was said to have been on a bullock
cart making its way down to the big smoke of Brisbane. It never got there. Jack was
droving around that time and mysteriously wandered off only to return months and
months later a rich man with money in his pocket and a new bride on his arm. The
only problem was the old bride was still living. Word is the first Mrs. Throcker, Jane,
took it badly until Jack explained to her that the new bride, Maisie, was married under
one of his other names and technically she was the only real Throcker wife.”
“Other names?” Did Jane stick around, Cass wondered. Would any woman do
that having a new wife appear, different surname or not? But then how did women
survive back then without the aid of a man?
“Jack was quite a jack the lad. Women loved him. Men either feared him or
wanted to kill him. By all accounts, Jane Throcker just went along with the other
woman, each bearing children to Jack. And, I suppose, in those times, there wasn’t a
lot she could do about it. Stay married or be a fallen woman.”
“And the gold?”
“No one ever really knew what happened to it. After Jack died, because no one
was game to do it beforehand, people searched his land but nothing was ever found.
Jack was too cunning for most and sometimes for his own good. If there is gold still
buried out there, then he never got to use it or he blew the lot and is having a good
laugh now in the afterlife.”
“Hence the annual Throcker Thrash.” Cass understood now. Legend and greed
were powerful motivates. History was on one side and great wealth on the other.
“Yes, once a year, everyone in the district comes together to search for Jack’s
treasure on his property. The old homestead still exists.”
“If Adele’s family is so wealthy, then why does she go looking for the Throcker
treasure?” Added to that, from the little she had seen of the other woman, Cass
doubted she was the type that ever got her hands dirty.
“She’s greedy. Pure and simple,” Flo explained to Cass. “The Throcker Thrash is
in a couple of days. You’ve picked a good week to come to Mundabucka.” She
looked Cass up and down and smiled. “Now, can we trust you to help us make some
beds or will you feel the need to rumple them with the lovely Evan?”
Cass blushed. “My libido is in check.” My heart? That’s a different matter.
Chapter Six
It was midday. The sun was high and bright as Evan stood and watched Cass
talking to her chooks as if they were short, feathered people. He wondered who Cass
had back home. On one hand, he felt like he was bursting with knowledge about her
and on the other, she was a sexy, mysterious stranger who had shaken up his life
faster than he thought imaginable. He loved women. They came and went in his life.
This one? Evan didn’t want her leaving any time soon. She had captured his imagination like no other.
“I have no idea what I’m doing,” Cass told the chooks as she broke up pieces of
bread for them to eat.” This was met by much clucking. “Oh sure, easy for you to
say.” The chooks gobbled down the bread she fed them. “How did I get mixed up
with two crazy lesbians, a cut throat Sicilian and a hot jack of all trades who makes
my knees wobble when he smiles at me. I’d probably faint if he kisses me again and
that’s so embarrassing because I’m a grown up woman and not some silly girl with a
crush.”
Evan smiled at her words. Oh, there will be more kissing but no fainting . Cass
was built to last and to be loved hard and sweetly. He had never before come inside a
woman’s body unprotected. That was a rush that Evan had never expected. It was raw
and primal and he wanted to be all caveman-like and carry Cass off over his shoulder
and make love to her again and again.
“And all this in the midst of an annual event where they trash someone’s property,” Cass murmured to Bert and Mitzi.
“Actually, we thrash it. We don’t trash it.”