The Innimincka Affair

by Robert Chalmers

  Cooper stepped back and sat back down in his own chair. Immediately his stood up again and moved to the centre of the room. Turning to her, he said softly. “No Rebecca. You are not a honey trap. I apologize for being so stupid as to suggest it. That’s twice tonight I’ve upset you badly. I don’t mean to, but you are…” He stopped and swallowed, and began to pace about the room. Rebecca watched him silently, trying to gather in her emotions. His touch electrified her, and she didn’t trust herself to speak just at the moment.

  Chapter 4

  Cooper looked at Rebecca reflectively and said. “Earlier this afternoon when we spoke you mentioned New World Holdings - NWH for short, which caused me to hesitate, and it was then that I first had an indication that I had no idea of the depth of your involvement in this business.”

  Rebecca spoke quietly. “I asked you if you knew of New World Holdings. You may have only heard from their agents, in reference to the enquiry about buying your property. You may not have actually heard of New World Holdings. However, I noticed your reaction to that question.”

  “Yes,” he replied. “I have heard of NWH. They’ve left traces on my property. Oh, they probably don’t realise it, but where they were being indeed on the property, even though it’s hundreds of miles across the desert from where the homestead is.”

  Rebecca was shocked. The company had no right what so ever to be on Coopers property, and in fact doing so would surely jeopardise their chances of a clean sale.

  “So you are agreeing to talks with these people because …?” She asked Cooper.

  “Because I want to find out what they are up to out there. As simple as that.”

  Neither Cooper nor Rebecca were actually making eye contact during this exchange. Rebecca kept drawing her gaze back to Coopers lips, and for his part, he was doing the same, while also trying to look like he was not looking at other parts of her body as well, because he was. Short of turning his back on her, he couldn’t help himself. It was as if they were conducting two entirely separate conversations. The one on the surface, the mundane business of working out who knew what about whom, and the one that had them so actively engaged, the almost overwhelming urge to rip each others clothes off and tumble into the king size bed occupying the next room.

  Cooper shifted his gaze to Rebecca’s eyes. “Rebecca,” he began. “I’m… not… sorry.” He didn’t have to explain what for. Rebecca’s faint smile and heightened colour told him he had nothing to apologize for. Considering they had only just met, they had both been very surprised by the power of their emotions. Both were people well used to controlling their emotions.

  Cooper had had girlfriends of course over the years, and had enjoyed the intimate company of a number of them. He had never felt the need to say the magic words “I love you” though, and would not say them in any case unless he meant it. Either the girls left, or he left, usually on amicable terms, and they got on with their lives. Only two had ever been invited out to the homestead, and on both occasions the girls - young women actually by that time, took one look at the place and couldn’t get back to the city fast enough. It had apparently never occurred to them that Cooper may have been willing to relocate to please them.

  “Rebecca, I may seem like a country bumpkin to you, and probably I am if compared to the sophisticated gentlemen of Europe and London. But I am well educated and well travelled and I…” He stopped talking like a clockwork running down, and muttered “Oh what the hell.”

  “Let me start again.” He said, speaking quietly, and seemingly a little sadly.

  “The people who are your clients are up to no good I’m sure of it, and on my property. I want to get to the bottom of it. The antics of those goons convinces me that it is not even something as simple as prospecting. I fully accept that you have no part of their schemes, and apologize with all my being that I could have even suspected you. I realize as your clients that you must protect their interests, so I will not trouble you further. You may tell your clients that I am rejecting all overtures from them out of hand. Moreover, if I find them on my land again they will most assuredly regret it. I will be returning home in the morning, very early. May I see you again in the morning before I depart?”

  Rebecca held out a hand as if to steady him. “Must you go now? I’m taking in all you have said,” she hesitated a fraction and added “and done. If you leave now…” The sentence remained unfinished. She said softly. “Of course. I would love to see you again in the morning, just call to let me know and I will meet you.” She couldn’t help but think ‘He’s slipping through my fingers.’ and she didn’t mean in a business sense. She couldn’t understand it, but she did not want this to be the last she would see of him. She did not want this to be the first and last kiss. ‘There, I’ve said it’ she thought. Cooper started to move toward the door. He turned and said.

  “Don’t open your door unless you know who is on the other side. I’ll see you in the morning perhaps.” Cooper closed the door softly. All of his plans now in pieces. He found that he had really been looking forward to showing Rebecca around his home. He wanted her to be able to see it all through his eyes. He knew she was different. He had to know that she would never be a part of any underhanded plan to get around his resolve to keep his station property. It had been a moment of weakness, and he regretted it bitterly.

  ‘In any case,’ he thought, ‘why would she even be interested in me anyway. She’s a sophisticated woman from one of the major capital cities of the world. Wealthy in her own right, and probably with a string of eligible bachelors vying for her attention.’ He did recall that kiss though. Her sweet lips responding to his. The feel of her soft and supple body pressed against his.

  “Struth.” He exclaimed, and smacked his hand against the wall of the hall way. Someone on the other side yelled back “Quiet out there.” He hurried to the lift to return to his own room.

