Alec pushed back his chair. ‘I’ll walk you back to Cowper’s.’
For a moment he thought she would refuse but she gave a curt nod of her head.
After saying goodnight to Netty, Eliza stepped into the raw night air, her mind reeling with the revelations. Alec waited in the shadows, blowing on his hands.
‘Ian’s gone home.’ He hunched his shoulders. ‘I reckon it’s below freezing tonight.’
He offered his arm and she slid her gloved hand into the crook of his elbow, grateful for his warmth and solidity. She looked at him, etching his profile into her mind. Leaving aside their first encounter, he’d been her quiet ally since she had arrived and now she had dragged a perfectly honest and respectable man into the murky depths of theft and deception. None of which was any concern of his.
‘Will you come back?’ he said at last.
‘I made a promise to Will,’ she said. ‘Besides I have grown quite attached to the place.’
He nodded. ‘Aye, it’s like that. For all its dirt and noise, there’s a life to the town that draws you in.’
They reached the path that led up to Cowper’s house.
Eliza turned to face him. ‘Alec, I should thank you.’
‘For what? All I have done is make your situation so much worse.’
‘No. I can see it all quite clearly now. If I have to fight my uncle for my brother’s legacy, then I will.’
He raised his hand and touched her face with a hesitancy that told her if she jerked away, the moment would be lost. She wanted to be touched, she wanted to be kissed by this man. She wanted—no, she longed for him.
She laid her hand over his, leaning against the hard, callused palm, as he ran his thumb along her cheekbone curving the line of her jaw to brush the soft skin of her throat. She caught her breath as he leaned into her and the moment their lips touched, every nerve in her body caught alight. She pressed into him as his hand slid behind her head, holding her tight against him.
They kissed with the hunger of souls too long alone. When they drew apart, breath clouding in the cold air, they leaned forehead to forehead, fingers entwined.
‘I’ve never—’ Eliza began but Alec silenced her with the lightest of butterfly kisses.
‘Don’t talk,’ he whispered, his lips drifting to her forehead, her hair, the tip of her nose … ‘Your nose is cold.’
She shook her head, a bubble of delight welling in her chest. ‘I don’t want this moment to end. I can’t remember a time when I have ever felt this completely happy.’
Alec wrapped his arms around her. ‘It’s been a long, long time for me.’
But Eliza didn’t want to think about his dead love. Catriona’s ghost may tug at his sleeve but perhaps he could begin to let her go? Could there be a time for them in the future?
‘I’m sorry I have to leave,’ she said.
His chest rose and fell beneath her cheek. ‘Aye, but it must be done. You’ll not find peace until you’ve sorted out the business with your uncle and laid your brother’s soul to rest.’
Despite her brave words she had no confidence in her ability to fight Cowper. ‘How can I win? I’ve hardly a shilling to my name while Cowper has possession of the mine and the money to defend any claim I might make against him.’
‘Have faith, Eliza,’ Alec whispered. ‘You have the plans for the boiler.’
‘But they’re not worth anything until we can resolve the problem with it.’
Someone nearby coughed and Eliza and Alec sprang apart.
‘Ain’t interrupting anything, am I?’ A woman swathed in a heavy shawl stepped out of the shadows. It took Eliza a long moment to recognise Nell.
‘I thought I’d missed you,’ Nell said. ‘I saw you heading out and figured you’d be back soon. It’s been bitter cold waiting for you.’
‘What on earth are you doing out here?’
She refrained from commenting that the woman should have been at work, but as if she sensed the question, Nell said, ‘Not working tonight.’
She plucked at Eliza’s sleeve. ‘Come around here. I’ve got something for you.’
When Alec moved too, Nell looked up at him. ‘What? Do you think I’m going to beat her to a pulp and rob her of all her worldlies?’
‘No, but—’
‘It’s all right. Pay me no mind. If you’re a friend of Miss P’s then you can hear what I’ve got to say.’
They followed Nell into the shadows behind the Britannia Hotel. Alec leaned against the wall, his back to the women, keeping a watch on the street.
