Outback Sunset (23 page)

Move, damn you, and get her home.

T
he first thing Curtis did after he, Fran and Nova got a semi-conscious Vanessa into bed, was to contact the Flying Doctor Service to find out how to help her. The dislocation had caused a lot of bruising and inflammation but with the shoulder back in its socket, the FDS advised that what Vanessa needed most was re-hydration and several days of bed rest, with periodic cold compresses to reduce inflammation around torn ligaments and tissues. Strapping the area was deemed unnecessary but her arm would have to be supported by a sling for several weeks.

‘She won’t be a happy camper when she wakes up,’ Nova gave her opinion from the foot of the bed. Having watched one stockman convalesce from a similar injury, she knew Vanessa was going to be in pain and uncomfortable for several days.

‘Why should she? She’s been through a dreadful ordeal,’ Fran said as she straightened the sheet around their patient.

At her return, Sandy, Vanessa’s dog, had taken up residence on Bren’s side of the double bed and refused to move. He would growl ominously if
anyone tried to dislodge him, and his intelligent gaze followed everyone’s movements as his mistress was attended to. Periodically he would lick Vanessa’s hand and whimper with disappointment when she failed to reciprocate by patting his head.

‘At least we contacted Bren — heavy seas caused him and Stuart to end their voyage prematurely. He’s on his way home. He’ll be here tomorrow morning,’ Fran said.

‘Shouldn’t have left Amaroo in the first place,’ Curtis responded, his tone quietly critical.

The two women glanced at him, surprised by his words and his tone. Nova raised an eyebrow at Fran, because neither could remember a time when Curtis had so freely criticised his older brother.

What’s got into him?
Nova wondered as she glanced at Curtis. He appeared out of sorts and annoyed. He could be prickly at times but usually that only happened when the problem concerned Georgia, or if the station wasn’t running smoothly. Maybe he was tired — he’d been in the chopper all day. Or, the thought came to her, was he putting the blame on Vanessa for getting lost? If so that would be good because it would take the pressure off her feelings of guilt. But, cunningly, she stuck up for the Englishwoman. ‘Getting lost wasn’t Vanessa’s fault.’

‘I know that,’ Curtis looked at her. ‘If Bren had been around and on the muster as he should have been, he would have looked out for her and the situation wouldn’t have come up.’ He paused, thought about it again, then changed the subject. ‘Now we have to regroup the mob and move them to Spring Valley.’

‘They’re meandering that way by themselves,’ Nova told him, ‘because there’s still water in Gumbledon Creek.’

‘Most are but there’s always stragglers to round up. Tomorrow, we’ll locate them in the chopper and drive them towards the others.’ He glanced towards Fran who had moved and was hovering near the bedroom’s doorway. ‘Will you be able to care for Vanessa by yourself? I’d like Nova to be on the range with Warren and Tony.’

‘Of course. Vanessa will be no trouble. I expect she’ll sleep around the clock.’

Vanessa moved suddenly, and moaned. Her eyes opened and she blinked twice, then smiled as she recognised Fran and Nova. After that her gaze fell on Curtis. The smile disappeared. ‘You … hurt … me …’ she accused. Her eyes closed again.

Curtis gave Nova and Fran a guilty, lopsided grin. ‘I’d hoped she wouldn’t remember me putting her shoulder back in.’

Nova gave him a droll look. ‘How would Vanessa forget that? She’s going to be in pain for days.’ Which would be a reminder of what he’d done.
She
knew Curtis had done the expedient thing but she wasn’t sure that Vanessa would see it that way. Men were funny creatures! ‘It might be best to give her a wide berth for a while, till she’s feeling brighter.’

‘Guess so,’ he agreed.

After giving them and their patient a sweeping look he left the room and headed towards his haven, the old stone cottage. His dog, Ringo, sat patiently on the verandah, waiting for him. Curtis pursed his lips and gave a shrill whistle whereupon Ringo
bounded up to him, tail wagging expectantly. Taking a torch off a hook attached to one of the verandah posts, he addressed the blue heeler. ‘Come on buddy, let’s check the chicken coop. Fran reckoned she saw dingo tracks there this morning.’

It took months for Vanessa’s shoulder, with regular, gentle exercises, to be back to normal, which was just as well because the end of her convalescence coincided with the opening night, the premiere, of
Heart of the Outback
in Sydney.

