Breaking The Drought (3 page)

‘The plan, as I recall, was to kiss cowboys. You have to admit the prospects are pretty good. Take Cowboy Luke for instance.'

‘I told you I had no intention of kissing anyone. And I don't think either of us should set our hearts on Cowboy Luke. Looks like he's married.'

‘What makes you think that?'

‘He has the same surname as Maggie and they live together. Pretty big clue I'd say.'

Brooke laughed. ‘I see you've been paying attention. Oh well, where there's one there's bound to be more. Cute guys roam in packs.'

The subject of their conversation pushed open the bistro door and walked towards them, putting an end to further speculation on whether or not his friends were kissable.

Luke removed his hat and wiped his brow with a tanned forearm. He glanced at Jenna before settling his gaze on Brooke. ‘Maggie tells me you two are to be our guests.' He was clearly trying hard — maybe a little too hard — to sound enthusiastic about this fact. ‘I'll escort you out to the property whenever you're ready. You can find me on the veranda.' Without waiting for an answer he turned on his heel and exited the bar.

The barman arrived carrying two insipid-looking lattes. Murky liquid sloshed into the saucer as he plonked Jenna's coffee down in front of her.

It was going to be a long weekend.

Jenna had to admit the trip out of town was scenic. Brooke followed Luke's four-wheel drive back up Barlow Road for a few kilometres and then onto a series of minor roads, which wound their way through thick bush. Magnificent eucalypts towered above them, the forest canopy bringing visual relief from the simmering heat outside.

Jenna looked up from the map she had pulled from her welcome pack. ‘Looks like the Tanner's property is on the edge of the National Park,' she said.

‘Seems like we've been climbing for ages,' said Brooke. ‘I'm glad we've got someone to follow, I would never have found my way otherwise.' As she spoke they came to a clearing at the crest of a hill. Nestled in the valley below was a sprawling homestead.

‘Wow,' said Jenna.

‘It's enormous,' said Brooke. ‘Do you think that's the place?'

‘He's heading in that direction.'

The Land Cruiser in front of them snaked slowly down the hill, towards the cypress lined driveway of the property. The homestead — Tandarra, according to the sign swinging from the white timber archway at the driveway's entrance — was even more beautiful up close. Wide verandas surrounded the weatherboard house, which was set amongst a lush cottage-style garden. Luke drove past the house, pulling up into a large carport at its rear. He beckoned for Brooke to follow.

‘Welcome to Tandarra,' he said as they got out of the car.

‘This place is amazing,' said Brooke.

Luke smiled. ‘We like it here. Tandarra's been in the Tanner family for three generations.'

Jenna could hardly believe how different this home was to the bush shack of her imagination. ‘The garden is just beautiful,' she said, giving Luke her first genuine smile since their arrival.

‘It's been hard to maintain it through the drought but Maggie's managed to keep it alive with grey water and compost. My grandmother planted this garden when she was a young bride.' He gestured towards the rose bushes lining the pathway to the veranda's wide steps. ‘These roses are the most significant plants in the garden. Every time a new Tanner is born a rose is added to the collection.'

Thick white gravel scrunched under their feet as they made their way along the path to the home's entrance.

Inside the home was cool and dark. Jenna's platforms clunked on the highly polished timber floors as Luke ushered them through the entry hall, past the antique-filled lounge and formal dining room into the light-filled kitchen. A large hardwood table was positioned in the centre of the room. ‘Pull up a pew,' he said.

He meant it literally. The benches either side of the table looked like authentic church pews. ‘Where did these come from?' Jenna asked as she sat down.

‘There's an old church up the road a bit. When it came up for sale a few years back my parents decided to buy it. My brother was doing it up before he…' Luke hesitated for a moment. ‘The pews came from there.' He swung open a cupboard door and pulled out a couple of mugs. ‘Help yourselves to tea or coffee. I'll collect your bags and show you to your rooms when you're ready.'

