Pointing Leaf

by Lakes, Lynde

  She hung up, fighting disappointment.

  Toni fed Hero then headed for the shearing barns. She crossed her fingers that one of men had seen something to help her. The full orchestra of buzzing made her believe everyone was back to work in full swing. She was relieved no one had suffered lingering effects from the drugged water.

  From the snack wagon outside the barn, Toni grabbed a quick cup of tea and a scone covered in kiwi jelly. She didn’t have to wait over five minutes for the sheepmen to take their break. She questioned each man to get a line on any stranger who might’ve visited Tinihanga at the station in the past couple of months. The men, angry at Tinihanga, cooperated and provided her with a list of names.

  “Most of those men are probably only business connections for the operation of the station,” the last man said.

  He was probably right, but the lead had to be checked out. She returned to the den, called her office manager and quickly read the names on the list to him.

  Next she discussed the arrangements for Damon’s funeral and disbursements to his family. Then she said, “Look, Chuck, Tinihanga had to have met with this Duke guy sometime.” She twisted the telephone cord around her fingers. “See what you can find out about each man. Stay on it. Time is running out, and we can’t let Mr. Murdoch lose his station.”

  She didn’t ask Chuck to check on the monitoring devices that hadn’t been delivered. He’d already gotten the run-around once. It was time to call the president of the company herself.

  Toni dialed and waited for her call to be transferred through two secretaries. Her patience had worn thin by the time Mr. Donnelly came on the line. “I ordered the devices on October 6th,” she said firmly, “and was promised a special delivery within three days. I’m still waiting! Delays in my business can be costly, even deadly.”

  “I’m very, very sorry, Miss Conners. Your order got mixed in with a big merchandise requisition we shipped to Sydney. Nothing like this has ever happened before, and I assure you it’ll never happen again.”

  “I need the monitors now,” she said flatly.

  “Your order was returned to our warehouse this morning, and I’ve already sent a special messenger to deliver it to you. You should receive it later this afternoon.”

  She would believe it when she saw it. Toni slammed down the receiver harder than necessary. She glanced at her watch, wishing Rad would call. It was already 3:30 p.m.

  Toni dropped down on the couch and petted Hero, feeling far too fond of him and far too comfortable in Rad’s home. Pushing a dangerous longing from her mind, she called the Director of The Sheepman’s Association.

  “I suppose Rad has told you rustlers have repeatedly hit his station,” she told the director when he came on the line.

  “Yes,” he said. “It’s a concern to me. Not only for Rad’s sake, but any one of us could be next.”

  The director agreed to fax a list of all the members and a map showing the location of every ranch on the island.

  “It’ll be a day or two before I can assemble and get it to you,” he said.

  “My secretary’s out sick, and I’m up to my ears in backlog.”

  She hung up the telephone feeling frustrated. Another day had passed, and she still wasn’t any closer to learning the identity and whereabouts of the elusive man called Duke.

  Toni went outside to the dinner chuck wagon. She took some lamb bones for Hero and made a salad for herself and carried everything back to the house to eat in Rad’s den.

  She didn’t have much of an appetite. Hero ate heartily. He’d stuck by her, following her all over the ranch as though he’d appointed himself her protector in Rad’s absence. He was stealing her heart, just as his master had done. She glanced at the silent telephone, willing Rad to call. She wouldn’t feel at ease until she knew Taureka was completely out of danger.

  Toni stood, paced a few steps, then trailed her fingers over the bindings of the books in the floor-to-ceiling bookshelf. There were dozens of books on Maori history and equally as many on English history. She thumbed through a couple of them. Many of the pages were dog-eared from use. Rad must have spent a great deal of time studying his dual histories. Would he ever know himself and be comfortable in his skin? One of the Maori books captured her interest, and she read for several hours. His people had faced terrible prejudice, yet they had survived, strong and vital. Reading about his people’s determined struggle made her understand him a little better.

  Door chimes echoed through the house, startling her. It was late for visitors. She turned on the porch light and checked the peephole. A uniformed delivery man held a parcel and a clipboard. She quickly opened the door.

