Master of Moonrock

by Anne Hampson

  ‘She seems to have fallen out completely with the lubras,’ Dena went on. ‘Says they’re idle and dishonest and that in her day they’d have been thrown off the station, and that they should thank their lucky stars they’ve such a weakling for a boss.’

  Thane only laughed at this, as Dena knew he would, otherwise she would have guarded her tongue. However, Thane became serious as he asked what was going to happen when Dena left Moonrock.

  ‘I think you should make her have Prim or April,’ he advised. ‘And I should tell her you’re engaged to be married, so that the idea can sink in slowly and she’ll begin to realize that you won’t be here much longer. ’

  ‘I haven’t the heart, Thane.’ Dena looked troubled as she added, ‘I’ve told Ian that I’ll have to come back here every day - at least for a while.’

  Thane’s eyes opened very wide.

  ‘What sort of a marriage is that? When you’re wed your place is with your husband. No, you’re not coming here every day, so you can get that idea right out of your head.’ The implacability of his tone was quite sufficient to forbid any argument and Dena just shrugged and allowed the matter to drop. But she would not go to Alice, so Thane and Loren went alone. They would stay at least two nights, Thane told his foreman, but gave him instructions in case they made a longer stay.

  From the window of the light aircraft Loren looked down, over Thane’s lands, strewn with cattle languidly grazing beneath the warm sun. But after a while, as before, they left the boundaries and were flying over country of changing colour and vegetation - over dry semi-desert of mulga scrub and desert oak and emu-bush, to an even more stark world of desert and bare rock and spinifex scrub. It was a land of burnt-sienna and yellow-ochre, of tawny gibbers and serpentine creek beds, dry and sand-laden. Here and there a residual would stand, proudly defying the destructive forces of eons of time past, as it would for eons of time to come. The MacDonnell Ranges, red and purple in the sun’s brilliance, rose against a sky of pure sapphire sprinkled lightly with motionless wisps of cirrus cloud.

  It was a timeless haunting land, fearsome yet incredibly beautiful, treacherous because it beckoned and challenged, tempting man to conquer its hostility.

  Alice Springs, an oasis in the heart of the continent, surprised Loren by being much more modern than she had anticipated. It was a thriving town of wide streets shaded by coolibah and red gum trees; its shops were stocked with everything one could buy in any large town and the hotel to which Thane took her was modern with air-conditioning and a swimming-pool.

  ‘I’ll see you in about half an hour, in the lounge,’ Thane told her as she left him to follow the girl who was taking her to

  her room.

  After washing and changing Loren went downstairs to Thane; he was at the bar, talking to several men and Loren smiled to herself. Cattle ... was that what so engrossed the men? Thane glanced up, picked up his glass and came to her, asking what she would like to drink. When it was ordered and set before her at the small table Thane had chosen he told her that he had friends in Alice and had informed them of his visit.

  ‘I said we d be staying here and they’ve left a message. We’re invited to dinner this evening.’

  ‘Oh. ... ’ Loren was faintly disconcerted, not having expected to have any company other than Thane’s. ‘You said I would be with you?’

  ‘Of course,’ with some amusement as he looked into her face. ‘I brought you here, as a sort of treat, so obviously I’ve no desire to ditch you. ’

  She laughed then and her face cleared.

  ‘What are your friends like? Are they quite old?’

  ‘Old?’ He frowned at her. ‘Am I so ancient that you expect me to have friends who are old?’

  ‘No, I didn’t mean it like that,’ she returned, flashing him a glance. ‘But somehow I thought they must be retired - living in a place like this, I mean, because there doesn’t seem to be much work.’

  ‘ There’s plenty of work with the tourists. However, as it happens Matthew and Serena Davis are retired, but they are still quite young for all that — about my age,’ he added, slanting her a quizzical glance and adding that perhaps, after all, his friends were fairly old. She said nothing to that, merely sending him another look of faint disgust and picking up her glass to take a drink. His friends were exceedingly lucky, Thane went on, as they had invested in a newly-formed mining company which had since expanded beyond all expectations owing to the discovery of vast areas of iron-ore deposits not far from the original, and comparatively small, deposits of the mineral.

