Morgan's Law (22 page)

‘So, let me guess, this is where you tell me you want a share of Burrapine?' His deep voice cut through the silence.

Sarah didn't answer immediately. ‘Actually, that depends.'

Keith gave a dry unamused laugh. ‘On what?'

‘I have a proposition for you.'

‘I knew you'd eventually come out here to cause trouble.'

Biting back an indignant retort, Sarah took a deep breath and tried to remain polite. ‘It's more of a favour really. I want your support behind the shares the committee is trying to sell to the community.'

Keith leaned back in his chair, his gaze burning through her as he contemplated her words. ‘The committee sent you out to beg me to buy shares in a project that's going to fall flat on its face?'

‘No one sent me out here. I'm asking you to show your support for your community.'

‘The whole thing is a waste of time. They'll never raise that kind of money.'

‘They could if everyone got behind it. If
someone people
respected
got behind it,' she added pointedly.

‘And that's supposed to be me?'

‘People respect the fact your family has been in the area for generations. They trust your judgement.'

‘Which is why I'm staying clear of the whole mess,' he said, toasting her with his teacup before taking a large gulp.

Sarah tried to bite back her frustration, but the stubborn set to his jaw was making it very difficult. ‘This project has potential. If everyone backed it, it could be huge. It just needs someone brave enough to step up and endorse it so others will follow.'

‘Needs someone stupid enough to believe in fairytales, you mean,' he scoffed.

‘I've seen what this committee has planned—it's more than achievable. Why can't you put aside your negativity for five minutes and try to save this town? Don't you care about the next generation and how they're going to survive out here?'

‘I don't need some upstart coming here to tell me about my town!' Keith snapped.

‘It's not about me. It's about people in this community desperate enough to try anything to breathe life back into the place. You're right, I'm not from here and I don't have any stake in all of this—but even I can see the potential here. I work in an industry where we sell the public anything you can imagine, most of it crap. This project has real integrity and guts—it can sell itself. If this community backs it, the potential to not only provide the town with more jobs but for everyone to make money along the way is practically guaranteed. It has so many positives in its favour that it's worth the gamble.'

‘I don't agree. I see it as a way of getting people's hopes up for nothing.'

‘Why are you so determined to believe the worst?' she snapped, furious that this man was being so stubborn.

‘Why are you butting in where you don't belong?' he threw back at her.

The question stung. She knew she didn't belong here, but over the last few weeks she'd grown to love this town and the people. She'd forgotten for a moment she wasn't really a part of it all; thanks to Keith, though, she'd been put straight pretty quickly.

‘Okay, I'm going to make this really easy for you. Tomorrow night when they release the first round of shares, you're going to step forward and sign up or I'm going to contest my gran's claim to Burrapine.'

For a minute the burly farmer stared at her, then he gave a snort of disbelief. ‘You don't have a leg to stand on, girl.

I've spoken to my solicitor already,' he informed her with a snarl, although she detected a glimmer of fear just below the surface.

‘Maybe. But I have the right to take this to court, and if I do, it will be very difficult for you to run a property the size of this until the matter is resolved, which could take years. Are you really prepared to put everyone through that just for the sake of a few grand to buy a stake in a company that can actually make you money?'

He stared at her with such a look of contempt that Sarah almost wished she was going to drag him through the courts. ‘It's your call, but if you step up and buy shares tomorrow night, I give you my word, I'll walk away from all this and you'll never hear another word about the matter.'

‘And I'm just going to take your word for it?'

Sarah gave a careless shrug. ‘Guess you'll have to.'

‘I underestimated you, girl. I wouldn't have expected you to sink as low as blackmail.'

‘I'll do whatever it takes to make this thing a success.'

‘It's got nothing to do with you,' he said angrily.

‘If I don't see you at the meeting tomorrow night, Keith, my solicitor will be in touch. I hope it doesn't come to that.'

She left the verandah, holding her head high and walking calmly, all the while trembling like a leaf. She'd wanted to leave the Morgans on an amicable note, but now that would be impossible. The thought saddened her more than she cared to admit.

Twenty

Sarah sat with Tash as the announcement was made that shares were now available for purchase. Long tables had been placed around the hall, with committee members ready to write out receipts as the money came in. But would enough people buy into the company? The information that had been distributed since the last meeting had gone a long way to answering most of the community's concerns, but tonight would be the true test.

A low murmur went through the room and the two women glanced up to see what was happening.

Keith Morgan was making his way from the back of the hall where he'd been sitting with the rest of the family during the earlier part of the meeting. He headed to the front of the room where a surprised board member sat with pen at the ready.

For the briefest of moments Keith's eyes met Sarah's and she caught the flicker of contempt he barely bothered to conceal. She looked behind her at the rest of the Morgans and caught Albert's somewhat perplexed gaze. Giving him a weak smile she turned back to the front of the room. She made a terrible blackmailer, all things considered; she almost felt like apologising to Keith as he stalked past her seat having bought his shares. Almost, but not quite. The silly man didn't know a good opportunity when it jumped up and bit him on the bum.

‘I don't believe it,' Tash whispered. ‘What do you think got into him?'

‘No idea,' Sarah said with a nonchalant shrug.

Tash rushed over to congratulate the Morgans on signing up, obviously thrilled by the support.

‘Interesting turn of events.'

