Trial By Marriage. Lindsay Armstrong
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rather than blows. Do you—’he looked at her quizzically ‘—make a habit of going around offering to beat people up?’
Sarah drew a deep, shaky breath and sat down rather suddenly, as it occurred to her to wonder whether she’d gone mad. ‘No,’ she said curtly, and breathed deeply again. ‘No,’ she said again, more col- lectedly although she was still angry, ‘but I must confess that I’ve never been insulted quite like this before—do you make a habit of going around of- fering verbal abuse to all and sundry in this manner, Mr Wyatt?’
‘Not usually,’ he replied with a sudden grin and lay back in his chair. ‘I do believe the first shot in this little war was yours, however.’
‘I hesitate to contradict you,’ Sarah retorted, ‘but you immediately put me on the defensive by implying that there might be no good reason to keep the school going and then uttering offensive remarks about school-marms!’
‘That’s all?’ he murmured, but as she opened her mouth and closed it immediately he went on with only a wicked little glint in his eye, ‘As to good reasons or otherwise, may I make a couple of points? There will be no school even to argue about if Edgeleigh goes broke, so I can’t afford too many philanthropic ges- tures and I need to make some rapid decisions as the new owner and employer.’ He smiled faintly. ‘As an employer it’s handy to get to the heart of things as swiftly as possible and that’s often done best in a direct, no-nonsense manner. But now that I’ve met you, Miss Sutherland, and incidentally been told by at least three pairs of parents that you’re an excellent teacher and they don’t know what they’d do without you, as well as having seen your—impassioned stance on the subject, you may stay. For the time being.’
‘Did you… did you,’ Sarah tried again, "try to un- settle, not to mention antagonise, all your other em- ployees in your capacity as a direct, no-nonsense employer this morning, Mr Wyatt? Or was it only me?’
‘Now why should you imagine I would single you out for special treatment, Miss Sutherland?’ he countered.
‘Because of an innate aversion to spinsters such as only aggressively, unpleasantly macho men can have?’ Sarah suggested with withering scorn.
‘Dear me.’ Cliff Wyatt sat up and looked at her with lazy amusement. ‘I perceive some interesting times ahead of us, Miss Sutherland. It would be funny if we discovered we weren’t at cross purposes at all, wouldn’t it?’
‘I have no idea what you mean.’
‘I wonder?’ He shrugged. ‘In the meantime perhaps I should confine myself to running the place and you to your school. That way we might manage to…limit this conflict before it gets out of hand. I take it you are going to stay?’ He looked at her quizzically again.
Sarah bit her lip and tried to stop herself but rarely had her emotions been so turbulent and she heard herself say caustically, ‘I guess so but I shall certainly do all in my power to stay out of your way.’
‘Good.’ He stood up. ‘You’ll have two new pupils, incidentally.’
‘Oh?’
‘My sister’s children. She’ll be living here with me for the time being. She and her husband have split up. They’re six and seven. Would you care to be in- troduced now or would you like time to calm down and wrest your thoughts from the frustrations of ag- gressively, unpleasantly macho men?’
Sarah’s lips parted and her eyes sparked danger- ously behind her glasses but as she opened her mouth to speak the door flew open and four people entered the study.
‘Well, that takes care of that,’ Cliff Wyatt mur- mured. ‘Miss Sutherland, may I introduce you to my sister Amy, my niece and nephew, Sally and Ben, and Wendy Wilson? Amy, this is… Sarah, I believe, Sutherland, the schoolteacher.’
The next few minutes were confused but Sarah was conscious of several overriding impressions—that Amy Weston and Wendy Wilson, who was apparently her best friend, were both glossy, beautifully groomed and clothed girls who couldn’t have looked more out of place on a cattle station if they’d tried in their de- signer gear, with their long, painted nails, flimsy sandals and expertly applied make-up. They were also striking contrasts, with Amy being a delicate honey- blonde, about five feet two, while Wendy was dark, taller with a stunning figure and beautiful yet curi- ously worldly green eyes.
Sally and Ben were both fair and blue-eyed like their mother, but, whereas Sally hung back shyly, Ben caused Sarah to smile inwardly as she recognised all the signs of an energetic, dare-devil, naughty-as-they- come little boy.
And once the rather confused greetings had taken place Amy said, ‘Well, thank heavens there’s a school, but honestly, Cliff, this place is unbelievable! The house is archaic and there are workmen everywhere, and it’s so…’ She gestured helplessly. ‘It’s… We might as well be stuck out beyond the black stump! I didn’t realise it was this far away, and this bush,’ she said intensely.
‘But I warned you, Amy,’ Cliff Wyatt said im- patiently. ‘Although the house will be finished shortly and there are all sorts of mod cons going in. Besides which you have a housekeeper so you won’t really have to lift a finger, little though you’re capable of it,’ he said drily, and added, ‘Tell me this, would you rather have stayed, perhaps languished is a better word, alone in Brisbane since you tell me you have no intention of going back to Coorilla?’
Amy disregarded the insults entirely and looked wistful. ‘At least I could go shopping in Brisbane. And I’ve just met the housekeeper, Cliff,’ she added with more spirit. ‘She… well, I’m lost for words!’
Wendy Wilson stirred. ‘She’s probably got a heart of gold underneath that mountainous frame and peculiar—er—manner,’ she suggested in a husky, oddly sexy voice.
‘She has,’ Sarah said.
All eyes switched to her and it interested Sarah to note that it was Wendy, not Amy, who drawled, ‘You could probably help us out a bit, Miss Sutherland. As you see we rather feel like fish out of water at the moment. Would you mind… helping us to find our feet among the locals a bit?’
‘Not at all,’ Sarah said although she knew that most of the locals would view both girls with the utmost suspicion, possibly for a good long time. She also started to feel annoyed again because the other girl was assessing her quite openly and contriving to make her feel aware that she was neither groomed nor glossy as well as very much an employee.
‘Then that’s settled,’ Cliff Wyatt said firmly. ‘Take ‘em away if you wouldn’t mind, Miss Sutherland; I have enough to do as it is. Oh, I’d like to check the schoolhouse out, though, and all the facilities you’re so proud of… uh, say around four this afternoon? I’ll meet you there.’ And he turned away and picked up the phone.
‘Cliff can be impossible at times,’ Amy said disconsolately.
They were in the huge homestead kitchen where Sarah had led them. Edgeleigh homestead was a rather lovely if dilapidated example of Queensland colonial architecture, with spacious, high-ceilinged rooms, deep verandas running around it and a steep green roof. Because she’d become friends with the previous owners, Sarah knew the house well and she was re- lieved to see that the mod cons Cliff Wyatt had men- tioned applied only to bathrooms and the kitchen and that the rest of the house was being restored to its former glory, with fresh paint and repairs being made in character with the style of the period.
‘Cliff is in the position of being able to do as he likes,’ Wendy Wilson said a shade drily. ‘And you have to admit you’d have been miserable on your own in Brisbane, darling.’
‘I suppose so.’ Tears sparkled momentarily on Amy’s lashes then she sniffed resolutely. ‘Are you sure you can only stay for a week, though, Wendy? This place—’ she looked around ‘—well, I’ve got the feeling it’s going to defeat me.’
‘I like it!’ Ben pronounced.
Wendy