Required: Three Outback Brides: Cattle Rancher, Convenient Wife / In the Heart of the Outback... / Single Dad, Outback Wife

Cattle Rancher,

Convenient Wife

Margaret Way

About the Author

MARGARET WAY takes great pleasure in her work, and works hard at her pleasure. She enjoys tearing off to the beach with her family on weekends, loves haunting galleries and auctions and is completely given over to French champagne “for every possible joyous occasion.” She was born and educated in the river city of Brisbane, Australia, and now lives within sight and sound of beautiful Moreton Bay.

CHAPTER ONE

THOUGH his mood was fairly grim Rory Compton couldn’t help but smile. It was the middle of the day, yet a man could fire a cannon down the main street of Jimboorie and not find a target; not even a stray dog. The broad sunlit street was deserted as were the sidewalks, usually ganged on a Saturday. No kids were bobbing, weaving, ducking about, playing some private game, while their mothers, looking harried shouted at them to stop. No one was loading groceries into the family pickup. No dusty four-wheel drive’s ran back and forth, the drivers waving casually and calling greetings to friends and acquaintances which meant pretty well everyone in town.

Seated on the upper verandah of Vince Dougherty’s pub, Rory had the perfect view of the town centre, its impressive Community Hall and its attractive park. He drained off the cold beer he’d enjoyed with the prepacked lunch Dougherty’s wife, Katie, had very kindly left him; a plate of thick roast beef and pickles sandwiches, cling wrapped so well it took him almost five minutes to get into it. He hadn’t a hope of working his way through the pile. The stray dog would have come in handy in that regard. With the possible exception of himself, the whole town had taken itself off to the big ‘open day’ on Jimboorie, an outlying historic sheep station that had given the town its name. Sitting there, his long legs resting on a planter’s chair, he debated whether to go. There was a slim chance it could boost his mood.

It was a restoration party he understood from Vince, who being a publican was always ready for a chat that naturally included dramatic revelations. The old homestead, from all accounts, once magnificent, had been allowed to go to rack and ruin under the custodianship of the former owner, Angus Cunningham. ‘A miserable old bastard! Didn’t think anyone in town was good enough to talk to!’

Of course Rory knew the name Cunningham. The Cunninghams figured among the roll call Outback pioneers. Sheep men. Not cattlemen like his own kind, their stamping ground, the legendary Channel Country, a riverine desert deep into the South-West pocket of their vast State. The new owner, a great nephew, ‘one helluva guy!’ had spent well over a year and a mountain of money restoring the place. Lucky old him! Vince had invited Rory along to the open day—‘Sure and they won’t mind!’ Vince was as expansive as though he and Cunningham were best mates.

‘Maybe,’ he’d said. And maybe not. He wasn’t in his best spirits since he and his father had had their cataclysmic row a couple of weeks back. Since then he’d been on the road, travelling from one Outback town to another in a sick, angry daze, checking out if there were any pastoral properties on the market he could afford with the help of a hefty bank loan. He couldn’t lift his eyes to the multimillion range. All up including the private nest egg his grandad, Trevis Compton, had left him he had close to two million dollars A lot of money to a lot of people. Not near enough when one was talking a halfway decent pastoral property.

‘I haven’t left your brother, Jay, anything outside the personal things he loves,’ Trevis had told him years back. They were sitting on the front steps watching another glorious desert sunset, his grandad’s arm around his shoulder. ‘Jay’s the heir. He gets Turrawin. It’s always been that way. The eldest Compton son inherits to ensure the family heritage is kept intact. There are problems with splitting it a number of ways. Jay’s a good boy. I love him dearly. But he’s not you. You’re meant for big things, Rory. A little nest egg might well come in handy after I’m gone.’

Rory could still hear his grandfather’s deep gentle voice. How could two men be so different? His grandfather and his dad? To be strictly fair his grandfather had led a charmed life with a devoted wife as his constant companion. His son Bernard, however, had his life blighted fairly early. Bitterness ate into a man’s soul. That last row had been one row too many. On both sides. His father had sent him on his way—hell he was going anyway—hurling the most vicious and unjust insults that even Rory, used to his father’s ungovernable tirades, was deeply shocked. He had passed his elder brother, Jay, his father’s heir in the entrance hall.

