Just Kate: His Only Wife (Bestselling Author Collection) (12 page)

Ellen sighed. “She said I was downtrodden, and that I was going to seed out here with nobody to talk to but Blue and the kids.”

The remark Sean had made when they landed came back to Kate in that moment.
Don’t be trying to put any fancy ideas in Ellen’s head. She likes her life the way it is.
“Abby could be pretty thoughtless sometimes,” she said, taking a sip of her rapidly cooling tea.

Ellen smiled and shrugged. “She didn’t know how it is with Blue and me,” she said, and there was something in her tone and her manner that made Kate flash back to the explosive passion she’d felt in Sean’s arms a short time before.

She nodded, a little shaken by the experience.

Ellen seemed to sense Kate’s thoughts. She hid another smile behind the rim of her teacup. “You’re in love with Sean?” she asked a moment later, keeping her face expressionless.

Kate swallowed. “I’m afraid so,” she admitted miserably.

Ellen reached out for the pretty teapot and refilled Kate’s cup and her own. “Troubles?”

Kate lowered her head for a moment. “You saw how he reacted when I told Blue Abby was my sister,” she said.

Ellen looked genuinely puzzled. “Yes?”

“I’m a reminder of a very unhappy time in Sean’s life,” Kate told her new friend sadly.

Ellen’s face brightened. “I think perhaps you’re another kind of reminder altogether,” she reasoned. “I can’t remember when I’ve seen Sean look so relaxed.”

Kate blushed. If Sean looked relaxed, it was no mystery to her.

Ellen chuckled. “I see I’ve blundered in where I don’t belong,” she said. Then she graciously changed the subject. “Earlier you said you’d planned to teach once. What did you take up instead?”

Kate gave Ellen McAllister a grateful look. “Political science,” she said. “Daddy—my father thought it would be a better use of my time and his money. He wanted me to work on his staff.”

Ellen broke off a square of chocolate from the bar she’d opened earlier and laid the morsel on her tongue. A look of ecstasy flickered briefly in her eyes, then she commented, “Do you like it—working for your father?”

Kate searched her heart. “Not really,” she confessed.

“If you could do anything in the world,” Ellen began, narrowing her eyes in speculation at all the possibilities, “what career would you choose?”

Kate didn’t have to think. “I’d be like you, Ellen—making a home for the man I love. Raising his children.”

Ellen put one hand to her mouth in feigned shock. “You mean, you’d actually like to be a—” she lowered her voice to a scandalized whisper “
housewife
?”

Kate laughed. “Yes,” she answered.

Ellen squinted at her and took another square of chocolate. “I can’t figure you as Abby’s sister,” she said.

Kate knew the remark was meant as a compliment, but she felt sorry that Abby had missed having Ellen for a friend. “According to Sean, she didn’t like being a wife much.”

Ellen glanced nervously toward the door, looking for the men, then lowered her voice to a confidential tone. “She took a lover the first year they were married,” she said.

Kate was stunned. She’d known that Abby had been unhappy from the first, but she’d never suspected such a thing. “Did Sean know?” she asked.

“Yes,” interrupted a taut masculine voice from the doorway. “Sean knew.”

Kate raised her eyes to his face. He looked grim and angry.

“I’m sorry,” Ellen said quickly. She got up from the table and fled the kitchen in embarrassment.

“If you want to know anything about Abby and me,” Sean said coldly, “ask me and not my friends.”

Kate was quietly furious. “Now just a minute, Sean Harris. Don’t you think you’re being a little unreasonable here?”

He shoved a hand through his dark hair, and his broad shoulders slumped slightly. “Until about five seconds ago,” he said hoarsely, “I thought Abby’s affair was a secret.”

Kate went to Sean and put her arms around him, her chin tilted back so she could look up into his face. “She was a fool,” she said softly.

He kissed her forehead. “You’re prejudiced, but thanks, anyway,” he said.

Kate laid both hands on his chest, their torsos fitting together comfortably. “Go and talk to Ellen,” she suggested. “She thinks you’re mad at her.”

Sean held her a little closer. “Couldn’t that wait a little while? I’d like to show you where we’ll be sleeping tonight.”

Kate thought of Sarah and John and Margaret. “We’re not going to share a bed under this roof,” she said firmly. “There are children here.”

