Beneath Outback Skies (23 page)

Connor sat in the darkness of the kitchen. Around him all was quiet except for the creak of the tin roof cooling in the night air and the thump of his heart as he admitted defeat.

He’d failed.

Failed Paige. Failed Molly. And failed Tait.

His matchmaking plan wasn’t only a shambles, it’d been blown into infinite pieces and carried off by the dry, summer wind. He’d wanted to be in control and secure Paige’s future so that she lived a life untainted by the bitter loneliness he’d endured as a child. He’d desperately hoped strong feelings would develop between his daughter and Tait. He’d even
believed that Banora Downs and Killora Downs could operate as one and that the laughter of the next generation would heal the past.

But he was only a foolish old man living in a fantasy world. In the real world his beloved only child had again become a shadow. She flittered in and out of the house, her eyes dull and her mouth set as she went out of her way to avoid Tait. And in the real world an unusually subdued Tait appeared just as determined to bury himself away from Paige in the shed.

His plan might have brought Paige and Tait under the same roof, and Molly may have believed them to be a perfect match, but now he was powerless to make the two most strong-willed people he knew talk. Connor had no doubt that what Paige felt for Tait ran as deep as what Tait felt for her but he couldn’t force them to admit their feelings for each other. He rubbed at his leg that hadn’t bothered him in days. As Anne had said, it was up to Paige and Tait now. It was out of his hands. There wasn’t anything left he could do.

He looked through the kitchen window toward the black and starless sky.

‘Molly, we need a miracle.’

Frigging hell
. She’d slept in.

Paige kicked off the shorts that doubled as pyjamas and reefed on her jeans. She might be running only ten minutes late to feed the cattle but ten minutes meant the difference between doing the job on her own or having Tait come with her.

A knock sounded on her bedroom door.

Her fingers froze on her jeans button.

‘Coming in a second, Tait,’ she called, lifting her tank-top over her head.

But he either didn’t hear her or simply didn’t care, because the door swung open and he strode into her room like he owned it. She jerked her singlet down over her breasts.

‘Tait, what the …’

The gleam in his blue eyes warned her she hadn’t pulled her pyjama top down quick enough, but instinct told her she had more to deal with than what he’d seen.

‘The cattle are done.’ His lips twisted. ‘For some reason I was up early.’

Still he strode towards her like a pirate boarding a plundered ship. She took a step away and then stopped. Whatever he was up to she wasn’t having a bar of it.

He halted within kissing distance. Jaw set and feet wide apart.

‘As I didn’t see or talk to you yesterday I’d no idea if you were planning to do the cattle or not.’

She titled her chin. ‘I was busy.’

‘Busy avoiding me?’

‘Yes.’

‘I thought you said you didn’t run away?’

‘I don’t. Now why …’

But whatever else she was going to say became lost beneath his lips. Even as self-preservation wailed in her head she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him back. She’d thought she had enjoyed the whole gamut of his kisses. Tender. Ravenous. Giving. But this kiss was none of those. Urgent. Turbulent. Fierce. His arms locked her against him like she would never be getting free. It was as though all his pent-up emotion exploded through her senses and detonated her own store of frustration. His hand swept beneath her singlet and captured the weight of her breast. The frame of her bed pressed against the back of her knees and she fell, taking Tait with her.

Face tense, he aligned his body over hers and stared down at her. She arched against him, her hands freeing his shirt from his jeans as she fought to feel the smooth, supple skin of his back.

‘Tait,’ she breathed, wanting more. Needing more.

But still he stared at her, making no further attempt to kiss her.

‘You mightn’t want to talk to me but thank God your body does,’ he said, his words sounding like they’d scraped over gravel.

‘Is that what this is about?’ she managed as he finally lowered his head and nuzzled her neck, rediscovering the sweet spot behind her ear.

‘You bet.’

‘You’re not playing fair.’

‘Neither are you. I need to know where I stand.’

‘I’m still … processing.’

‘You mean over-thinking. It’s not that hard. Yes, we’re together. Or no, we’re not.’

‘It’s not that s … s … imple.’ But she had trouble finishing her sentence as his fingers
slipped between them, pushed up her singlet and trailed across the sensitive skin of her stomach and hip.

‘Oh yes it is. I need to know.’

‘I thought I had time,’ she said in a breathy voice that didn’t sound like hers.

‘Not any more. Not after the day and night I’ve just had.’ His gaze softened as he kissed the bruises under her eyes. ‘Or you’ve had. You’ve got another twenty-four hours, that’s all.’

‘But what if I refuse to meet such a deadline?’

‘You won’t.’ A wicked grin curled his mouth. ‘Because you’re going to promise me you’ll make a decision by then.’

‘No I’m not.’

But as his mouth covered hers she knew she was lost.

She moaned against his lips. ‘Okay. Twenty-four hours.’

The warm, hard weight of his body suddenly rolled off her. He grinned. ‘See, that wasn’t so difficult, was it?’ He bent to give her a quick, searing kiss. ‘Twenty-four hours and not a second more.’ And with another smile he was gone.

Paige rested her hands on the steering wheel of the stationary ute and cursed her foolishness. How could she have been suckered into promising to make a decision by tomorrow morning about where they were heading? But the instant leap in her senses at the memory of Tait’s mouth on hers told her exactly how clever his blindside had been. He’d known once she made a promise she would honour it.