  “I don’t usually deliver this late,” the young man said. “But since the mail room goofed, I get overtime. The boss said your package should’ve been delivered days ago.”

  She took the parcel from him. It was heavier than she expected. “Yes, and it’s very important. If you’ll wait I’ll get you something for your trouble.”

  “The company took care of it, Miss Conners. Just sign here.”

  After scrawling her name, and thanking him for coming out so late, Toni ripped off the wrapping paper. At last the monitors and radio beeper! Now they had a fighting chance against the rustlers.

  It was too late to install the beeper in one of Rad’s trucks. But for a foolhardy moment, she thought about riding out to the pasture and attaching monitors to some of the sheep. Then she decided against the dangerous idea.

  She rubbed her eyes, suddenly feeling exhausted.

  In the bedroom, she stripped off her clothes, and crawled nude between the sheets, too tired to even slip on a nightgown.

  Drifting on the edge of deep sleep, she found herself on the top of the dormant volcano cone, One Tree Hill. It was still daylight. Nearby, a phallic shaped stone monument pierced the sky over Auckland, marking this important Maori pa site where tribal chief and the tohunga, wise man, lived.

  She’d been there before during her first week in the city.

  A blanket of green smoothed over a deep dormant crater fire pit and the surrounding ridged lava terraces. The slopes were dotted with purple and yellow wild flowers that fluttered in a salty breeze. Why was she on this city landmark? How did she get here?

  Suddenly, as though someone had pulled down a shade, darkness came. City lights below blinked on. She looked out over Auckland’s skyline, aware of the bustling night life going on in the clubs, restaurants and theaters.

  She wore a long, sleek white opera gown slit up one side, long gloves, heels, jewels, hair swept up, very much the sophisticated city woman.

  A city lover like herself should be down there among the people, the excitement. Oddly, she was content here, smelling the fragrant grass, watching fireflies, and waiting for the unknown.

  She stirred for a moment from her dream at the sound of an approaching car. Probably it was one of the workers returning after a night in Rotorua.

  Settling back into her dream, Toni felt her curiosity building. She’d been alone on the hill. Now she sensed someone in the shadows, smelled his male scent, felt his predatory hunger. Her heart pounded.

  Out of a steamy mist he came toward her, stalking, coming closer, waist-length black hair flowing in the breeze, dressed only in a loin cloth. It was too dark to see his face clearly. But she recognized the wide shoulders, arms thickened by years of wrestling sheep, and muscled well-formed legs.

  His breathing was even and sure, while her own was uneven and hesitant. She backed up a few steps. The aura of feral hunger emanating from him alarmed her.

  The soft glow of moonlight bathed his chiseled features masked with fierce Maori war-paint. Toni trembled as her foggy mind dredged up truths mixed with lies. Maori’s were once cannibals. He’s brought other women here, the note had said. But he didn’t bring her to this spot. How had she gotten here?

  Rad’s dark eyes glinted with fire and determination. He closed the space between them in a warrior’s stride a
nd roughly drew her into his arms. Giving no resistance, she molded to his hard length, feeling his throbbing heat and her own vulnerability. She looked up, admiring his strong cheek bones, straight nose, and the lips she’d tasted before and suddenly wanted very much to taste again.

  “No!” she cried, breaking away from him. She didn’t dare to look into his eyes, knowing their power. She gestured to his loin cloth and her gown with a trembling hand. “Don’t you see? I’m a city woman, and you’re a cannibal in a loin cloth. We don’t belong together.”

  He looked down at himself, then at her.

  “Easy to fix,” he growled, grabbing the front of her gown. He yanked; the sound of the silk ripping and his raw power released her gasp of shock. Heated excitement followed, shocking her more than his savagery.

  He tore away her jewels and gloves and flung them into the mist that slowly spiraled around them.

  Now she was naked and trembling, uncertain if it was in fear or anticipation. The glint in his dark eyes told her he wasn’t through yet. One more jerk and his loin cloth dropped to the ground beside the shadowy pile of white silk. He stood before her gloriously bare, with only tattoos covering his hips.

