Tasmanian Tangle (6 page)

Tanya said nothing but transferred her gaze to the floor again.

'I'm only outlining the facts for you to understand the following events,' he said harshly, 'and why I acted as I did. There was nothing underhand in my acquisition of part of the farm. They say there's no such thing as coincidence, but I've other thoughts on the matter. Your father also took a fall on the shares, and one just as bad as my father's. It happened just six months after you left, and I knew one thing for certain, and that was that if I'd passed that information on to him, he'd have wanted to sell the business and recoup what he could. He'd no heart for a fight back even if I'd offered to stand surety for him. By that time I was in sole charge of all business affairs, and all that was required of him was to countersign any cheques that needed signing.'

He did not miss Tanya's twisted smile, or the thoughts behind it.

'Oh, sure,' he said harshly. 'I could have been swindling him blind, but it just so happens that I'm a partner in my father's business and I could have bought

Orchard Farm any time I'd a mind to do so, particularly as your father had lost interest in the business—but I didn't. I wasn't going to give him a chance to get out and spend the rest of his time brooding on the past. He needed an occupation and I made sure that he got one. I covered the loss on the stocks with my own money, and the only way I could do that was to buy my way into the business.'

Tanya felt ashamed of herself. Instinctively she knew that Kade was telling the truth, and she wished desperately that she could bring herself to say thank you for his loyalty to her father, but the thought of her mother and her unhappiness kept her silent.

'And that is why you were named as the sole inheritor of Orchard Farm,' he said quietly. 'Your father had no idea that I'd had to buy myself into the firm to keep it solvent. It's also the reason why I'm staying on, quite apart from the fact that I own the greater share of the property. I promised your father that I would watch over your interests and teach you the business. Whether you like it or not, that's precisely what I'm going to do.' He gave the startled Tanya an assessing look. 'I said that I thought you were a fighter. Am I wrong? Are you going to stick it out, or run for it as your mother did?' he challenged her harshly.

Tanya felt the tears gathering again; she wanted to shout out at him that she took after her mother, and wanted nothing to do with Orchard Farm—not now that it belonged to Kade. She still couldn't look at him and badly wanted time to think things out. She had never envisaged going away again; she was sick of the constant travelling to various smart resorts where the better endowed people spent their time, idling away

their lives on a constant round of so-called pleasure, and when she had been unhappy she had thought of Orchard Farm. It had been an anchor in the sea of constant travels, an anchor that would one day hold her fast to the place where she belonged. Her father had told her often enough that her home was there and would be always waiting for her.

She looked back at Kade, who sat there with that still but watchful look, and the unhappiness in her wide eyes said more than words could ever convey. 'I'm sorry,' she said in a low but firm voice. 'I meant it when I asked you to buy me out,' she gave a weary shrug of her slim shoulders. 'As you refuse—well, I shall just have to remain a shareholder.'

She flushed under Kade's hard scrutiny. He could think what he liked of her, she didn't care.

'Where will you run to?' he asked with an ironic note in his voice.

Tanya stared at her hands, her fingers now closely twisted together. 'I haven't thought that out yet,' she answered, and somehow managed to give him a tight smile. 'Don't worry, I'll make out. There are a lot of friends I could join for a while at least.'

'Who, for example?' queried Kade, still with that touch of irony in his voice.

It was none of his business, thought Tanya, surfacing from her well of misery to give him a look that said just that. 'Just friends,' she repeated stonily.

'You mean your mother's friends, don't you?' he demanded persistently.

`If you like!' bit back Tanya crossly, tired of the whole wretched business and willing an end to this miserable meeting.

'And then what?' Kade demanded harshly. 'Oh, I've seen the bills your father settled in the past for you both. I hardly think your income is going to live up to those standards.'

Tanya stared at him. What was he talking about? They had lived on her mother's money, hadn't they? Her father had not been a poor man, and he had left her a legacy—she caught her breath on a raw sob—but it hadn't been enough to pay for the life style they had acquired since leaving home. So that was why she had never married again, or sought a divorce.

On seeing her look of utter astonishment, Kade nodded significantly. 'It was one of the conditions of the separation,' he said harshly. 'You might as well hear the rest of it now. Your father agreed on a separation providing your mother never remarried. He was looking out for your future. He didn't intend you to find yourself lumbered with a stepfather you might not have got on with. He meant you to come back here where you belonged, but you can't bring yourself to even do that, can you? After all he did for you!' he pointed out savagely.

The tears Tanya had held back for so long now cascaded down her cheeks, and she turned her face away from her tormenter.

A large handkerchief was thrust into her hand, the knuckles of which were now wet where she had tried to stem the flow of tears. 'Try that one for size,' Kade said gruffly. `Go on, get it out of your system. I guess you've had a pretty rough time of it since yesterday, and I haven't made things any easier for you, but you had to hear the whole of it.'

Tanya hastily mopped her face, then wondered

vaguely what to do with the handkerchief, she couldn't very well hand it back to him in that condition. She gulped, then took a deep breath, concentrating only on not giving way to her emotion. If she did as Kade suggested, she had a feeling that she would never stop crying once she had let herself go.

'Well, that's that,' said Kade in a resigned tone that Tanya somehow did not connect with the Kade she knew. 'I tried, but I've failed. I might have known how you'd react. It was the reason why I clamped down on the past. Sure, you'd have to know some time, but I figured there was plenty of time. There's ways of explaining things, and I sure as hell didn't intend you to be thrown head first into the mire of the past, not that there's anything murky about it. I told you the truth. Your mother might have been unhappy, but she took the wrong way out.'

He was silent for a moment or so after this, and Tanya, still desperately hanging on to her shattered aplomb, wondered if he would now allow her to leave.