Jenna flopped back on the huge four-poster bed that sat in the centre of the enormous room she had been allocated. Despite her initial misgivings it seemed that she and Brooke had been luckier than most. Tandarra was up there with the most luxurious boutique accommodation she had ever stayed in. The crisp white bed linen beneath her was lavender scented and a vase of fresh roses adorned the dresser. The French doors leading to the outside veranda afforded Jenna a breathtaking view of the surrounding countryside. There was even a private bathroom.

As she took in the scenic vista Jenna noticed a figure on horseback riding along the property's fence line. As the figure came closer to the house she recognised Luke's masculine form and her stomach gave an involuntary flip.

Stop it
. What was it with this ridiculous attraction to unreliable men? First Simon and now she was ogling Cowboy Trouble. To be fair to herself she hadn't known about Simon's philandering ways, but Luke Tanner was quite obviously a player — she couldn't help but notice the way he kept looking at her — and there was nothing attractive about that. It didn't matter how many times her stomach did somersaults at the sight of him, he was married. Married to a very nice woman at that.

Maggie had been so courteous in the face of her misgivings earlier. Heat crept into Jenna's cheeks as she recalled the fuss she'd made about not having a room at the hotel. She had been so precious. Rude, if she was totally honest with herself. An apology to Maggie was in order. It was one thing to rub Luke up the wrong way but offending Maggie was unacceptable.

There was a tap on the door as Brooke bounded into the room without waiting to be invited. ‘Not too shabby, hey?' she said, looking around Jenna's room.

‘Five stars, at least.'

‘I'm glad you approve, madam.'

Jenna winced. ‘I know, I know. I've been a royal pain. I didn't know places like this even existed in the country.'

Brooke laughed. ‘Did you think everyone outside of the city lived in log cabins with dirt floors?'

‘Of course not. I thought…well, actually, I don't know. Maybe I did have a few preconceived ideas.'

‘So maybe country life isn't so bad after all.'

Jenna shrugged. ‘It's a nice place to visit.'

Brooke gestured at Jenna's unopened suitcase. ‘You'd better get cracking if we're going to leave on time.'

‘Leave for where? The ball's not until tonight.'

‘Didn't you read the info in your welcome pack? There's some type of farming demonstration on this afternoon. Something involving dogs rounding up sheep. And shearing.'

Jenna glanced at the laptop bag she'd tossed onto her bed. ‘You go, I need to check in at the office.'

‘Don't be ridiculous. Think about what you'll be missing. All those cowboy types, shirtless, bodies slick with sweat…'

Jenna laughed. ‘I'll live.'

‘Honestly, Jen, you are being ridiculous. We came out here to do something different. Experience another side of life. That's not going to happen if you never leave this luxurious bedroom.'

‘Sorry, but work comes first.'

Brooke frowned. ‘Well, I'm going. If you change your mind you need to be ready in half an hour.'

Jenna could see she was annoyed but it couldn't be helped. She really did need to check in back at work. The last contact she'd had was hours ago, before she lost her phone signal. She had her staff negotiating a deal for an exclusive interview with Summer Richards — her first interview since winning an Oscar on the same night her fiancé was found dead in a Hollywood hotel. It was imperative to stay in the loop. Not to mention the myriad of other niggling problems with the current issue that needed her attention.

She slid her laptop out of its case and settled herself back on the bed, ready to work, mentally ticking off her priority list while the computer searched for a network connection. First priority: read emails, reply to anything urgent, then read cover and content proposals for upcoming issues and formulate her response. That should be enough for now. If there was enough time before getting ready for the ball maybe she could jot down some notes about Tandarra for her column.

Her computer blipped.
No network connection found
.

Jenna stared at the screen, momentarily not comprehending the words. Surely these people were connected to the Internet? Everyone was, weren't they? Perhaps the network was down for some reason. Undeterred, she grabbed her phone in order to set up a personal hotspot. No signal. Damn! How did people survive out here?

Perhaps the bedroom was in a dead spot. Or maybe there was some trick to connecting here she didn't know about. She snapped the laptop shut and shuffled off the bed. Hopefully she could catch Luke before he left to show off his skills at the shear-a-thon or whatever the hell it was.

