I know. You’re the famous and fabulous School Captain. My little sister idolises you.’
‘Annie’s a bright spark. I’ve been coaching her in debating.’
‘She’s in excellent hands then. I must congratulate you on the speech you gave tonight. It was very, very good.’
‘Thank you.’ She’d been told this many times this evening, but to her annoyance she felt her cheeks heat. No doubt they were bright pink.
‘Such inspiring words of wisdom from one so young.’
She rolled her eyes at him.
He grinned. ‘I mean it, Sarah. You were very impressive.’
When they reached the kitchen, Ellen Sparks, the cook, plonked her hands on her hips and scowled at them. ‘Do they expect me to make more tea?’
Reid beat Sarah to an answer. ‘If you could manage one more pot we’d be extremely grateful.’
He seemed to have the same effect on Ellen that he’d had on Sarah. Instant charm. The cook pouted at him for less than five seconds before her resistance gave way to a cheerful smile. ‘No worries, love,’ she said, taking the pot. ‘It’ll be ready in half a tick.’
The kitchen hands scrubbing pots at the sink smirked and giggled.
Just outside the kitchen there was a small walled garden where the cook grew a few herbs. There were gardenia bushes too and white jasmine climbing a rickety trellis and a slatted timber seat where the kitchen staff liked to rest their weary legs and sneak cigarettes when they thought the teachers weren’t looking.
‘Why don’t we park ourselves out here while we’re waiting?’ Reid suggested.
Sarah could hardly believe that within scant minutes of their meeting she was sitting out here with him—in the romantic dark, beneath a starry sky and surrounded by the heady fragrance of jasmine and gardenias.
In no time at all she was telling him about herself—that she was an only child and came from a cattle property called Wirralong on the banks of the Burdekin River not far out of Charters Towers—that she played guitar, planned to become a primary school teacher and would study at university in Townsville.
And once the tea was ready Reid suggested it made sense to drink it out in the garden rather than lugging the heavy pot all the way back into the hall. Sarah hesitated, momentarily struggling against her usual tendency to worry about what others might expect of her. Were her parents or teachers looking for her?
But another glimpse into Reid’s eyes and she threw caution to the wind. They poured their cups of tea and helped themselves to milk, sugar and biscuits from the big kitchen pantry, and took their feast back outside to sit for a little longer in the starlight.
Reid told her about his own boarding school days and the year he’d spent adventuring overseas in Scotland and Europe. And he told her about his family’s property, Southern Cross, over to the north in the Star Valley.
The conversation was exceedingly proper and safe and polite, but for Sarah it was incredibly thrilling. It was more than a little flattering to receive what appeared to be sincere and rapt attention from an older, super-attractive man.
She feared he might try to crack unfunny jokes that she would have to laugh at, or that he would spoil things by getting sleazy—trying something on—but he didn’t. Not once.
‘Sarah Rossiter, is that you?’
A shrill, all too familiar voice split the night air behind them.
Startled, Sarah spun around to see the bulky shape of the Deputy Headmistress silhouetted in the light of the kitchen doorway.
Oh, crumbs. She sprang guiltily to her feet. ‘Yes, Miss Gresham.’
‘Good heavens, girl. What on earth—?’ The Deputy gasped and huffed and made a fair imitation of frothing at the mouth. ‘What are you doing out here?’
Damn. Sarah knew she was about to blacken her exemplary school record. Now, at the eleventh hour.
But, before she could stammer an inadequate reply, Reid stepped forward.
‘Miss Gresham, this is my fault. I have to confess to luring Miss Rossiter away from the hall for a well-earned cup of tea.’
‘But—but—’ the Deputy spluttered.
‘And please allow me to congratulate you on your splendid Speech Night. I know you were entirely responsible for organising it. It ran without a hitch.’
Talk about smooth. Within moments Reid had enchanted Miss Gresham the way he’d enchanted Ellen, the cook.
And, starry-eyed, Sarah tumbled heart-first in love with him.
She saw him often over the next four years, while she was at university. They wrote to each other and they got together whenever they could—during her holidays, or whenever Reid found an excuse to get away from Southern Cross and to come down to Townsville.
Every time Sarah saw him she fell a little more heavily in love. And she suspected that Reid was in love with her too. There was plenty of evidence of attraction whenever he kissed her. They didn’t make love, but things got pretty steamy at times.
She knew why they hadn’t ‘gone the whole way’. Reid told her more than once that she was talented and had so much to offer the world that he didn’t want to tie her down or hold her back. It was rubbish of course, but it didn’t matter how many times she protested, he insisted that she should be free to fully enjoy university life—which included dating other guys.
Reluctantly she accepted that there was some wisdom in this and she went out with several nice enough fellows. It was all very pleasant, but none of the other men ever measured up to Reid.
Then, in her final year, when she came home for the July break, Reid telephoned to say that he was coming over to Wirralong the next day, to visit her.
In a fever of excitement, she dressed in a new pale blue linen shirt and hipster jeans and she stood waiting on the front steps of the homestead, watching for the first cloud of dust that marked the progress of his vehicle along the bush track.
It was a beautiful day—North Queensland at its winter best—a day of high, wide blue skies and air as clear and sparkling as champagne.
When Reid drew close Sarah tore across the lawn and waited at the front gate, then swung it open for him. Through the dusty windscreen she saw the white flash of his smile. Oh, gosh. She was so smitten her insides somersaulted with excitement.
He parked beneath a tamarind tree and her heart went crazy as he climbed out. They hadn’t seen each other since Easter and now they stood grinning like kids on their first trip to the circus.
Reid seemed taller than she remembered—more gorgeous than ever. He was wearing a dark blue T-shirt and blue jeans. His dark hair probably needed cutting, but she rather liked it curling a little at the ends. He looked so, so handsome. So sexy.
‘Hi,’ he said, and his smile lit up his eyes, his whole face.
‘Hi.’