‘Damn him, damn him! Damn him to hell!’ Jay was muttering, white faced and shamed, furious with his father for attacking Rory but unprepared to go to his defence. Their father had turned big strong Jay into a powder puff, Rory thought sadly. Anyway Jay’s intervention would have been in vain. He was going or his own pride and integrity would be hopelessly compromised. What did it matter he ran Turrawin these days and largely for the past four years? His father wanted him out! Sometimes Rory thought his father couldn’t abide to look at him.

They had never been close. Instinctively Rory had known the reason. He strongly resembled his mother who had run off and left her husband and children when Rory was twelve and Jay fourteen. A really bad time. It had brought scandal on the family and a very hard life on Laura Compton’s two boys who had worshipped her. From that day forward their father had succumbed to the dark places that were in him. His temper, always volatile became so uncontrollable his young sons lived in a constant state of fear and anxiety. Jay was often in floods of tears after a beating with a riding crop; Rory, never which only served to inflame their father further. Both boys regarded boarding school as a god-send. By the age of sixteen and eighteen, both six foot plus, taller and stronger than their father, the beatings had stopped. Their father had been forced to turn his attention back to his whiplash tongue.

‘As soon as Dad’s dead you and I are going to be full partners,’ Jay had promised, his voice full of brotherly love and pride. Jay made no bones about it. Rory was everything he was not. ‘I won’t be able to run Turrawin without you. We both know that. The men look to you not me. You’re the cattleman. The man to save the station. Dad didn’t inherit Grandad’s skills or his leadership qualities. Neither did I. You’re the real cattleman, Rory.’

Rory sighed deeply knowing Jay would get into trouble without him. Bernard Compton had bruised his sons badly. But he hasn’t beaten me, Rory thought determinedly. I’ve got everything going for me. Youth, health, strength, the necessary skills. He’d start up his own run. Move up in easy stages. He was as ready to found a dynasty as his Compton ancestors had before him. In time—it would have to be pretty soon, he’d turned twenty-eight—he’d find himself a wife. A young woman reared to the Outback. A woman with a deep love of the land who could withstand an isolated existence without caving in to depression or a mad craving for city lights.

Romantic love wasn’t all that high on his agenda. Romance had a shelf life. That was the down side. He had to learn from experience. Most people didn’t. History wasn’t going to repeat itself with him. His best bet was a partner who could go the distance. That meant for life; a contractual sort of arrangement that the two of them would honour, working strongly together to build a future. As long as the woman was young and reasonably attractive the sex should be okay. He definitely wanted children. He knew he wasn’t and never could be a hard, cruel bastard like his old man. He would be a good father to his children, not bring them up in a minefield. The Outback certainly bred hard men, tough men. But mercifully not many like his dad.

So what to do now? Rory stood up and stretched his long arms, staring down at the empty street. He had plenty of time on his hands. Why not take a run out to Jimboorie?

He might as well. Vince had given him directions. A beautiful old homestead would be worth seeing at least. It might even offer some comfort. He’d been intrigued to learn the new owner’s Christian name was Clay. Clay Cunningham. He’d only ever met one Clay in his life, but that was a Clay Dyson, the overseer on Havilah a couple of years back. A guy around his own age held in great esteem by his employer, old Colonel Forbes, ex-British Army, now deceased, who had inherited Havilah from his Australian cousin and to everyone’s astonishment had remained in the country to work it. Colonel Forbes, universally respected, had thought the world of Clay Dyson, Rory recalled. But it wasn’t that Clay. Couldn’t be. The Clay Dyson he had known had no background of money, no family name, though the word was old Colonel Forbes had remembered him in his will.

By the time he arrived on Jimboorie, a splendid property and as far out of his reach as planet Pluto, the main compound was still crowded with people but some were starting to leave making for the parking area crammed with vehicles of all makes and price tags. During the long approach to the station he had seen more than one light aircraft airborne, heading home. He made a quick tour of the very extensive gardens marvelling at the great design and the rich variety of trees, flowering plants and shrubs he presumed were drought tolerant and could withstand dust storms.

