Outback Fire

by Margaret Way

  So he can’t wait to get rid of me, Carla seethed. Off with the old and on with the new.

  “I think Carla thinks her dislike of me is going unnoticed,” Storm said in her cut-glass voice.

  “Well it’s not going unnoticed by me.” Luke’s attractive tones slightly hardened. “There are two sides to Carla,” he added thoughtfully. “She could make a good enemy.”

  Too right I can! Carla thought, her passion for Luke dissolving into a fuming rage.

  “Then be careful when you go for a walk with her.” Storm gave a little laugh.

  Carla thought Luke would answer, but there was silence. A silence that stretched unbearably. Overwhelmed with jealousy Carla peered around the shutters only to see Luke bending over Storm, seated on the bed. They were kissing.

  And such kissing! Carla felt the hot blood rush to her cheeks. He had never kissed her like that. Those were light-hearted pecks compared to what she was seeing now. This was a grand passion. She wasn’t such a fool she couldn’t interpret that. Why was she worrying about being seen? If she beat a drum they wouldn’t even hear her.

  Carla turned on her heel and fled the way she had come. Still full of vain hopes. Still full of plans…

  Noni arrived home midmorning, surprised to find Carla had come to visit, but encouraged by the pleasantness of Carla’s manner, her competence and her regard for Storm’s well-being. Carla seemed so genuinely friendly, Noni, who had never really taken to her before now, revised her opinion.

  It was Carla who thoughtfully made morning tea and served it in the sunroom. Afterwards, she excused herself so Storm and Noni could have a private talk. There were many things Storm wouldn’t say to her, Carla had decided, but she would confide in Noni, loyal family friend and retainer. When that happened Carla proposed to be somewhere within earshot. She felt not the slightest shame at the thought of eavesdropping. Sometimes it was the only way one could flush out confidential information.

  In the end it took an interminable half an hour for Storm to bring up the subject of her father’s will, a half hour during which Carla was supposed to be packing her overnight bag and putting the guest bedroom to rights. Carla, however, had taken up a position on a lower step of the rear staircase, cramming her ears to hear what was being said in the sunroom.

  There was the whole tiresome episode of Storm’s accident. Who hadn’t been confronted by a snake? Carla thought and almost groaned. General talk about people Carla didn’t even know, then just when Carla was about to give up and go upstairs Storm began to tell Noni the terms of her father’s will.

  Bingo! Carla kissed her fingers.

  Starting with the bequest to Noni herself. Far too generous for a servant, Carla thought, barely controlling a sniff.

  Then the bombshell! The unexpectedness of which had Carla on her feet, tiptoeing closer to the door. Luke had inherited a half share of Winding River. Something called life estate. Not only that, before Carla could even catch her breath, the news he would take the profits providing he continued to work the whole operation. It came like a blow that almost knocked Carla out. In one stroke, Athol McFarlane had made Luke a rich man, a real player. Whatever else she had imagined, a splendid lump sum, she had never for one moment anticipated Luke would be given equal share with the Major’s only daughter. Her immediate thought was, it was unfair. So the Major had doted on Luke almost like a son? Luke wasn’t his blood.

  There was absolutely no way Noni expected it, either.

  “But darling girl how extraordinary!” she cried. “It seems a great deal for affection, though I know no one has worked harder than Luke. He certainly deserved recognition, but this, it quite takes my breath away.”

  My sentiments exactly, thought Carla, continuing her detective work.

  “Dad had plans, Noni,” Storm explained. “I think his dearest wish was to see Luke and I married.”

  Tears of outrage came to Carla’s eyes.

  “Luke would keep the station going. I would provide the heirs.”

  Silence again. Carla pictured them side by side. “But how do you feel about this, dearest girl?” Noni still sounded like a woman in shock. “How does Luke? I know it would have come as a great surprise to him.”

  Surprise. Indeed! Carla fumed.

  “It did. To us both,” Storm said. “I’m afraid I reacted so badly, Luke threatened to leave. He said he wanted no part of any legacy. He wouldn’t work for me—” Storm broke off, thinking she heard a small sound. “Was that something?”

