Cattle Baron: Nanny Needed (14 page)

“As if I would!” He stared into her eyes. “We’ve got to trust one another, Amber. Or learn how.” He broke into a quotation, his voice deepening with some emotion that caused a delicious shiver to run down her back. “‘I have spread my dreams under your feet. Tread softly because you tread on my
dreams.’” That said, he reverted to his normal crisp tone. “Isn’t that a poem?”

“Yeats. At least I think it’s Yeats. You have a great voice, Cal. It’s a bit like Russell Crowe’s. Or even Mel Gibson’s. Anyway, I’ve delivered my message. Now it’s up to you. And to think I rode all this way for nothing. You already knew.”

He laughed quietly. “Would a cup of billy tea make it up to you?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

Brooke Rowlands couldn’t have been nicer. A young woman of style. Well, she had to have something for the Cattle Baron to have fallen in love with her in the first place, Amber reasoned. She wasn’t proud of the fact that she felt more than a few flashes of some unwelcome emotion that had to be jealousy. She wasn’t a jealous woman by nature. She had never felt jealous of Georgie Erskine, which was odd. But she found she really cared about Cal and Brooke’s relationship. Was it firmly in the past or not? It would be too, too
awful
if Cal were to decide somewhere along the line he wanted Brooke, the countrywoman, back. Confounding things happened every day of the week. Human behaviour was beyond rational explanation.

On Jingala Amber was showing remarkable resilience. She never gave Sean a thought now. He was history. She wasn’t sure what that said about her. All she knew was that meeting Cal MacFarlane had proved a life-altering experience. It had nothing whatever to do with warding off the pain and humiliation of her broken engagement. Something absolutely unique had happened. She was certain enough of own powers of attraction, backed up by Cal’s words and actions, to recognize that Cal had been plunged into a similar situation. But he wasn’t a
trusting
guy. The thing was, attraction took on its own dimensions. What
she
felt was
powerful
. Brooke, who
had been desirable enough to land Cal in the first place, obviously wanted a second chance. Who could blame her?

What exactly did Cal, the object of all their longings, feel? With the arrival of Brooke on the scene, Amber came to the full realisation that she wanted him all to herself. The world could offer her no more than Cal MacFarlane.

As soon as she strode through the front door, a strikingly attractive brunette with a glossy chin-length bob, a deep fringe to show off her lovely big brown eyes, a great figure in designer jeans and a red tank top that tightly hugged her pert breasts surged from the Great Room.

“Amber Wyatt! I may call you Amber? You’re even more beautiful in person than you are on our TV screens. I’m one of your fans.” Appearing slightly breathless, the young woman held out her hand. Amber took it, feeling silky, pampered skin. There was something underlying the cordial manner but Amber put it down to understandable concern. Women could spot possible rivals in a nanosecond.

“It’s Brooke, isn’t it?” Amber smiled back. It was hard not to. Brooke sounded so sincere, earnest even. She had to be aware that during her stint in front of the cameras she had won over a lot of viewers.

“Of course it’s Brooke,” Janis’s voice rang out from behind them. “Where’s Cal?”

“Patience, patience. I only saw him briefly. He’s right in the thick of it.”

“I bet you went looking for him,” Janis countered.

Brooke Rowlands pre-empted any retort by linking her arm through Amber’s and turning her towards the Great Room. “You’d like coffee?”

“Love some,” Amber said. “First I’d like to freshen up after my morning ride.”

“You enjoy riding?”

Why the note of surprise? “Sure do.”

“So what horse did Cal let you take?”

You’d swear it was a test. “Belle Star is my usual mount. She’s lovely. Very sweet-tempered when you get to know her. I have taken Horatio out. A different horse altogether.”

“Then you must ride very well.” Brooke didn’t sound all that pleased to hear it.

“My dad put me on my first pony at age six,” Amber explained. “I love horses.”

“Dreadful, unpredictable animals!” Janis shuddered as though life was hard enough without having to contend with horses.

Amber and Brooke, both fine horsewomen, ignored her. “Give me ten minutes,” Amber begged, turning towards the staircase.

“How did you know Brooke was here?” Janis called after her, like some detective.

