Lily's Leap

by Téa Cooper

  “What if people already owned the land?” Tom interrupted.

  “Possession is nine tenths of the law, Father always said.” She felt him tense beside her before he relaxed and pulled her closer. Then he rubbed her arm silently, encouraging her to continue. Now she’d started talking, she didn’t think she would ever stop. Everything was pouring out of her like an upturned billy can.

  “Then the recession hit. No one had money for stud horses anymore. Father’s drinking got worse. He used to take the horses to the races tracks. He said he was making sure people knew he had the best and he would bet big on them. He said it was good for business, showing the quality of his breeding lines however he was fighting his own success.”

  Lily looked up, her mouth watering at the smell of the fresh damper and cold meat Bonnie held out to her.

  “Bonnie, thank you, you’re a godsend.”

  “Tom, shall I bring yours?”

  Lily marveled at Tom’s ability to unravel his long legs and stand in one fluid movement. The material of his breeches pulled tight across his muscular thighs as he eased himself up off the ground. “No. I’ll come and get it. Lily, would you like more tea? I’m sure the billy’s still hot,” he asked.

  Mouth full of freshly baked damper, Lily nodded up at Tom, wrinkling her nose at him as he winked down at her.

  “Sit tight. I’ll be back in a tick.”

  She picked up the bone and chewed the last remnants of meat from it, licking the grease from her fingers with great enjoyment, imagining her father’s gasp of outrage at her ‘convict manners.’ Perhaps she’d just stay on the road, never go home, and live by her wits. She chuckled to herself. She might become a bushranger.

  “Tea for the lady.” Tom’s words dragged her back to reality.

  Lady? By whose definition? Certainly not her father’s.

  “Mind your fingers. It’s hot.”

  “Thanks.” She rested the mug in the leaves as Tom slid down the tree trunk and balanced his tin plate on his knees.

  “I’m all ears. Your father won at the race track but he was fighting a losing battle.”

  Lily grinned, the warm tea catching in her throat as she stifled a laugh. “You’re amazing Tom, you never forget a word. Yes, the horses he’d sold were younger, stronger and they started to win. Then he suddenly decided–” she let out an exaggerated sigh just to emphasize her disapproval, “–I needed an education and some cultured company so he arranged for me to go and live at Dom’s place. They had the neighboring property. I think it was more to get me out of the house, away from my mother and his drinking and gambling. Two women were more than he could handle. Dom had a tutor and I joined him. That’s how I learned to ride, play chess and fence. I’ve already told you, and then when it was suggested we marry, it seemed the right thing to do. We already lived in each other’s pockets. That is until Dom and my mother died.”

  Lily paused, swallowing the memories of her mother; they always caused such a deep poignant longing in her. Everything had been so different when she was alive. She willed the memory of that terrible day away, replacing it with the reassurance of Tom’s large capable hand as it squeezed her thigh in sympathy.

  “When Dom’s will was read, he had left me a huge inheritance. His parents were furious. Not only did they blame me for his death, but because there was nothing they could do about the will. I was sent back to Wordsworth with my tail between my legs. It was then my father told me I was only ‘an indiscretion’. He’d supported me, so I now owed it to him to repay the favor. Four years ago. My father has control. I can’t touch my inheritance until I’m twenty-one. He’s always had control. I told you I’m his cash cow.”

  Her harsh laugh echoed in the gathering darkness. She felt Tom take the cup from her rigid fingers and shivered, suddenly cold again. She wrapped her arms around herself hugging her cloak to her chest aching for the past, for a time when life was free and easy when she and Dom had raced through the bush the wind in their hair and screams of exhilaration filling the air.

  ****

  Tom chose a stick from the leaf litter and examined it carefully before he chose the best end and clamped it between his teeth. It was worse than he thought.