  “Now,” he said in a deep voice, “we’re free of all barriers, ripe to claim our love.”

  “Yes. Yes.” He made perfect sense, didn’t he?

  Caught in a web of curiosity and desire, Toni only vaguely heard pounding on her bedroom door. Was it distant native drums, or her own heart pounding out of control?

  If someone was at her door, they’d have to wait until hell froze over. There was no way she’d leave this dream until its climax.

  In the glow of moonlight, Rad drew her down to the lush grass beneath the shelter of the lone totara tree.

  She reached for him. Then in a quick roll and shift of weight he captured her beneath him, his hands entwined with hers, pinning them above her head.

  Rad teased her lips with feathery touches. Tiring quickly of the teasing, she caught his lower lip between her teeth, unwilling to let go until he sought the depths of her mouth with hot, moist abandon. She arched against him. He moaned and plunged his tongue, seeking sensitive membrane.

  He released her hands and, ever so slowly, slid his palms down her arms. Then he was touching her everywhere,slowly, sensually, bringing a fever, bringing her to the edge. “Now, now,” she murmured against his lips.

  Wait! Something had gone terribly wrong! The scene had shifted. Toni dug her nails into her palms, fighting the throbbing unfulfilled desire. She was no longer under the totara tree with Rad, no longer the one beneath him answering his hungry kisses. She was standing alone by the monument watching.

  A woman’s long, black hair tangled with Rad’s.

  Toni tightly closed her eyes, capturing burning tears in her crushed eyelashes, unwilling to watch him make love to his Maori woman.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  After the doctors removed Taureka from the intensive care rolls and transferred him to the prison hospital, Rad and Tukaha had caught the next flight out of Auckland. With his brother out of danger, Tukaha wanted to get home to his wife, and Rad was impatient to get back to Toni. After almost losing her to Taureka’s dagger, he’d feared leaving her alone for long.

  Although late when the taxi pulled up in front of the ranch house, Rad had hoped she’d still be awake. He wanted, needed to see her, hold her.

  Toni didn’t answer his light tap on her bedroom door, but he knew she was in there. He could smell her rose fragrance through the door, or imagined he did.

  In long, frustrated strides, he’d returned to his room and climbed into bed. He turned on his side and watched the dark silhouette of the leafy branch outside his window bow in the breeze.

  She may’ve taken a sleeping pill. Of course there was always the chance she’d heard and chosen not to answer. If she cared too much to trust herself to be alone with him, it could be a good thing; a bad thing would be if she’d thought he’d come to make love and didn’t want his touch ever again.

  All he’d thought about while in Auckland was seeing her, loving her. He should have pounded on the door, but the huge chasm between their lifestyles stopped him.

  Conceivably, she could be lying in the darkness now, fighting her own desires, knowing that in the end they’d have to part. It tormented him to imagine her night might be as restless and sleepless as his, and he wasn’t doing anything about it. He thrashed around in bed until his sheets tangled and slid partly to the floor. He sat up and punched his pillow a couple of times. Finally, he pulled on jeans and a T-shirt, grabbed his jacket and headed for the barn, but he couldn’t sleep well there either. Instead of smelling the hay around him, he smelled roses. He saw her image illuminating the darkness above him, her many faces and moods changing like the wind, some provoking, yet all captivating and enchanting.

  ****

  He rose early the next morning. Minimal sleep and six cups of coffee had him wired. He tapped the table impatiently.

  “Too much of that stuff’ll rot your insides,” Tukaha said.

  “It’s what I need right now,” Rad said.

  “We both know what you need, boss.”

  Rad narrowed his eyes. “And what would that be?”

  Tukaha paused from his cooking and placed fresh cut roses from the garden in the center of the table.

  Rad glared at them. Their fragrance brought forth images of Toni, her eyelashes closed in dark crescents, her mouth curved in a tiny smile as she slept soundly, oblivious to the storm raging within him.

  “Why don’t you wake her?” Tukaha asked, pouring pancake batter onto the grill. “You know you want to.”

  “Aren’t those pancakes done yet? All I want is to eat in peace.”

