Rafferty's Legacy (18 page)

Carl, watching her closely, took full note of the wide eyes and the panic-stricken expression in them as her thoughts were echoed in them. 'I've no need to go that far,' he assured her gently, adding harshly, 'but make no mistake on my feelings in this. If there was no other way, I'd be capable of even that.'

Teresa's eyes never left his face, and she knew he had meant what he said. There was still the vexing question of how he meant to gain her co-operation. She was in an extremely awkward position; through no fault of her own she had been forced to spend the night in his cabin, and not only one night, she thought miserably, but probably two or even three.

She gasped as the solution hit her—so that was it!

`Just because we're marooned here,' she began slowly, 'it doesn't mean we have to marry,' and hesitated as she saw the wicked grin these words produced from Carl, and flushed as he added dryly, For probably two or three nights?' but she refused to be sidetracked. 'All right!' she agreed crossly. For two or three nights—not,' she emphasised, 'that it was anyone's fault. I was out looking for my uncle, if you remember, and I'm pretty sure no one will attach much importance to the fact that I had to seek shelter here.'

Carl shook his head slowly at her, the amusement still in his eyes, and Teresa felt like screaming at him. 'I'm afraid you're way off, honey, if you're relying on the milk of human kindness. We were engaged, weren't we? And not one soul is going to believe you just happened to land up on my doorstep.' He pulled a wry face at her. 'So you see, my love, I've got to make an honest woman of you.'

Temper brought two bright spots to Teresa's cheeks, and her lovely eyes flashed like jewels. `You're forgetting my uncle, aren't you?' she managed to get out acidly. 'Just try and get him to see your point of view!'

Carl's grin grew wider and Teresa found her gaze centring on a cut-glass ash tray that she would have loved to throw at him. `Ah, yes, Patrick Rafferty,' he said slowly, as if savouring the name. 'Now that's one ally I can rely on.'

Teresa's mouth opened in sheer surprise, then she closed it with a snap. He was teas
ing her, of course !
Carl watched her reaction with his head on one

side and one autocratic brow raised, then caught one of her clenched hands and gently prised it open. 'I'm afraid you've another shock coming, my love. Your uncle Patrick, if I'm not much mistaken, will be the first one to beat a path to our door as soon as the weather permits—demanding that I marry you.'

'I don't believe you,' retorted Teresa when she had slightly recovered. 'He knows why I'm here,' she said slowly, still working things out in her mind. 'He'll tell everyone why I was out in that weather—. even though he was trespassing!' she added for good measure.

'What if he wasn't on Hatty's Hill?' asked Carl casually; too casually.

'Of course he was ' snapped Teresa. 'I told you! Someone rang me with a message from him, and,' she added triumphantly, 'it can be proved! Whoever the man was, he'll remember my uncle asking him to make that call, won't he? So there's no mystery there! '

'Isn't there?' asked Carl, still in that casual voice. 'And what if the caller prefers to remain anonymous?'

'For goodness' sake !
' Teresa answered angrily. 'Why on earth should he?'

'I could,' he replied lightly, 'think of several reasons. One being that your uncle didn't ask for help.'

Teresa took a deep breath; now he was saying that she had lied to him, and had quite deliberately got stranded on his doorstep!

Still keeping a close watch on her, Carl went on lightly, 'You're way off beam again, honey.'

Her furious eyes met his amused ones. Why was he so sure he had the answer? Teresa's thoughts went back to the time she received the call. If only the man had given a name, but he'd rung off before she could ask who was calling. Her brow creased; had it been a hoax? If so, for what purpose? Her eyes alighted on Carl, who had what could only be called a smug expression on his face. She thought back to the events leading to her arrival at the cabin. The light! if she hadn't seen the light she wouldn't have come. Now that she had got so far, other things came to mind. There had been no light on the outside of the cabin, and that meant that one window must have been unshuttered. Her eyes went to the window, now firmly shuttered. As the revelation hit her, a little ditty went through her mind: 'Come into my parlou
r, said the spider to the fly!

'You
!
she gasped. 'You made that call, didn't you? My uncle was not on Hatty's Hill, was he?' she demanded furiously.

'It sure took you a long time to get the message,' he drawled maddeningly. 'And I as good as told you, not so long ago.'

Teresa was too incensed to work that out. 'Of all the dirty tricks! she cried. 'Why, I might easily have g
ot lost—and in that weather too!
'

'Anyone would have put you right if you'd gone off track,' he grinned.

'Only there wasn't anyone to ask, was there?' she said bitterly. 'And how could you be certain I'd land up here? I was in two minds whether to come anyway.'

'Because there wasn't anywhere else you could

go,' he answered with infuriating calm. 'Once you were past the hump of Hatty's Hill, it wouldn't be long before you came up against the border fence of my property. But you didn't go that far, did you?'

`How do you know I didn't?' she said, trying to quell the hysteria she could feel rising up in her at what he had done.

'Because I had you in my sights the moment you landed up at the hump, that's why. I couldn't be too sure you wouldn't turn around and make for home.'

'If only I had ! ' she choked out.

'Wouldn't have made any difference,' Carl said quietly, unperturbed by her obvious distress. 'The track would have been a quagmire before you'd done much more than a mile. It would only have meant that I had to go and pick you up.'

'I must say you had all the luck on your side,' she observed bitterly. `If Michael had been in the office he would have come with me. What exactly did you plan to do about that?'

`But he wasn't, was he?' he answered crisply, showing that he had not liked even the implication that Michael would have accompanied her. 'You don't think I left such a possibility out of my reckoning, do you? Jack Oates was due at Bathurst, wasn't he?' he asked softly. 'And as he has no liking for driving in bad light, it was obvious he would take his son along with him. In any case, I made certain he went with him. A friend of mine gave him an errand or two to do.'