  Cash cow. He shook his head. Too right. No wonder her father was happy to have her out of the way. He’d have his hands on her inheritance and his problems would be over. The snakey bastard. He’d put money on there being more to her mother and husband’s death than she realized but how to prove it and was it even worth trying? Lily was his priority right now. It wasn’t the best and tonight she was a far cry from the girl who’d raced him across the Common with such gay abandon. The meeting with her father, and telling her story had drained the very life out of her. He was hardly surprised. Reliving that kind of a nightmare was enough to send anyone over the edge and he thought he had been hard done by. She might not feel it now but she was strong. So strong.

  For the first time in his life he thought of killing a man. Would it make any difference? He was destined for jail anyway. Sooner or later the authorities would catch up with him, what had he got to lose? He didn’t even hold the deeds to his land now. He was going to have to explain that to Lily, too. Right now she didn’t need any more grief. Perhaps the best thing he could do for her was to get rid of her father. Dungarven, he corrected himself.

  He stared up at the dark velvet sky pinpricked with twinkling stars, far too beautiful for a world full so much of evil. No, not all evil, there was Lily. The thought caused an excruciating cramping somewhere beneath his ribs. He didn’t want to be in a world without her and if he couldn’t ask her to live his life, he had to do something about it. He gazed down at her strained face; she had slumped back against the tree and looked as though she was asleep.

  ****

  A gentle hand stroking her thigh roused Lily. The moon had risen and a creamy light illuminated the clearing. She looked down at Tom’s capable hand resting on her thigh and covered it with her own, running the pad of her thumb across the sunburned skin to his wrist. She heard the sharp intake of his breath as she turned to him.

  “You can’t sleep like this. Come with me.” He slipped his hand around her back and eased her upright. The dying embers flickered as Will and Bonnie sat talking quietly around the fire. She followed his lead and they walked to the shelter of a small copse of trees.

  He pulled her into his embrace. Cupping her chin in his hand moving her face to one side, he trailed a line of feather light kisses down her neck and loosened the top buttons of her shirt exposing the creamy white skin, untouched by the sun. His tongue soft and light worked its way gently over the swell of her breast, above the fine lawn of her camisole. She lowered her eyelids as desire pooled in her stomach and robbed her of the ability to move.

  At the movement of his smile against her skin, she raised his face in her two hands and looked deep into his darkened eyes. They blazed with his arousal. The silence hung like a shadow cloaking them in an intimate solitude. Her lips sought his and she opened to him as he plundered her mouth.

  “You become more beautiful every day. Did you know that?” He slid her shirt off her shoulders and trailed kisses against the sensitive skin of her shoulders. The moonlight caught the chiseled line of his jaw and highlighted the dark stubble. The roughness grazed her skin and she ached for his touch in places she had never before imagined.

  As she absorbed the warmth of him, Lily’s fingers explored his tight, toned muscles. A soft moan escaped her lips as the heat from his body increased and the musky scent of him drugged her senses. She pushed her fingers up under his shirt spreading them, until she found his waistband. He shivered in response and she pressed herself closer searching for the press of his arousal against the heated flesh of her belly. He moaned low in his throat and waves of passion built like the surging floodwaters until she was lost to all but the sensations pulsing through her.

  His lips moved against her skin and his husky words imprinted her skin. “I want us to hold
this moment forever. When we part I will know you carry with you the memory of my kisses.” His hooded gaze branded her and she watched as his eyes filled and darkened with emotion.

  She raised her finger to his lips and he drew it to his mouth. His lips trapped it as he sucked gently. “Don’t talk about the future; that can wait until sunrise. Now I want only to be with you as I’ve dreamed since your first touch.” She wanted to savor the way he made her quiver with delight; she knew with a sudden certainty she would never know anyone else as a lover. He had captured her heart and soul on the Wollombi Road and now she offered them freely and unconditionally.

  His fingers threaded through her hair and he covered her lips with his, soft and firm, they moved with mounting pressure as his tongue slipped deeper washing away all of her angst and heartbreak.