  Carla waited for no more. As if she had taken wings she swooped up the stairs making for the guest room. She accomplished it with such quietness and such speed by the time Noni came to the door of the sunroom to investigate, the rear hall and the surrounding area, were quite empty.

  “Nothing, darling,” Noni said reassuringly. “Nothing at all.”

  It seemed graceless in the extreme to send Carla off without lunch so after unpacking her things and settling in, Noni returned to her domain, pleased to find it spotless, to organize lunch. Her mind was still trying to cope with Storm’s news; the fact Luke had inherited half share in Winding River had put her own sizeable legacy on the backburner. Luke was a truly exceptional young man. She really cared about him. It was Noni’s own view that he would make a fine husband for her beloved Storm. The more she thought about it, marrying would seem to solve the problem. At the same time it could have thrown them into a new dilemma. What a master manipulator the Major had been, God rest his soul. Noni went out to her vegetable garden to find the making for a salad.

  Meanwhile on the front verandah Storm and Carla made casual conversation, Storm trying her hardest to be friendly for all she found it a little heavy going. Carla, waited her moment. Then let the chips fall where they may! Finally it came. Storm passed some remark about Luke’s having to visit the outstations, giving Carla the opportunity to insert gently, sounding troubled, “It must have come as an awful shock Luke inheriting half of Winding River?” She looked at Storm, her eyes full of sympathy. “I know in your place I would be devastated.”

  Storm could hear Carla’s words, but they seemed to be coming from a long way off. In fact it was difficult to describe the full impact Carla’s words had on her. Anger uppermost. A horrendous pain like a stab to the heart. “Wherever did you get that information from, Carla?” She stared at her, not believing it could have come from Luke. Not Luke! Not now she had delivered herself up to him.

  “Why, Luke, of course,” Carla confessed, sounding a little frightened. “He told me when we went for a walk last night. Please don’t tell him I told you,” she begged. “He’d be very angry with me. It was supposed to be a secret to share.”

  Was it possible she was telling the truth? Storm thought grimly. A lie could easily be found out. “What else did he tell you?” Storm asked.

  “Oh, Storm, I’m sorry.” Carla put her hand to her burning face. “I should never have said anything but I thought we were friends. It was the last thing I expected to hear. Luke told me it was only for his lifetime. He did explain that. That helped a bit. The station will revert to you. As it should.”

  “And Luke told you all this last night?” Storm asked, aware her tones were very blunt.

  Carla hung her head. “I can see I’ve made you very angry. But, Storm, my sympathies are with you. Why if Dad did that to me…” She gestured helplessly.

  Her whole heart wanted to believe in Luke but this smacked of the truth. Where else would Carla have got it from?

  “Regardless of whether Luke is angry with you or not, Carla, I intend to speak to him about this.”

  “And ruin my chances with him?” Carla’s eyes filled with tears. “Storm you can’t be so cruel. I love Luke.”

  “Then I’m very sorry for you, Carla. He doesn’t love you.”

  There was a look of total denial in Carla’s eyes. “Maybe not now but he will in time. There’s no life for him with you, Storm. For any number of reasons. You’re always looking down your nose at him
. He hates that. He hates the way you’ve always played the lovely lady of the manor.”

  “Did he tell you that?” Storm’s voice suggested she was highly sceptical.

  “Storm, surely you know Luke and I have spent a lot of time together. You were off in Sydney most of the time. You got yourself engaged twice. Luke had to have someone to confide in. Is it so hard to believe he’d confide in me?”

  That seemed to echo endlessly in Storm’s head. “I suppose not,” she said eventually. “And how would the fact Luke has inherited half share in Winding River affect you? I’ve told you, you’ve lost any hold over Luke.”

  “That’s not what I sense when I’m alone with him. He trusts me unlike you. Anyway, surely he can sell out to you?” Carla’s trim body was taut with excitement.

  “Did he say that?” Storm’s brain was spinning.

  “Luke is a man who considers his options,” Carla said, respectfully. “I know his first thought was simply to go. He’s a proud man. But I suppose you convinced him not to leave you in the lurch. I wouldn’t want that either. You’ll go back to your career, Storm. We all know that. You get your face in all the glossy magazines. All the time. I know you’re not a social butterfly, or anything like that, but you are social. It occurs to me you could even sell to Luke?”