The key-chain dangled from the ute’s ignition, but she made no move to turn the key. She couldn’t even decide what farm job to head to next, let alone decide what she was going
to do about Tait. Her heart and head remained at loggerheads. Outside the driver’s open window a kookaburra laughed, offering her little sympathy. Even though the sound of kookaburras in the middle of day didn’t really mean rain, out of habit she examined the sky. Sure, a few wispy clouds had gathered but she knew from half a decade of dashed hopes such clouds could scatter and disperse instead of building. From the tray back of the ute Bundy yipped and Bella and Dusty barked. She glanced in the rear view mirror and saw their expectant doggy faces.

‘Okay, okay,’ she said and turned the ignition key. ‘We’re going.’

She’d work now and think later.

But that night when she fell into bed she was too tired to think. She fumbled for her clock and set the alarm. Tomorrow there’d be no chance of her sleeping in. She’d wake early, sit on the verandah in the morning stillness, watch the dawn roll in and work out what to say to Tait before her deadline expired.

Her alarm must have broken. Instead of an electronic beep intruding into her dreams a thud sounded, quickly followed by another. The thud sounded again. This time she could have sworn someone was hitting golf balls on the tin roof, either that or it’d started to …
rain
.

She sat bolt upright, leaped out of bed and threw open a window. Wind gusted into her room, knocking over photo frames on her dressing table and bringing with it the scent of a storm. She ran, hobbled and then ran again out the door.

‘Tait!’ she yelled as she slid down the stairs on her butt. ‘Dad! Anne! It’s raining!’ Her voice broke. ‘It’s really raining.’

She flung open the front door. By now the intermittent raindrops had increased to a steady drumming on the roof. She crossed the verandah and in the darkness almost tripped over Bundy as the pup joined her from his bed on the side verandah. The sensor light clicked
on as she limped down the steps. Bundy bounded past her and when he reached the last step and was out in the rain, he stopped. Head tilted, he snapped at the rain as if trying to catch the falling drops.

Paige tickled the pup’s ears and laughed. ‘This is rain, Bundy, not flies.
Rain
.’

She walked a little into the garden and then, eyes closed, upturned her face to the teeming sky. Life-giving water poured over her, soaking her, cleansing her. She opened her mouth to catch its purity and to convince herself she wasn’t dreaming. The downpour intensified and each heavy raindrop brought with it a sting. The drops pounded on her head, her cheeks and her shoulders. Emotion swelled. Her knees buckled. She sank to the wet ground.

Salty tears merged with the sweetness of the raindrops on her lips as she cried for all the animals like Bundy who’d never had a chance to see rain before. Cried for all the families who were hearing the rain fall on their town roofs and not on the farm houses they’d had to sell. Cried for all the widows and grieving parents for whom the rain had come too late.

And like the storm crashing over her head, her internal storm showed no sign of abating. The decision as to whether Tait stayed or went was now out of her hands. The rain rendered his deadline obsolete. He’d said he’d stay until her foot healed or it rained. She mightn’t know his last secret or whether he loved her or not. But one thing she did know was he would follow through and deliver on what he said.

She wrapped her arms around her chest. She couldn’t let him go. Without him her world would always be in drought. There could be no rain storm to bring it back to life. She swiped her hair out of her face with a shaking hand. Her mind could stamp its foot all it wanted. Her heart had won. She had to take a risk and open herself up to vulnerability and chase the fairy tale. She had to tell Tait she loved him. A sob slipped from her lips. If it
wasn’t too late.

Tait’s warm, strong fingers suddenly grasped her arm and drew her to her feet. The wind buffeted her and she threw out a hand to steady herself. Her palm landed on the firm flesh of his bare stomach. As she stood, her hand slid up his rain-slicked his chest. Her other hand clutched the edge of his unbuttoned shirt as his arms settled around her, hugging her close. The cold, wet denim of his jeans pressed into her legs, making her shiver.

She looked into his face. With his back to the sensor light, his features were nothing but shadowed planes and grave angles.

‘It’s raining, Paige.’

His wind-muffled voice contained no relief and the locked muscles beneath her touch no delight.

Her hope plummeted to her toes. It was too late. He was going to stand by his words to leave when it rained.

‘Time has run out for both of us,’ he said, his words so low she could barely hear them. ‘There can’t be any more secrets between us.’

He covered her hand on his chest with his and then slowly moved her palm upward until it rested over his heart. She could feel the pulse of his blood against her skin and feel the tattoo of his emotions.

‘Paige, I love you. I need to know if you feel the same.’

The solid ground beneath her tilted.
That
was his secret? He loved her. The truth was conveyed in every agonized line of his face.

She let go of his shirt and traced his taut lips with a trembling touch. He was letting her into his life and sharing all of himself with her. And now she had to do the same.

‘I do.’ She made sure her words rang out sure and strong and that no amount of wind or rain could dilute their precious message. ‘I love you too.’

The mouth beneath her fingers curved before his lips sought hers with a tenderness and possessiveness that promised a lifetime of honesty.

When they finally drew apart to breathe she didn’t know in whose eyes love burned the brightest. Thunder rumbled and then lightning cracked, splitting the inky sky overhead. Tait scooped her into his arms and carried her to the verandah. He carefully placed her on her feet. ‘No more secrets.’ His fingers brushed her cheek.

She shook her head, winding her arms around his neck. ‘Just new beginnings.’

Movement flickered in the doorway. She looked over Tait’s shoulder to see her father and Anne side by side as Anne helped him stand without his cane. Joy shone from her father’s eyes but he was looking at her and Tait and not at the life-renewing rain.

Heart full, she matched his smile. There was no need for words. Connor and Anne weren’t the only ones to find new happiness beneath outback skies.