Beneath a long tunnel of cerise bouganvillea that blossomed heavily over an all but smothered green wrought-iron trellis, he passed two pretty young women from the town who smiled at him shyly in acknowledgement. He smiled back, raising a hand in salute, totally unaware it only took an instant for his smile to light up his entire face and dispel the dark, serious, brooding look he’d worn since his teens.

Jimboorie House impressed him immensely. He’d never expected it to be so big or so grand. It was huge! It rivalled if not surpassed any of the historic homesteads he had been invited into over the years. When his mother had been with them—when they were family—they had been invited everywhere as a matter or course. His beautiful mother, Laura, had been very popular, herself an excellent hostess presiding over their own handsome homestead on which she had lavished much love and care.

Why then had she abandoned them? Didn’t God decree mothers had to remain with their children? For years he and Jay had accepted the reason their father had drummed into them. City bred their mother had only awaited the opportunity when they were old enough to renounce her lonely Outback life. As young men they came to understand what life for their mother might have been like, though their father had been reasonable enough then. Well, for most of the time anyway. He had never actually laid a hand on them when their mother was around except for the odd time when she had protested so strongly he had stopped. In any event she had remarried after the divorce. That happened all the time but it was lousy for the kids.

Their father, as was to be expected given his name, his money and influence, gained custody. He had never been prepared to share it with his ex-wife. The failure of their marriage was her fault entirely. It was one of his father’s most marked characteristics, he held himself blameless in all things. Their mother alone deserved condemnation. The sharing was a bad idea anyway. Sensitive Jay had always become enormously upset when it was time to leave her. Equally upset, though he never let on, Rory behaved badly. He had to take the pain out on someone. He had chosen to take it out on his mother. After a while the visits became farther and farther in-between, then ceased altogether.

‘Didn’t I tell you?’ their father had crowed, that hard triumphant gleam in his eyes as he started all over again to trash their mother. ‘She doesn’t want you. She never did! She’s a selfish, self-centred heartless bitch! We’re well rid of her!’

Neither of them would have won a good parenting award, Rory thought. But well rid of her? People really did die from grief. All three of them, father and sons, hadn’t been able to handle her desertion. Their father, a proud and arrogant man, had never been free of his own grief and crazed thoughts of personal humiliation. Rory’s memories of his mother were so heartwrenching he rarely allowed them to touch him. He and Jay had believed their mother to be the sweetest, gentlest, funniest, mother in the world. She could always make them laugh. It just didn’t seem possible she had been faking it as their father always claimed. Nevertheless she had left, taking no account of the devastation she left behind her.

In choosing a woman of his own, Rory had long since decided he had to make absolutely sure he kept his eyes and ears open and his feet firmly on the ground. He was as susceptible to a woman’s beauty as the next man—maybe more so he thought wryly—but there was no way he was going to allow himself to be seduced by it.

Or so he thought.

Vince Dougherty caught sight of him as he was wandering the grandly proportioned rooms of the old homestead letting it work its magic on him. Whoever had been responsible for the interior decoration—probably a top city designer—had done a great job.

‘You made it!’ Vince, looking delighted—his enthusiasm was hard to resist—made a beeline for him pumping his hand as though he hadn’t seen him for weeks instead of around eight-thirty that morning. ‘What d’yah think now? Tell me.’ He poked Rory’s shoulder which was marginally better than a poke in the ribs. ‘You look like a guy with good taste.’

‘That’s very kind of you, Vince.’ Rory’s answer was laconic. ‘It’s magnificent!’ His admiration was unfeigned. ‘Definitely well worth the visit!’

Vince looked as proud as if he were the owner, decorator, landscaper, all rolled into one. The kind of guy who changed lives. ‘Told yah, didn’t I? You should have come an hour or so earlier. Meet the Cunninghams yet?’

‘Not so far.’ Rory shook his head. ‘I only came to see the house really. I’m only passing through, Vince. Just like I told you.’