  She’d come this far she might as well go on. “How would Luke come by the money?” Storm asked.

  Carla’s triumphant expression shaped itself into careful consideration as though this were a question intended to be taken very seriously. “There are ways, Storm,” she said at last. “Luke has friends. Dad thinks the world of him. So do the boys.”

  “And they’re prepared to demonstrate that devotion?” Storm asked with barely concealed sarcasm. “When you go home, Carla, with your news, which I haven’t the slightest doubt will travel far and wide, you can tell your family I’ll never sell Winding River. This is part of my heritage. My children will inherit it.”

  Carla’s mouth turned down. “That’s a long way off, Storm,” she pointed out. “Lots could happen between now and then. Luke may be agonizing over the right thing to do now, but in the end, I believe he’ll take up his inheritance. One thing I do know—” she leaned forward, staring directly into Storm’s eyes “—whatever power you have over him and I grant you you’re beautiful, you’ll never turn him into your lackey. He’d rather…”

  “Get it all out, Carla,” Storm urged, thinking this confrontation was the last thing she needed. “There’s something else?”

  Some alarm bell went off. “Forgive me,” Carla suddenly muttered. “My feelings are running away with me.”

  “I’d go along with that,” Storm answered wryly. “You’re a guest in this house, Carla.” An uninvited one. She didn’t have the heart to mention it.

  Carla paled a little. “I’m sorry if you think I’ve behaved badly, Storm. I have no wish to hurt you. Believe me, I’m your friend.”

  Storm turned her dark head slowly. “I have a big problem with that.”

  “All right you’re not one of my favourites.” Unexpectedly Carla laughed. “You have everything. Money, looks, a career. What I’m really trying to say is lay off Luke.”

  For an instant Storm felt like crying for them all. Instead she looked out over the drive with its magnificent central fountain. She could hear Noni’s footsteps in the hallway coming closer. She was immensely grateful. “Carla,” she said quietly, not responding to the other woman’s challenge, “I cannot fail to tell you, you’ve got problems. There’s nothing between you and Luke except maybe the embers of a friendship. I’m sure under the circumstances you won’t want to stay for lunch.”

  Carla looked back over her shoulder. She too was aware Noni was almost upon them. Noni, the devoted family “friend.” “Listen to the lady!” Carla said with a bitter laugh. “I only came to see Luke anyway.”

  Storm looked up at Carla as she stood swaying like a boxer on her feet. “You surely didn’t think I thought otherwise?”

  CHAPTER NINE

  ONE of the ground staff drove Carla to the airstrip. Storm didn’t wave her off. She felt close to collapse. To lose her father, then to have to stabilize her emotions after hearing his will; to consummate her subterranean passion for Luke, to be disabled with her injured ankle. Now Carla with her revelations. It was too much to handle. Surely if Carla were sane she wouldn’t continue with her obsessive quest for Luke? Was it possible he continued to encourage her? More likely Carla was a little mad? Not that it wasn’t possible to lead a normal life and still obsess about relationships. She wouldn’t have believed Carla at all except there was no way Carla could have known. Only three people, four counting Robert, knew the contents of her father’s will. Robert, even if he had been in the house, was the soul of discretion. His very livelihood depended upon it. She had only just told Noni. Noni for any number of reasons she ruled out. That left Luke himself.

  He and Carla had gone for a walk last night. It was a known fact, at one stage Luke and Carla had been more than friends. Carla when she had no obvious cause of making mischief was good-looking, vivacious, a born country woman with all the necessary skills, and she could be entertaining. Was it possible Luke needed to talk about his life-changing bequest with someone else? Someone he trusted? Luke had to know Carla cared about him deeply. Carla was on his side.

  Noni coming back into the sunroom where Storm was supposedly resting with her foot up, saw the play of emotions move across Storm’s face.

  “What an odd girl!” she exclaimed, sinking into an armchair opposite Storm. “One minute she’s staying for lunch the next she’s off.” Noni had been trained to ask questions but she waited.

