Frontier Wife (30 page)

“All right, I’ll come because I feel sorry for this girl. If she’s being kept prisoner why doesn’t her father go to the authorities?”

“Because he’s an ex-convict; besides, Jarratt is her husband and can legally do whatever he likes to her. She could be dead already for all I know.”

Tommy gasped with shock. “If he won’t let anyone see her, what can we do?”

“You insisted I drive you over to thank them for the wedding present. You’re a stranger to the district so he’ll be interested in meeting you. Women between the ages of fourteen and forty are fair game to him, he wouldn’t be able to resist.”

“It could work.” She took a sip of tea. “Maybe Melanie loves him.”

“Oh, I’m sure she does.” Adam’s lips twisted. “That would be part of his evil plan. Once she gives him a child to replace the one he blames Arthur for killing, he’ll get rid of her.”

Tommy shivered, even thought it wasn’t cold. “How?”

“Probably meet with an accident. I don’t know; but he’s so twisted and sick, he’ll think of something. There have been rumors circulating about his unsavory doings for years, but the authorities can’t prove anything.”

They set off straight after lunch. The blue sky was scattered with fluffy clouds. The clean, crisp smell of damp eucalyptus leaves permeated the air and Tommy breathed in deeply. She had dressed up for the occasion in a deep blue gown trimmed with pale blue velvet. Adam wore close fitting black trousers with a braided side seam down either leg. He rolled the sleeves of his white linen shirt up to the elbows. How tanned and well muscled his arms were. She never tired of watching the loose limbed graceful way he walked.

He lifted her into the buggy. Did his hands linger a fraction longer than necessary? Fool, of course not; wishful thinking, but she didn’t imagine the savage hunger burning in his eyes. Lust wasn’t love, though. Purposely she stiffened away from him and his breath escaped in an angry hiss.

They drove without speaking for a while until she broke the silence. “I visited the little cemetery the other day. Is it you who keeps your mother’s grave so nice?”

“Yes.” He lapsed into a brooding silence that she didn’t know how to penetrate.

It took them nearly an hour to reach Jarratt’s place. A battered sign hanging on an open gate bore the words: “Ravenswood. Keep out.” As they drove up the tree-lined drive, Tommy shivered. A bad aura hung over this place. Her feeling of foreboding grew when they pulled up at the double storied blue stone house. It stood grim and unwelcoming. Huge trees growing right up close to the walls would let little light in through the upstairs windows.

What a horrible place for a young girl to live. When Adam lifted her down from the buggy, Tommy stayed close to him. He slipped his arm through hers and she welcomed the feel of his warm flesh.

“Just so we look like a happy, newly married couple,” he mocked.

He slammed the knocker against the door.

“I’ll get it, Mrs. Davies,” a young woman said as the door opened. “Adam, what are you doing here? Is something wrong with father?”

“No, there’s nothing wrong, Mel.” He flashed one of his rare bewitching smiles. Picking up the girl’s trembling hands, he gave them a gentle, reassuring squeeze. “I wanted to bring my wife over to meet you. Tommy, this is my dear cousin, Melanie.”

“I’m so pleased to meet you, Melanie. I told Adam I had to come over and thank you for the beautiful cutlery service. I’m sorry you couldn’t come to the wedding.” She smiled at the pretty, fragile-looking girl. Her dark curls were tied back with a pink ribbon that exactly matched her gown. She had milk-white skin and huge brown eyes. Exquisite, she looked hardly old enough to be wed, yet she was with child.

Tommy felt Adam’s shocked recoil. He obviously hadn’t expected to find his cousin so heavily pregnant.

“Come in, please, you’re my first visitors.”

Tommy glanced around. The room seemed well furnished but dull, no place for a young woman. It would suck all the life out of her. The only spot of color was a large bowl of red and white roses; some of Melanie’s handiwork no doubt.

“You’ll stay for dinner?” She sounded pathetically eager.

“I’m sorry we can’t. But you’d like a cup of tea, wouldn’t you, my dear?” Adam smiled at Tommy with false devotion.

“Yes, dearest, I would.”

“Where’s Richard?” Adam asked, giving the room a cursory glance.

Tommy expected Melanie to cringe at the mere mention of her husband’s name. The soft glow coming to the girl’s eyes surprised her. She glanced at Adam who shrugged.

“He will join us,” Melanie replied. She appeared happy, chattering about the clothes Richard bought her from Melbourne and the mare he promised to give her.

Could Adam have made a terrible mistake? Arthur’s hatred of Jarratt might have caused him to imagine things.

“Have you seen much of your father?” Adam asked.

“No.” Her face clouded over. “Richard doesn’t like me going anywhere on my own, and he’s been too busy to take me.”

Tommy bit back on the retort that he could get someone else to accompany her.

Richard Jarratt met them in the small salon. Tall and swarthy, the insolent way he ran his icy blue eyes over her caused Tommy to fume. A granite faced beanpole of a woman brought in their tea. “Melanie will pour.” Richard dismissed her. What an ill-mannered brute.

Adam drew Richard into conversation about stock numbers now the drought had broken, leaving Tommy to chat with Melanie.