  The doors to the lift slid open, and he stepped in, checking his watch. 9pm. It was early yet, but he didn’t feel like going out. He very much didn’t feel like returning to his room alone either. In fact, he couldn’t remember ever feeling so alone. Not lonely, he knew that feeling from his early boarding school days, but alone. He worried at his bottom lip as he stepped out of the lift and headed to the bar. It was the ground floor bar, and still contained a collection of business types, men and women alike stopping in after busy days in the office. A couple of politicians enjoying life on the public purse. A couple of elderly tourists sitting quietly to one side looking a little like they expected to be asked to move on at any moment.

  He hitched his butt onto a bar stool next to a small group of young women from a local office by the look of them. He didn’t pay much attention to them, just noticed their chic clothes and careful makeup and cut-glass tumblers with a dash of what was probably gin by the look of it, the lemon twists a giveaway. They hardly registered on his mind. He sure registered on theirs though.

  Their conversation stopped dead when he sat down next to them. The appraising looks coming his way may have been unsettling if he had noticed. After a few moments, when it was obvious he hadn’t noticed, and in fact seemed to be ignoring them, their conversation started up again although a little more subdued.

  He ordered a Scotch with ice. It came in a crystal tumble and a small ice jar with tongs to pick up the ice and add it as he pleased. There were nuts on the bar in a bowl, and he helped himself, munching away as he mulled over the day’s events. He couldn’t believe it had only been this afternoon when he had met Rebecca at the airport. 2pm, and here it was 9pm. In those seven hours he had managed to meet, then upset, then alienate, then walk away from the most beautiful woman he had ever had the pleasure of meeting. ‘You might say an unforgettable seven hours’ he thought to himself.

  At least he thought he was thinking to himself. The young woman perched on the bar stool next to him turned and said.

  “Some seven hours, that it would cause such a sigh of regret”

  Cooper bli
nked and turned toward her.

  “Sorry miss. Thinking aloud. I didn’t realize I was.” He turned back to the bar, content to sip his drink and think of what he had to do tomorrow.

  The young woman next to him spun her chair and sat elbow to elbow with him and picked up her drink. She knew she was safe here. The best hotel in town, all her friends next to her and by now their attention fully on her. She smiled.

  “Care to talk about it?” She asked lightly.

  Cooper straightened up and replied politely.

  “Well miss, it goes like this. I met a beautiful woman, I managed to insult her twice and upset her to tears once and anger once, then kiss her, then walk away from her. Probably never see her again.” He put his glass on the bar and signalled for another drink. By now the other young ladies were crowding in close around him, wanting to hear more of the story. He sighed and looked at the scene in the mirror behind the bar. ‘Well, maybe life wasn’t all bad’, he thought.

  The bar tender just filled all the glasses of the girls and replenished the nut bowls and moved away up the bar. He knew Cooper was good for the tab. The girls were enthusiastic talkers and there was safety in numbers - and this one wasn’t gay. They had all heard him say he had kissed a woman. The petite one on his left was not about to give up her place, although she suffered a deal of jostling from her friends.

  “What are your names, ladies? Mine’s Cooper” Cooper asked.

  A chorus of names came to him, but the only one he really caught was from the girl who had sat next to him first. Emily.

  “Nice name, Emily.” He said, and smiled at the others. He didn’t have a hope of remembering the other names, his mind was not on the subject. ‘Well one out of five wasn’t bad was it.’ He thought.

  They all wanted to know who the woman was he said he had kissed. Was she in the hotel? Was it his wife? Some suspense when that one was asked. Audible sighs of relief when he replied that he “wasn’t married - yet.” To the other questions he was evasive, he didn’t kiss-and-tell. He was enjoying himself, and his confidence in the company of the women was assuring to them. They would soon have to leave though. For them it was the end of a working day, and homes still had to be got to. Boy friends to meet, mothers to calm and a weeks work to get over in preparation for the next one.

  Cooper saw movement reflected in the mirror behind the bar, a splash of red coming in the door. It was Rebecca. He said to Emily, the young woman beside him, “Excuse me Emily.” and slid off the stool to turn and face Rebecca who had stopped in her tracks and was staring at Cooper, standing there surrounded by a cluster of beautiful young women, and obviously enjoying himself.

  She had found her room too claustrophobic for the mood she was in, and decided to go down to the ground floor bar for a drink of something and the company of other people. She didn’t know why she was surprised to see Cooper there, and she couldn’t understand why she felt so hurt by seeing him enjoying the company of the collection of young women. They were obviously from a local office nearby, and here for TGIF drinks. … and all of them were now watching both her and Cooper. Rebecca collected herself, and walked up to Cooper, trying to ignore the others. The girl Emily had slipped from her bar stool and collected her shoulder bag from the bar, and was saying her goodbyes to her friends. She looked sideways at Cooper as she passed, “Nice meeting you Cooper.” The others were collecting their possessions and leaving, with subdued goodbyes. Cooper hardly noticed them leaving.

  “Rebecca,” he said. “I couldn’t face my empty room alone, so I came down here for a bit of human company. Those office girls were here and we got talking …” He suddenly felt like he was explaining his actions like a naughty boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

  Rebecca smiled and put a hand on his arm. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me Cooper. I too felt the need to be amongst others. That’s why I’m here.” She looked at the now empty bar stools. “May I join you?” She asked. The butterflies were back in her stomach.