The night before Vanessa, Bren and Nova, were to fly from Amaroo to Australia’s largest capital city, a party atmosphere existed on the homestead’s stone-flagged patio. A barbecue provided a sumptuous outdoor feast for the Selbys and Amaroo’s employees, plus Stuart and Diane, and Lauren and her family, who had all flown in that afternoon.

One person was not in a festive frame of mind. Nova, sitting alone at the end of the long, timber barbecue table, was going through the process of admitting as she watched Curtis talk to Stuart, Marc and Reg, that the romance she hoped to develop with the man she was in love with, was not happening. And, worse, she had exhausted all ideas as to how to make it happen.

Since Vanessa’s episode in the bush she had made a concentrated effort to capture and hold Curtis’s attention, to let him see her as a desirable woman. Dressing in obscenely short shorts and midriff tops or singlets to display her body to its best advantage, wearing perfume and make-up, drawing him out in
conversation. Nothing worked. She’d even taken up regular correspondence with his kid to let him see that she would make a good stepmother. As well, she cornered him alone whenever possible, hoping their closeness would ignite a spark of attraction between them but … it was as if Curtis Selby was made of granite. It was so … frustrating.

And she knew that had she turned a similar effort on Tony Wells, one of the stockmen, he’d have been eating out of her hand in next to no time, but not Curtis! What was wrong with him? Or … was there something wrong with her? Did she have to lie naked in his bed to create a reaction? She gave that due thought then dismissed it. What if, instead of turning him on, it turned him off?

Lauren’s youngest son, Guy, came running up to her. ‘Nova, will you push me on the swing, please?’

Banishing her black mood she answered with forced cheerfulness. ‘Of course, mate.’ From the play area, which included a set of swings, a slippery dip, a see-saw and a sandpit with a cover, she could watch Curtis and he could see her too. After a while, when he saw her miming that her arms were about to fall off from fatigue, because Guy kept wanting her to push him higher and higher, he came and took over.

‘Guess your bag’s already packed?’

She nodded. ‘I can hardly wait. The premiere’s going to be too much.’

Curtis grimaced at her phrasing. ‘Too much. Really? Not my scene, I’m afraid.’

‘You love to hang around Amaroo and do outdoorsy things. I bet, if Regan wasn’t living in
Sydney, you wouldn’t step off station land unless there was some kind of emergency.’

He shrugged as he gave Guy a harder push. ‘Amaroo gives me what I need, a sense of achievement. Three square meals a day, and work I love to do.’

‘There could be more to life than that, you know.’ ‘For some, yes,’ Curtis didn’t argue, ‘not for me, though I understand others wanting more.’

‘Like … Vanessa?’

He frowned. ‘I guess so. My mother too. Over the years she needed more than Amaroo could offer — station life can be hard on a woman. She’s making a good life for herself in Darwin.’

‘And Bren, sometimes he needs more than Amaroo.’

‘Bren’s always been like that, needing other stimuli. There’s nothing wrong with this life but it isn’t for everyone.’

Guy, who’d got bored with the swing, hopped off and ran off to play with his brothers, Cameron and Lance. Nova and Curtis, continuing to talk, meandered away from the playground to the shadowy area of the tennis court. Nova looked back at the brightly lit patio where Vanessa was trying to teach Lauren some Spanish dancing steps. In a gesture of camaraderie Curtis’s arm went around Nova’s shoulders as they watched the women dance. After a minute or so Diane Selby joined the dancers.

‘Vanessa, she’s good, isn’t she?’

‘Good? I wouldn’t know. I’m not into Spanish dancing,’ he answered non-committally.

‘You don’t have to be into it to see that Vanessa’s good at it. All you have to do is look,’ Nova replied,
then asked, ‘Why is it that you try not to give her credit for anything?’

‘That’s not true,’ he retorted, his glance moving off the women on the patio. ‘I’ve said it before, Vanessa has learned a good deal. She … she …’ he stared at his sister, aunt and sister-in-law, and couldn’t quite tear his gaze away. ‘Vanessa is …’

‘What?’

He shrugged his left shoulder, a mannerism he adopted when he felt pressured. ‘An asset to Amaroo.’ His tight-lipped expression betrayed his irritation. ‘Satisfied?’

