Lily's Leap (15 page)

“There isn’t time. It’s too complicated. We have to get the horses to Sydney by tomorrow night.

“We will do it easily. We passed Dural sometime ago. It’s only another eighteen miles to Five Dock. When we stop tonight you and I will sit down and leave Jem, Will and Bonnie to sort out the camp and you are going to tell me the whole story. That way, perhaps I can do something constructive. The sooner you realize we are in this together the sooner we can work everything out.”

Chapter 8

She was exhausted, again. All she wanted to do was to creep under a blanket, curl up and sleep. Tonight she wasn’t even sure her resolve would hold. There would be other shipments, other opportunities. Did it matter if the horses didn’t make it to the boat? Nero had won his race. She could stand him at stud and his credentials would be good enough.

She slumped down, the gnarled bark rough against her back as she shivered. She pulled her cloak tighter around her and her eyes drifted shut as she was lulled by the familiar murmurings and comforting sounds of Will and Jem rubbing down the horses intermingled with the smell of the campfire, and the security of Bonnie’s voice as she and Tom lit a fire. Try as she might, the memory of the accident haunted her. The vision of the crumpled, bloody bodies of Dom and her mother still had the power to shake her to her core, even after four years.

“Lily. Here, take this.” She blinked her eyes open as Tom pressed the warm mug of tea into her hands. Struggling upright against the tree, she took it in her hands relishing the warmth and slight smell of eucalyptus wafting from the brew.

He settled down beside her and the comfort of his body seeped into her subconscious as she closed the gap between them. This she could get used to, this feeling she wasn’t alone, the knowledge someone was in her corner. She sipped the tea, the moist steam soothing her nostrils, the sugar warming her blood.

“Do you want to talk now or shall we wait until tomorrow after you’ve slept?” Tom ran a comforting hand over her hair.

“No I’ll be alright. I’d rather have it all out in the open now.” She tightened her grasp on the mug. “This tea is wonderful. “

“Drink it. You’ll feel much better when you’ve had something to eat. Bonnie’s making some damper and there’s some cold mutton they picked up at Windsor.

Lily nodded and struggled up straighter against the tree trunk, pleased Tom and the eucalyptuses were there. She needed the support.

“Where do you want me to begin?”

“The beginning is always a good place. You were born at Wordsworth,” he prompted.

“Yes. I was born at Wordsworth. I’ve never known anywhere else. Father was awarded the land grant back in 1825 and he built the house for Mother. She stayed in Sydney until it was habitable. When it was she moved out to Wordsworth.” Lily slapped irritably at a mosquito buzzing near her face. “She must have been pregnant when she arrived. I was born about six months later. Through my childhood she was often ill. Confined to her bed. I don’t remember very much about her as a child except for a smell of lavender, darkened rooms and fine lawn handkerchiefs. My father was never around very much. I had a free run. Bonnie’s mother was our cook and Bonnie was old enough to keep an eye on me, so Wordsworth was our playground.” Lily stretched her legs out in front of her and wriggled deeper, the leaf litter at the base of the tree molding her buttocks, easing muscles cramped from the race and yet another full day in the saddle.

“The stud was busy, making money. Everyone in the colony wanted horses. Father had brought three breeding mares in Sydney and he managed to get his hands on a stallion from South America. He stood him at stud and everyone wanted to use him. He just ploughed the money back into mares, bought up every one in the district, every horse he could lay is hands on and the land was there for the taking. Squatting on it, using it meant it was his. He just had to stake a claim. They would mark the boundary fences and build a slab hut.”

“What if people already owned the land?” Tom interrupted.

“Possession is nine tenths of the law, Father always said.” She felt him tense beside her before he relaxed and pulled her closer. Then he rubbed her arm silently, encouraging her to continue. Now she’d started talking, she didn’t think she would ever stop. Everything was pouring out of her like an upturned billy can.

“Then the recession hit. No one had money for stud horses anymore. Father’s drinking got worse. He used to take the horses to the races tracks. He said he was making sure people knew he had the best and he would bet big on them. He said it was good for business, showing the quality of his breeding lines however he was fighting his own success.”

Lily looked up, her mouth watering at the smell of the fresh damper and cold meat Bonnie held out to her.

“Bonnie, thank you, you’re a godsend.”

“Tom, shall I bring yours?”

Lily marveled at Tom’s ability to unravel his long legs and stand in one fluid movement. The material of his breeches pulled tight across his muscular thighs as he eased himself up off the ground. “No. I’ll come and get it. Lily, would you like more tea? I’m sure the billy’s still hot,” he asked.

Mouth full of freshly baked damper, Lily nodded up at Tom, wrinkling her nose at him as he winked down at her.

“Sit tight. I’ll be back in a tick.”

She picked up the bone and chewed the last remnants of meat from it, licking the grease from her fingers with great enjoyment, imagining her father’s gasp of outrage at her ‘convict manners.’ Perhaps she’d just stay on the road, never go home, and live by her wits. She chuckled to herself. She might become a bushranger.

“Tea for the lady.” Tom’s words dragged her back to reality.

Lady? By whose definition?
Certainly not her father’s.

“Mind your fingers. It’s hot.”

“Thanks.” She rested the mug in the leaves as Tom slid down the tree trunk and balanced his tin plate on his knees.

“I’m all ears. Your father won at the race track but he was fighting a losing battle.”
 

