Outback Angel

by Margaret Way

  Angel had even looked further, giving support and attention to that much abused young woman Leah. She had all kinds of ideas for Leah and her child. He knew Leah was gifted. He had seen her paintings, but he hadn’t known little Kylee had inherited her mother’s talent. In his broad experience aboriginal people were natural artists anyway. They’d been decorating caves since time immemorial.

  When he entered the house he was confronted by a great beautiful Christmas tree—God, it had to be at least fifteen feet—soaring into the double space of the entrance hall. Its green upper branches were decorated with glittering baubles: frosty white bells, red, green, gold and silver balls, little ornaments galore. Angel was up a ladder dressed in a red T-shirt and tight jeans, an outfit that made the most of her beautiful breasts, long legs and tall willowy figure. She was busy tying a silver-winged cupid to one of the pendulous branches. A shorter ladder was set up on the other side.

  “Hi!” she called brightly, giving him a lovely welcoming smile. “It arrived.”

  “I can see that. You haven’t wasted any time. Be careful up there.”

  “Want to join me?” It was without provocation, more like one big kid to another.

  “I’d love to, but I have to take a shower first. I’m as grimy as they come.”

  “You look great!” He did. All the time. He was a fabulous-looking man who somehow managed to look incredibly glamorous in cowboy gear. It was a kind of beauty that belonged only to a man, Angelica thought, staring down. Heroic. Sometimes she thought it was a beauty impossible to equal. Amber curls clung to his head and his nape. His golden-bronze skin was sheened by sweat. The rest of him took a lot of beating. He was six-three of dynamic male and superbly fit.

  “Damn it all, Angel, be careful,” he called at a rush, as the ladder, not all that stable, rocked slightly. No doubt due to her prolonged staring at him.

  “Well, if you will distract me.”

  “Why start at the top?” he asked, experiencing a nostalgia that was a combination of the remembered joy and grief he kept in his heart.

  “I’m very methodical,” she explained. “I start at the top and work down. Gilly is going to help me. She’s gone off for another box of baubles. Aren’t they gorgeous?”

  “I bet they cost an arm and a leg?” He gave a mock shudder, moving closer to finger a green branch.

  “Of course they did, but they’re positively essential.”

  “I agree.”

  He directed a smile at her that was so much like a kiss Angelica had to lean against the ladder for support.

  “What’s this supposed to be?” he asked, still fingering the synthetic branch. “I’m not big on trees from the Northern Hemisphere, but I take it it’s a spruce?”

  “Good guess. It’s supposed to be a balsam fir. I think the difference is the cones on the fir point upwards like the candles on a Christmas tree. On the spruce and other conifers they hang down.”

  “We learn something every day.” He was about to move off when Leah, holding tightly to the hand of her little girl, arrived from the direction of the kitchen. She came to a halt when she saw Jake, giving him a sunny smile. “Evenin’, Mr. McCord.”

  “Hello, there, Leah,” he responded in an easy friendly fashion. “And how are you, Miss Kylee?” he asked, lowering his golden gaze to the child.

  “I’m good,” Kylee announced with a beaming smile, then immediately blotted her copy book by breaking free of her mother’s restraint. She launched herself at Angelica sitting up on the ladder. “Hi, Miss?” she called happily, looking for all the world like she was about to climb up and join Angelica. Instead, before anyone could divine her intention, in the unpredictable way of children, she gave the ladder a surprisingly good shake.

  Her mother shrieked, watching in horror as Angelica leaned forward in an effort to clutch the ladder’s sides. It only took half a second more before her right foot became dislodged, sliding perilously out of the rung.

  Please God, let me bounce, Angelica prayed on the way down. This was no time for injury, big or small.

  Jake moved with alacrity, positioning himself to get his arms under her, staggering for a moment, as he struggled to hold on to her before the power in his legs steadied him and allowed him to maintain his balance.

  “Gracious!” Angelica, no featherweight, wrapped her arms gratefully around his neck. “Aren’t you strong?”

  “I’d turn into Hercules for you.” He levered her higher, feeling the familiar stirring of desire. She could always work that particular miracle.

