Tamara had walked with Grant all over his land.
‘It’s like a pocket handkerchief compared with Derwent,’ Grant said.
He was right but it still covered a good area and his crossbred merinos looked in fine shape.
‘She’ll be right as long as the wool price holds up,’ Grant said.
His feet seemed well anchored in this land. He had told her he had only leasehold title but since it was for twenty-five years Ringarooma was for practical purposes his own. Tamara told herself she was pleased for him, but the truth was she wanted him with her at
Derwent, not here, and would prise him away from this place if she could. Always assuming he wanted her for the long term. But did he? How could she be sure?
Confusion everywhere she looked.
They parked at a high point and drank coffee from a flask Grant had brought with him. They looked out over the ridges, peaks and forests of the high country spread below them and she asked herself why anyone should think of leaving this place.
‘I hear you’ve been making some changes at Derwent,’ Grant said.
‘The computers help paddock management.’
‘Place as big as yours, you need something like that.’
‘Not everyone would agree with you,’ she said, thinking of Bec.
‘None so conservative as a high-country grazier,’ Grant said.
‘You got that right.’
She shifted in her seat, feeling a residual tingle from the renewed lovemaking with which they had started the day. She knew she had to tell him about Dad and Raine and Jaeger yet was dreading it.
He was watching her and she knew he was sensing the conflict in her mind.
‘Problems?’
‘You could say so. Dad’s back.’
‘What about it?’
‘You know what he’s like.’
This time he did not help but watched her, saying nothing.
‘He’s always believed a woman shouldn’t run Derwent. I guess he doesn’t think I’m up to it.’
It was like stripping away the skin and the flesh beneath.
‘You run it now.’
She shook her head, staring out of the ute’s windscreen, tears not far away: tears she was scared Grant might think proved her father right. The tension was unbearable, her universe poised uneasily between triumph and catastrophe.
‘I do. But I’m afraid he has someone else in mind.’ She turned to him and clutched his fingers tightly in her own. ‘He’s brought a woman with him. She has a son by a former marriage and Jaeger’s told me he expects to be a beneficiary of the trust with his mother a trustee. They’re planning a takeover – I can feel it.’
‘How can that be? They’re not family.’
‘I think Jaeger’s mother may have ideas about that.’
‘You mean, if your dad wants the mother that’s her price? He has to make room for her son?’
‘Something like that.’
‘And if you were married?’
‘I’m not sure it would make any difference. I suppose it might, depending how much of a hold she has on him.’
‘But you’re willing to give it a try, aren’t you?’ He released his hands from hers. ‘Is that why you’re here?’ he said. ‘To stop this woman and her son from cutting you out?’