Outback Angel

by Margaret Way

  “So why doesn’t Jake come home?” Angelica asked anxiously as another drum roll of thunder echoed around the hills.

  “He’s been used to this his whole life. Don’t you go worryin’ about him. He can look after himself.”

  But Angelica felt as edgy as a cat on a hot tin roof. She couldn’t follow Clary inside. Instead she ran down the steps intent on making one more circuit of the polo grounds….

  When Jake did return to the homestead fifteen minutes later, he went in search of Angelica, knowing she would be concerned about the storm and its possible effect on all her hard work and planning. Even nearing sundown it was still scorchingly hot but there was a wet smell in the air. Personally having studied the sky he didn’t think it would amount to much, but to a city person, like Angelica, it could be very frightening. These storm fronts, messengers of the monsoon season made everyone cranky. It was a case of all the drama without the relief of a drop of rain.

  Tomorrow they would all gather for the final of the polo cup. It would be played in fierce heat but it had all been done before. People were used to it. He was prepared to take a very large bet it would be played under peacock-blue cloudless skies. He found Stacy and Gillian in the plant-filled conservatory at the rear of the house. Both of them turned smiling faces to him.

  “Hi! Where’s everyone?”

  “If you mean Angelica, and I think you do, she’s with Clary.” Stacy smiled. “If you mean Dinah, she’s in her room. She said the heat was giving her a headache. She tries to spend as little time with us as she can.”

  “The next time she wants to come, put her off,” Jake suggested.

  “She’s just so hard to put off.” Stacy sighed.

  “Maybe not if you try. I think I’ll find Angel. She must be worried this storm will build into heavy rain.”

  “Yes. She’s so much at home here you forget she’s a city girl,” Stacy said. “That was awfully nice of her getting the right evening dresses flown in to us. She must have described us exactly to her friend. Colouring, sizes, everything. They fit perfectly.”

  “And it gives us a great chance to shine!” Gillian showed her delight. “Maybe Charlie will really fall in love with me. Up to date he hasn’t.”

  “You’ve got Charlie on the brain,” her mother complained. “Admittedly he is a fine young man, but Ty Caswell thinks the world of you.”

  “I already know that, Mum.”

  “Personally I think Ty suits you better,” offered Jake. The very last thing he wanted was for Gillian to know heartbreak when Charlie went home. And that’s what he was going to do when his big adventure was over.

  Angel wasn’t with Clary. She wasn’t anywhere in the house. She wasn’t in the Great Hall, either. He stopped long enough to admire Leah’s mural, amazed at how good it was and the speed with which she had done it. Angel, being an angel, had given him her considered opinion, amounting to a little lecture, that Leah should be given a helping hand to relocate in Sydney where there would be more scope for her talents. Importantly, too, there were service and support groups within the aboriginal community in the city. Good aboriginal art was much sought after, both at home and abroad. Leah was good. And she had her dress-designing skills with ambitions thrown in. He sort of liked the idea of sponsoring her and little Kylee. God knows, after what Leah had suffered she deserved a helping hand.

  A quick check confirmed the four-wheel drive had gone. Probably she had gone out to the polo grounds again, unable to settle. She could even want to camp out there tonight. He tried not to think of them both in one sleeping bag together. He was sick with wanting her. Sick of all his primitive urges. They were forever lapping at his senses. Willpower wouldn’t work. He had fallen madly in love with Angelica De Campo. And faster than he thought possible. How was that for a swift slide into spellbound? Yet would a woman like that bury her beauty and talents in the remoteness of an Outback station? Maybe she was totally unattainable as an Outback wife. But not as a woman. He knew what he could do to her once he got her in his arms. Create a world within a world for them…

  He was halfway to the grounds riding one of the station motor bikes when he spotted the Pajero coming over the crest of a ridge. It was travelling wickedly fast and he began to curse with anxiety. He couldn’t bear to see her crash.

  Slow down, girl. What’s the race?

  Another minute more and he knew. Smoke.

