Amorous Redemption

by Faye Hall

  Looking up ahead she noticed him hurriedly saddling the horse and rolling up his bedding.

  “We don’t have time. You need to get up and get ready to leave.”

  Still confused, Phoebe got up and righted her clothing. “But—”

  “But nothing!” he cut her off. Walking over to her, his hand grabbed her forearm tightly. “There are men on horses out there. If they find us we are both dead!”

  * * * * *

  Duncan pulled Phoebe behind him, needing to get her on a horse and as far away from here as possible. He knew she didn’t understand his urgency but he didn’t have the time now to explain why the men he’d seen couldn’t find them. He just needed to put as much distance between them and himself and Phoebe as possible. He couldn’t figure how these men had caught up to them so quickly, having been told by Simon that they were still a few days behind them. Nevertheless these hunters were on their tails.

  Lifting her onto the horse, Duncan went back to their smouldering fire and kicked dirt on it both to suffocate it and to hide it. Quickly he went back to their waiting horse and swung up into the saddle behind her.

  Reaching around her, he gripped the reins in his hand and quietly steered the horse into the thickest part of the surrounding bushland.

  “Where are we going?” Phoebe asked in barely more than a whisper.

  “Those men are over near the waterhole at the moment. It won’t take them long to find their way to our campsite though. I need to get us as far away from here as possible and make sure there’s no track for them to follow.”

  He wasn’t sure if she meant to but he felt her lean back into him. “Do you know who these men are, Duncan?”

  He didn’t want to answer her. He didn’t want her to know the shame of his past. Still part of him knew she at least deserved an explanation.

  “I owe some people money...people who would do anything to get it.”

  She glanced over her shoulder at him. “So those men are chasing you, not me?”

  Again he paused, knowing he was revealing parts of his life he never thought to ever tell another person.

  “Those men work for your fiancé, Phoebe.”

  Duncan felt her pulling herself away from him. “You owe money to Gordon?”

  His arm went around her waist, pushing her back against him. “It’s a lot more complicated than that.”

  * * * * *

  Phoebe tried not to fidget in the saddle but she couldn’t help herself. She had been so rushed this morning that she hadn’t managed to attend to her morning duties and now...well now nature was calling rather urgently.

  “Duncan, can we please stop now,” she finally asked, more out of necessity than want.

  “We need to keep moving, Phoebe” he replied. “I can’t be sure how far behind us those men are.”

  Again she fidgeted. “I need to stop, Duncan,” she demanded firmly, reaching forward to grab the reins.

  No sooner did he pull the horse to a complete halt was she sliding off the horse and running behind the thick scrub to attend to her business.

  “Hurry up, Phoebe,” he insisted. “The sooner I get you back to your family the safer it will be for us both.”

  Cautiously she walked from behind the thick Acacia barely a minute later, her concern over his statement filling her. There was no safety waiting for her where he was taking her. All there were was heartache and danger…and a life she wanted no part of.

  “I’m not coming with you, Duncan” she said softly yet determinedly.

  He dismounted the horse and walked slowly toward her. “I’ll tie you to the horse if I have to, Phoebe. I need to get you away from here and those men hunting me. You need to be back with your family. You’ll be safer there…you’ll be safer there than you’ll ever be with me.”

  She shook her head. “No, I won’t be, Duncan. Only death waits for me back home.”

  “How can you say that?” he asked, his confusion plain to see.

  Phoebe tried to hold onto her courage. “Because I know them, Duncan. I know what they are capable of.”

  He reached out to her but she flinched away from him avoiding his grip.

  “Please don’t take me back there, Duncan,” she pleaded with him. “Please.”

  He turned away from her, going to the horse and checking the saddles straps. “I have to take you back, Phoebe. I have no choice.”

  “I’m not going, Duncan” she insisted, holding strong. “You may claim not to have a choice, but I still do.”

  He turned to her, obviously annoyed by her continued stubbornness. “Damn it, Phoebe. There are far worse men out there your family could send after you than me.”

  “I don’t care,” she replied sternly. “Either you keep me safe away from what awaits me at Inkerman Downs Station or I shall find a man who can.”

  She stood firm watching as he approached her, his steps measured.

  “Have you any idea how dangerous it is for a woman such as yourself out here in the Australian bush?” he asked her. “We are miles away from civilization, and practically rubbing shoulders with creatures that either want to kill you or eat you.”

  “I don’t care,” Phoebe exclaimed, her stubbornness continuing. “I won’t go back there.”

  “But why?” he asked. “I don’t understand your continued resistance.”

  She felt her restraint crumbling under his continual questioning. She wanted to appear only a figure of strength before this man, but she knew her fear would be her weakness.

  “Have you any idea what it is like to live in fear each day not knowing what your family has planned for you?” she asked him, spitting the words at him like poison. “Have you any idea what it is like being afraid of every man you meet, wondering if this is the man your family has sold you to?”

  Phoebe took a steadying breath, feeling her tears threatening, knowing she had to reign back in some of her control.