‘Lil’ll kill me if she knows I’m here, but you want to find Sissy and I know where she is.’
Eliza’s breath caught in her throat. ‘Where?’
‘She’s with Lil’s sister Maggie Scott in Melbourne.’ Nell drew a breath in between her teeth. ‘If you think Lil’s a force to be reckoned with, you’ve not met her sister, but here’s the address. Just don’t tell her where you got it.’ She grasped Eliza’s hand, pressing a crumpled scrap of paper into it. ‘Little Lon’s no place for a lady, Miss Penrose. Take care when you go there.’
Eliza looked up and smiled. ‘Thank you, Nell. I can take care of myself.’
Nell shrugged. ‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Now, I better get back before Lil starts asking questions. That Jess can’t lie to save her soul.’
She turned to go and paused, looking back at Eliza. ‘I heard what you did for Annie O’Reilly’s girl.’
‘I think I made it worse for her and I lost my job for my interference. I worry about the child and her mother with that baby due any day.’
Nell patted her arm. ‘Don’t worry too much about Annie. She has someone looking out for her. He’ll see her right when the baby comes.’
‘He? Who?’ Eliza asked more out of curiosity than anything else.
Nell smiled. ‘That’d be telling. Goodnight, Miss Penrose, and you, Mr McLeod.’ She bumped Alec with her hip as she passed. ‘You know you’re always welcome.’ She glanced back at Eliza. ‘Although I reckon she’s as good a prospect as any.’
‘Nell!’ Eliza said, grateful for the dark that hid the flush that rose to her face, but the woman had gone. She folded the piece of paper and slipped it into her pocket. ‘What’s Little Lon?’ she asked Alec.
He gave a snort of laughter. ‘Little Lonsdale Street. It has an unfortunate but deserved reputation for illegal goings-on.’
‘Brothels?’
‘And opium dens and worse.’
‘Charming.’
‘Nell was right, Little Lon is not a place to be going by yourself.’
‘I’ll be quite all right. I’ll just have to make sure I go in broad daylight,’ Eliza said. ‘I’ll bid you goodnight, Alec. Thank you for your help tonight.’
He nodded. ‘Make your arrangements, Eliza. I’ll organise the horses and we can meet at first light on Saturday.’
They stood for a long moment, suddenly awkward. Alec bent his head and kissed her gently on the lips. ‘Until then.’
Halfway up the path to her uncle’s house, Eliza paused and looked back in time to see Alec’s unmistakeable but shadowy figure cross the creek and take the narrow path to his own cottage. She inhaled deeply and touched her lips, which still tingled at the memory of their kiss. A warm glow that began at her toes and fingertips wrapped itself around her, stealing into her heart. Perhaps, for the first time in a very long time, she could allow herself to dream.
Nineteen
18 July 1873
Alec had half-expected Eliza to be wearing the sumptuous green riding habit but she had abandoned it for a plain woollen skirt and a man’s pea coat. His disappointment did not last as she swept the shapeless felt hat from her head. Her chestnut hair hung in a thick plait down her back and a heavy scarf around her neck framed her oval face to perfection. She set the carpet bag she carried on the ground.
‘I took your advice, Alec, and have chosen something more practical. Netty told me that Adelaide Hunt wore trouser
s when she went out of town but I could not quite bring myself to do that.’ She paused and a small smile caught the corners of her mouth. ‘I think I have outraged the ladies of Maiden’s Creek enough, and my mother would be appalled.’
Alec managed a casual nod that belied the surge of blood that the sight of her had caused. He longed to take her in his arms and kiss her but here, even in the grey light of dawn, there were too many prying eyes and loose tongues. As Eliza herself had said, it didn’t serve her well to be the source of any further gossip.
‘Do you have the documents? she asked.
He nodded and handed over the envelope. She excused herself and disappeared into the feed store, emerging empty-handed as Sones led out Sam and Nobby. He didn’t ask her what she had done with the plans.