  “God!” In among the spiralling column of dirty grey smoke he saw a shooting flame then a great shower of sparks. He realised instantly what had happened. A tree had ignited. He had lived through years when the station was dotted with spot fires. The wind was coming from the direction of the blaze. He caught a blast of heat and aromatic burning gum oil in his face. The danger zone was about a kilometre from the polo grounds. It was uncanny the way fire ran in lines and trees lined the ridge. With the wind behind the bushfire it could just miss the polo grounds. Unless the wind shifted. He opened up the throttle, slamming down hard as he tore up and over the rising ground until he met up with Angelica.

  She brought the four-wheel drive to a shuddering halt, jumping out, calling to him as she ran. “Jonathon, thank God, you’re here. Lightning hit a tree. It absolutely exploded. The whole thing ignited right in front of my eyes. It was so scary. I was parked under it only a few moments before.”

  He raced to her, grabbed her arms, held her fast. “Are you okay?” He searched her face, seeing anxiety but not a flicker of panic in her great dark eyes.

  “I’m fine.” She was now. She felt the force of his strength and inner energy. “I don’t know about your vehicle. A chunk of burning wood hit the roof hard but it must have fallen away.”

  “I’m not worried about the damned vehicle,” he said tautly. “I was worried about you. All I want you to do now is get the men. It won’t take them long to spot the flames. We want the water truck, backpacks, hessian bags, buckets, anything. They know the drill. We can’t let this spread and there’s no time.”

  “I’ll get them,” she said, already on the run. “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to take a closer look.”

  “Be careful!” she yelled, her voice competing against the thunder. Even as she spoke another tree ignited, the canopy of branches throwing up great multi-coloured sparks like a fireworks display. If it weren’t so frightening it would have been beautiful.

  “Go on, Angel. Move it,” he ordered, pretty shortly.

  She didn’t waste another second. She leapt into the vehicle and took off, reaching the compound in record time. The men were already alerted, swiftly going about their business. Everything they could use had been assembled.

  “You don’t have to come, Angelica.” She and Charlie had become quite friendly, now he made a beeline for her, an odd excitement on his young handsome face. “It could be bad up there. Really bad if the fire takes hold.”

  “I’m coming all the same,” she said. “I want to be there. I want to help.”

  “Then you’d better take this.” He shoved a scarf into her hand. “Put it over your face once we’re up there. You won’t want to breathe in the smoke.”

  “Thanks, Charlie. Take care.” Her voice resonated with concern. She watched him swing onto the side of the water truck equipped with barrels of water and a big yellow fire hose. Travelling towards their destination they all saw the fires take hold. Burn-offs had already taken place over most of the vast station during the Dry but the line of trees on the ridge had been left as a windbreak. Now the canopies were on fire, looking for all the world like a line of streetlights at night.

  When they arrived at the fire front the men threw themselves into action, but Jake, once he caught sight of Angelica, strode towards her, his dynamic face grim. “This is no place for you.” Already the wind was blasting embers across the dusty clearing. “Go back to the house.”

  “I can help,” she protested, drawing on her own inner strength. “I’m another pair of hands. I won’t get too close to it.�
��

  He held her a hair’s-breadth away, staring down into her eyes. “Don’t think for a minute it can’t get close to you,” he warned, lean body taut, nerves tense.

  “Why don’t you let me take one of those backpacks?” she shouted over the frightening crackle of the flames and the continuous roar of thunder. “I’m strong. Please, Jonathon, let me stay. I don’t want you to be alone.”

  “You’re not counting the men?” Abruptly he gave a crooked smile, a flash of white teeth in a smoke-grimed face. “Okay. Grab one. You know how to pump the water? But the moment I tell you to go, you’ll go, understand?”

  “I promise.” She was inordinately pleased he trusted her to do something. She jumped to pick up a backpack while Jake strode away to the water truck.

  Charlie surged forward to help her put the backpack on. “I wouldn’t miss this,” he told her, bending close so she could hear him.

  “You must be mad.” She recognised his excitement.

  He lifted his blond head to scan the lurid sky. “My problem is, I have to have excitement. Will you just look at that spectacle!” Billowing black clouds, shot through with silver and livid green, made a fantastic backdrop for the searing orange-gold flames.