  “I don’t think Hercules could do better.” She arched back languorously, hair tumbling, both of them shocked out of the pleasure of the moment by the sound of Leah scolding little Kylee.

  “What did you think you were doing, naughty girl?” she questioned, a reflection of the countless times she’d been asked that herself. But Kylee, used to the nervy, anxious side of her mother, scurried like a little mouse over to Jake, wrapping her arms around his long legs. “You naughty girl!” Leah fretted, making for Kylee, looking very much like she was going to smack her.

  Angelica slid instantly to the ground, alerted to trouble, while Jake held up his hand.

  “Stop, Leah. She’s only four.”

  “Nearly five,” Leah corrected, trying to pull out of her uptight state. “Why do I have a daughter like her? She’s always getting into trouble.”

  “She’s just a child,” Jake reminded her. “You mustn’t hit her, Leah. I won’t allow it.”

  An odd kind of anger was rising from him, causing Angelica to run a soothing hand up and down his arm.

  “There’s no harm done,” she said quickly, understanding Leah’s vulnerable history. “It’s anxiety that’s making you cross, isn’t it, Leah? You’re always worried some bad thing will happen to you and Kylee?”

  “I’ve had more’un my share of bad things,” Leah responded bleakly, her expression momentarily full of the violence she’d experienced.

  “That’s all over now, Leah,” Jake said, his tone softening.

  “I hope so, Mr. McCord.”

  “You have my word.”

  He stood there every inch master of Coori station, Angelica thought. And a man of his word.

  “While you’re on Coori nothing bad will ever happen to you or Kylee, but you must promise me to be gentle with her. You experienced terrible things. All the more reason you can’t let anything bad into Kylee’s life.”

  Leah shook her head. “She’s all I got. I love her.”

  “Of course you do,” Jake said, knowing that was perfectly true; indeed Leah was trying very hard to make something of herself.

  Still Angelica could feel he was disturbed. Very likely for reasons of his own.

  “Did you want to see me, Leah?” she asked by way of diversion, feeling Kylee’s sweet little hand slip into hers.

  “Yes, Miss.” Leah was glad of the change of subject. “It’s about the Hall. I worked out lots of things I’m gunna do. I sketched it out on paper.”

  “Oh that’s splendid!” Angel turned to Jake. “We have our ideas for the Great Hall. Leah as the artist in residence is going to do it.” Or I hope she is. A sudden wave of doubt rose to her throat. His handsome face could look so formidable sometimes.

  “Really? I assume you were going to consult me?”

  “Of course.” She stared at him, surprised but then not. She could see the way his lean body was braced. “I was waiting until we had something properly worked out.”

  “I can’t tell you how relieved I am to know that,” he said crisply. “Remember what I told you, Leah.”

  “Yes, sir,” Leah answered.

  “Okay, then. I’m off to take that shower. Be seeing you, Kylee.” His expression smoothed out into his wonderful smile.

  “See yuh. Mr. Jake,” Kylee chirruped. “I jus’ wanted Miss to come down,” she explained. “Didn’t want to make her fall.”

  “Of course you didn’t.” Angelica squeezed the child’s hand.
“You can stay and help with the decorations, if you like?” She looked to Jake to see if that was okay with him, but he was moving away.

  “Jus’ push her out, Miss, when you’re ready,” Leah said. “I gotta go. I got lots to think of if I’m gunna do the Hall.”

  “Let’s see what you have in mind, Leah.” Jake paused long enough to say. “You said you had some sketches on paper?”

  “Yes, sir. I’ll bring ’em.”

  “Fine. I’m looking forward to seeing them. Who, by the way, is doing the flower arranging?” He glanced back at Angelica, his amber eyes sardonic.

  Before she could formulate a fitting answer, he disappeared, all powerful lean elegance.

  “Now you be a good girl, Kylee.” Leah moved to cuddle her child who threw loving arms around her mother’s neck.

  It offered Angelica an opportunity to hurry after Jake, catching him at the end of the passageway.

  “What did you get so angry about?” She swooped to clutch his arm.

  “My dear Angelica, I’m not angry.” He appeared to tower over her when he wasn’t.