  “I won’t go back, Duncan...not to my family, nor to Gordon. I will not go back to be the wife of some monster to be beaten and raped and treated little better than the scum on the bottom of his boot!”

  “But I don’t understand,” he asked, his brow furrowed in confusion. “If you were my fiancée—”

  “But I am not your fiancée!” Phoebe yelled back at him. “I am nothing more than your redemption!”

  “My redemption?” he asked.

  Watching as his face filled with clear annoyance at her choice of words, she began to wonder if she should have made that last remark about their relationship over the last few days.

  “My redemption?” he asked again. “You think I’ve been sleeping with you for money?”

  Feeling suddenly nervous at the stony cold tone in Duncan’s voice, Phoebe fidgeted with her fingers uncertainly.

  “Why else would a man like you be so eager to crawl between my thighs?” she asked, her words far harsher than she had intended.

  “Your family paid me to return you, sweetheart!” he exclaimed in an angry tone unlike any she had heard before. “They never paid me to sleep with you!”

  Phoebe struggled to hold back her tears. “My family would have paid you to do whatever you had to in order to get me to go back with you, Duncan...including seduce me.”

  She wiped a tear away from her cheek in pure frustration that she should show such weakness in front of this man.

  “You are no different to my fiancé,” she spat angrily. “I am nothing more to you than an exchange of goods for money.”

  She couldn’t understand why but he appeared pained upon hearing her words.

  “Exchange of goods?” he asked, his words laced with more hurt then irritation now. “You really think I was paid to seduce you? You actually think I was paid to sleep with you...to take your purity?”

  She nodded silently, not trusting herself to speak.

  Walking up to her, he stopped just inches from her, all harshness gone from his features.

  “It was you who walked past me at the
waterhole that day as naked as the day you were born. When I went to you, you didn’t push me away, nor did you tell me to stop. You welcomed me with open arms, Phoebe.”

  She let out a steadying sigh, knowing what he said to be true.

  “I had little choice. I was scared of what you might to do me should I refuse you.”

  Reaching his hand behind her head, his fingers laced in her hair. Pulling her to him, his lips embraced hers hard and painfully. Releasing her from his hold, Duncan took a single step back away from her.

  “Your family was paying me extra to ensure I didn’t sleep with you, Phoebe.” he spat the words at her.

  With that he turned away from her and walked back to the horse, swinging himself up into the saddle.

  “Get on the horse, Phoebe. I need to get you away from those men hunting us out there before they do far worse to you than just return you to your family.”

  She wanted to fight him. She wanted to run away from him and back to that hotel in Ravenswood. Still, she didn’t. She couldn’t because she knew what he had said before was right. There were far worse dangers out here than Duncan.

  * * * * *

  Phoebe was silent for most of the day and Duncan knew he was at least partially to blame for that. He hadn’t wanted to upset her with his harsh tone earlier, but he needed her to understand the truth; the only verity he could tell her now without fear of her turning away from him for good.

  He had little doubt that once he told her who he was and where he was from she would damn him to every hell that existed. But for now he wanted her to see him as nothing more than her captor...and her lover.

  “We’ll make camp early tonight,” he finally spoke up, breaking the silence. “We’ve been on the road for most of the day. The horse needs a good rest and I imagine so do you.”

  Phoebe just nodded.

  Chastising himself for having been so hard on her before, Duncan pulled the horse up at the next clearing. Dismounting, he reached up to help her down. Had this have been a different life and a different time, he would have surrendered to her plea to keep her safe from her family. Letting go of her tiny waist as he set her feet on the ground, he reminded himself that this wasn’t a different time though. In this life he needed money to get back his cattle station and pay off his debts so he might finally live in freedom.

  Still he hated that he had to sacrifice this woman all for his own needs.

  Going about setting up their campsite for the night, Duncan searched his mind for anyway out of this situation for both him and for Phoebe.

  He could find none.

  With the fire lit, he sat down for a while, his eyes studying her intently.

  “Why don’t you want to go back home, Phoebe?” he asked. “The real reason this time, please.”

  She shook her head, avoiding his stare. “You wouldn’t understand.”

  “Try me.”

  She finally looked up at him, her eyes laced with tears. “There’s no point, Duncan. You have already made up your mind to take me back.”

  He lowered his gaze back to the fire before him, her sorrowful stare pulling at his heart strings. His frustration growing, he threw another couple of sticks on the already raging fire.

  “I’m sorry, Phoebe. Really I am. But I have to take you back there. I need the money.”

  She held his stare for what seemed forever, her eyes darting between his.

  “If it wasn’t for the money, would you still be taking me back, Duncan?” she asked.

  He didn’t want to answer her. He had only taken this job because he thought it would be his last one. What the Porter’s had offered to pay him would finally clear him of all his debts and save his cattle station from being permanently taken over by the thugs that were chasing him.

  He thought upon accepting it that this would be a quick journey back to his hometown to return a reluctant bride and nothing more. Never had he imagined he would be meeting a woman such as Phoebe, one that pulled at his senses as no one else had ever managed to.