  “After all the work we put in there, I’d say it was heading towards the polo grounds.”

  “Then we shouldn’t be standing here talking,” she clipped off.

  “Okay, ma’am.” Charlie saluted her with his devil-may-care grin. “I like your spirit!”

  It would have been a miracle if the skies had opened and sent down torrential rain. Only miracles didn’t happen on demand. For three hours the fires continued to rage, jumping from tree to tree, the branches falling in fiery clumps causing ripples of tiny flames to skitter across the dry grass and smouldering leaves. All of them worked with their clothes, wet and steamy, clinging to them, for they had all doused themselves with the hoses. Once a small branch like a flaming torch fell not a metre from Angelica and she bit back a scream. That was close! She could have taken it on the head or the shoulder and been badly burned. She felt a wave of relief.

  Jake’s glistening blackened face appeared close to her. “That’s it, Angel. Go,” he ordered harshly. “For God’s sake, that branch nearly hit you.” He made a grab for her hand. “Come on.” Her hand was so oily, so grimy, it slithered out of his.

  “We’re getting there, aren’t we?” She took a long, dry, painful swallow. It seemed to her they were, though the very air was burning.

  “I don’t want you here. You’ve done well. I’m proud of you, but you can’t stay. Get going.”

  “All right.” She turned away obediently, as she saw him agitated and angry. Now she was feeling dizzy, dying for one gulp of water.

  “Please be careful,” she begged, her heart in her eyes. “I’ll wait for you.” She realised she was so exhausted she was on the verge of tears.

  “I’ll be okay,” he shouted, turning to put out a spot fire on the ground with a few powerful sweeps of a hessian bag. “I’m not telling you one more time, Angel. Go.”

  She did just that, finding her way back to her vehicle. Her body felt like it was made of lead. Her mind was full of anxiety and an unfamiliar sensation she knew was pure panic. She was bound to Jake McCord in the most powerful way. She loved him. His life meant everything.

  Angelica climbed wearily into the driver’s seat and began to pray.

  “Whatever possessed you to go up there?”

  She’d only just arrived back at the homestead when Dinah thrust her face through the open window. Obviously she felt no need to ask Angelica how she was or if the fire was coming under control. The big thing was to tear down the front stairs the moment she spotted the four-wheel drive coming in so she could be first to ask the questions. “Don’t you know anything about danger?” she scolded. “I bet Jake didn’t thank you for getting yourself involved.”

  “Got a message for you,” Angelica said laconically, opening out the door so smartly Dinah was forced to jump back. “He did.” She resisted the urge to give Dinah a good shove.

  “I don’t believe that for a minute,” Dinah gasped, staggering back. “I’m sure he told you to go away.”

  Angelica nodded wearily. “He did in the end, but I know I was of help.”

  “You could have placed the men in danger.” Dinah continued the attack, uncaring of Angel’s visible exhaustion. “They don’t need a woman to get in the middle of things. The risks are too great. The men are trained.”

  “Go away, Dinah,” Angelica said very quietly. Too quietly. Before the remnants of her self-control floated off into the night.

  “If you actually cared,” Dinah told her piously, sounding like a woman with a great capacity for emotional involvement, “Stacy and Gillian were very worried about you.”

  “I take it you weren’t.”

  Silence. Then… “I knew Jake would send you on your way.” Dinah was not a pretty sight in her jealousy and anger.

  “Then he took his time about it. I’d say I’ve been up there two hours and more.” Angelica normally so light-footed, dragged her steps as she started towards the house.

  “Either you’d do anything to get Jake’s attention or you’re insane.” Dinah came after her, her mind suddenly filled with doomed dreams.

  “Anything else you’d like to add?” Angelica turned so abruptly Dinah almost slammed into her.

  “Yes.” Dinah’s green eyes were twin daggers as she threw down the challenge. Now was a good time. Everything being as rotten as it was. “Just make sure you don’t try to come between Jake and me.”

  Angelica surveyed Dinah from her superior height. “If you disappeared off the face of the earth I bet you he wouldn’t notice.”