Amber’s heart skipped a beat but she turned back casually. “Just as Brooke knows my face, I know hers. You’re often in the society pages, aren’t you, Brooke?” For one awful moment she thought Brooke was going to deny it. She hadn’t, in fact, ever laid eyes on Brooke Rowlands before. There were certainly no silver-framed photographs of her in Cal’s study.

But Brooke gave a gratified smile. “I do love to get away to the city from time to time. You can’t imagine how relieved I am the paparazzi don’t follow me around.”

As promised, Amber was downstairs ten minutes later, having dashed under the shower and re-dressed in a short loose kaftan that wafted around her body. First she checked in with Dee in the kitchen.

“Find the boss?” Dee asked in a conspiratorial whisper, though no one could have heard her even if they were hiding behind the door.

“My horse could have found Cal on his own.” Amber smiled. “He said he’ll be out of town for a few days.”

“I bet he’d like to be!” Dee muttered, never having forgiven Brooke for betraying Cal.

“I thought he might like having her around?” Amber ventured uncertainly.

Dee gave a grunt. “Been chattin’ to Mrs MacFarlane?”

“Anyway, how’s our little sweetheart?” Amber broke off a couple of seedless white grapes, popping them in her mouth.

“He’s fast asleep.” Dee gave a satisfied smile. “I’ve set Mina to watching over the dear little soul. I tell you, Marcus is a totally different baby. All your doin’, my girl!”

“Modesty prevents me from taking the credit, Dee.” Amber smiled.

“Don’t interrupt me. We’re all indebted to you.” Dee spoke with feeling. “And you can count Mrs MacFarlane in, though she’d die before she’d ever admit it.”

“Let’s give her a chance, Dee.” Amber gently touched Dee’s shoulder. “I don’t like to be
too
judgemental.”

“Me, either.” Dee sighed. “At the same time, I can’t condone her behaviour. Best go back to them, love. Brooke will be acting like you’re her new best friend, but be on your guard. She’s pleasant enough, I’ll grant ya that. She might have thought she could get away with playin’ around, but Cal will never forgive her or have her back.’

“Surely she can gauge that?” Amber asked. Could it be true that Brooke had recently received a measure of encouragement? “What about when she stayed before? Janis was insistent they were still…
close
.”

Dee snorted. “Cal would have put bars on his doors and windows if he could. There was no hanky-panky, love. Set your mind at rest. No sneaking up and down the corridors. Now, I’ll have coffee and some nice little cup cakes ready in a few minutes. Someone has to spare Brooke Mrs
MacFarlane’s endless railing against life. If you ask me, she acts more like a woman in the throes of a mad passion than a new mother with a medical problem.”

Amber had already formed that opinion but it still gave her a shock to hear it more or less confirmed by Dee—someone more in a position to know.

They all came together again at dinner. Brooke had ridden out that afternoon in search of Cal, coming back to the homestead an hour later to lament, “I couldn’t find him anywhere.” Amber didn’t feel able to offer a comment. Cal must have led the muster into the depths of the lignum swamps before making his return to the homestead alone.

Brooke regrouped with seduction clearly on her mind. She looked lovely in a short silk dress in a gorgeous shade of blue. Her make-up was impeccable and her glossy fringe drew attention to her big brown eyes.

Amber, for all her qualms, enjoyed looking at her. The Cattle Baron would hardly be human if he didn’t appreciate what a sight for sore eyes she was. Brooke Rowlands was a glamour girl and very flirtatious by nature. She was certainly giving Cal the treatment, by no means throwing in the towel.

And she was a lot of fun. A most welcome change from Janis, who sat looking exhausted, pushing the delicious food around her plate as though it deserved to be thrown out. Not that Brooke left Janis out of the conversation. She constantly made efforts to draw Janis in but she wasn’t terribly successful if monosyllabic replies were anything to go on.

“Janis and I are planning a short trip away,” Eliot, looking a good deal happier, at one point announced.

“Excuse me?” Janis turned on him so sharply that Amber winced.

Eliot didn’t back down. “You need the break, my dear,” he said with just the right amount of command. “We both do. Our
darling boy has given you a hard time—not his fault, of course—but miraculously he appears to have settled.”

“No miracle,” Cal drawled, savouring another mouthful of a very fine Shiraz. “I’m sure Jan is happy to give Amber credit for bringing about a few changes.”