‘You’ll need to walk the horses up Little John’s,’ he said. ‘Between the mud and the frost, they’ll have trouble finding a firm footing. McLeod, I have your word you’ll bring Nobby back with you tomorrow?’
They led the beasts out into the dawn. Even at this early hour, there were people out and about and the smell of baking bread collected tantalisingly in the wintry air. Unable to resist the tempting smell, Eliza stopped at Draper’s Bakery and brought a knob of bread, still hot from the oven.
Sones had not been wrong about Little John’s Sleigh Ride. It took them nearly an hour to ascend it, watching every step and guiding the horses around potholes filled with water on which a crust of ice had formed. The mud itself had turned to ice and both Alec and Eliza went down hard on their knees several times.
They paused when they reached the ridge line and rested for a while to eat some of the bread and catch their breath. Maiden’s Creek stretched below them, the rough homes of the miners clinging to the valley sides with the tenacity of barnacles, curls of smoke rising from the morning hearths.
The road followed the ridge line before winding down to a creek crossing. In warmer weather the creek was barely a trickle but after the recent rains, it barrelled across the road.
‘Trust the horses,’ Alec said at last. ‘You go first, I’ll follow …’
Eliza’s horse took the creek with care and made it across without the water reaching much above its hocks. Alec followed without incident and the road rose again, skirting the side of a hill which rose to one side of them, a steep descent falling away to their left.
They came out onto a flatter piece of ground, and Eliza raised a hand, bringing them to a halt. ‘Can you hear something?’
Alec strained his ears and above the wind in the trees a cry rose faintly into the cold air: the bushman’s ‘Cooee’.
The cry came again, from further down the slope. Alec dismounted, handing the reins of his horse to Eliza. ‘Wait here.’
He slithered down the slope, pausing a little way from the road. ‘Where are you?’ he called.
The unhelpful answer came from his right. ‘Over here.’
Alec battled his way through wet ferns and slippery humus, until, through a break in the undergrowth, he could make out a figure slumped against a tree: a man with his hat pulled down over his face. It struck Alec as strange that anyone would be on the side of a remote hill in the middle of nowhere, but he hunkered down beside the stranger.
‘Are you hurt?’
The man raised his head. The lower part of his face was wrapped in a heavy scarf and he brought his right hand up, cocking the hammer of a revolver as he did so.
Alec stumbled backward as Eliza screamed his name from the road above them.
‘On your feet, McLeod,’ the man said. ‘Let’s go and talk to your lady friend.’
The moment Alec had disappeared from view, three burly men with hats pulled down low and scarfs wrapped around their faces emerged from the underbrush on either side of the road. They carried revolvers, hammers pulled back.
The scream froze in Eliza’s throat as one of the men grabbed Nobby’s reins. The horse set his ears back and fought the unfamiliar grip.
‘Off yer horse, lady.’
‘Alec!’ She scanned the bush, willing him to reappear.
‘He ain’t coming to help you.’
Even with a scarf wrapped around his face, Eliza had no trouble recognising the short, solid leader of the ruffians as Jennings, the brute who had caused her so much trouble on the night of the dance.
She kicked out at him as he approached but he just laughed and pulled her from the horse. With one arm around her waist, he carried her across to a fallen tree on the far side of the road. She struggled in his grip but to no avail.
‘What do you want?’ she demanded, wishing her voice hadn’t risen several octaves. He pushed her down on the log with an order to sit and keep her mouth shut.
Eliza complied, fighting down a wave of nausea. What had happened to Alec? She didn’t like to think about what these three men had in mind for her. She hoped it was just simple robbery but Jennings’s presence boded ill.
A crashing in the bushes on the other side of the road alerted the men and to her relief, Alec came stumbling out. A fourth man had a revolver pressed into his back. He gave Alec a shove and Alec tripped and went down on his knees. He recovered his balance and turned on his heel, his fists balling at his sides but his captor pressed the revolver’s muzzle into his chest.
‘Go and join your lady friend.’