Sean moved her to arm’s length, his hands gripping her shoulders. “What?”

“It wouldn’t be right, Sean,” Kate whispered. “We’re not married.”

“Then we’ll get married.”

“You’re crazy. Where would we get a license? And a preacher?”

Sean sighed. Obviously those things would be impossible to find in the middle of nowhere. “Wouldn’t being engaged make it right?” he asked.

“No,” Kate said stubbornly.

Sean swore. “Then I’ll just have to convince Blue that we should sleep in the barn,” he replied.

* * *

Kate set the last bacon, tomato and lettuce sandwich on the platter with a flourish. Lunch was ready.

She started when she heard a sizzle behind her and turned to see Ellen cracking eggs into a frying pan. Kate could barely believe her eyes. “Eggs?” she asked.

Ellen smiled at her. “Blue and the kids really like them,” she answered.

Kate cast a bewildered glance toward the pyramid of sandwiches she’d prepared, then looked at Ellen again.

“They’ll just add them in,” Ellen said.

“Oh,” she finally answered, sounding a bit lame.

When they all sat down at the long trestle table a few minutes later, it made for a merry group. The children were all talking at once, while Blue and Sean carried on a separate conversation.

She watched the men lift the tops off their sandwiches and add a fried egg, but she let the platter pass her by without taking one. She didn’t usually eat this much for lunch but, keeping her eyes on her own plate, she ate what she could.

When the meal was over, Kate helped Ellen with the dishes. Blue and Sean and all the children had gone outside again.

“Are you feeling all right?” Ellen asked, looking genuinely concerned. “You didn’t eat much.”

Kate sighed. “I’m a little tired,” she confessed. “I’ve never really gotten over my jet lag.”

Ellen’s lovely eyes were full of concern. “I’ll show you where your room is, and you can lie down.”

Kate shook her head. She didn’t want to waste a minute of this experience on anything so ordinary as a nap. After all, she might never find herself on an Australian sheep station again. “I’d like to see more of the place,” she said.

Ellen was obviously pleased. “Then you shall,” she promised with a bright smile. They finished the dishes and walked outside.

“That’s the shearing shed over there,” Ellen said, pointing out a large building. “We have about two dozen lads come to help us when it’s time to crop the sheep.”

The bleating of the animals filled the air, and Kate could see them spread out all around the outbuildings like a sea of dusty clouds. “Do they make that sound all the time?” she asked.

Ellen smiled. “Mostly, yes. Of course, they’re generally not this close to the house.”

“Doesn’t Blue have anyone to help him?” Kate asked, imagining what a task it must be to drive so many sheep from one pasture to another.

Ellen squared her slender shoulders and looked just a mite offended. “He has me,” she answered.

“But you’ve got the children to take care of, and the house,” Kate pointed out.

“I still have time to lend Blue a hand when he needs me.” Ellen sounded proud and a little defensive.

Kate allowed herself to imagine living in such a place with Sean and she understood. When Ellen McAllister lay down beside her husband at night, she was probably bone weary, but she had the satisfaction of knowing that the work of her hands and heart and mind made a real difference.

Kate couldn’t remember when writing speeches and booking hotel reservations for her father had ever given her such a feeling. “You’re lucky,” she said.

Ellen relaxed. “I know,” she answered.

The two women walked for some time, while Ellen showed Kate the large patch of ground where she raised vegetables, the coops with the squawking hens that produced the McAllisters’ eggs and provided the occasional chicken dinner, the building where the hired hands would stay when it came time to shear the sheep.

“Don’t you ever get lonely, living way out here?” Kate ventured to ask as they entered the cool, spacious living room with sturdy, serviceable furniture and a fireplace that adjoined the one in the kitchen.

A large quilting frame was set up in the middle of the room, and a beautiful multicolored quilt was in progress. Ellen touched it with a fond hand as they passed. “I’ve got Blue and the kids and the people in those books Sean brings,” she replied, starting up a set of wooden stairs. The banister was made of rough wood with bits of bark clinging to it in places. “Most of the time they’re enough.”

Kate sighed. “I guess nobody likes their life all the time,” she said.

Ellen nodded as she looked back. They were on the upper floor when she asked, “What do you like best about your life, Kate?”