  Tukaha chuckled. “A man doesn’t need peace until he’s dead. What a hot blooded ram like you needs is warmth and fire, and Miss Toni is definitely a fiery lady.”

  Rad slammed the flat of his hand down on the table. “I’ve heard quite enough from you this morning, so kuti, old friend!”

  ****

  The aroma of bacon and coffee awakened Toni. She glanced at the clock on the night stand. The time she’d slept felt like minutes, but her mind was alert. Now that she had the monitors, she felt confident they’d lead her to Duke.

  Excitement gripped her as she heard the deep rumble of Rad’s voice coming from the kitchen. He was talking to Tukaha. So it was their taxi she’d heard! Her surge of exhilaration plunged as she remembered the way her dream had ended. She hated him. Hated the Maori woman.

  Rad bellowed something in Maori to Tukaha. In spite of herself, she smiled and shook her head. The man could be a bear in the morning. Even when he was irritable, his voice sounded good to her. Toni’s excitement renewed, and she buried the resentment. After all, it was only a dream.

  Grabbing clean clothes, she hurried to the bathroom. She hastily ran a comb through her hair, checked her gun, and strapped on her shoulder holster. She could hardly wait to tell Rad about the monitors. That should improve his mood.

  Her steps slowed. What if their sudden return meant Taureka had died? No. She refused to believe that.

  ****

  Rad turned when he heard the light footsteps behind him. Toni’s aqua sweater deepened the green in her eyes to a luminous jade. Her jeans fit snugly around a small waist and curved provocatively over firm hips. That thick auburn hair looked as though she’d barely run a comb through it, a little rumpled and sexy. He wanted to grab her, draw her close and feel that sensational body pressed against his. The gun holstered under her arm reminded him she was there to do a job.

  She’d been strictly professional until danger and a sense of futility had drawn them together. They hadn’t planned it; he didn’t want to embarrass her by pursuing something that shouldn’t have happened. A city woman like Toni would never settle for a dusty sheep rancher.

  ****

  Toni paused in the doorway, feeling uncharacteristically restrained. Rad gripped a st
eaming cup of coffee with both hands as though he feared that if he let go he’d lose control. His unapproachable look stopped her from rushing into his arms. Perhaps it was for the best; the intimacy between them should never have happened. He wanted a Maori woman; even her own dreams confirmed her sub-consicious awareness of that. She would pretend the lovemaking never happened, or tear her heart out trying.

  “Toa Mumu, did you sleep well?” Tukaha asked.

  She nodded, warmed by his caring tone and big smile.

  “Thought you’d be hungry when you got up,” he said, placing a platter

  of golden pancakes on the table.

  She went to him and kissed his leathery cheek. “Your smile must mean your brother is okay.”

  “Yes, thank Atua and everyone who helped to capture him alive.”

  Rad stood and held a chair out for her. She noticed he had shaven. A musky scent of aftershave wafted over her. She repressed the desire to touch the smooth contours of his face.

  Tukaha poured some coffee into her cup and placed a platter of bacon in front of her. She looked up at the old man and studied his eyes for signs of sorrow. “Please, tell me about your brother.”

  “He’s doing fine. Better than he deserves,” Tukaha said without any trace of bitterness. “The authorities transferred him to the prison ward. Know a good solicitor?”

  She’d recently worked with a fine one Chuck had recommended, and the man hadn’t disappointed her. She’d later learned that he’d never lost a case. “Miles York is one of the best. I’ll give you his number.”

  “That’s what he needs,” Tukaha said, handing her a pad and pen. “He’s playing the crazy bit all the way, hoping to use that as a defense.”

  Tukaha sat down at the table and served himself a heaping portion of everything. They all ate silently for a few minutes. Toni wondered if Miles could help Taureka. The twin deserved punishment, but she hoped he would receive counseling and rehabilitation as well.

  “Maybe your brother has something there, trying for an insanity defense,” Toni said gently. “A man who dresses up like Manu-wuruhi-tane and spends most of his time alone in a dark cave isn’t what most people would call normal.”