Australian Outback Kings / The Cattle King's Mistress / The Playboy King's Wife / The Pleasure King's Bride (46 page)

“I can pay for it. One thing I'm not short of is money,” she said with savage irony.

“Fine! Get Alicia and we'll leave now.”

She left him talking to someone in the KingAir office on his mobile, confident he could charter a plane for them at a moment's notice. Christabel didn't doubt he would manage it, one way or another. He was so positive about getting her and Alicia to a safe place, she let herself hope it could really happen.

As she approached the class teacher, her mind was already racing over a course of action. The emergency funds hidden behind the lining of her handbag would take her anywhere she decided to go, buy anything she and Alicia required until such time as she could get back to the safety deposit box in Sydney. The caravan and the Cherokee could be left behind. Best to completely abandon them.

The teacher was sympathetic to her apologies for leaving the group, accepting the explanation that she had to take Alicia to meet some people who'd arrived unexpectedly in Broome. Which neatly covered Jared's coming to collect her.

Alicia, of course, had more awkward questions for her to handle. “Why can't we stay, Mummy?” she half-wailed as Christabel took her hand and drew her away from her friends.

“Because we have to leave.”

“But we were going to have a picnic on the beach.”

“Jared is taking us somewhere better.”

“Where?” she demanded truculently.

“It's a surprise.”

“I don't want a surprise. I like it here.”

“Don't argue with me, Alicia. We're going with Jared and that's that.”

She huffed and sulked.

“Don't shame me with bad behaviour in front of Jared,” Christabel tersely reproved. “He's been very kind to us.”

Another more resigned sigh, then a spark of interest. “Are we going to his house again?”

“We'll have to wait and see.”

Jared was replacing his mobile telephone in his pocket as they joined him. He gave Christabel a nod of confirmation, then smiled at Alicia, projecting his usual charming manner.

“Sorry to take you away from your friends, but I do have a special treat lined up for you.”

She instantly brightened, her little face lighting with eager curiosity. “What is it?”

“Well…” He took her other hand, intent on hurrying the three of them along as they set off together. “…instead of watching birds, I thought you might like to zoom off into the sky like one.”

“You mean in a plane?” she cried excitedly.

“Yes. A small plane. It will give you a bird's view of everything you fly over.”

While Jared chatted on with Alicia, explaining how differently places looked from the sky, Christabel forced her mind off the all too distracting rapport that flowed so easily—so
appealingly
—between Jared and her daughter and concentrated on mulling over possible destinations.

Perth or Darwin were big enough cities to hide them for a while but they'd be the first places Rafael Santiso would target, and since he'd come this far to get them under his thumb again, he'd stop at nothing in searching them out. Alice Springs was a less likely place for him to look, right in the centre of Australia.

She recollected there was a famous train—the Ghan—that ran from there to the city of Adelaide in South Australia. One didn't need identification to buy tickets for a train trip. It might throw off any investigators from picking up her track.

Having made the decision, her thoughts circled around Rafael Santiso, the formidable Argentinian who had once headed the South American branch of the Kruger network. He'd moved very fast to clinch a much higher position after Laurens's death, manoeuvring his way around the other factions to win Bernhard's trust and support, taking the reins of power the moment the old man had passed on. Christabel had never trusted him. He was the one who had benefited most from her husband's fatal
accident
.

Worriedly she glanced at Jared. He didn't realise what he was dealing with. It was a dangerous game, helping her like this, frustrating very powerful interests. Her heart was deeply torn by having to leave him, having to cut him out of her life—this beautiful, wonderful man who'd shown her how it could be when everything felt right and nothing bad intruded—yet it could never be right for them again now.

Any more stolen time with him could put all he held dear in jeopardy. No matter how strong he was, the Kruger juggernaut would run over him, uncaring what was destroyed in serving its best interests. Somehow she had to figure out a way to keep Jared safely removed from her situation.

By the time they reached the car park and were settled in his big Range Rover, Christabel was ready to lay out her plan. With Alicia in the back seat, she had Jared more or less to herself, seated next to him at the front of the vehicle. Once he'd switched on the engine and set off towards Broome, she broached the subject of avoiding any trouble from his connection to her escape.

“The lie you told your mother about our meeting at the pearl farm…how do you intend to explain that away, Jared?”

He slanted her a wryly amused look. “I don't have to explain it, Christabel.”

“You once said to me some things can't be stopped. You can count Santiso as one of those things,” she warned.

His face turned grim. “Tell me why you fear him so much.”

She ignored his demand for information, rushing out a scenario he could use. “You could say I called you after your mother's call and cancelled our meeting at the pearl farm, explaining about the excursion. Say I cut off the connection too quickly for you to tell me about…about the people asking for me, so you came to the bird observatory to let me know and offer us a lift back to town. I think that's a reasonable story.”

“I don't need a story,” he said with a hint of exasperation and a look that derided her attempt to clear his involvement with her. “What I need is the truth about these men and what part they play in your life.”

“That isn't important,” she shot at him anxiously. “What is important is to keep you out of it.”

“Out of what, Christabel?” he persisted.

She shook her head. “Please listen to me, Jared. It's for your own good, believe me. Once we get to Broome, you can drop me and Alicia where I parked the Cherokee, near the school. I'll drive to the airport and fix things up with the KingAir office. That way you won't be personally connected to my…my getaway.”

He frowned at her. “You're frightened for
me
?”

She closed her eyes at his incredulous tone. “Please… Just do as I ask, Jared,” she begged flatly.

He made no reply for an agonising length of time. For Christabel, the tension of waiting was so painful she could barely contain the emotions churning through her. She fiercely willed him to agree, to cut himself free of her and Alicia.

“Give me your car keys,” he brusquely commanded.