  “Cross, then,” she amended. “I hate to mention this when you’re being so lordly, but you did give me carte blanche.”

  “Did I?” He pinned her with a stare.

  “Oh, Jonathon, don’t be like this.” She put out an appealing hand. “Did my falling off the ladder shake you up?”

  “You’ll do anything to get attention,” he drawled, unwilling in that moment to admit just how much.

  “Are you worried Leah might mistreat Kylee?” She looked at him with understanding and concern.

  “I can’t totally discount it,” he mused. “Violence breeds violence. I’ve seen it over and over again. I won’t have anything happen to that child.” A certain grimness settled on his striking features.

  “I understand your fears, Jonathon.” Angelica became aware she always used his name in their more emotional moments. “But I think in Leah’s case, you could be over-reacting.”

  “How much experience can you draw on?” he challenged. “Aren’t you the young woman who had the ultimate happy childhood?”

  “That doesn’t mean I haven’t seen a lot of unhappiness. I have a close friend who found herself in a violent marriage. I could scarcely credit it even when I knew it was true. He’s a doctor, believe it or not, from a highly respected family. He took an oath to keep people well. Kylee is a happy, bouncy, little girl. Leah is doing a good job of mothering. It’s her ingrained anxieties that make her responses a little harsh. She’s more bark than bite.”

  “I recognise that, Angel,” he said more reasonably, “just as I recognise the years of pent-up anger in her. I saw enough anger in my time. Anyway what’s this about the Hall?” He shook his mood off.

  “The Hall?”

  “You’re not losing your memory?”

  “Excuse me, I was waiting until you were ready to listen. When you—”

  “Cooled off?” he supplied wryly.

  “Exactly.” Unable to stop herself she leaned forward and kissed his cheek, her soft lips deliciously rasped by his faint beard. “You’re a good man, Jonathon McCord,” she said, “if a tad complicated.”

  “And you want a good man?”

  “You could very well be my last chance,” she said teasingly.

  “Then I now pronounce you my wife.” He set his two hands to cup her face before dropping a kiss on her mouth.

  “Is that a first, or do you do it all the time?” she asked when she was able.

  “All right, the wedding’s off.”

  “I thought it might be.”

  “Get ready to show me all this stuff with Leah,” he called as he strode away.

  “Would Sir like to see it before or after dinner?” she called with mock servility.

  “Just so I see it,” he said.

  When she returned to the hall she found Gillian in the act of sending Leah and Kylee away. Leah looked upset and Kylee’s entrancing little face was all crinkled up as if she was about to burst into tears. Angelica caught her breath in dismay wondering why Gillian, who had so much, couldn’t be kinder and act less the daughter of the manor.

  “Oh, Gilly, I did ask Kylee to stay,” she said in a coaxing voice. “Christmas is all about children, don’t you think?”

  Gillian stared back at her, going a little red. “I thought it would be nice just us two,” she protested, a young woman starved of her father’s affection and excessively attached to the people she liked as a result. She liked Angel. And she liked Charlie. “Surely Kylee should have her tea and go to bed.” Kylee who was far from lacking in intelligence, began to sob while her mother’s black eyes flashed indignantly.

  “A little longer won’t matter and she’s here now,” Angelica pointed out as cheerfully as she could. “I did promise her.”

  “Very well,” Gillian replied, with that odd tightening of the lips Angelica had noted before. Probably she had copied it from her father. It didn’t look natural to her.

  “I don’t imagine she’s seen so many pretty things in her whole life.” Angelica smiled reassuringly at Kylee who had miraculously turned off her sobs to roll her huge liquid eyes.

  “Neither have I,” Gillian answered so shortly Leah backed away.

  “I’ll go home now, Miss.” She addressed Angel. “I wanna go.”

  Kylee who appeared to have a decided mind of her own and, as Angelica had so recently pointed out to Jake, was not in the least cowed, pulled free of her mother. “Wanna stay.”

  “As you wish, Leah.” Angelica caught the little girl firmly by the hand. “Kylee can wait with us for a while. Okay, Gilly?” She turned to face the younger woman.

