Chapter 70 It Was Quite

• IT WAS QUITE incredible, the huge flocks of waders at Crab Creek, Christabel thought, listening to the teacher identify the bird species for the children, though missing the names herself. Focusing her attention on anything external seemed beyond her. The constant mental and emotional turmoil over Jared King could not be pushed aside, and each day brought more urgency to the decision she had to face.
Stay or go…stay or go…stay or go…
It was like water torture on her brain, and her heart was so screwed up from wanting more of him, it literally ached all the time. She couldn’t keep Jared dangling as she had since Sunday night. One way or another, she had to decide and act on the decision. After what they’d shared together, he had to be feeling as deeply affected as she was, and it simply wasn’t fair to keep avoiding a meeting with him or even holding him at a distance as she had before.
She didn’t regret her night with him. Never would, she thought fiercely. It had been the best night of her life, and she could live off the memories of it for a long, long time. Yet…it made it so hard to walk away from. She didn’t want to live off memories. She desperately wanted what they’d shared to keep on going, to follow its natural course to…
Was it tempting too many fates to remain here, to fully embrace the simplicity of just being a woman in love with Jared King? Was it possible that she and Alicia could live out normal lives, untainted by an inheritance that distorted everything? If she was careful…they hadn’t tracked her to this outback haven so far. Could she take the chance they never would?
Her whole being yearned for more time with Jared, a continuance of the intimacy he’d led her into. It had felt as though they were truly soul mates on a level nothing else could touch. If they could just journey on together, maybe the answers to her situation would somehow become clearer and the burden she carried could be moved aside to a place of less and less importance.
A flurry of beating wings drew her attention to a flock taking off behind her…birds flying free. Was it a good omen, she thought fancifully, turning to watch them. Her heart leapt into a wild flutter as she caught sight of what had disturbed them into flight…the man striding fast and purposefully towards the class group…the man she’d last seen naked…the man who had just as powerful an impact fully dressed…Jared King.
He wasn’t waiting for her decision.
He’d come to claim her as his woman.
She knew it, knew it with intuitive certainty, and she stood mesmerised, feeling her stomach contract in remembered excitement. Her mind jolted through fear of the consequences and surges of dizzying pleasure. He shouldn’t be here but he was…he was…he was…and even from the short distance left between them he emitted an energy that swirled around her and held her captive. She couldn’t tear her eyes off him.
He wore business clothes—sports shirt, tailored shorts, long socks, lace-up shoes—not dressed for a birdwatching stroll. He’d come from work, and the grimly determined set of his face telegraphed that he would not be turned away. Not by anything. And a sense of panic started welling inside her, diffusing the pleasure of his presence. She’d stolen one night with him. Could she really keep stealing more and more time without bringing a terrible punishment on both of them?
“Christabel…”
He spoke her name in a commanding tone, just as he waved her aside from the group in a commanding gesture. The urgent intensity in his dark eyes drew her into obeying, even as her mind frantically warned of the dangers inherent in involving herself further in this relationship. She tried to gather her defences as she stepped over to where he’d halted, out of ready earshot of the children, but there was no defence that could have withstood the shock of his next words.
“What do the names Santiso, Vogel and Wissmann mean to you?”
Her heart stopped. The safety net she thought she had instantly disintegrated. They’d come. She’d stayed too long and they’d caught up with her.
“Alicia…” The name tripped off her tongue in alarm as she instinctively swung to check where her daughter was.
A hand fell on her shoulder, gripping, halting any further movement. “She’s right there with her teacher,” Jared assured her. “None of the men I named know where you are. They think Alicia is at school and you’re at the pearl farm with me. I bought you time if time is what you want.”
She looked at him, dazed by his understanding. “Where are they?” she asked, struggling to contain the full-blown panic the knowledge of their arrival had triggered.
“Last I heard they were in my mother’s office at Picard headquarters. I was on my way to the pearl farm when she called me. I said you were meeting me there.”
“Why did you put yourself between me and them?” she cried, anguished by his personal interference. It was the last thing she’d wanted, Jared drawing the attention of men like Rafael Santiso to him. It was what had stopped her from…too late now. Wretchedly she sought to explain the situation. “You don’t know…”
“I know you’re afraid of them,” he cut in forcefully. “You’ve been running from them, Christabel. I don’t know how long you’ve been on the run but that’s why you’re here, isn’t it? The Australian outback seemed safe.”
“There’s nowhere safe,” she muttered bitterly. It was over—her chance with Jared. Over before it had barely begun.
“Yes, there is.”
His insistence was hollow to her, words that had no substance in the sickening reality she knew only too well. She shook her head despairingly. “They’ll be more watchful this time. I won’t get the chance to give them the slip again.”
“We do it now. Go and collect Alicia and tell the teacher that both of you are leaving with me.”
The aggressive assertiveness in his voice rattled her. “I can’t let you get involved,” she cried. “It’s bad enough that…”
“I am involved, Christabel,” he retorted vehemently.
“You don’t need to be,” she argued just as vehemently. “You can say I didn’t turn up at the pearl farm. I won’t drag you into this, Jared.”
“I won’t walk away. Not when you’re in trouble and I can give you a way out.” His eyes burned into hers with steady resolution as he reasoned, “You came here in the excursion bus. They’ll have you if you go back to Broome in it. I can take you to a safe place. It will give you time to plan what you want to do.”
Time…her whirling mind seized on the sliver of hope he was offering. Everything within her recoiled from going back to them and the dreadful life they would impose on her and Alicia. Jared had bought her time with his interference and maybe she could make good use of it. Any postponement of the inevitable was better than giving up.
“Where can we go?” she fretted. “The road only leads here and back to Broome.”