  His hand slipped to her breast, and he cupped it tenderly dropping his lips to her nipple and then he teased it with his tongue. She arched toward him, her knees buckling with weakness and desire. She grasped him tighter and moaned into his neck. She nibbled lightly on his earlobe and her tongue flicked over his ear. He growled deep in his throat and she thrilled at her ability to arouse him. Her muscles clenched deliciously deep inside her.

  “Don’t stop,” she whispered as he lifted his face.

  He closed his eyes breathing deeply for a moment. “Lily, I have to.” He placed one soft lingering kiss on her lips . “We have to, now because if we leave it a moment longer I will throw you on the ground and ravish you within an inch of your life.”

  Lily laughed in delight and rested the palm of her hand flat against his chest as if to measure the frantic beat of his heart against her own. “I want you, Tom.”

  An apologetic smile broke across his face and he shook his head slowly, “And I want you, too, Lily, more than you will ever know but until I can come to you a free man and ask for your hand in marriage, our wanting will have to be just that.” He pulled her shirt gently up over her shoulders and buttoned it as tenderly as he would for a child. “Let’s put an end to this adventure and turn to the rest of our lives.”

  ****

  The remainder of their journey to Sydney was made in almost total silence except for the ever-present cicadas and kookaburras. The humidity after the rain coated Lily’s skin, covering it in a fine sheen of sweat; at least the riding was easy, something she was profoundly grateful for. She watched as the miles fell away and tried to be pleased they would make it to the docks in time.

  Gone was the Tom of last night, in the cold harsh light of day he appeared to be somewhere else. She did not know where, somewhere she couldn’t reach. He was silent, taciturn speaking only to issue a terse command to Will or Jem. His dark eyes gaze scanned the road constantly. A bushranger waiting for a dose of his own medicine?

  “The cicadas are noisy, aren’t they?” She announced loudly when his silence finally became too much.

  “What would you like me to talk about?” he asked turning his face to her as if reading her mind.

  “I’d like you to tell me about the strange collection of possessions you have stashed away at The Settler’s Arms.” She stared defiantly at him determined to get an answer. “And exactly who you are because nothing is making sense right now.”

  “You wouldn’t want to know.”

  His sullen response didn’t surprise her. The closer they got to Sydney the further away the carefree bushranger, her ardent lover of last night slipped and a different being emerged from the skin of the man she thought she’d come to know. And he was so very wrong. She wanted to know all there was about him especially after his declaration last night. A strange connection appeared to exist between him and her father and it sat like a heavy hard stone in her belly. “I do want to know Tom and I believe I have a right, especially it if it concerns Wordsworth.”

  She looked across at him admiring the way his muscled body sat so comfortably astride his horse; the shadows playing across his rugged face made her heart contract. Of course she wanted to know everything about him, especially since he’d so successfully kidnapped her heart and soul. “Do you agree?”

  “Oh, Lily.” The sigh of her name came from deep inside him, a great pit of pent-up emotion and passion trickling slowly to the surface. “Yes I agree. It’s not a tale I am proud of and even though I wish it otherwise I can do nothing to change it. Perhaps when you hear my story you might change your mind about me.” He made an effort to smile with a half-hearted grin and her heart ached for his pain.

  “I doubt it Tom. I doubt it very strongly.” How could he believe that? She owed him a debt of gratitude not only for his support also for opening her eyes to feelings the like of which she had only dreamed.

  “I did come to Australia courtesy of Her Majesty’s Government,” he said suddenly as if leaping into the fray. “But not in the way I allowed you to believe.”

  She smiled at him nodding her head, thrilled. Deep in her heart of hearts she had known from the very first moment he was not the criminal he’d have her believe.

  “When my father died my older brother inherited the title as was right and proper.”

  “Title?” Her high-pitched squeaked surprised her.

