Tasmanian Tangle Page 5

  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.'

  Tanya blinked at the girl for a moment or so before she realised that she was referring to the work, and then gave her an apologetic smile. 'As you say, it's just a question of getting used to it,' she said quietly.

  The same, she thought later that day as she left the offices, could be said for her new situation. She had to get used to it, for the next six months at least, and she fervently wished she knew what she could do when the

  six months were up. One thing was certain, she would not be staying on at Orchard Farm. Her eyes lingered on the familiar structure of her home as she arrived within the home boundary. The greyish stone walls of the house with its slightly pointed roof of red slates seemed to welcome her back, and she bleakly recalled the sheer happiness she had felt on her return home after the constant travelling. She had had no idea then that her stay was once again to be a brief one, but this time she would go for good. She wondered if Kade would move into Orchard House when he had bought her out. She gave a weary shrug. He would have to, there was Connie to consider. There was no point in keeping two establishments going, but that was no worry of hers, she thought, as she made her way down the paved drive bordered with flower beds and followed the path round the front of the house to the back quarters and the large kitchen where Connie would be preparing the evening meal.

  On her entry into the kitchen Connie, in the middle of putting a finishing touch to the pastry she had just placed over a pie dish, gave her a quick anxious look. 'How did it go?' she asked quietly.

  Tanya tried to give her a reassuring smile, but it appeared as more of a grimace. 'Oh, fine,' she said lightly, but on seeing Connie's frown deepen she exclaimed, 'Terrible, if you want the truth. And the truth,' she went on grimly, 'seems to be something everyone wants to keep from me.' She looked at Connie, now wiping her floured hands on a dishcloth. 'Did you know that Kade practically owns the place?' she demanded.

  Connie looked away
from her accusing eyes and

  studied the pie she had just finished, and it seemed to remind her that it had to be put into the oven, and she did this before replying to Tanya. 'I'm not surprised,' she said in a fiat unemotional voice as she straightened up from the oven, then turned to look at Tanya. 'It's a pity you were away at that time,' she remarked slowly. 'You might have understood how things were. I told you that Kade had a bad time of it, so did your dad. He left the running of the business to Kade.' She pursed her lips. 'I know one thing though, that if it hadn't been for Kade you wouldn't have had a home to come back to. Why don't you try being grateful instead of condemning? If you think Kade took advantage of the fact that your father had lost interest in the business then you'd better think again.'

  Her eyes left Tanya's, and she looked out of the kitchen window towards the high shrubbery that protected the kitchen garden. 'No, I'm not surprised at all,' she went on. 'Your father started playing the stock markets. There's a rich killing if you know what you're doing, but if you don't,' she shrugged, 'then you go broke overnight.' She looked back at the despondent Tanya who was studying her small sandalled feet as if she had a feeling that she knew what was coming next. 'I loved your mother, but there was no denying that she hadn't the slightest idea of how to handle money. She'd never had to, you see, everything was settled for her, all she had to do was forward the bills, and I have a feeling that those bills got larger as time went on.'

  She had no need to spell it out, Tanya could guess the rest. Kade had said as much, hadn't he? she thought bitterly. She had been just as much to blame as her mother. It had never occurred to her to question that

  side of things, but if she had, she thought wretchedly, it wouldn't have got her anywhere. Her mother would have shrugged the query off as if it had been bad taste for Tanya to even think about such things.

  'It's not your fault, pet,' said Connie, shrewdly guessing the thoughts going through Tanya's mind. 'Remember, I knew your mother.' Her eyes misted over in memory. 'She was adorable, and lived in a world of her own. If she had known—well, she would have done something about it. I know she would, but she just didn't think,' she ended lamely.

  Tanya nodded dumbly. 'Well, that's that,' she said after a pregnant silence. 'I've promised to stay on for six months until I make up my mind what to do.'

  'Make up your mind what you want to do?' repeated Connie in astonishment. 'You mean you're seriously considering leaving?' she demanded incredulously.

  Tanya looked back at her with raised brows. 'See it from my point of view, Connie,' she said quietly. 'It's about time I stood on my own two feet. Oh, Kade wants me to stay, to work my way up the ladder of success, he gave his word to Father, you see,' she added bitterly. 'He doesn't particularly like me, Connie, and I'm not too keen on him. It doesn't look much like a recipe for success, does it?' she queried ironically. 'And besides that,' she ended furiously, 'I'm sick and tired of being "watched over" or "coddled". Whichever way you put it, it's a miserable situation to be in, and the sooner I do something about it the better. I want to be able to make my own decisions, and not have them made for me as they have been for as long as I can remember.'

  Connie started to say something, but Tanya forestalled her with a quick, 'I know what you're going to say, and although I have good reason to be grateful to Kade, I'm not feeling particularly grateful at the moment. As for the next six months—' She rushed from the kitchen, leaving a very worried Connie staring at the slammed kitchen door.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  AFTER listening to another stern lecture from Connie the following morning about not rushing her fences, and giving herself time to work out her problems, Tanya left for the offices in a despondent mood. A night's worrying over what she was going to do when the six months were up had brought her no nearer to a solution, apart from the obvious one that she should do exactly what Kade had suggested she should do, and work her way up to a working partnership with him.

