Read Online Tasmanian Tangle by Jane Corrie - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Jane Corrie
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this. 'It does sound odd, Tanya, when you call Kade Mr Player. I mean, no one else does, do they?' she queried curiously.
Tanya's lips set on this innocent-sounding query. She didn't want to snub Linda as she could understand her curiosity—nevertheless, she had no intention of discussing the matter. She shrugged casually. 'It's just that I always think of him as Mr Player,' she lied, and hoped that Linda would leave it at that, but she was doomed to disappointment.
'You don't like him, do you?' replied Linda musingly. 'And that's odd, too. Everyone likes Kade.' She flung Tanya an assessing look. 'I wouldn't say you were the sort of person who took instant likes or dislikes to anyone—unless you had cause to. You sort of freeze up whenever he's in the room, I've noticed that much,' she continued in a wondering way.
Tanya sent her a warning look from her grey-green eyes. 'Don't make a mystery out of it, Linda, there's a dear,' she said quietly. That was all she said, but it had the desired effect, and Linda gave her an apologetic smile and started talking about the house she and her Bill had their eyes on, and Tanya was able to draw a tiny sigh of relief for safely scrambling over that particular hurdle.
After a fortnight in the office, Tanya found her happy sojourn in Linda's company was to come to an end. Kade altered her schedule for the next stage of her indoctrination into the firm's affairs, and she found that
she would be accompanying him on his daily rounds of inspection of the orchards. The thought of being constantly in his company made Tanya wish that she had had the courage to walk out of Orchard Farm as she had planned to do after that traumatic interview with Kade, but she had given her word—or to be more precise, she corrected herself bitterly, a promise had been forced out of her.
Far from sympathising with Tanya, Linda had given her a mischievous grin and commented teasingly, 'You might just end up calling him Kade!'
Although many things were likely, Tanya told herself the following morning, as she saddled the horse Kade had lent her for the round of the orchards, Linda's bright forecast on the future relationship between her and Kade blossoming into friendship was definitely not one of them. Linda didn't know the whole truth, and Tanya had been devoutly grateful for this. Kade had said that he had clamped down on the gossip concerning the past, and it said a lot for his authority and integrity that he had succeeded in confining it to within the boundaries of the home farm. Tanya might not like him, but she did concede this.
At the sound of hoofbeats in the near distance, Tanya mounted the bay gelding and rode out to meet Kade who would be impatient to be off.
As she followed Kade's big black stallion past the office section and out to the orchards, Tanya's thoughts went back to the past, and she recalled Kade's words that at heart she was still the child that used to follow him round the orchards all those years ago. But it wasn't years, it was aeons, she thought sadly, things were so different, not at all the way she had imagined
them in her memory when she had been away. The few weeks that she had spent in the past with her father during her allotted period of stay each year had been spent as a holiday vacation. He had taken her out on sightseeing trips to Sydney, and they had visited the home beauty spots. Tanya's plea of 'Couldn't we stay at home this time?' had been of no avail, for he would always smile and say that he had saved up this period of time exclusively for her, and that he enjoyed taking her places, and that it was his holiday too.
She gulped as the memories washed over her. How plain everything was when you were given the answers! Now she could understand her father's anxiety to keep her away from the farm, never letting her stay around there long enough to strike up a friendship with anyone who might unwittingly make some reference to the past. She could also
Tanya's lips set on this innocent-sounding query. She didn't want to snub Linda as she could understand her curiosity—nevertheless, she had no intention of discussing the matter. She shrugged casually. 'It's just that I always think of him as Mr Player,' she lied, and hoped that Linda would leave it at that, but she was doomed to disappointment.
'You don't like him, do you?' replied Linda musingly. 'And that's odd, too. Everyone likes Kade.' She flung Tanya an assessing look. 'I wouldn't say you were the sort of person who took instant likes or dislikes to anyone—unless you had cause to. You sort of freeze up whenever he's in the room, I've noticed that much,' she continued in a wondering way.
Tanya sent her a warning look from her grey-green eyes. 'Don't make a mystery out of it, Linda, there's a dear,' she said quietly. That was all she said, but it had the desired effect, and Linda gave her an apologetic smile and started talking about the house she and her Bill had their eyes on, and Tanya was able to draw a tiny sigh of relief for safely scrambling over that particular hurdle.
After a fortnight in the office, Tanya found her happy sojourn in Linda's company was to come to an end. Kade altered her schedule for the next stage of her indoctrination into the firm's affairs, and she found that
she would be accompanying him on his daily rounds of inspection of the orchards. The thought of being constantly in his company made Tanya wish that she had had the courage to walk out of Orchard Farm as she had planned to do after that traumatic interview with Kade, but she had given her word—or to be more precise, she corrected herself bitterly, a promise had been forced out of her.
Far from sympathising with Tanya, Linda had given her a mischievous grin and commented teasingly, 'You might just end up calling him Kade!'
Although many things were likely, Tanya told herself the following morning, as she saddled the horse Kade had lent her for the round of the orchards, Linda's bright forecast on the future relationship between her and Kade blossoming into friendship was definitely not one of them. Linda didn't know the whole truth, and Tanya had been devoutly grateful for this. Kade had said that he had clamped down on the gossip concerning the past, and it said a lot for his authority and integrity that he had succeeded in confining it to within the boundaries of the home farm. Tanya might not like him, but she did concede this.
At the sound of hoofbeats in the near distance, Tanya mounted the bay gelding and rode out to meet Kade who would be impatient to be off.
As she followed Kade's big black stallion past the office section and out to the orchards, Tanya's thoughts went back to the past, and she recalled Kade's words that at heart she was still the child that used to follow him round the orchards all those years ago. But it wasn't years, it was aeons, she thought sadly, things were so different, not at all the way she had imagined
them in her memory when she had been away. The few weeks that she had spent in the past with her father during her allotted period of stay each year had been spent as a holiday vacation. He had taken her out on sightseeing trips to Sydney, and they had visited the home beauty spots. Tanya's plea of 'Couldn't we stay at home this time?' had been of no avail, for he would always smile and say that he had saved up this period of time exclusively for her, and that he enjoyed taking her places, and that it was his holiday too.
She gulped as the memories washed over her. How plain everything was when you were given the answers! Now she could understand her father's anxiety to keep her away from the farm, never letting her stay around there long enough to strike up a friendship with anyone who might unwittingly make some reference to the past. She could also
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