Her eyes flew open in disbelief. “What?”

“Your car keys,” he repeated. “I'll see that your Cherokee is parked outside the KingAir office after you're on the plane. That will cover your story, if a story eases your mind.”

“But…”

“It will ease my mind to personally see you and Alicia onto a plane and know you're beyond the grasp of the men you fear.” He sliced her a look of steely determination. “I'm not letting you out of this vehicle until we arrive at the airport, so just do as I say and give me your car keys.”

She had to concede that his plan eliminated any risk of running across the men she wanted to avoid. Relieved that he seemed to be accepting her cover story, she dug into her handbag for her key ring.

“Make sure it's left in the ignition,” she instructed, as she handed over the set of keys she carried.

“I only need the one for the car.”

“I'll never use the others again so they don't matter. I won't be coming back, Jared.”

“You're prepared to leave everything behind?”

“Yes.”

“Including me?”

His eyes seemed to burn into her soul. It hurt so much, more than he'd ever know, to turn her back on what they might have had together. For several moments she couldn't override the yearning that ripped through her. She wanted to reach out and hold onto him, to take whatever he'd offer her, to wallow in his caring, to lean on his strength, to tell him no-one—
no-one
—had given her what he had and she wished they could stay together.

Tears pricked her eyes. She wrenched her gaze away, took a deep breath and forced out the only answer she could give, if she was not to ruin his life in ways he wouldn't comprehend until they hit him. He would end up cursing her for involving him if she didn't finish it now.

“There is no future for us,” she stated categorically. “There never was. You asked for one night. It's gone. But I'll always remember it. And I thank you for the memory.”

That said it all. Pointless to expand on it even if her throat wasn't choked up. Expressing her feelings might only goad him to insist on standing by her side and she couldn't let him. If she sounded cold and heartless, so much the better. Easier for him to let her go, believing she didn't care enough to hold on.

She kept herself rigidly still, staring ahead, closing him out of her personal space, mentally sealing every crack in her composure, determined not to leave him any opening for a different ending to this final encounter. Jared King was a good man. She might not leave him feeling good about the rather curt end to their relationship, but at least she could ensure nothing worse happened to him because of her.

It should have been a relief to reach the outskirts of Broome, knowing their time together was mercifully short now. Perversely, that reality increased the painful anticipation of parting. Forever, Christabel thought, on a wave of intense misery. In a few more minutes, Jared King would only be a memory for her, and she had a terrible urge to feast her eyes on him while she still could, to stamp every detail of him on her brain. She didn't have a photograph of him. All she would have was a memory and it had to last forever.

But if she looked at him he'd see…he'd feel what she was feeling. Jared was so perceptive, so sensitive to mood changes. She couldn't risk looking. Her hands clenched in savage resistance to the urge that would undermine the attitude she had struck. For his sake, she reminded herself. For his sake she had to be content with the memory of their one night together.

The Range Rover turned onto the road to the airport. She shot a quick glance at Alicia in the back seat, realising she'd been completely quiet on the trip. Her head was slumped in sleep. She'd nodded off, tired from the long walk at the bird observatory. A five-year-old child, Christabel thought, worrying over how long she could keep her daughter an innocent little girl, ignorant of the forces that saw only her inheritance.

Jared drove straight to the KingAir office. There was one small plane out front, ready to be taxied onto the runway. Desperate to limit any farewell scene, Christabel anxiously gabbled, “I'll take Alicia out to the plane while you notify the pilot we're here.”

“She's asleep. I'll carry her. See you both strapped into your seats,” he firmly countered.

“Okay,” she agreed, realising his way might be easier, avoiding a spate of questions from a newly wakened Alicia.

The moment he switched off the engine, they were both out of the vehicle, Jared appearing as keen as she was to speed her on her way. There was no more talking between them. Whatever Jared thought of her decision, he was keeping it to himself and she was grateful not to have any argument from him.

They walked out to the plane in a silence that throbbed with all that remained unspoken. Having spotted them from the office window, one of the KingAir employees—the pilot?—raced out to catch up with them and be on hand to open the door and adjust the front passenger seat in the cockpit to allow access to the seats behind it. He helped Christabel into the small plane then stood back for Jared to lift Alicia into the seat beside her.

As he withdrew his arms from around her daughter, Christabel grasped his hand, wanting one last touch of him. “Thank you, she said huskily. “Thank you for everything, Jared.”

His mouth took on a wry twist as he answered, “My pleasure.”

But there was no pleasure in his eyes. They were hard and flat and she had the quivery feeling that they were shielding a relentless drive to accomplish what he wanted accomplished. Which was probably to cut her out of his life as ruthlessly as she was cutting him.

“Fasten your seat belts,” he instructed, moving his hand from hers to lock the front seat back into place. “Take-off will be in five minutes.”

He closed the door and strode back to the office with the KingAir employee. The parting was so abrupt, she'd had no time to remind him about bringing the Cherokee to the airport. He'd remember, she assured herself. Though he might not want to remember anything else.

She sat in a pall of sadness, waiting for the pilot to come. Her chest was so tight, she needed the release of tears, but knowing instructions had to be given about her destination, she held back the flood that threatened. Later, when they were in the sky, she could give way to her grief for a while.

Her heart cramped when she saw Jared walking back to the plane. Alone. Was there trouble? More delay? Wrapped in dread of last-minute complications, she didn't realise his intention, even when he walked around the other side of the plane and hauled himself into the pilot's seat and closed the door behind him.

“Do we have a problem?” she croaked out.

“None that won't get sorted,” he answered, and switched on the ignition.

“Jared?” Bewilderment crashed into horror. “You can't…”

“This is my plane, Christabel, and I'm flying you to a safe place. As I promised.”