Nova was a long way from being satisfied with him! Slanting an upwards glance at his face, she made a decision. If Curtis wasn’t going to make a move then she would test things by making a move … on him. She turned to face him, and threw her arms around his neck. Then, standing on tiptoes, she planted a kiss on his mouth. He stiffened against their sudden closeness, his hands finding her narrow waistline with the intention of pushing her away. Nova refused to be pushed away. She locked her fingers behind his neck and clung determinedly to him.

When they separated he asked in a gruff voice, ‘What was that about?’

‘Just a little something to remember me by, while I’m gone,’ she whispered, refusing to be put off by his lacklustre response. It felt good to be so close to him — his hands on her bare skin were burning their mark on her. She never wanted to let him go. If only she could see his features, but the light was too poor to gauge his reaction. Was he moved, intrigued, attracted? Did he want her? … A little bit would be
enough to begin with. Desperate for a reaction, she kissed him again, this time putting all her feeling into it, until she ran out of breath. She broke away and stood back, waiting for him to say something!

‘What on earth’s got into you? Have you been drinking or something?’ Curtis asked, confused. He shuffled back, putting an arm’s distance between them and dug both hands into the pockets of his jeans.

‘You … you didn’t like it?’ Her question was hesitant, almost shy now that she realised the import of her actions. What a foolish thing to do. Had she blown it? Turned him off completely?

‘I wouldn’t say that,’ he drawled. ‘What red-blooded male doesn’t want a pretty girl like you kissing him? I just don’t understand why.’

‘Oh!’ Fighting for composure, she said the first thing that came into her head. ‘It seemed like a good idea at the time, but …’ He hadn’t taken the hint and, while he hadn’t rejected her, the reaction she had yearned for had not occurred. Patches of colour warmed her cheeks, she felt embarrassed, mortified even. ‘M-maybe I have had one drink too many.’

Unable to bear his quizzical expression a moment longer and dreading the thought of facing him in the cold light of day, she gave a loud sniff and pushed back the threatening tears. Eager to save face, she turned on her heel and walked back to the party knowing that because of what had just occurred, and his lukewarm response, she had a lot of thinking to do.

The premiere of
Heart of the Outback
at the Hoyts Theatre complex in George Street, Sydney, was a resounding success. The audience and the critics loved the movie because it was a mixture of adventure and drama, with a little comedy mixed in for good measure.

At the Park Hyatt Hotel, over a late breakfast the following morning, Kerri Spanos and Vanessa conducted a post-mortem on the event, something they did as a matter of course after first nights. Bren had taken Yannis, a first-time visitor to Sydney, on a tour of the city, which would include a ferry ride to Manly and a sortie to Darling Harbour — the men would be gone for most of the day. That suited the women because now they had time for a leisurely, catch-up talk. Nova, who’d had a ball at the premiere and the after-show party, was enjoying the luxury of sleeping in before contacting friends and going out for the rest of the day.

‘I heard good things about you last night,’ Kerri confided over toast and marmalade. ‘Jaxson, the director, is being inundated with new material, scripts, etc and a producer from Channel Ten wants to meet with me this afternoon to discuss a part for you in a movie pilot of a police-cum-detective series. If the pilot works the series will be shot in Melbourne.’ She lifted an eyebrow. ‘Interested?’

‘You bet,’ Vanessa said, repeating one of Bren’s favourite phrases. ‘Providing it doesn’t conflict with other commitments.’ She picked up her coffee cup and took another sip. Time to tell Kerri what she had been doing while convalescing from her ordeal in the bush. ‘I’m working on a script. It has an
Australian historical setting, with most of the story set in the outback.’

‘Really.’ Kerri’s dark eyes locked with Vanessa’s. ‘That’s something you’ve never done before. What’s it about?’

‘The idea for the plot came after reading quite a few Australian stories. Amaroo has a library with many books about the pioneer men who opened up the outback, but little about the women who came with them. Women rarely get a mention in official histories, yet their roles, the support they gave their menfolk were important to settling the land.’ Enthusiasm had her leaning forward in the chair. ‘While convalescing I had time to do a lot of thinking and one day a story line just popped into my head. I’ve been working on it ever since, whenever I had some spare time.’

‘How much have you done and what’s the plot about?’

‘I’m about half way through. It’s a serious drama set in the 1870s, about a family of five that come from England to start a new life. The story centres around the lives of Emily and Charlotte Whitfield and their repressive, ambitious father. It isn’t lighthearted like
Heart of the Outback.’