She found him sitting on the veranda steps, pulling a pair of work boots on.

His eyes settled on her feet. ‘I don't think your Jimmy shoes are the best choice of footwear for the farm visit. I assume you did bring some form of appropriate footwear with you?'

‘Jimmy Choos.'

He raised his eyebrows. ‘Whatever. You'd better make it quick. We're about to leave. Brooke's already in the car.'

‘I'm not coming to the farm. I have a lot of work to do. I just need an Internet connection. I'd use my phone to connect but I can't seem to get a signal. I'm just wondering — '

‘There's no mobile reception out here so you can forget that, and as for Internet connection, well, sorry to tell you this but the modem died on Wednesday and I haven't had a chance to get into Mynyip to pick up another one.'

‘You mean we are totally offline here?' Jenna made no attempt to conceal her horror.

‘For the next few days at least. Look, if you really need to check your email or whatever, coming to the Dawsons' farm is your best bet. The homestead's up on a hill and they get reasonable mobile service there, but if you are coming do me a favour and put on a sensible pair of shoes.'

The lure of connection to the outside world was too great to pass up, even if it did mean spending more time with Mr Obnoxious. ‘I'll grab my runners.'

The view from the farmhouse was breathtaking. Jenna, along with Brooke and a dozen or so other visitors, stood on the house's spacious balcony drinking glasses of icy lemonade and admiring the spectacular outlook.

‘Imagine waking up to this view every day,' Brooke said. ‘You couldn't help but be in a good mood.'

Jenna nodded her agreement. ‘This would be a great place to write. It's so quiet and the view is so calming.' She sipped her lemonade and imagined what it might be like to have such a peaceful life.

Suddenly a male voice boomed over the gentle hum of conversation. ‘Ladies, can I have your attention please?'

Jenna turned to see a stocky middle-aged man addressing the group.

‘My name is Mal Dawson and I'm your host today.' He took off his battered wide-brimmed hat and gestured towards a small apron-clad woman standing to his left. ‘Along with my beautiful wife, Helen, of course.'

Helen coloured slightly but grinned and waved nonetheless.

‘Our son, Matt, is waiting for us to join him over in the paddock near the shearing shed behind me,' Mal said. ‘Matt is going to demonstrate how we use the dogs to round up a few sheep. Then we'll head into the shed and some of the local lads are going to have a bit of a shearing competition.'

An appreciative murmur came from the crowd. Obviously most of these women were keen to see the local talent at work.

Mal smiled his approval. ‘If you'd all kindly set down your glasses on the trays provided and follow me, we can make a start.'

Jenna was in no hurry to leave the shady comfort of the balcony. The paddock Mal had indicated looked dry and dusty, and she wasn't overly fond of dogs, or sheep for that matter. Not that she'd ever encountered one up close, of course, but she could see no compelling reason to change this fact.

Now would be a great time to see if she could actually get a decent phone signal. She could make a few calls, check her email and generally make sure everything was under control back at
Gloss
headquarters.

While the other women hurried to make their way down the stairs, Jenna stayed put, continuing to slowly sip her drink.

‘Come on, Jen. I want to get a good position to view the shearing from. I don't want to miss seeing any of those hot bods up close.' Brooke gestured for Jenna to follow her as she made her way towards the stairs.

‘You go ahead. Dogs and sheep — not really my kind of thing.'

‘Don't be stupid. Shirtless men doing physical work. What's not to like?'

Jenna grinned. ‘I'll catch up. Right now I need to take advantage of the phone signal to check in with the office.'

Brooke let out an exasperated sigh. ‘Don't be too long,' she said, as she rushed off to join the others.

Jenna spied an oversized wicker armchair positioned in the shade on the eastern corner of the deck. The perfect spot to make herself comfortable and make a few calls. She pulled out her phone. Yes! A signal and a strong one at that.

She flopped down onto the armchair in relief. Surely this shearing thing would take a while. Maybe even an hour if she was lucky. She slid her iPad out of her handbag and settled herself in for a work session. For the first time since she'd left home she felt at ease.