The question took Kate by surprise, and so did the realization that she hadn’t really
had
much of a life before she came to Australia. “Sean,” she answered, her eyes lowered, her cheeks warm.

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of, loving a man,” Ellen insisted. They had reached a doorway, and she led the way inside. “This is our room, Blue’s and mine.”

Kate saw a lovely hardwood bed covered with one of Ellen’s colorful handmade quilts. There were several comfortable chairs, and two hooked rugs brightened the wooden floor. An old-fashioned folding screen stood in one corner of the room, and a wisp of a nightgown was draped over its top.

With a soft smile, Ellen pulled down the nightgown, folded it and tucked it into a drawer.

As much as Kate liked this woman, she was filled with envy. It wasn’t hard to imagine the happiness Blue and Ellen shared within the intimacy of these four walls; it was a charge in the air, like lightning diffused in all directions.

They went through each of the children’s rooms, then Ellen opened a door at the end of the hall. It was a small room with a slanting roof, and contained an iron bedstead that was painted white. The spread was another of Ellen’s elaborate quilts, this one in a floral design, and the curtains matched. A ceramic pitcher and bowl set was on top of an old wooden nightstand.

Kate drew in her breath. “It’s charming,” she said a moment later.

Ellen smiled. “I’m glad you think so, because you’ll be sleeping here.”

Kate was embarrassed again. “Sean...?”

Ellen’s eyes sparkled with amusement and affection. “He can sleep downstairs in Blue’s study. There’s a chesterfield there that folds out into a bed.”

Kate bit her lower lip and nodded.

Ellen laughed. “I dare say he’ll have his due once you’re away from here, though.”

Kate had absolutely no doubt of that. She wouldn’t be able to resist Sean when he set his mind on seducing her, so she didn’t plan to waste her time trying. She looked toward the open window, where lace curtains danced on a rising wind.

“The sky looks angry,” Ellen fretted, crossing the room to lower the window sash. “A storm’s brewing, I think.”

Kate felt an elemental yearning to be alone in this room with Sean, to lie with him beneath the beautiful quilt and feel his arms tight and strong around her. “There must be things you need to do,” she said to distract herself. “How can I help?”

Ellen remembered with a start that her wash was hanging outside on the line, and the two women ran to reach it before the rain did.

“What about the sheep?” Kate shouted over the increasing howl of the wind as she and Ellen swiftly wrenched sheets and shirts and dish towels from the clothesline.

“They don’t mind a little rain,” Ellen called back.

Enormous drops began pummeling the ground, the roof and the windows only moments after Kate and Ellen were inside. They stood near the sputtering fire to fold the fresh-smelling laundry. The kids were back at the trestle table, working at their lessons.

About half an hour had gone by when Blue and Sean came in from looking after the sheep. They were both soaking wet, and Ellen rushed to peel away Blue’s jacket and hat. As she was leading him toward the fire, Kate’s eyes met Sean’s.

She longed to fuss over him in the same way, but she wasn’t certain she had the right. After all, this wasn’t her house and Sean wasn’t her husband.

Both mischief and appeal flickered in his eyes as he gazed back at Kate. Then, rather dramatically, he sneezed.

Kate went to him. “You’re wet,” she said helplessly.

“And cold,” he answered.

Kate shivered, although she was dry and warm. After a moment’s hesitation she took his hand and led him toward the hearth. There was something sweetly primitive in making a fuss over Sean while a storm raged at the windows, and she wished they were alone.

Sean smiled and kissed her forehead, then began stripping off his shirt. Drops of water shimmered in his hair, catching the firelight like diamonds. His chest glistened with moisture.

Using all the determination she possessed, Kate turned away. “I’ll get you some tea—”

“They’ll be needing more than tea,” Ellen said wisely. She took a bottle of brandy down from a cupboard, along with a jar of instant coffee.

Kate stood by and watched, since there was nothing else to do, while Ellen brewed two mugs of coffee and added healthy doses of sugar, milk and brandy. Kate’s hands trembled a little as she carried the nutritional disaster to Sean and held it out.

He accepted the offering with a little ceremony. His eyes, linked with Kate’s, seemed to strip away her dry clothes, until she felt naked in front of him. She’d lost all awareness of the others.

Sean lifted the brew to his lips and drank, and when he swallowed, Kate felt the brandy coursing through her own system, warming her, melting her muscles and bones.