  “She’s welcome,” Gillian managed to her credit, although she was still flushed.

  “Don’t forget Mr. McCord wants to see what we’ve planned, Leah,” Angelica reminded the young aboriginal woman. “If you wouldn’t mind coming back in an hour?”

  “What have you planned?” Gillian asked, in a high, surprised voice, spinning around to stare at Leah.

  “You’ll see.” Angelica promised. “It’s a design for a mural. It’s to go on the ceiling of the Great Hall. That’s if it all comes together.”

  “And Leah is going to do it?” Gillian’s pretty blue eyes registered amazement.

  “Yes she is,” Angelica confirmed, while Leah stared fixedly at the parqueted floor. “Leah is very artistic.”

  “I’m goin’, Miss,” Leah said, acutely aware of Gillian’s surprise and apparent resentment. She turned, looking so vulnerable Angel felt her heart ache with pity.

  “Why is she so upset?” Gillian asked, startled by Leah’s flight.

  “You were a little short with her, Gilly. I’ll make sure she’s all right.” Angelica dashed after the tiny Leah, easily overtaking her before she reached the kitchen.

  “Please Leah,” she begged. “Gillian doesn’t mean anything. She’s not an unkind person. It’s just that she thinks she has to act in a certain way.”

  Leah blinked and swallowed. “She’s not going to make a friend of an aboriginal woman, you mean. It’s better to keep out of the way.”

  “That’s giving in, Leah. I know you’re a fighter. You’re going to become the person you were meant to be.”

  Leah’s delicate head shot up. “Why am I hurtin’?” she asked with simple dignity. “Why am I always hurtin’?”

  “Because you’ve been severely wounded,” Angelica said. “You never feel certain how you’re going to be treated. There are lots of good people in this world who are going to help you. Try not to look for threat where there isn’t. Gilly doesn’t dislike or look down on you. She recognises in her heart there’s a lot to you. She just finds it easier to treat you like a servant. It’s the way she was reared.”

  “But I am a servant,” Leah pointed out very simply.

  “You have talents to lift you into a different league. Talents you’re already calling on. Everyone needs a helping hand. I’ve ha
d many people kind enough to help me, now I’m going to find a way to help you.”

  “You’ll go away.”

  That silenced Angelica, plunging a knife into her heart. Go away? Never see Jonathon again? It was not to be borne. “Well I’m here now,” she said firmly. “It may be that you’ll do very much better for yourself in the city where there’s more scope for your special gifts. You do have them.”

  “Yes.” Leah lifted her head proudly.

  “So prove it,” Angelica said warmly, taking Leah’s fine-boned hand. “You’ve had to be very tough to survive lots of bad situations. I’ve been hired to run these functions. I have to prove myself. So do you.”

  Somehow that had the right effect. Leah grinned broadly. “Be back in an hour, Miss,” she said.

  Thirty minutes later Jake rounded the corridor into the entrance hall feeling much more relaxed and refreshed. “Hey, you’ve been working hard!” he called out in admiration, looking up at the Christmas tree.

  The tree looked majestic dressed in lustrous bells and balls and sparkling ornaments with jewel-like glints of ruby and emerald, gold and silver.

  “It’s like a fairy tale, isn’t it, Jake?” Gillian turned a happy, smiling face to her half brother. “Oh, I’m so looking forward to everything. It’s so exciting and we’re going to have tons of presents massed around the tree. Angelica has wonderful ideas for those carved nymphs on the stairs. We’re going to dress up the stairway with velvet swags and painted pine cones and things.”

  “That sounds great, Gilly,” he told her gently, his gaze moving to beautiful sensual Angelica who was holding in her hands the Christmas angel dressed in a gossamer-like white-and-gold gown with golden wings and a golden halo on her amber curls.

  “We’re not finished yet.” She smiled her pleasure. “We’ve got to have fairy lights. All white, I think. Some frosty snow in the desert. But we’ve elected you to place our angel on top. I thought the amber curls were a nice touch.”

  “You selected it with me in mind?” He stared at her with mocking golden eyes.

  “I think she’s exactly right in this house,” Angelica pronounced.