  ‘And are they rich enough to retire?’ Loren looked across at Thane in some surprise.

  ‘Their money literally rolls in. They are in fact extremely wealthy, although you wouldn’t think so. Their bungalow is not large, though it did cost rather a lot to build. They live quietly but have expensive tastes in holidays, often going abroad for three or four months at a time. You’ll like them, Loren,’ he said with confidence, and he was right.

  They were on the verandah when Thane and Loren arrived, having walked from the hotel. Serena was small and slender with black hair and dark brown eyes. Her ready smile won an immediate response from Loren as the two girls shook hands on being introduced by Thane. Matthew was a tall lanky Australian, slow-spoken and tanned to a deep mahogany almost as dark as Thane’s.

  ‘This is certainly a pleasure, and a surprise,’ he drawled, indicating a chair. ‘ Thane told us about his ward - before you came - but we had no idea you were a young lady.’ Matthew looked at his friend with faint inquiry. ‘I’m sure you told us you were expecting a little girl?’

  ‘Well,’ returned Thane giving Loren a measuring look, ‘she isn’t very big.’

  ‘You know what Matthew means, Thane,’ cut in Serena. ‘We expected someone much younger.’

  A smile touched the corners of Thane’s mouth. Loren could almost imagine his telling his friends that a child was coming to live at Moonrock.

  ‘I’m afraid I’d forgotten, at the time I mentioned Loren, that five years had elapsed since I last saw her. I must admit that I didn’t really stop to think. Loren is almost eighteen now.’

  No more was said and after pre-dinner drinks on the verandah they went inside to have their meal. This was served to them by one of the two gins employed by the Davises and began with avocadoes stuffed with shrimps, after which they had roast turkey with all the trimmings, then a light, creamy sweet. Coffee was taken outside on to the verandah on a silver tray and they sat in the cool air and talked. As Thane had said, there was no real sign of wealth about the bungalow, although its fittings and furnishings were exquisite and of the highest quality. But it was comparatively small, white and trim, set among fig and orange trees with the inevitable gums providing complete privacy. The lush green lawns and flourishing gardens possessed a well-cared-for appearance without being too immaculate. Tropical flowers grew in borders - hibiscus and bougainvillea and lovely poinsettias. Perfumes floated on the still night air and rising as a backcloth was the rugged splendour of the MacDonnell Ranges, dark against the purple starlit sky.

  Much later Thane and Loren walked slowly back to their hotel, Thane’s arm about Loren’s waist, her head against his shoulder. In a dim and quiet corner of the hotel garden he drew her to him and kissed her. She sensed his restraint even while his strength caught and overpowered her. She knew an exquisite fear while he held her and a disappointment when she was released. His whispered ‘Good night’ was a caress, his hands on her face an endearment. But why this tenseness? Yes, there was a tenseness about him... and a quality of indecision which was altogether wrong in a man of his strength of character. Loren felt oddly hurt by his manner, and yet she could not have found a reason no matter how hard she tried. She managed a husky ‘good night’ in response to his and he yawned suddenly, inhaling a draught of clean cold air, and lifting a hand from her arm to place it before his mouth. He told her to sleep well, as he left her at her bedroom door a few minutes later, but for a l
ong while she tossed about, jerking herself from the pull of sleep and trying to make a conscious attempt to shape her disconnected strands of thought. Something was not quite right in her relationship with Thane. She had been so confident that he loved her, but now the first spark of doubt was appearing.

  Between the resiliency of youth, and the determination to gather happy memories while on this little trip with Thane, Loren managed without much difficulty to forget her misgivings and give herself up to the enjoyment which Thane had planned for her.