“When is the baby due?”

“In about two months. I’m going to love having a baby all of my own.” She gave a sweet smile; how serene and pretty she looked.

“I suppose you’ve been busy working on the layette?” Tommy tried to ignore the musty smell of the room.

“Oh, yes. I’ve sewn some beautiful things, haven’t I, Richard?”

“What?”

“The layette?”

“It would be easier to buy what you need,” he growled.

“Why don’t you show them to me?” Tommy took this chance to get the girl alone and find out if she was happy. Her gaze met Adam’s and his eyes flashed approval.

“I don’t think that will be necessary,” Richard said.

Melanie gasped. “But, but...”

“I don’t want you tiring yourself going up and down the stairs all the time, my sweet.”

Richard Jarratt seemed an astute man; or more likely he had the rat cunning to see through her ploy to get Melanie alone. What other excuse could she use?

“Would you like some fruit cake, Tommy? Mrs. Davies is a wonderful cook.”

“Thank you.” She took a slice and bit into it. Melanie hadn’t exaggerated, the older woman could cook.

“How about showing me your new stallion, Richard? I heard in town that he’s something out of the ordinary.”

Richard’s lips thinned and his veneer of friendliness evaporated. “You came over to cheek on me. What kind of fool do you take me for?”

“All right,” Adam shot back. “Arthur’s been worried about Melanie. He hasn’t seen her for months. No one has.”

“You’re happy here with me, my sweet, aren’t you?” Richard favored Melanie with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. Melanie, gazing at him like a puppy craving affection, was taken in by it.

Tommy sensed Adam’s growing anger at being out-maneuvered.

“You better take good care of her,” Adam said.

“Or what?” Animosity throbbed between the two men now.

“You’ll answer to me,” Adam snarled. “Come on, time to go.”

“You haven’t been here long.” Melanie’s voice wavered and her gaze flew first to Richard’s face then Adam’s in bewilderment.

“We do have to get back.” Tommy went over and put her arm around the girl’s trembling shoulders. She was so finely built a puff of wind would blow her over. “You’ll have to get Richard to bring you over for lunch one day soon.”

“Oh, yes.” Melanie clapped her hands, happy once more. “When?”

How sweet and child-like she seemed, but, oh, so vulnerable. Adam described her as fey, how appropriate. Tommy felt overwhelmed by a terrible fear
. You imaginative fool
. This brooding, spooky place caused her mind to play tricks. She wanted to take to her heels and run outside into the sunlight. To breathe fresh clear air, not the cloying dampness of this decaying mausoleum.

“When?” Melanie insisted.

“In a couple of weeks, my sweet. I’m too busy at the moment. I’ll be in touch later on, to work out a suitable date. It’s been a real pleasure meeting you, Mrs. Munro.” Richard picked up her hand and raised it to his lips and she forced herself not to snatch it away and wipe it on her skirt. “A great pleasure,” he said, his voiced lowered so the others would not hear. His eyes rested briefly on her lips before focusing on her breasts, not caring that his wife and her husband stood a few feet away from them. The rotten cad.

She eyed him coldly, almost trembling with outrage, then with haughty disdain, turned and walked away. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing how his uncouth behavior upset her.

After kissing Melanie goodbye, she let Adam help her into the buggy and waited for him to make his farewells. They didn’t speak until they drove through the gates of Ravenswood.

“What do you think, a woman’s perspective?”

“I’m not sure, but Melanie loves him.”

“A blind man could see that,” he bit out. “Your overall impression.”

“I’d get her out of that place, it’s shrouded with evil.”

Adam gave a grim chuckle. “Women, what fertile imaginations they have.”

“I’m telling you, there’s something not quite right. I can’t explain it, but I know there’s something wrong. Sinister, that’s the word I’m after.”

“I’ve never liked Jarratt, the man’s got an unsavory background. But Melanie seems happy enough.”

Men, Tommy sighed, they always took things on face-value. She didn’t know why, but she was glad Jamie had not accompanied them.

Chapter Fifteen

A few days after their visit to Ravenswood, Tommy noticed a horse heading towards the homestead. Slumped in the saddle, the rider left the horse without guidance and it walked in a zigzag pattern. When the horse stopped in the front yard she received the shock of her life. The rider was Melanie, exhausted and distraught beyond anything Tommy had ever witnessed before. The girl kept giving shuddering, heart-rending sobs, yet no tears fell.

“Mrs. Rogers, Mrs. Rogers,” Tommy yelled at the top of her voice. She rushed out and supported Melanie so she would not topple to the ground.

“What is it, Mrs. Munro?” The housekeeper appeared on the front steps. “Good Lord, who’s this?”

“Adam’s cousin, the one we visited the other day. Help me get her into the house before she collapses.”

Between the two of them they assisted Melanie off the horse and inside to a bedroom. Thank goodness she was a slight little thing otherwise they would never have managed. She appeared to suffer from shock, incapable even of walking on her own.

When Mrs. Rogers went to get some tea, Tommy helped Melanie out of her clothes and slipped one of her own nightgowns over the girl’s head. She helped her into the bed they always kept ready for guests and propped her up against several pillows.