“He told you the same thing he told me. Too much stress can kill you.”
The older man’s eyes narrowed. “And a transplant won’t?”
“The success rate—”
“Requires some other poor soul to die to give me a chance at life,” Des interrupted, “so I can hardly feel happy about it. Not that there’s any hurry to decide. The doctor reckons my age puts me well down the priority list.”
Judy, Tom and their foster brothers had all tried to convince Des that if he was given a chance at life, he should grab it with both hands. He was still far from convinced. At the thought of being without him, Tom felt a reaction as if someone had kicked him in the gut.
“You sure Shara wasn’t trying to outrun her intended?” Des persisted.
Another kick, this time a little lower down. “What makes you ask?”
“One of Judy’s colleagues told her he flew Jamal’s retinue and a ton of baggage out to the Horvath place yesterday.”
“Jamal came to Australia by private plane. He can’t have been happy leaving his flash plane at Halls Creek airport because Horvath’s runway can’t handle a decent-size aircraft,” Tom said, betraying how much he already knew of Shara’s situation.
Des’s eyebrow lifted, but he let it go. “I told Clive he should do something about that apology for an airstrip. He never listened. Now it’s too late.”
The sadness in Des’s voice betrayed how much he still missed his friend and neighbor. They’d known each other for most of their lives, until Clive was bucked off a horse and killed five months before.
“I don’t suppose Max Horvath will upgrade the airstrip,” Tom commented.
Des’s face twisted. “Max isn’t half the man Clive was. No wonder his father disowned him.”
“I didn’t know he had.”
“He meant to, but changing his will was another thing he never got around to doing.”
Something in his foster father’s voice alerted Tom. “So?”
Des hesitated then said quietly, “You may as well know. Max now holds a mortgage over Diamond Downs.”
“You never mentioned a mortgage before.”
“It was a private arrangement between Clive and me when the medical bills started piling up and the income fell off, to be forgiven in his will.”
“But if he never changed it…”
“Max isn’t likely to. He reckons I convinced his old man to stay on instead of moving into a retirement home. Can you imagine Clive Horvath in a retirement home?”
Tom’s gesture swept the question aside. “How much are we talking about?”
Des named a sum that pulled an oath out of Tom. It was more than he and his foster brothers could put together in a hurry. “You should have told us things were that bad,” he chided.
“You boys have had enough struggle in your lives. I’m supposed to ease your way not complicate it.”
“You haven’t. If Max starts pressuring you for the money…”
“He’s already started.”
“Refer him to Blake or me. It may take time but we’ll find a way to repay him.”
Des shook his head. “He doesn’t want repayment. He wants this land so he can look for my grandpa’s diamond mine.”
Tom and the others had grown up with the legend of Jack Logan’s rich find. The trouble was, Jack had disappeared before revealing the location to anyone. Andy Wandarra’s people were said to know the secret but believed Jack’s spirit haunted the site and refused to speak of it. “Assuming the mine really exists, how does Max expect to find it?” Tom asked.
Des popped the top on a can of beer, ignoring Tom’s automatic frown of disapproval. “Eddy Gilgai works for him now.”
Eddy was a cousin of Andy Wandarra’s and had been on Diamond Downs’s payroll until he was caught stealing. He’d been cautioned several times, including by Tom. When the thieving didn’t stop, Des had no choice but to terminate his employment. Even then, he could have remained on the land, but the clan elders had banished him. Later Tom learned that Eddy had been seeing girls from his clan who were taboo to him under the complex laws governing relationships. “If anyone knows the location and would violate the site, it would be Eddy,” Tom agreed, mentally adding another worry to his growing list. “One problem at a time. Let’s hope Max and Jamal keep each other occupied until Shara’s leg heals.”
Des took a swallow of his beer. “Clive had a contract to supply cattle to King Awad of Q’aresh. As the new owner, Max won’t have any choice but to deliver on it.”
Tom massaged his chin between thumb and finger. “You have to wonder why the king sent someone his daughter warned him wasn’t trustworthy.”
“Maybe that’s why he did it.”
“To get Jamal out of the way, you mean?”
Des nodded. “He couldn’t have known Jamal would drag Shara along with him.”
Thinking of the tape hidden aboard the plane, Tom said, “We have to keep him from finding out she’s here.”
“It won’t be easy. You know how fast news travels in the outback?”
“Only too well.” As a boy, Tom had been the subject of enough gossip to last him a lifetime. Even today, stares occasionally followed his progress down the main street of Halls Creek and murmured voices told each other, “That’s the man who’s father…” His arctic look silenced them at least until he was out of earshot, when no doubt the rest of the story would be poured into eager ears. Gossiping was human nature, but he thought they should have found something else to talk about by now. Evidently they hadn’t.
Tom was right. On Diamond Downs, Shara stuck out like a sore thumb. An idea began to form in his mind of how he could help her, and make amends for hurting her at the same time. He reached for a can of beer and took a thoughtful drink.
“You’re very kind, but I can’t take your things,” Shara insisted as Judy dragged an assortment of clothes out of her closet and dumped them on the bed.
The other woman planted her hands on her hips. “Your clothes are out of reach aboard the plane. You’re going to need a few things to see you through this.”
Her friend was right, but Shara didn’t like admitting it, even to herself.
Judy frowned. “I understand pride. When Tom first came to us, he was a walking mass of it. So stiff-necked, you couldn’t say a word to him without offending him. If he could learn to bend, surely you can, too?”
“I don’t think he bent very far.”
Judy grimaced. “It didn’t take you long to work that out. What happened between you two in that cave?”
Half in and half out of her jeans, Shara tensed. “He took care of me, nothing more.”
Judy made a face. “He must be losing his touch.”
Shara didn’t ask her to elaborate. If by “his touch” Judy meant he was charming to women, Shara had already worked that out for herself. Their first meeting might have been far from romantic, but she couldn’t deny his power-house effect on her. Her grandmother would say he turned her on.
No amount of telling herself she was adrift and vulnerable made any difference. Whatever his true background, he exuded an air of assurance that marked him as a leader, tripping every female hormone she possessed without even trying. She didn’t intend to do anything about it, but she was woman enough to feel the