  Storm couldn’t help the deep sigh that ran through her, leaving her drained. “You didn’t happen to mention anything about Dad’s will to her?”

  There was a brief awful silence.

  “I’m amazed you ask me, Storm,” Noni’s sweet features registered deep hurt causing Storm’s eyes to fill with quick tears.

  “Oh, forgive me, Noni. I don’t know why I asked. It was a stupid question.”

  “Except you’re not stupid, my girl,” Noni pointed out bracingly. “Something was behind it?”

  Betrayed? “Carla appears to know just about everything in connection with Luke’s inheritance. How Dad left him a half share. How it was a bequest for life. How afterwards it would revert to me or my heirs. Only three of us knew, Noni.”

  Noni pressed a hand to her head. “You can’t possibly think Luke told her?”

  There was a bleak expression in Storm’s eyes. “They went for a walk last night. I know Luke was shocked by the sheer size of Dad’s bequest. Luke can’t say everything to me. Maybe he needed to confide in a friend.”

  But Noni had a talent for sounding out emotions. “Dearest girl, he’s not in love with Carla. I can tell you that.”

  “He must have thought he was in love with her at one time?” Storm stared back a little helplessly, looking more vulnerable than Noni had yet seen her. In fact she looked fragile.

  “Just as you thought you were in love with Alex and that other fellow,” Noni countered reasonably.

  “Then how did she know, Noni? I don’t think I could bear it if I thought Luke had taken her into his confidence. She mentioned something else that was telling about Luke. She said he would never be my lackey.”

  “He never said that,” Noni answered promptly, with scorn.

  “Maybe not those words. But he did tell me he wouldn’t work for me. That was before the will was read.”

  Noni was tempted to say what she thought and gave into the temptation. “You’re in love with him aren’t you?” she said gently.

  “In love with him?” Storm was almost in tears. “Noni, I love him. I’ve always loved him. But unthinking, unknowingly, Dad pushed us apart. His latest attempt to bring us together hasn’t had much success, either.”

  Noni knew all the facts; recalled them. “I’ve watched you two for many long years,�
�� she said. “I looked on helplessly while your father, with the best of intentions, did a lot of harm. You must accept, Storm, your father loved Luke. Luke was just the sort of boy, the young man your father would have wanted for a son. It affected you badly, but in your father’s eyes his love for Luke had nothing to do with his love for you. You were his beautiful, gifted daughter. But in his eyes no woman could be strong enough, exceptional enough to run a cattle empire. The Major wasn’t about to throw a lifetime’s work away. Or the McFarlane heritage.”

  “So he devised a scheme whereby Luke and I would marry, little caring if there was fallout?” Storm said, her eyes sad.

  “It’s up to you, Storm,” Noni said, her voice firm but comforting. “Your life has been complicated for so long. It’s time to free yourself of the bonds. Talk to Luke. I’m sure he’ll come up with a perfectly reasonable explanation.”

  The muster was ahead of schedule which gave Luke a lot of satisfaction. Most of the herd was now within a day’s journey of water. He’d been up very early that morning to greet four of the stockmen coming in from the skeleton camp where they had spent the night. They were strung out perhaps a half mile apart, stock-whips cracking, driving the bellowing beasts in the desired direction towards water. Very soon he’d know where all his cows and calves were. It was time to delegate a few of his jobs so he could visit the outstations. He had intended doing that, but the Major’s death had changed everyone’s plans.

  As always no matter what he was doing his mind drifted back to Storm. He had taken such delight, such exhilaration in the beauty and passion of their coming together. It had overwhelmed him so much so he had difficulty dealing with this business of his half share. Storm, initially shocked and angry and he didn’t blame her, now seemed to have accepted the situation far better than he could. It was a great honour, but he had difficulty coming to terms with the magnitude of it. The magnitude of winning Storm, like plucking a star from the sky. With a half share in Winding River, running it as he wanted, he had the world at his feet. They needed to take in another station. Central Queensland for preference, not big in Winding River’s terms, but providing lush green feed for at least six months or so of the year. He had just such a station in mind. The bulk of the cattle would be straight Brahmin. Storm had a good mind.