“Amber, of course.” Eliot saluted Amber with his wineglass. He had thanked Amber over and over privately but he knew that thanking her on an occasion like this was like waving a red flag in front of his wife’s nose.

“Well, that’s grand then, isn’t it?” Brooke exclaimed. “You’ll be staying on to look after little Marcus, Amber?’

“Amber isn’t a minder, Brooke,” Cal broke in. “She’s a miracle worker. Eliot and Jan can go away, happy in the knowledge that we’re
all
here to look after Marcus.”

“Excuse me, but I don’t think I
want
to go away!” Janis threw up a hand, thus sending her wineglass—mercifully empty—over.

“Doctor’s orders.” Eliot attended swiftly to the wineglass.

“You’re raving!” Janis drew back in her chair. “I haven’t seen a doctor for ages. I don’t need a doctor. I don’t like doctors.”

“You want to look after your own baby, is that it, Jan?” Brooke intervened with real kindness. She had tried to like Eliot’s second wife but Janis MacFarlane was incredibly difficult to like. However had Eliot married her? Sex couldn’t be the answer. Janis looked as if she’d scream the place down if ever a man came near her. Yet she had produced a child, as difficult a little soul as his mother from all accounts.

“My figure’s gone.” Janis made a very revealing answer. “I don’t know my own body any more.”

“It will come right again,” Brooke assured her in a soothing tone. “You’re way too thin. A short break seems just the thing, wouldn’t you say?” She looked to the others to back her up.

“I have mentioned the Great Barrier Reef,” Eliot said. “Sun and surf.”

“What, with all the concern about skin cancer?” Janis’s brows shot up. “You’re raving! The sun will
kill
you, so you’d better watch out, Ms Wyatt.”

“Ms Wyatt?”
Brooke pulled a droll face, catching Amber’s eye.

“I hate this trend of calling people by their first names right off,” Janis explained loftily.

Cal gave a sardonic laugh. “Just as well you didn’t go into public relations, Jan. You’d have had no future whatever.”

Over coffee, Brooke asked if Amber would like to visit the Rowlands’ station, Goorack. Brooke was Outback born and bred, which made her a hospitable young woman.

“I’d love to!” Amber replied with genuine warmth. She liked Brooke, for all her fall from grace. Most people would. Brooke was bright and friendly. She didn’t blame her at all for trying to get Cal back. She understood it completely. She even understood Janis’s sad fixation and her refusal to go away with her husband for a short break. How the marriage was going to work out, Amber didn’t know. Divorce looked like the best option at this point, except—and a
huge
except—they shared a lasting bond. They had a small child desperately in need of tender loving care, not from well-meaning people around him, but from his mother.

Amber prayed that would happen. And happen soon. Janis MacFarlane might have a passion, but sadly it wasn’t for motherhood.

Amber had been lying sleepless for about an hour, staring up at a moonlit ceiling. The ceiling stared back, offering no answers. She realized she had been straining to hear a baby’s cry. Janis had been in such an odd mood, even for an odd woman. Eliot would have a job on his hands getting her to go away. Seeing Cal on a daily basis was something Janis clearly had to have. No future in that!

She was giving her pillows a hearty punch when an unmistakable summons came on her door. Hadn’t she been half expecting it? Janis MacFarlane was too much under a hypnotic spell to go quietly. She threw on her robe, padding to the door.

Cal stood there, his arms holding on to the door frame, wide shoulders hunched.

“Another raid?” She tried for a joke, seeing the strain in his face. “Janis again?” She didn’t want to go to Janis. She wanted to pull Cal inside. Sweep every scrap of caution under the Persian rug. Her body was aching for him. She was even ready to rope him in. Deep down she was sorry for Brooke. But she had to remind herself: all’s fair in love and war.

“’Fraid so,” he said, sounding as sexually deprived as she felt.

“Just when I was getting my hopes up,” she felt emboldened to say, a splash of colour in her cheeks.

“I didn’t say I won’t be back.”

“I didn’t say I won’t let you in.”

“That’s good. You’re so darn beautiful I can’t keep it a secret. I want to kiss every inch, every fold, every crevice of your sweet creamy body. That’s for starters. Then I want to work around it with my tongue. I want to do
everything
you want.” He broke off with a huge sigh. “Hell, I can’t take this!”

“You mean we have to put the ravishing on hold.” Statement not a question.