  Finally he looked up at her, their stares meeting.

  “No,” he admitted, his words being dragged from him. “If it weren’t for the money I wouldn’t be taking you back. If it weren’t for the money I would never have come looking for you in the first place...I would never have met you.”

  Again silence fell between them.

  “Why don’t you want to go back home, Phoebe?” he asked again. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  She sat opposite him staring at the ground, a myriad of emotions displayed across her face. Finally she spoke.

  “I was left some money and property upon the death of a family member some months back. Upon my death my family are all that are left who might inherit it.”

  Lifting a hand to her face, she wiped away a tear. “My family is in debt to The Lester Company, Duncan. So much debt they will lose everything before the year is out if they don’t pay up. My inheritance is all that can save them and all they own.”

  He shook his head, confused by what he was hearing. “I still don’t understand. Gordon MacAllester works for The Lester Company. Your betrothal to him alone should clear the debt in full no matter how much it is.”

  “Apparently my family need more than just to hand me over.” Phoebe smiled, though it didn’t look to be from any happiness. “My family need me dead, Duncan. That’s why you were hired to bring me back to them. That’s the only reason.”

  She stood up then and went to walk past him, but he reached up, caught her hand in his, and stopped her retreat.

  “I wasn’t hired to kill you, not by your family or your fiancé. That’s not what I do.”

  “Where did my family say you were to meet them for them to collect me?” Phoebe asked coldly, glaring down at him.

  “A place called Inkerman Downs Station. Apparently the young woman who had owned it died in an accident not long ago and your parent’s have recently taken possession of it and started living there.”

  She pulled her hand free from his grasp. “I’m the young woman who owns Inkerman Downs Station, Duncan. I inherited it a few months ago from my spinster aunt. I am the only member of my family who lives there.”

  With that she walked away from him and into the surrounding scrub to attend to her personal business before retiring for the evening.

  * * * * *

  Minutes passed, and though he knew he should, Duncan didn’t go in search of her. He couldn’t, not after hearing what she’d told him.

  Had he really been hired to kill her?

  The mere thought made his blood run cold and made him feel sick to his gut. He didn’t mind so much being hired to return women to their families, or even the occasional man who had run away from his rich older wife. He didn’t even mind in the past being hired to be found in a compromising position with some beautiful woman so her husband might take action for divorce. But being hired to kill someone, especially a woman, was a very different thing, and something he didn’t have the heart, or lack thereof, to do.

  There was something else though.

  She had mentioned The Lester Company, a name he hoped to never hear again. He began wondering if he had indeed been hired by Phoebe’s parents or by Gordon and his family’s company. The mere possibility of such a thing left him very unsettled.

  “I have a proposition for you, Duncan,” he heard her ask carefully from behind him.

  He didn’t turn around to face her.

  “I’m listening,” he said.

  He listened as Phoebe walked slowly around to in front of him, her breathing ragged, looking not unlike a rabbit caught in a trap.

  “You said you need money, Duncan. I’m assuming it’s to cover the debts that you owe?” she asked him.

  He nodded.

  “How much do you need?” she asked carefully.

  He shrugged, unsure why she would be asking. “A few hundred pound, give or take. Your family offered me 200 pound to return you.”

  “That’s fine,
” she nodded. “I’ll pay your debts out for you, if you promise not to take me back to my family.”

  “What?” he asked, stunned by what he was hearing.

  “You heard me,” she continued gaining confidence. “I’ll pay you more than my family and Gordon has offered you if you don’t return me to them.”

  He shook his head, slightly annoyed by her offer. “I don’t want your money, Phoebe.”

  “But you told me that if it wasn’t for your need of the money you wouldn’t be returning me,” she reminded him. “I can give you the money you need, Duncan. And I can give you...give you…”

  She looked suddenly awkward as her words trailed off.

  “And give me what, Phoebe?” he asked, his brow raised curiously, slightly concerned what else she would offer him.

  “And I’ll satisfy your every need until you can get me back to the nearest town.”

  He stood from his seat, his annoyance at her offer overwhelming him. He had been given this offer before, but never had it irritated him as hearing this woman speak the same words.

  “Have I got this right, Phoebe?” he asked. “You are offering to whore yourself to me as payment?”

  She nodded as she let out a shaky sigh. “If I have to, Duncan...yes.”

  He stopped beside her, leaning into her.

  “Your family taught you well it seems, Miss Porter.”

  With that, he walked away from her and toward the thick Acacia and Melaleuca trees surrounding them.

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” she yelled after him.

  Stopping suddenly, Duncan turned around to look back at her, his hands on his hips. “Your family offered to pay me with money or any sexual favours I’d like with any woman of my choice. Given the offer you just gave me, I’d say the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree.”

  Turning away from her, he walked away from her suddenly needing a lot of distance between them.

  Chapter Five

  Phoebe waited for Duncan to return to camp, but as the hours ticked past she began to doubt he would ever return.