Teresa had run out of questions after this last disclosure, and stared dully at the now low fire. The sound of the rain still pelting down outside seeped

through her and added to her depression. She had really had enough, and she desperately wanted to be alone to think things out. It was one thing to know that she was going to marry Carl, quite another to realise that she was being forced to marry him whether she liked it or not. She supposed she ought to feel proud that he had taken the initiative and given her no option, but there was so much more to it than that.

'I think it's time you turned in,' Carl remarked abruptly. 'You'll see things in a better light tomorrow. It's our future I'm fighting for, remember.'

Teresa did not answer, but continued to gaze into the fire, her tiredness patently obvious by the droop of her slim shoulders. 'It's going to be all right, honey,' he said gently. 'Come on, a good night's sleep is what you need. We'll talk it out tomorrow.'

He made a move towards her, and Teresa, terrified that he would try and take her in his arms, made an abrupt, almost shuddering movement and stood up. 'Perhaps you're right,' she said listlessly. 'I am tired.'

Carl's voice, with a hint of impatience in it, told her he had not missed her reluctance to accept comfort from him. 'I'll kip down on the couch,' he said meaningly.

Teresa nodded dully, and walked towards the door. As she reached it, Carl asked coolly, 'Would it upset your maidenly virtue if I brought you a cup of tea in the morning?'

She did look at him then, and all her unhappiness showed in her eyes as she shrugged uncaringly. 'I

don't suppose it would make any difference if I said yes, would it?' she answered flatly.

Her reward came with the blaze in his eyes at this forthright answer, and she walked out of the room with her head held high.

AFTER a quick shower, Teresa thankfully shut herself in her room and prepared for bed. The next item on the agenda was, of course, a nightdress, and she delved once again into the trunk which was turning out to be a veritable treasure chest as far as providing her with such necessary items as clothing of one sort or another. As she had not brought her handbag with her, deeming it unnecessary luggage when she had left the chalet, she did not possess a comb or a hairbrush, and breathed a sigh of satisfaction as she came across the pearl-backed toilet set she had bought for use on her honeymoon.

There were other things there, of course, bought for the same purpose, and Teresa knew no regret as she unfolded the tissue paper that protected her trousseau and chose a flimsy nightdress. There was nothing else she could use in any case; all the joy she had felt when she had packed the trousseau was gone, leaving not even a pang at its absence. Events had moved a little too fast for her to assimilate them, and all she could think of at that time was sleep.

The bed was as comfortable as it had looked, and as her head touched the downy pillows Teresa ought to have fallen fast asleep. But she found herself wide awake, too tense for sleep, and longed to bury her head in the pillows and release some of the tension out of her by giving way to tears, but she stoutly re-

fused to allow herself this luxury. Tears wouldn't help, and she had a vague idea that once she started to cry it would be a long time before she stopped.

Nothing, she told herself, was hopeless, there had to be a way out somewhere, and if she put her mind to it no doubt she would come up with a solution. She thought of Carl and what he had said about fighting for their future; well, she was fighting for their future too, only he wouldn't see it that way. His solution of going up north loomed more as a threat than a promise to her now, for she would be entirely cut off from even the few people she knew, and she wondered if Carl had given that much thought. But then he wouldn't, she thought miserably, he was only concerned about blotting out all traces of the Raffertys, past and present.

She turned restlessly on to her side; it was still hard for her to believe that he could be quite so ruthless, and yet he had been, leaving her no illusions as to why he had put her in such a predicament. These thoughts led to others, and her misery increased when she thought of the reaction her enforced stay at the cabin would induce from Uncle Patrick. Carl had not left her much pride, had he? It didn't matter to him that everyone would now be of the opinion that he had had to marry her. He was so intent on getting his own way that he had lost sight of this small but devastatingly important fact. In the circumstances, it was perhaps as well that they were going up north!

Teresa very much doubted if her uncle would even speak to her afterwards ... her eyes widened. Or would he? She sat up suddenly as the idea took

hold of her. She would tell him the whole story! Now why hadn't she thought of that before?
He would believe it, of course !
And what was more, he would have a whale of a time recounting the story all over town!

For once, she thought sardonically, the feud was going to help her. It owed her that much at least. Her happy thoughts roamed on and in her mind's eye she actually saw her uncle regaling the latest dastardly act perpetrated by an Elton.

Her brow creased. Would Carl be prosecuted for abduction? If it were left to her uncle, he might very well bring charges against him, and she didn't want that at any cost. She sighed; it had been such a good idea too. No, there had to be another way, and her brow creased still further as she concentrated on the problem, then brightened again. All she had to do was get to her uncle first; tell him to say nothing until she had had a chance to explain things to him. She wasn't sure quite how she was going to prevent him from making a song and dance about it, but she was certain she could come up with a plausible enough explanation, given time.

These thoughts acted like a balm on her lacerated feelings, and within minutes she was asleep.

The rattle of a teacup placed on the bedside cabinet awoke Teresa the following morning, and as she had been dreaming she was in her old home, the familiar sound told her it was either a Saturday or a Sunday, for those were the days her mother would bring her a cup of tea in bed. Partially opening one eye, she stretched luxuriously.

'Don't do that!' said Carl warningly. 'Or I shall be forced to abandon a few of my good intentions.'

The words brought Teresa out of the dream state with a vengeance, and as she jerked awake, the knowledge of where she was and why she was there broke over her consciousness, and she sat up hurriedly, gathering the sheet close to her partially bared shoulders.

`And don't overdo it either,' he threatened, 'or you just might make me mad enough to teach you a lesson! '