'It gets into your blood, you know,' Kade continued in an almost conversational tone. 'Watching the yield each year, and assessing the crop, not to mention the sight of the blossom each spring.' He looked towards Tanya, now twisting his very damp handkerchief in her restless hands. 'Have you forgotten what it's like?' he asked her quietly, then gave a wry grin. 'I guess I ought to bring my father out here at that time. He might be able to understand why I prefer this life to the city life.'

Tanya drew in a deep breath. If he thought he was helping her by reawakening treasured memories, he was way out, he was making it worse for her. As if she had forgotten the acres of blossoms in the spring!

'Look at me, Tanya,' commanded Kade, and in spite of herself Tanya found herself complying with this order, but there was hostility in her damp eyes. 'Forget your pride. It is pride, isn't it?' he added softly. 'And it's not worth it. At heart you're still the kid that used to follow me round the orchards on a pony. If things had been different we'd probably have been a working partnership by now instead of facing each other like strangers across a table. I want to keep my promise to your father if you'll let me. Put the past behind you, it serves no purpose whatsoever in letting it rankle. This is what your father wanted for you. Now what do you say, are we partners?' he asked her abruptly.

Tanya's lips twisted bitterly. What wouldn't she have given to hear him ask that question a few days ago I 'We're not partners,' she managed to get out through lips that trembled, 'how can we be? You own the business, and I'm only a shareholder now.

His eyes narrowed at this, and she sensed his change of mood towards her. He thought she was out for mercenary recompense and it must have sounded just like that, but she was beyond caring, she only wanted out.

'It needn't always be that way,' Kade replied quietly. 'A few years' hard work and you could become joint owner of the business. You could at least give it a try.'

It had taken a long time for Tanya to get the message that Kade was simply not going to take no for an answer. When the fact finally sunk through to her tired mind, she knew she would have to play for time without committing herself. 'I'll think about it,' she said wearily, and stood up quickly to show him that she had no intention of arguing about it.

'I want your answer now, Tanya,' he said with slow deliberation.

'I've given you one! ' she cried, exasperated. 'But you won't accept it, will you? What more can I say?' she added with a touch of desperation in her voice.

'I won't accept it because you haven't given me the right one,' he replied gently yet firmly. 'Look, give it six months, and if you're still determined to sell out then I'll accept your decision. Is that too much to ask? It will also give you time to work out what you want to do if you do decide to leave. Well, what about it?' he urged persistently.

Tanya swallowed; on the face of things it sounded a very reasonable offer. She did need time to acclimatise herself to her new position, not to mention the traumatic events of the last few hours. At least he was offering her a breathing space, but she wouldn't need as long as six months. It was plain, however, that he would not hear of a shorter time limit. 'Very well,' she said stiffly, and turned towards the office door with a feeling of thankfulness that it was all over.

'Thank you,' replied Kade gravely, as he walked to the door and unlocked it for her. 'I know I can rely on you to keep your word,' he added meaningly, as she began to move out of the office.

The significance of his last words was not lost on her as she passed the now apprehensive Melanie who sat at her desk giving a good imitation of a frantically busy secretary, but Tanya was not fooled. She had a shrewd guess that Melanie had been hovering outside the office door in an attempt to listen in to the conversation. The bare fact that Kade had locked the door after Tanya's entrance ensured this.

Kade's words lingered in her mind as she went back to the invoicing department, smothering a longing to walk right out of the works, and indulge in a haze of misery. Under the circumstances, Kade wouldn't expect her to carry on as if nothing had happened, but Tanya badly needed an occupation to take her mind off her troubles. The busy hub of the invoicing section would provide just such a sanctuary. There were no personal issues there, just work and more work.

Her assumption that Kade would not expect her to keep on working was shortly proved wrong by a telephone message passed on to her by Mrs Rodgers, who came to find her as she was filling in an export form under the guidance of the cheerful girl Tanya had been assigned to work with in that section. 'Mr Player has just told me you'll be working in the main office block tomorrow,' she told Tanya, adding kindly, 'We shall be sorry to lose you.'

Tanya acknowledged the sincere compliment with a small smile, but her mind was very busy. She had a feeling that Kade was checking up on her, and wondered what he would have done if Mrs Rodgers had told him that she had not gone back to the section. He would have gone to find her, she thought with a flash of unwelcome insight. She had given her word and he intended that she should keep it.

She wondered what would happen if she packed her bags that night and walked out early the following morning. She could do; there was nothing to stop her, she had enough money to get her to Hobart. At this thought her fingers clenched round the pen she was holding, but as Kade had so baldly put it, 'What then?' She had no experience of work to fall back on. Her

mother had seen to her education, she had been sent to a prohibitively expensive school in Switzerland, where she had received a good education but precious little else, since the young ladies who attended such an establishment were not expected to seek their own living afterwards.

Even if she found some kind of employment such as waiting at tables in a cafe, or serving in a shop, it would only be a matter of time before Kade tracked her down. He had accused her of having too much pride, but what about him? Wasn't it pride that had made him force her to stay when she wanted to leave? She recalled his voice when he had said that he had failed. It hadn't sounded like him, and it wasn't him! He had only said that to try and get Tanya's co-operation. He had no intention of failing. It would have hurt his pride if he had been unable to keep his promise to her father, and that was really all that it amounted to, and had nothing to do with his wanting to watch out for her future.

Tanya's expression was grim as she handed the form she had just completed back to the girl for checking. The girl, who had been somewhat startled by Tanya's expression, said hastily, 'It's fine, Miss Hume, don't worry about it. They're quite easy once you get the hang of them.'