  Dinah lost it. “I don’t give a stuff what you think,” she said furiously. “You’ll be gone the day after the Christmas party. We’ll never see you again.”

  “When I’ve already got Jake to sign me up for his birthday party?”

  “Wha-a-t?” Dinah visibly recoiled.

  “You heard. Jake is starting to get a real appreciation for my talents.”

  “All the sex appeal?” Dinah sneered, almost demented with jealousy. “Slut. I bet there are a lot of wild stories about you.”

  “You wish. Then you could take them all to Jake. Personally I have no idea what slut means. But if you asked me what a super-bitch was I could tell you.”

  Up on the verandah Stacy and Gillian peered into the night anxiously. It had been a long worrying time and Dinah hadn’t made things better with her incessant criticisms of Angelica.

  “Oh, we’re so glad you’re back, Angelica, dear.” Stacy flew down the steps the instant Angelica came into sight. “How’s it going up there?” She lifted her eyes to the illuminated ridge. “It doesn’t seem anywhere near as threatening, thank God.”

  “I’d say they were getting over the top of things at last,” Angelica told her as they stood at the bottom of the steps. “Lighting hit a tree. That’s what started it off.”

  “Angie, Angie, are you all right?” Now Gillian appeared, running down the short flight of steps to join them. “Why, you poor thing, you look exhausted. We would have been out of our minds with worry only we knew Jake was with you. You’re very brave to have stayed. Fire is terrifying.” She stared up into Angelica’s face, thinking her a heroine.

  “I’m as tough as old leather boots,” Angelica laughed, when she felt more like slipping to her knees.

  “Or too stupid to know better,” Dinah suggested harshly, pleased Miss De Campo looked decidedly unsexy for once.

  “Dinah, please don’t! Now’s not the time,” Stacy begged, utterly dismayed by Dinah’s attitude. Gillian, however, was wrought up enough to reach out and give Dinah a good push.

  “You just won’t shut up, will you, Dinah?” she said. “Leave Angie alone. Who do you think you are anyway? You treat Mum and I like dirt in our own home. You think Jake’s in love with you and he’s not. For God’s sak
e, get a grip.”

  Dinah, fell back, utterly shocked, groping for words. “I can’t believe you did that, Gilly,” she said, feeling her shoulder like Gillian had broken the bone.

  “No, you thought I was too much of a wimp,” Gillian said. “Father practically made sure I was, though he was hospitable enough to you. Both of you rotten snobs. Leave Angie alone. She’s our friend. Can’t you see she’s reeling on her feet?”

  “Maybe it will teach her a lesson,” Dinah cried the harder, thoroughly startled by Gillian’s growth in self-confidence. She flinched in faked pain. “I’ll be telling Jake just how rude you’ve been to me, Gilly.” she threatened. “I don’t know why you should attack your poor father, either. He was quite charming to me.”

  “Oh, sure!” Gillian snorted. “Father just exuded charm. You could have told him all about my rudeness for all I care, because boy, it was worth it. Your rudeness on the other hand has gone on long enough.”

  “Gilly, darling, Dinah is our guest,” Stacy wailed, wondering where it was all going to end.

  “She invited herself.”

  “So is Jake complaining?” Dinah asked. “I think you’re getting very much above yourself, Gilly.”

  Gillian threw back her head and laughed. “That’s priceless coming from you. Anyway it’s Angie who needs our attention.”

  “Yes, dear. Come inside,” Stacy pleaded, all but wringing her hands. “You’ll feel much better after a long shower.” She looked back towards the ridge where billows of smoke still filled the dark night. “I think the fire has gone as far as it’s going to,” she said with great hope. “There’s never a dull moment around here. We’ve got our big day tomorrow.”

  “Put it off,” said Dinah with considerable disdain. The very last thing she wanted was for Angelica’s efforts to amount to a great success.

  “Put it off?” Both McCord women looked at her in disbelief. “That’s impossible. It looks like Jake and the men have the fire under control,” Stacy pointed out. “We have to go ahead. People will expect it. I’m sure Jake will want us to.”