Chapter 80 Her Words

• Her words…doing whatever has to be done…kept echoing in Christabel’s ears. Jared had been like that from the beginning, never accepting defeat, constantly edging forward even as she fought each of his intrusions in her life. He didn’t give up. And from what Sam said, neither did Nathan or Tommy.
She had been so caught up in worrying about what Rafael Santiso might do to the King family, she simply hadn’t considered what the King family might do to the man who had haunted her all these years. To use the outback itself as a weapon…a persuader…changing the terms…
She remembered very vividly the primeval feeling of the land she had flown over, the same sense of it here at King’s Eden, and suddenly realised it would have to seep into and influence the nature of the people who lived here. She had felt it about Jared each time she’d seen him naked—a powerful primitive entity intent on claiming what he wanted.
Rafael Santiso had always seemed an unstoppable force—but the King family were a different breed to the men he was used to dealing with. The prospect of a head-on collision between them made her feel weirdly skittish inside and she was glad when Miranda and Alicia came back, immediately presenting the activity of seeing her daughter off in the helicopter with Sam.
It was good to listen to Alicia’s excited chatter as they all strolled down to the landing strip beyond the big equipment buildings. Her little face was so wonderfully alive and carefree, untouched by the inheritance she knew nothing about. Christabel fiercely wished it could be kept that way, at least for enough years for her character to develop without the influences wrought by great wealth.
A normal happy child flew off with Sam Connelly.
Christabel couldn’t help feeling apprehensive about what her daughter would fly back to and how it was going to affect her.
“It’s all fixed so that Alicia will not meet the men you fear unless you decide it’s okay,” Miranda informed her as they watched the helicopter zoom off into the distant sky.
Christabel looked sharply at her. “How is it fixed?”
Miranda smiled reassuringly. “They won’t be staying here. Tommy will fly them to his wilderness resort, which adjoins the cattle station. You were accommodated in one of the cabins for my wedding, weren’t you?”
“Yes. But I thought it was closed during the wet season.”
“It has resident maintenance staff. Your visitors will be housed in the resort homestead for the duration of their stay at King’s Eden.”
“I doubt they intend to stay long.”
“Well, I expect that will depend on what happens at this morning’s meeting, which, of course, will be under our control.”
Christabel stared into the calm green pools of her hostess’s beautiful eyes. There was not the tiniest trace of apprehension marring her serenity. The King family was arranging their chessboard for the battle ahead, holding Alicia-the queen piece—safe from any possible attack, moving the enemy king and his two rooks where they chose, making the opposition aware of the dominant factor of their ground, and Christabel suddenly wondered what kind of backup Jared and Nathan were arranging with the Aboriginal tribe.
Alarm streaked through her. So much had been arranged without any consultation with her, but what if Rafael Santiso had organised his own backup before climbing into Tommy’s plane this morning?
“You don’t know these men and what they’re capable of, Miranda,” she shot out, disturbed by a confidence that had no cracks to allow for other outcomes.
“I know our men,” she answered feelingly. “I know what they saved me from and how effectively they did it. They are quite fearless in their strength, Christabel. That’s something I don’t think more civilised men meet with in their very civilised lives.”
It was a different reflection of what Sam had said…the primitive element of survival running through them, taught by the harshness of an environment that demanded they be fit to endure anything. Maybe the land itself did change the terms and the King family could prevail over whatever forces Rafael Santiso mustered.
Still inwardly agitated, Christabel sought more evidence of their strength. “What did they save you from?”
Miranda grimaced ruefully. “From a man who was intent on ruining my life because I wouldn’t play his game. He was the heir to an international chain of hotels, with the power of great wealth behind him. He thought he could use it to influence the King family against me.” She shook her head reminiscently “It meant nothing to them. So you see, the Kruger inheritance won’t mean anything to them, either.”
She hooked her arm around Christabel’s, lightly pressing a sympathetic togetherness as she started them on the walk back to the homestead. “They will support you. Unequivocally. Through anything that’s thrown at them.”
“It’s asking a terrible lot,” Christabel couldn’t help saying. “The inheritance won’t go away and others will come.”
“Jared loves you.” Miranda’s lovely green eyes glowed with secure knowledge as she added, “Nathan loves me. Tommy loves Sam. Each of them understands what it means to them. There is nothing in this world that would make them give up their women.”
Christabel’s heart quivered at the enormity of such deep, abiding love. Could she accept it, unequivocally, whatever came? She wanted to. It was what she had felt flowing from Jared last night, and her whole being yearned to love and be loved by him for the rest of her life.
No risks, no prizes.
Her gaze turned up to the homestead that had stood as an emblem of endurance for over a hundred years. It was beautifully maintained. The huge white roof glistened in the morning sunshine. The white veranda posts and the decorative iron lace that ran around the eaves lent it the image of a crown, majestically dominating the vastness of the land around it.
A crown for the Kings of the outback, Christabel thought whimsically, feeling they truly were kings of men, deserving of crowns. She hoped they would endure, that she wouldn’t be the one to bring them down, that somehow something could be worked out so she and Alicia could live happily with Jared.
She loved him.
But whether the prize of love would be worth all the risks, only time would tell.