‘Well, yah never know!’ Vince’s face creased into another smile. He was hoping this fine-looking young fella would stay in the district. He glanced upwards to the gallery. ‘That’s Carrie, Mrs Cunningham up there.’ Discreetly he pointed out a blond young woman with a lovely innocent face and a radiant smile. She was standing in the midst of a circle of women friends who were laughing at something she was saying, which they obviously found very funny.

Rory could understand Vince’s look of undying admiration. ‘She’s very beautiful,’ he said. ‘The house suits her perfectly.’

Vince’s big amiable face settled into an expression of pride. ‘An angel!’ he announced. ‘Clay reckons he’s the luckiest man in the world. Now how about me taking you to find him? I reckon you young blokes would get on.’

Why not? ‘Just point me in his direction, Vince,’ Rory said. ‘I see your wife beckoning to you.’

‘My little sweetheart!’ Vince exclaimed, a tag Rory had heard at least forty times during his stay. Vince and Katie were apparently right for each other. Katie wasn’t little, either. ‘Have to get back to the pub sooner or later. Try outdoors, near the fountain. Clay was there a few minutes ago. I don’t think he’s come back into the house.’

‘Will do.’ Rory tipped a finger to his temple.

It would turn out to be one of the best moves he had ever made.

The marble three-tiered fountain, monumental in size to suit the grand proportions of the house, was playing; an object of fascination for the children who had to be dragged away from the water by their mothers before they fell in or climbed in as one daring six-year-old had already done and been lightly chastised for. At such times he always remembered how his father had used to bawl him out as a child. It seemed like he had always made his father mad. Madder and madder as the years wore on. And later after their grandad died, the blind rages that took longer and longer to blow over.

A tall, handsome young man stood like a monarch at the top of the broad sloping lawn that ran down to a sun spangled creek. White lilies were blooming all around the banks, an exquisite foil for the sparkling stream and the green foliage of the reeds and the myriad water plants. Rory walked toward him, his spirits growing lighter. Surely it was Clay Dyson? Dyson was an arresting looking guy, hard to miss. Rory let his amazement show on his face.

‘It is Clay, isn’t it? Clay Dyson?’ he called. ‘Used to be overseer on Havilah a couple of years back?’

The other man turned, his face breaking into a smile of surprise as he recognised his visitor. He walked toward Rory, thrusting out a welcoming hand. ‘Cunningham now, Rory. Cunningham is my real name by the way. How are you and what are you doing so far from home?’ he exclaimed. ‘Not that it isn’t great to see you.’

‘Great to see you!’ Rory responded in kind, returning the handshake. He hadn’t known Clay Dyson—Cunningham whatever—all that well, but what he’d seen and what he’d heard he’d liked. ‘So what’s the story, Clay? And this homestead!’ He turned to gaze towards the front facade. ‘It’s magnificent.’

‘It is,’ Clay agreed with serene pride. ‘There is a story, of course. A long one. I’ll tell you sometime, but to cut it short it all came about through a bitter family feud. You know about them?’

‘I do.’ Rory made a wry face.

‘Mercifully the feud has been put to bed,’ Clay said with satisfaction. ‘My great-uncle Angus left me all this.’ He threw out his arm with a flourish. ‘Caroline, my wife, and I have only recently called a halt to renovations. They were mighty extensive and mighty expensive. What I inherited was a far cry from what you see now.’

‘So I believe,’ Rory said in an admiring voice. ‘I’m staying at the Jimboorie pub for a few days. Vince told me about the open day out here. I’m glad I came.’

‘So am I.’ Clay smiled. ‘Have you met Caroline yet?’

‘The very beautiful blonde with the big brown eyes?’ Rory gave the other man a sideways grin.

‘That’s Caroline!’ Clay couldn’t keep the proud smile off his face.

‘I haven’t had the pleasure,’ Rory said. ‘You’re one lucky guy, Cunningham.’

‘You should talk!’ Clay scoffed, totally unaware of Rory’s changed circumstances. ‘How’s Jay isn’t it, and your dad?’

‘Jay’s fine. He’s the heir. My dad and I had one helluva bust up. That’s why I’m on the road.’

Clay was aware of the pain and anger behind the easy conversational tone. ‘That’s rough! I’m sorry to hear it.’ The Comptons had been an eminent Channel Country cattle family for generations. Where did that leave Rory?