Sarah turned to find Adam easing into the chair beside her. ‘Tash did a good job selling the shares idea,' she said. ‘Obviously Keith Morgan knows a good business proposition when he sees one.'

‘Hmm.'

Sarah raised an eyebrow, ignoring the glint of amusement in his blue eyes.

‘Funny he did such a complete turnaround on the idea though.'

‘It's a funny old world we live in.' She considered him thoughtfully. ‘When are you going to put
your
money down?'

Withdrawing a receipt from his pocket he waved it in front of her nose. ‘Already done.'

‘Good for you. Now if everyone else does the same thing, this venture is on track to succeed.' They shared a smile and Sarah found her gaze lingering on his mouth as she recalled in detail just how powerful his kisses had been.

Clearing her throat, Sarah forced her wayward thoughts away from lust and debauchery and searched for a safer topic. ‘I hear we're in for another storm later.'

Adam, however, was in no mood to chat about the weather. ‘How are you sleeping at night?'

‘S-sorry?' she stammered.

‘I asked how you were sleeping at night,' he repeated patiently, continuing before she could answer, ‘Because I'm not sleeping very well at all.'

‘Oh? Why?' She knew even as she spoke that this was a trap.

‘Probably has something to do with all the indecent thoughts occupying my mind.'

‘Oh.'

‘Wanna know what I think about, Sarah?' His blue eyes seemed to darken and pull her towards him as he spoke.

As if she had to ask—if it were anything like the things she thought about then he could probably be arrested just for uttering them out loud.

‘Or would you prefer I showed you?'

‘Sarah!'

She jumped violently as Tash called her from the front of the room, beckoning her to come and meet some new shareholders. ‘I better go and see what she wants,' she said hastily to Adam, not as relieved by the reprieve as she should have been. She could feel Adam's gaze following her as she made her way to her friend's side, but a few minutes later when she looked back at the seats where they'd been sitting, he was gone.

Sarah watched Tash work the room with her boundless energy and wondered where she found it. Tomorrow Tash and the delegates would be off on the road trip. On Sarah's advice they'd been targeting influential people in each town to lay the foundations, get people interested inthe meetings and make sure their respective communities would attend. This would help break the ice and get a lot of the initial questioning out of the way so the team could deliver the streamlined, professional spiel put together by Sarah.

Tonight Sarah sensed an increased optimism in Negallan since the last meeting. People had hope again. They were excited and they wanted this venture to succeed. That was half the battle won.

With Tash away, Sarah had offered to help out with the multitude of tasks the woman undertook daily. She was rusty, but she could lend a hand behind the bar and with the cleaning—the departure of the railway workers was a small godsend in that respect, and there was really not much to do each day.

Coming downstairs on the day after Tash's departure, however, Sarah discovered that someone else had also come in to lend a hand.

‘I didn't know you were going to be working here.' She hoped she didn't sound as alarmed as she felt.

Adam shrugged and grinned. ‘Tash asked me the other day. Not like I could say no is it?'

Why not? she wondered. People said no to requests all the time. She thought back to her circle of friends in London and wondered if any of them would drop everything to help out someone in need. Probably not.

‘Well, you look like you know what you're doing.'

‘I did a bit of bar work back in Brisbane. Guess it's like riding a bike.'

She had a sudden desire to watch him toss a bottle in the air and catch it behind his back à la Bryan Brown in
Cocktail
.

‘Is there nothing you can't do well?' she asked.

Adam shot her a cheeky glance as he poured a beer. ‘Haven't had any complaints so far. Your usual?' he asked, his hand poised over a wineglass hanging above the bar.

She wondered if it was a bad sign when everyone started to know what your usual was. Then again, it was probably a bad sign that you had a
usual
in the first place. She hesitated, but only briefly, before nodding and accepting the glass with a smile of thanks.

A low rumble of thunder sounded outside and the cool smell of rain-scented air blew in each time the front door was opened.

‘I wonder how Tash is going?' said Sarah as she circled the top of her wineglass with a lazy finger.

‘Guess we'll find out soon—they'll be back again in a few days.'

‘You think it'll go okay?'

Adam gave a noncommittal shrug as he collected empty glasses off the top of the bar. ‘I think it's got potential and I think people are desperate enough to give anything a try.'

‘What about you? Will you be growing cotton again once they get the gin up and running?'

‘Nah, not me. Think I'll stick with cattle.'

‘How come?'

‘Pop and Dad were the cotton men in our family. They'd begun to wind down the cotton and had started with cattle by the time I was old enough to help out around the place. I don't have enough experience with cotton to risk the gamble. Think I'll just stick with what I know. But I've bought shares just like everyone else in town, because it'll be good for the community. I expect the other towns will do the same. It wasn't just Negallan that suffered when the gin closed down. It affected the whole district.'

‘It's actually pretty impressive that people around here have been able to adapt. You're a resilient lot.'

‘We have to be. Farming doesn't exactly provide you with a reliable income. Farmers are completely at the mercy of Mother Nature—and she can be a real bitch sometimes.'

There was another, louder rumble of thunder, which sounded as if it was almost over the top of them. Sarah looked at Adam. ‘Maybe you shouldn't say things like that out loud.'

‘Looks like we're in for a doozy of a storm.'

Sarah noticed that the crowd had thinned out while they'd been talking. Now two men across the room tossed down their beer quickly before they, too, headed out the door. The sound of the rain was almost deafening now and within minutes all but two patrons had left the bar.