  Cooper suddenly realised he had been standing there like some country oaf, with his mouth half open. He almost jumped.

  “Of course Rebecca. Please. Sit here. Do you want a drink of something? What can I get you?”

  Rebecca thought for a moment. She looked at the bar tender hovering nearby. “A small house red please.” She didn’t really want a drink, but now she was here with Cooper, she had to have something to do with her hands.

  They sat side by side nursing their drinks, and looking at the array of colourful bottles on the shelves behind the bar. Cooper was not a man normally lost for words, but he realised that for once he didn’t quite know where to start. He had really insulted Rebecca earlier, and felt terrible about it. He looked at her in the reflection and found her looking right back at him. He turned to her and said.

  “Rebecca, I really am sorry that I insulted you earlier. I do hope that you will forgive me. Also, I am sorry that we seem to have got off on the wrong foot entirely since the airport. Can I ask that we… try again? I might add, I’m not sorry that I kissed you.” There, he had said it.

  Rebecca coloured slightly. She was not sorry about the kiss either. It had been entirely unexpected, but no, she was not sorry about it.

  “I agree.” She said. “In fact, if we are starting again, may I say that I would love to come out to your homestead with you tomorrow. All business interests aside, I believe we should be able to at least enjoy each other’s company on such a personal trip. If you wish to invite me to come with you, I will gladly accept.” Her right hand rested lightly on his forearm. His smooth sun tanned brown forearm. She found herself reluctant to take her hand away, and Cooper had not moved his arm away at her touch.

  “Of course. Stupid of me.” He said. “It just occurs to me that I didn’t invite you in the first place, just assumed that you would come with me - flying off into the sunset to a place that is probably completely outside of your experience. So may I formally invite you to come with me to where I live. To fly out in the morning in my own light plane, a twin engine Cessna that I own. You will of course have your own rooms and facilities. En suite bedroom and your own sitting room. It’s a very big house. Far too big for me alone. Your company will be most welcome.” He waited for Rebecca to respond.

  “I’ll take great delight in coming with you. It does actually sound like quite an adventure. I have flown over Australia of course, and can see that it’s quite an inhospitable place mostly. To be able to visit such a place on the ground in safety, in the company of someone I love…” Rebecca gulped, and went as red as a beetroot. “Like, like, someone I like. Sorry, slip of the tongue.” She had lost her train of thought completely. Cooper studied the bottles behind the bar carefully, and waited for Rebecca to recover. She could not know how much he suddenly wanted her first statement to be true, but he knew it was never going to happen. He had burnt those bridges already by his behaviour. Were they fated to fall over each other all the time as they had been doing. He hoped not.

  “Excellent. I’ll be waiting in the lobby in the morning for you. Say 8am? Not too early?” Cooper carried on as though he hadn’t heard her slip of the tongue.

  “8am is fine.” She replied. “We can have a little breakfast and be on our way. I presume we will return to Brisbane airport, and leave from there?”

  “Yes, should take about three hours flying time if we are lucky. The weather is good, and there is no air traffic out that way. We land right next to the homestead. Easy.” Cooper thought the trip may actually take more like four hours, but he didn’t want to frighten Rebecca off, and if he ignored the Economical Cruising Speed rules, he could push the speed up and do it in three hours easy.

  “Tell me a little about yourself Rebecca. This time, I’ll try not to insult you.” He smiled a little ruefully. He sat quietly as Rebecca began to talk. She found herself opening up to this man as she had never done with any other. A little history of her family, her hopes and dreams, her ambitions regarding the co
mpany she had found a niche in. The people she worked with.

  They had moved to more comfortable seating by now, and the place had gone a little quieter as the office workers had nearly all gone home. The evening crowd would be starting to fill the place soon. Cooper interspersed her story with his own, and they discovered that they had mutual interests in certain areas, one of which was travelling. Cooper had worked hard to build up the cattle business his father had left him, and he had seen to it that the people he hired to run the place were all honest, hardworking and capable of getting on with it without having to have Cooper there all the time. He had then been able to travel to Europe, and the Americas on different occasions as a tourist. To his delight, Rebecca was as enthusiastic a traveller as he had become. She was less able to get away though it seemed than Cooper was, but as they worked out their commitments it became obvious that they both used their time to maximum advantage when they did get time. Cooper found his travels more seasonal, Rebecca found her travel more available at traditional times, like Christmas breaks, and at the end of long and gruelling cases.

  Rebecca said to Cooper, “Of course, I can’t leave the law firm that I am part of. Not only am I a junior partner with the opportunity of becoming a full senior partner, but it also carries a fairly strong contractual arrangement.”

  Cooper’s brow furrowed momentarily. He had just been thinking that it would be nice, really nice, if Rebecca could move to Australia. In fact, move to his homestead. He realized as soon as he thought of it, that it was impossible. Rebecca had her career to think of. She was on the way up, and no way would she leave those prospects to move out to the remote regions of Australia, and on top of that, have nothing to do when she got there.