Seeing Eliza, Alec rounded on the ruffians. ‘If you’ve touched her—’
‘She’s safe enough,’ Jennings said, adding with an ominous sideways glance at Eliza, ‘For the moment.’
Alec slumped down on the log beside Eliza, the tension radiating off him.
‘I don’t know why you’re bothered with the scarf, Jennings,’ he said. ‘I’d know you anywhere. Is this Tehan’s work or have you and your friends taken up bushranging?’
‘Just keep your mouth shut, McLeod, and no one gets hurt.’ Jennings’s voice was muffled by the scarf.
In the weeks she had been in Maiden’s Creek, Eliza had not heard any mention of bushrangers but yet here they were, four of them. She thought of the only item of value she had with her, her father’s locket, and prayed they wouldn’t find it.
While one man watched them, a rifle at the ready, another one pulled Eliza’s carpet bag from Alec’s saddle. He wrenched it open and began rummaging through it. Eliza turned her head, her face burning with embarrassment, as he tossed her chemise to one of his comrades who held it against himself and pranced around to the laughter of his companions, before dropping it in the mud.
‘Not here, boss.’ The man searching her bag held the bag upside down and shook it to prove his point.
Eliza glanced at Alec. Their eyes met in mutual comprehension. These men were looking for something specific and that something could only be Will’s plans.
Jennings tucked his revolver into his belt and approached Eliza, rubbing his hands together. He hauled her to her feet. Alec began to rise but the click of the rifle trained on him forced him back.
‘Where is it, missy?’
‘What are you looking for?’ Eliza said.
Jennings’s fingers tightened on her arm and she bit back a cry of pain.
‘Your brother’s plans. He gave ’em to his friend over there and he’s given them to you. Now just hand ’em over and we’ll be on our way.’
When Eliza hesitated, Jennings jerked his head at his comrade, who moved closer to Alec, resting the barrel of the rifle just above Alec’s ear. Alec flinched.
Eliza’s breath stopped in her throat. What price was a man’s life—a man she had come to care about?
Alec’s eyes met hers, calm and apparently unconcerned. He gave a slight shrug and she frowned.
‘They’re not worth dying for,’ Alec said. ‘Let them have what they came for.’
She swallowed and turned her back on the men. Her fingers shook as she undid her jacket and the shirt beneath. She pulled the documents out, warm from her body, and handed them to Alec as she restored her clothing.
Jennings l
aughed and grabbed up the papers. He held them to his face. ‘You smell mighty sweet, Miss Penrose.’
Shock and the cold began to take their toll and, despite the heavy jacket, Eliza shivered.
Jennings opened the envelope and peered at the drawings and indecipherable calculation. He snorted and folded the plans, shoving them without care into his own capacious pockets. He looked around the circle of his comrades. ‘Might as well see what else you’ve got. Make it worth our trouble. Both of you stand up and throw your purses and any valuables down.’
Alec held out his hand to Eliza and they stood up. His hand lingered on hers as he gave her fingers a squeeze. Eliza had only her purse with the last of her hard-earned money. She reached into the inside pocket of her jacket and pulled it out, tears starting as she tossed it on the ground in front of the man’s boots. Alec threw his wallet down, his mouth twisted in disgust.
Jennings pocketed the purses and scratched his nose. ‘I don’t think that’s all, little lady,’ he said and swaggered over to her. He pulled the scarf from around her neck and smiled, a mouth of yellowing, rotten teeth appearing in the thick bush of his beard. She caught his rank breath, remembering the dance and how he had caught her wrist, breathing into her face. ‘Ye’re dancing with me, little lady.’
Beside her, Alec stiffened. ‘Get away from her, you bastard.’
The man ignored him. His eyes glittered as he came so close to Eliza that the stench of unwashed body and stale alcohol filled her nostrils. ‘Never knew a lady without something pretty around her neck,’ he said.
She yelped as he ripped open the top buttons of her shirt, revealing the little gold locket. His fist closed over it and he gave it a sharp yank. Pain seared her neck as the chain dug into her, burning her skin as it came away.
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