People swarmed around her, surrounded her desk, touching and hugging, offering meaningless words of reassurance and comfort. She wanted to push them away, tell them to leave her alone but she couldn’t find her voice. Someone pressed a hankie into her hand. She pushed it away with trembling fingers. Another dabbed at the tears running down her cheeks. “What can we do for you, Billie?”
Paul crouched in front of her chair and pushed a glass of brandy into her hands. The bitter fumes snagged in her throat, brought her back.
She stared at him, confused at the commotion. “I have to get the story out.” She had to keep things normal. I can’t believe this because if I do, I’ll lose my mind. Get lost in some dark bottomless pit of despair.
“Billie. Look at me.”
She glanced at Paul, trying to make sense of his anger. Her office was a mass of bodies, all trying to get to her, touch her. A cold shiver rippled over her skin. “Get out! All of you get out, now!”
Paul reached for her hand. “Billie, stop. Let me help you.”
She batted his hands away as the darkness crept over her chest. “Go away, leave me alone.” A fresh flood of tears trickled down her cheeks and she brushed them off, angry with the milling crowd. Billie didn’t need their sympathy, couldn’t bear the thought of it. James had lied to her, of course he had. Stephen wouldn’t leave without telling her goodbye.
This had to be a horrible mistake, designed to throw her off track and trip her up, slow her down. Her thoughts flew back to the events of this morning. Payback, it had to be. She’d rushed out and left him with school drop-off duty when he probably had something important to do. Hell, she’d hoped he didn’t have a meeting because hers had been gold. It paid to have a good relationship with your snitch even if it interfered with your family life. That damn phone call had come so early this morning, but she couldn’t refuse to answer, not in her job and not with the latest scandal brewing.
“Honey, I’m sorry, but I have to go out, can’t be helped, I’m afraid,” she called out while she shrugged into a jacket and grabbed her messenger bag from the back of the door. “Stephen, I’ll call you when I get into the office,” she ducked into the bathroom into a cloud of citrus-smelling steam. “Make sure Alex has lunch money before you drop him off.” Billie stepped in front of the mirror, wiped her hand over it to clear away the condensation, took a quick look to make sure she was presentable and smoothed down her hair. She really should get it cut, but Stephen loved running his fingers through it, said it reminded him of the setting sun hitting the hills in the desert. He could be so poetic when it suited him. Billie made do with slipping a clip in beside one ear to catch the strands that fell across her face when she worked. “Love you, bye.” They may not have had breakfast together but at least she’d told him she loved him. Had he heard?
Chapter 1
Singleton, Australia 1940
The only noise in the forest cloaking the summer house was the soothing sounds of jazz coming from the small radio on the shelf by the roll top writing desk. Wilhelmina tapped her scarlet nails in time to the music against the smooth skin of her lover as they both lay back on the daybed after a bout of sensual lovemaking. It was ridiculous to hide her affairs, but she had no choice. Call it a product of her upbringing or a sign of the times; still it rankled.
“I want you to marry me, Wilz. We’re good together, you know that.”
She cupped his chin and rubbed her thumb over his lips, the warm skin that only minutes before had skimmed a trail of fire over her body, leaving her gasping beneath him. “We have to be patient.”
He scoffed and the sound cut straight to her heart. “Patient. Is that your way of saying you’re not ready to commit to me alone?” He pushed up on his elbows and glanced down at her, frustration ceasing the corners of his eyes.
She sighed. “Don’t be silly, darling. I have to be careful because of Papa. We all know what he’s like and how hard it’s going to be for me to take over from him. I told you this would take time. I thought you were prepared for that.”
“I thought I was too but I saw you with your ‘other’ friend today.” His jaw tightened. “We can leave here, find our own way in the world. I don’t need your father’s money to be happy.” He dropped his head and the swathe of thick hair covered his forehead and his voice softened. “I can offer you a good life. It might not be the luxury you’re used to, but we won’t want for anything, I promise you that.”
“I understand, still I refuse to leave my home. This is Mama’s legacy and it was meant for us girls. If you think I’m going to walk away from what’s rightfully mine, you don’t know me very well.” She wasn’t about to leave when she was poised ready to take control. She belonged here among the farmers and the small tight-knit community.
Ever since she was a little girl, she’d dogged her father’s footsteps. Dressed up in her overalls and wellington boots, Wilz could be seen tagging along with the master of the estate, doing her best to emulate his movements. She refused to let go of the dream, even for the man she