  Their first choice of sightseeing excursions being that to Ayers Rock, they flew there the following morning, over bristling mulga and spinifex, above deep red earth planed down from the original mountains to a monotonous landscape, harsh and unyielding. The Rock was streaked with gold; Thane told her that in the sunrise it glowed like fire and that just before sundown it underwent a dramatic transformation from smouldering red to flaring orange and then through a series of equally dramatic changes from crimson to indigo and finally to purple. Its form was just as intriguing as its colour contrasts. A gargantuan monolith of metamorphosed rock soaring to well over a thousand feet, it rose from the desert in almost vertical cliffs. In its caves were ancient Aboriginal drawings and these were shown to Thane and Loren by the guide. The paintings depicted great events in the lives of these primitive peoples; this was part of their ‘Dreamtime’ landscape and here they had left evidence of their myths and tribal history. Loren was intrigued by the paintings and as Thane showed no sign of impatience she wandered about the caves for a very long while. After that they climbed to the summit and looked out over the flat desert surface to the distant mountain ranges, dark against the sapphire sky.

  The next day Thane hired a car and they drove to King’s Canyon, travelling through sandhill country, vivid red in colour and shimmering in the heat. They took a trip to the Canyon and Thane decided to stay the night so that they could attend the barbecue, and they made an early start for Alice the following day.

  ‘I’ve had a wonderful time!’ Loren exclaimed as they flew home in the late afternoon. ‘Thank you, Thane, for taking me.’

  He turned his head, and she again sensed an indecision about him, a new complexity which defied her comprehension. Her brow furrowed and his eyes took on a quizzical gleam.

  ‘What is it, my dear?’ Lazy tones, yet by no means conveying the impression of asking an idle question. On the contrary, he seemed interested in her answer, rather disproportionately so.

  ‘Nothing. I just thanked you.’ Awkwardness assailed her, an awkwardness similar to that which she had experienced on coming to Moonrock and meeting Thane face to face after a period of five years.

  ‘So you did, though it wasn’t necessary, Loren. I needed a little break myself, just to relax and think about other things besides cattle,’ he added with a hint of humour.

  Her smile broke and because of the expression in his eyes her tiny fears of the night before last dissolved completely.

  That expression was unmistakably of the kind a man keeps only for the woman he loves.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Loren sat opposite to Janet at dinner and watched her fluttering her lashes at Thane. Although it was only a few hours since her cousin’ s arrival at Moonrock Loren had already been hit forcibly by the recollection of Dena’s words, ‘You aren’t very clever, are you - bringing in competition?’

  ‘Do you remember that Christmas party, Thane?’ The question came from Janet and Loren went red. Thane laughed at Loren across the table, and slanted an eyebrow in a gesture which plainly said, ‘Don’t be silly - getting all embarrassed like that.’ Loren’s quivering smile broke and she felt warm and reassured because she was convinced that had Thane been near enough, he would have sought her hand under the table, and given it a tender little squeeze.

  ‘Indeed yes.’ Thane turned his head as he replied to Janet’s question. ‘I could hardly forget it, seeing it was the last occasion on which I saw your parents — although I didn’t know it at the time, of course.’

  Silence, with Janet clearly deflated. Dena, on whom Janet’s flirt-play had not been lost, brought down one eyelid in that slow fashion which Loren had seen on one or two previous occasions. Gran Amelia, who was having one of her good days, had her piercing eyes fixed on Janet, while Prof and Stew had merely exchanged glances and then concentrated on their food.

  “Your parents have been dead only about five months, I believe?’ from the old lady at length, and Janet nodded, a tiny flush of anger tingeing her face. ‘Your loss is new, then.’ Gran Amelia’s pale eyes moved, to settle on Loren. “You were greatly distressed, I remember, and even now you appear to be sad when you mention your aunt and uncle.’

  A small frown appeared on Loren’s brow; she was not, feeling particularly pleased with Janet, because of her manner with Thane, but on the other hand she had no desire to add to the discomfiture she was obviously experiencing.

  To Loren’s relief Dena spoke, changing the subject

  altogether, and from then on the conversation took on a light and casual vein.

  Afterwards Thane walked with Loren, under the stars, with the silence of the bush all around them, and the dim shapes of cattle on the moon-flushed grasslands. Thane was not very talkative, but his arm about her was the only assurance she desired. Why had she been afraid when Janet turned on the charm for Thane’s benefit? Thane had not responded to it, not in any way at all.