‘It was a long time coming,’ Rory told him calmly. ‘I didn’t have any choice but to hit the road. I have some money set aside from my grandad. I guess he knew in his bones I might be in need of it sometime. What I’m looking for now is a spread of my own. Nothing like Jimboorie of course. I’m nowhere in your league, but a nice little run I can bring up to scratch and sell off as I move up the chain.’

Clay looked down to the creek, where children were running and shrieking, overexcited. ‘No chance your dad will cool off, Rory? Could there be a reconciliation?’

Rory uncovered his head, his thick wavy hair as black and glossy as a magpie’s wing. A lock fell forward on his darkly tanned forehead. ‘No way! I wouldn’t care if he did. That part of my life is over. The only thing I’m sorry about is I’m leaving Jay to it.’

Clay studied Rory with a thoughtful frown. He remembered now the Compton family history. ‘You know I might be able to help you,’ Clay confided, like someone who already had an idea in his mind, which indeed he did. ‘Why don’t you come back inside? Meet Caroline. Stay to dinner. A few friends are stopping over. I’d like you to meet them. You’re not desperate to get back to town are you?’

‘Heck no!’ Rory felt a whole lot better in two minutes flat. ‘I’d love to stay if it’s okay with your beautiful wife?’

‘It’ll be fine!’ Clay assured him, following his gut feeling about Rory Compton. This was a guy he could trust; a guy who could make a good friend. ‘Caroline will be happy to meet you. And we’ll have time to catch up.’

‘Great!’ A surge of pleasure at Clay’s hospitality ran through him. Rory whipped out his transforming smile.

Destiny has an amazing way of throwing people together.

CHAPTER TWO

RORY found it all too easy to settle into the spacious, high-ceilinged guest bedroom that had been allotted him. His room at the pub, albeit clean and comfortable was tiny for a guy his size.

‘Stay the night, Rory,’ Clay had insisted. ‘We’ll be having a few drinks over dinner. Anyway it’s too far to drive back into town. Everyone else is staying over until morning. There’s any amount of room. Twelve bedrooms in, although we haven’t got around to furnishing the lot as yet.’

His bedroom had a beautiful dark hardwood floor, partially covered by a stylish modern rug in cream and brown. Teak furnishings with clean Asian lines gave the room its ‘masculine’ feel. The colour scheme was elegant and subdued, the bedspread, the drapery fabric and the cushions on the long sofa of a golden beige Thai silk. It was all very classy. Clay had even lent him a shirt to wear to dinner. Something ‘dressier’ since he’d only been wearing a short-sleeved bush shirt. They were much of a height and build. In fact the shirt fitted perfectly.

Drinks were being served in the refurbished drawing room at seven. It was almost that now. He’d showered and washed his hair using the shampoo in the well-stocked cabinet. Now he gave himself a quick glance in the mirror aware as always of his resemblance to his mother. He had her thick sable hair, her olive skin, though life in the open air had tanned his to bronze. It was her eyes looking back at him; the setting, the colour. They flashed silver against his darkened skin. He had her clean bone structure, the high cheekbones, the jawline, stronger and more definite in him. Hell his face was angular now he came to take a good look. He’d lost a bit of weight stressing over the current situation and being forever on the road. Who would have ever thought it bad luck to closely resemble his beautiful mother? Although their old man had scarcely liked Jay more, when Jay was almost a double for their father at the same age. Jay could never be brutal. Jay was a lovely human being who really wasn’t born to raise cattle. Both straight A students at their ‘old money’ boarding school Jay had once spoken of a desire to study medicine. It had only brought forth ridicule and high scorn from their father while their mother had gone to Jay laying her smooth cheek against his.

‘And you’d be a fine doctor, Jay. Your grandfather Eugene was a highly respected orthopaedic surgeon.’

‘Stop it, Laura!’ their father had thundered, his handsome face as hard as granite. ‘Mollycoddling the boy as usual. Putting ideas into his head. There’s no place for nonsense here. Jay is my heir! His life is here on Turrawin. Let that be an end to it.’