  As things were at that moment in time it appeared that she had no other choice but to do just that and no amount of wishful thinking would alter the situation. It was of small consolation to remember that she was doing what her father had wanted her to do either. Since her return, Tanya had undergone such a battering of emotions that she only wanted to be free of the past and not to be forced to honour any obligations placed upon her.

  If her father had known the true state of affairs, she very much doubted if he would have expected her to carry on under those conditions, but as the thought was there she had a sneaking feeling that she was wrong on that point. He would expect her to do what Kade wanted her to do. He had trusted him to carry out his wishes.

  The white walls of the office buildings loomed up in front of her as she passed Kade's chalet, and as if it was

  he and not the innocuous-looking low building of the chalet, Tanya glared at it. He was an early starter, she knew, and would be on the rounds of the orchard inspecting his crops. She no longer thought of the farm in possessive terms, particularly when recalling Kade's blunt observance on her income hardly matching her past life style.

  Melanie, too, was said to be a keen starter, and had secured lodgings for herself in the home of one of the senior members of staff who lived a mile or so away from the works, in order to make an early start.

  At the thought of the lovely brunette, Tanya almost stopped in her tracks. She had been detailed to work with her and the prospect was hardly a pleasant one. If Kade had guessed that it had been Melanie who had, as Kade had put it, flung her into the mire of the past—Tanya took a deep breath, the polar regions would hold more welcome for her!

  When she recalled Melanie's spiteful outburst that day, and her assumption that Kade was raring to be off, she felt a little better about things. Melanie, it seemed, was not quite as au fait with Kade's personal life as she had thought she was. She had not known that he owned the farm for one thing, and if she had known him as well as Tanya had once thought she did, then she would have known of his admitted attachment to the farm and his reluctance to go back to city life.

  Perhaps it was wishful thinking on Melanie's part, for Tanya knew that she came from Hobart and probably missed the hubbub of city life. It couldn't have been much fun for her stuck out in the country as she was now, not if she preferred the bright lights of the city, where she would no doubt have plenty of willing

  escorts for parties. Tanya gave a short sigh on this thought. Plenty of escorts, but not Kade, and it was Kade that she was after, Tanya had learned that much within a few weeks of her return. Working as she had been with the lower grades of office staff it had been impossible for her not to hear the snippets of news passed down the grapevine, particularly since Melanie was not popular with the staff.

  When Tanya walked into the secretary's office prepared to face a seething Melanie, she was surprised to find a pretty redhead seated at Melanie's desk and

  affording her a welcoming smile. 'Hi ! ' she said cheer-

  fully, 'I'm Linda Martin, and you must be Miss Hume.

  Kade told me to expect you. I understand you're learning the ropes,' she indicated a desk placed against the wall near the large filing cabinet. 'I haven't had much time to get acclimatised myself as yet,' she confided to the astonished Tanya, 'but I think you'll find most of the files that Kade said you'd want to study in there.'

  Tanya followed Linda's gaze to the filing cabinet and then looked back at Linda again, the surprise clearly visible in her wide eyes. She didn't have to ask the question so plainly mirrored in them.

  'Er—Melanie's been relieved of her post,' Linda said, with a slight twinkle in her eye.

  'But I don't understand,' said Tanya in a puzzled way. 'I don't remember meeting you before, and I thought I'd met all the staff.'

  'Well, I expect you did,' replied Linda with an amused inflection in her voice. 'I'm from Kellings, the other side of the valley,' she added. 'You wouldn't remember me, but I used to see you at some of the parties we used to go to when we wer
e children. My father worked for Mr Kelling in those days, he works for Kade

  now that he's bought the farm, sort of manager,' she

  volunteered cheerfully, 'and I'm the office help. I'm

  filling in until Kade can get a replacement for Melanie.'

  Tanya frowned. Her childhood seemed a long way away, and she couldn't ever remember seeing Linda before, but judged that she would be several years older than her.

  Seeing the frown, Linda confirmed this with an infectious smile. 'You wouldn't remember, you were always too busy dodging out of Connie Dean's watchful eye. I can remember thinking how I'd hate to have someone keep an eye on me like that when I went to parties.' She gave another smile. 'But then I wasn't a land-owner's daughter, and I was mighty thankful, I can tell you.'

  Tanya smiled back at her. 'I hope the replacement takes her time,' she said quietly. 'I think we're going to to get on.'

  In the days that followed, Tanya's assumption that she and Linda would become firm friends proved correct, and Tanya found herself hoping that no replacement would be found for the secretary's job. From several things that she had heard from Linda about Melanie, Tanya realised that the farms had been in constant touch. Kade would ring up each day from Orchard Farm and issue instructions for consignments or want reports on the inspection of the fruit trees. If he could afford the time, then he would make a visit, but otherwise he would leave matters in the capable hands of his staff. Any new developments were reported immediately to Orchard Farm for Kade's attention, and Melanie would take the original message if he were not available at the time.