by Jane Corrie
'You're going nowhere!' Cal grated out. `So you can forget that John of yours. You married me, remember, and it's high time you fulfilled your part of the bargain. I was a fool to have waited this long.'
Della stared at him horrified; he couldn't possibly ... 'Cora ' she began through clenched teeth. No matter how much it hurt she had to make him see what was right. 'What about Cora? What chance of happiness would there be for any of us if you persist in this farce?'
Cal gave a wicked grin. 'So that's what the little monkey told you, is it? Well, I can guess the rest.' His face sobered. 'Cora,' he said slowly, 'will make someone a good wife in about five years' time, but it would never have been me.' He looked back at Della. `Do I look the kind of man who would take a child bride?' he demanded.
Della shrugged despondently. 'She's eighteen, not really a child at all,' she said miserably.
'She's a child,' Cal reasserted firmly. 'At the present moment her mentality is that of a fourteen year-old. She would play at marriage as she does at everything else. I feel sorry for her,' he said quietly. 'I guess I'm the only one who does. I got the truth out of her, by the way.'
For a while he was silent, then he said, 'She hasn't had much of a home life, and unfortunately takes after her mother, whose indiscretions were a little too much for even a man like Harold Waites to take. It ended in a sordid divorce. Cora's not wanted by either party; her father doesn't think she's his, and her mother was only too happy to wash her hands of her. She only turns up at the ranch to collect her alimony, although she insists she goes to see Cora, but Cora isn't fooled.' He sighed. 'Most of Cora's trouble stems from the fact that she isn't wanted—I guess it's her way of getting back at life. She spends most of her time here, and up to now hasn't caused any trouble. She's barely tolerated at her home, and there would be nowhere else for her to go.'
Della began to understand, and wished she had known all this before. No wonder Cora loved Cal; in a sense she was like David, for Cal had shown them both compassion. 'Poor Cora,' she sighed. 'She does love you, Cal.'
Again she felt him rook at her. 'She thinks she does,' he said. 'But as I said, she's yet to grow up. I prefer a real woman,' and he caught Della to him in a sudden move that took her off balance, and she had to suffer his tight embrace, although the pain was only mental. 'Although,' he whispered against her damp hair, 'she's yet to prove it to me.'
'The land,' Della murmured against his chest because she couldn't move out of his embrace.
'Damn and blast the land! ' exploded Cal. 'Wherever you are will be home to me. I only wish you had taken to the ranch, because it's part of me,, but it's not worth losing you. Nothing is worth that much! '
Della caught her breath. Cal had said what she had longed for him to say for what seemed a lifetime, but she found it hard to believe. 'Cal?' she said.
He held her away from him and gazed into her wide brown eyes. 'Don't sound so surprised,' he teased lightly. 'I'm human, even though it seems I must prove it to you,' and his lips crushed hers.
This time she answered his demanding lips, and felt his heartbeat quicken as she slid her arms up round his neck and her fingers touched his tight curly hair.
'Woman,' he breathed heavily, 'you'd better fulfil that promise soon. If you only knew how long I've held myself in check, waiting for one slight pointer in my favour—but you put up a wall of cement between us, and I knew if I forced the issue you'd hate me for the rest of time.'
His lips caressed the hollow of her throat. 'I'm no ladies' man,' he said softly. 'Everything I tried bounced back on me. I had to bide my time. Sooner or later one of us would have had to give in, and I'm no loser.' He gave her a rueful smile. 'I guess I was hard on David, not because of Cora, but because of you. I was jealous of the attention you paid him.'.
Della snuggled up closer to him. 'I think I was hard on Cora, too,' she said shyly. 'If I'd known a bit more about her, I wouldn't have disliked her so much.'
A wicked imp of amusement lurked in Cal's eyes as he said, 'It wouldn't have made any difference to Cora's behaviour. She saw what you failed to see, that you were the one and only girl in the world for me. I guess she even knew it before I did.' Kissing the tip of her nose, he went on, `So she set about making life a trifle difficult for you.' There was amusement in his voice.
Della pulled herself away from him. 'Why, Cal Tarn! ' she exploded. 'You mean to tell me you knew what she was up to?'
Cal chuckled and pulled her closer. 'I was ready to try anything to pull you out of that ivory tower, my sweet. I guessed it wouldn't be long before I saw a glimpse of the real woman I'd married. And what a first showing! ' he drawled wickedly.
'And you asked me to apologise to her!' Della retorted indignantly.
Another chuckle broke from Cal. 'Cora had set the ball rolling, and I just kept it going. I didn't intend to let you slip back into that tower again. It gave me a chance to tangle with you. I wanted to hold you, even if it was only to shake you. The rest I kinda left to providence! '
Della wanted to know so much; she really couldn't see why he loved her—Cal of all people! 'I wouldn't have built that tower,' she murmured softly, 'if you'd given me a chance to explain what happened on Tic-Tac Slope. I was feeling so proud of myself for getting out of a tricky situation, and you went for me with both barrels. "A fool of a girl", I think you called me,' she reminded him mischievously.
Cal kissed her again. 'I apologise, my sweet; you achieved more that day than you could possibly know. David saw what happened, and he told me afterwards. I guess for the first time I saw the kind of girl I'd married. A girl who took it on the chin, and who didn't whine or sulk, even though unfairly treated.
'When I offered you Romano to ride later, I thought you would have realised I was apologising— instead of which you so politely refused, and kept on refusing any further advance of mine. The days went by, and I couldn't understand why it was so important to me to pull you round and to make you part of Rimmer's Way—to make you care for the place as much as I did.'
He sighed softly. 'Then there was David; I found myself coming down hard on him—even though I knew he was only a lad.' He caressed her hand that lay in his. 'Do you remember the day he hurt his arm, and you bandaged it for him, and do you re-member what he said?' His lips twisted wryly as he recalled the words. 'He said; "You're fair beaut, Della, and I'm only a kid." '
His eyes met Della's, and there was such a look of love in his that she held her breath, as he went on: `Do you know what he was telling you? He was saying he loved you, and I knew then what was wrong with me. I loved you, too; and I hadn't even realised it! ' There was a long silence while Cal claimed her lips again, and then Della murmured contentedly, 'Would you really have left Rimmer's Way for me?'
`To find you and drag you back, yes,' answered Cal as he explored her chin with his lips. 'You might as well admit it, my love, you belong here as much as I do, and you know it 'There was no point in denying it. In any case, it no longer mattered. All Della wanted was to be with the man she loved; that he happened to own the most wonderful stretch of land in the Central Table-lands, was to Della's way of thinking, an added bonus!