Lily grinned, the warm tea catching in her throat as she stifled a laugh. “You’re amazing Tom, you never forget a word. Yes, the horses he’d sold were younger, stronger and they started to win. Then he suddenly decided–” she let out an exaggerated sigh just to emphasize her disapproval, “–I needed an education and some cultured company so he arranged for me to go and live at Dom’s place. They had the neighboring property. I think it was more to get me out of the house, away from my mother and his drinking and gambling. Two women were more than he could handle. Dom had a tutor and I joined him. That’s how I learned to ride, play chess and fence. I’ve already told you, and then when it was suggested we marry, it seemed the right thing to do. We already lived in each other’s pockets. That is until Dom and my mother died.”

Lily paused, swallowing the memories of her mother; they always caused such a deep poignant longing in her. Everything had been so different when she was alive. She willed the memory of that terrible day away, replacing it with the reassurance of Tom’s large capable hand as it squeezed her thigh in sympathy.

“When Dom’s will was read, he had left me a huge inheritance. His parents were furious. Not only did they blame me for his death, but because there was nothing they could do about the will. I was sent back to Wordsworth with my tail between my legs. It was then my father told me I was only ‘an indiscretion’. He’d supported me, so I now owed it to him to repay the favor. Four years ago. My father has control. I can’t touch my inheritance until I’m twenty-one. He’s always had control. I told you I’m his cash cow.”

Her harsh laugh echoed in the gathering darkness. She felt Tom take the cup from her rigid fingers and shivered, suddenly cold again. She wrapped her arms around herself hugging her cloak to her chest aching for the past, for a time when life was free and easy when she and Dom had raced through the bush the wind in their hair and screams of exhilaration filling the air.

****

Tom chose a stick from the leaf litter and examined it carefully before he chose the best end and clamped it between his teeth. It was worse than he thought.

Cash cow.
He shook his head. Too right. No wonder her father was happy to have her out of the way. He’d have his hands on her inheritance and his problems would be over. The snakey bastard. He’d put money on there being more to her mother and husband’s death than she realized but how to prove it and was it even worth trying? Lily was his priority right now. It wasn’t the best and tonight she was a far cry from the girl who’d raced him across the Common with such gay abandon. The meeting with her father, and telling her story had drained the very life out of her. He was hardly surprised. Reliving that kind of a nightmare was enough to send anyone over the edge and he thought he had been hard done by. She might not feel it now but she was strong. So strong.

For the first time in his life he thought of killing a man. Would it make any difference? He was destined for jail anyway. Sooner or later the authorities would catch up with him, what had he got to lose? He didn’t even hold the deeds to his land now. He was going to have to explain that to Lily, too. Right now she didn’t need any more grief. Perhaps the best thing he could do for her was to get rid of her father. Dungarven, he corrected himself.

He stared up at the dark velvet sky pinpricked with twinkling stars, far too beautiful for a world full so much of evil. No, not all evil, there was Lily. The thought caused an excruciating cramping somewhere beneath his ribs. He didn’t want to be in a world without her and if he couldn’t ask her to live his life, he had to do something about it. He gazed down at her strained face; she had slumped back against the tree and looked as though she was asleep.

****

A gentle hand stroking her thigh roused Lily. The moon had risen and a creamy light illuminated the clearing. She looked down at Tom’s capable hand resting on her thigh and covered it with her own, running the pad of her thumb across the sunburned skin to his wrist. She heard the sharp intake of his breath as she turned to him.

“You can’t sleep like this. Come with me.” He slipped his hand around her back and eased her upright. The dying embers flickered as Will and Bonnie sat talking quietly around the fire. She followed his lead and they walked to the shelter of a small copse of trees.

He pulled her into his embrace. Cupping her chin in his hand moving her face to one side, he trailed a line of feather light kisses down her neck and loosened the top buttons of her shirt exposing the creamy white skin, untouched by the sun. His tongue soft and light worked its way gently over the swell of her breast, above the fine lawn of her camisole. She lowered her eyelids as desire pooled in her stomach and robbed her of the ability to move.

At the movement of his smile against her skin, she raised his face in her two hands and looked deep into his darkened eyes. They blazed with his arousal. The silence hung like a shadow cloaking them in an intimate solitude. Her lips sought his and she opened to him as he plundered her mouth.

“You become more beautiful every day. Did you know that?” He slid her shirt off her shoulders and trailed kisses against the sensitive skin of her shoulders. The moonlight caught the chiseled line of his jaw and highlighted the dark stubble. The roughness grazed her skin and she ached for his touch in places she had never before imagined.

As she absorbed the warmth of him, Lily’s fingers explored his tight, toned muscles. A soft moan escaped her lips as the heat from his body increased and the musky scent of him drugged her senses. She pushed her fingers up under his shirt spreading them, until she found his waistband. He shivered in response and she pressed herself closer searching for the press of his arousal against the heated flesh of her belly. He moaned low in his throat and waves of passion built like the surging floodwaters until she was lost to all but the sensations pulsing through her.

His lips moved against her skin and his husky words imprinted her skin. “I want us to hold this moment forever. When we part I will know you carry with you the memory of my kisses.” His hooded gaze branded her and she watched as his eyes filled and darkened with emotion.

She raised her finger to his lips and he drew it to his mouth. His lips trapped it as he sucked gently. “Don’t talk about the future; that can wait until sunrise. Now I want only to be with you as I’ve dreamed since your first touch.” She wanted to savor the way he made her quiver with delight; she knew with a sudden certainty she would never know anyone else as a lover. He had captured her heart and soul on the Wollombi Road and now she offered them freely and unconditionally.

His fingers threaded through her hair and he covered her lips with his, soft and firm, they moved with mounting pressure as his tongue slipped deeper washing away all of her angst and heartbreak.