  ‘Shall we turn back, darling?’ The low drawl brought an instant smile to her lips. Darling. For the first time he had called her this. She was warm inside and deliriously happy and content. Thane’s had not been the swift, demanding and brief courtship she would have associated with his particular personality, but although this puzzled her from time to time she was not in the least troubled by it. Hadn’t she herself desired a period of ‘going steady’? It was the prelude to an engagement and a wedding and a honeymoon. She liked the waiting, and the excitement of expectancy. Thane would propose to her in his own good time. ‘I’m rather tired, dear,’ Thane was continuing when she did not reply to his question.

  ‘I promised myself an early night.’

  “You should take a siesta,’ she told him as they turned and began retracing their steps along the bush track. ‘Back home, when I learned about this custom, I thought it was a waste of time, but now I realize it has some real value. You start again, so refreshed, and you seem almost to have another day in front of you. ’

  He nodded in agreement, but said he always had work to do. ‘Perhaps, later, I’ll change my routine.’

  She sent him a sideways glance from under her long curling lashes. His profile was set, unreadable, but she knew that he was thinking about the future and perhaps deciding that he would not work so hard ... not when he had a wife.

  Dena had gone to bed when they got back to the homestead, and of course Gran Amelia had gone immediately after dinner. Prof and Stew had left to go back to their respective bungalows, so Janet was sitting alone on the verandah, on a chair by the trailing passion-fruit vine.

  ‘Have you been on your own long?’ Loren inquired anxiously, because her cousin did look rather lost and lonely.

  ‘No, only a few minutes. Dena stayed and talked to me, but she was yawning, so I said I’d be quite all right on my own. Isn’t it still and silent?’ she ended in a rather awed tone. ‘No lights other than those over there.’ She pointed to the colony of stockmen’s bungalows.

  ‘You get used to it.’ Loren’s eyes were dreamy, her lips still warm from her lover’s kiss. ‘I adore it; did so right from the beginning.’ She and Thane were standing close. Dropping his hand on her shoulder he said,

  ‘I’ll leave you to women’s talk. Good night, dear. Good night, Janet.’

  ‘Dear?’ sharply as Janet’s big round eyes followed the tall departing figure of Thane as he crossed the verandah and entered the house through the French window. ‘Does he call everyone dear?’ Loren merely shook her head and Janet said, eyei
ng her disbelievingly, ‘He’s not fallen for little you—?’ She laughed suddenly, a derisive laugh but harsh too, and Loren frowned as the sound grated on her ears. ‘Impossible! ’

  Colour flooded Loren’s cheeks. Inwardly her temper flared, the same temper which had been responsible for that vicious kick Thane had once received. But she managed to control herself and all she said was,

  ‘It isn’t impossible, Janet. Thane likes me very much.’

  No sound for a long moment. Janet swallowed as if her throat were blocked.

  ‘Are you trying to tell me that he’s in love with you?’ she inquired stiffly at last.

  ‘Well—’ Loren hesitated, unwilling to go too far just in case she were eventually to look a fool, which would undoubtedly be the case should she have made a mistake about Thane’s feelings for her. A soft sweet smile came to hover on her lips, lips that in recent moments had been so tenderly - and so possessively -kissed. How could she have made a mistake? Thane made no attempt to hide his feelings for her, not even from others. All the men talked of the Boss having fallen for the little pommy who had come to Moonrock as his ward. Loren knew this because Prof had told her. Stew had declared she had worked a miracle and even Dena would sometimes shake her head in disbelief when Thane displayed his feelings for Loren by some tender look or word. ‘I think he’s in love with me,’ Loren ended as her cousin threw her an interrogating glance.

  Another silence followed this rather halting remark. Janet stirred in her chair; it was a restless and an impatient movement. Loren sat down, going over the earlier conversation she had had with her cousin immediately on her arrival when Loren had gone into her room as Janet was unpacking her suitcases. Loren had naturally begun to express sympathy over the broken marriage but had been interrupted by Janet’s saying, ‘Don’t waste your time, Loren. It’s a relief to be without him. I know now that I never really loved him.’