  “Yes title–it’s not worth getting excited about. The family fortunes are far from robust. When I came down from Oxford I had a degree in Mathematics and the two options my older brother gave me–the army or the church.” His derisive snort made Nero’s ears prick. “Neither of them appealed to me and he finally agreed to settle five hundred pounds on me on the condition I came to Australia and made my own way and never darkened the family doorstep again.”

  Families, always families. Lily shook her head. There were times when she believed it would have been preferable to be an orphan.

  “Through the connections I had made at Oxford I managed to get an invitation to join the Surveyor General. I accepted a position as an assistant and I was sent to Newcastle to work marking the road from Newcastle to Wallis Plains, measuring reserves and grants. We worked steadily northwards until we reached the unsettled upper districts of the Hunter River.”

  “That’s the area around Wordsworth.”

  Tom grunted an acknowledgement. “I was a diligent pupil and I learned a lot. I became a skilled cartographer and surveyor and my services were in great demand.” His hollow laugh echoed across the road. “I even received a land grant for my troubles.”

  Suddenly the pieces of the puzzle came together. His room at The Settler’s Arms flashed through Lily’s mind. The rolls and rolls of maps, the books, the compass, the chain and other instruments. Not a bushranger but a surveyor, an explorer. She reached up and took off her hat scratching her head where her hatband irritated the damp hair of her forehead. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him. “The title deeds, the ones George took, do they relate to your land grant?”

  He nodded but his eyes were distant, seeing places and remembering things she could only guess at.

  “What on earth are you doing on the road? Why aren’t you living on your property, a gentleman farmer, or even a politician? Surely you have a lot to offer the colony? Your knowledge, your maps?”

  “Some people believed I had something to offer, however, it’s easy to make enemies especially when you threaten the privilege of others. After we mapped the Hunter we crossed the Liverpool Range to the plains. It was then I was accused of excessive spending and using my public position for private gain. I was called to stand trial.”

  “Stand trial?” Did that make him a criminal? Surely he had the right to defend himself in a court of law as a free man. “What happened?”

  “Something I’m not very proud of.”

  She waited as the silence lengthened, dreading his next words.

  “I ran.”

  “You ran?” Relief flooded through her.

  “I ran. After being used to the wide open spaces the prospect of being incarcerated on Norfolk Island or Van Diemen’s Land was more than I could stand. I took to the road. Jem and
Will stuck by me and the rest as they say is history.”

  “Not quite. Where is this land grant?”

  “On the shores of the Hunter River, just north of Jerry’s Plains.”

  “That’s–”

  “Yes, that’s now part of Wordsworth.” His eyes were like jet-black chips as he turned to her and the stone in the pit of her stomach sank to her boots.

  “The title deeds are to land my father claims squatter’s rights over.”

  “Yes.”

  “And you knew he wanted the deeds to the land.”

  “Yes.”

  His monosyllabic answers struck a chord. She had to ask the question even though she didn’t want the answer. “Did you know this Tom when you held us up at Payne’s Crossing?”

  The silence stretched the length of the dusty road. Had it been more than a coincidence he was waiting for them as they travelled the last length of unpatrolled road? Goose bumps flecked her arms. Had he intended to use her to recoup his losses, get back what was rightfully his from her father? Was she simply a pawn in some complicated game of land rights that he and her father were playing?

  He looked at her long and hard. “I think that’s enough of my history for now. We’re approaching Five Dock. None of it is important right now.”

  “As you wish,” she said, the cold hand of reality wrapping around her heart. She needed time to think, time to clear her head. She resorted to counting the convict etched milestones and her mistakes.

  By the time they passed Five Dock, she had made a decision and she needed facts. “What are you going to do now? You’ve fulfilled your end of the bargain. We’re in Sydney.”

  “I’m coming with you.” he replied shortly. “You’ll need help getting the horses to the dock. We’ll go directly there.”

  She turned away from him, her heart heavy despite her resolve. Once the horses were loaded there was nothing to keep him. She pulled out the winning purse from the racetrack out of her pocket.