Anne Mather - The Smouldering Flame

‘I—I understood Shannon broke with his family some years ago,’ she ventured unexpectedly, and Joanna felt the hot colour fill her cheeks.

‘Did you?’ she managed, turning away towards the windows which overlooked the bungalow adjacent to this, noticing how the shadows were lengthening as the afternoon drew to its close. It would be dark soon. ‘I—I’m very hungry,’ she said quietly. ‘Do you think Jacob would make me a sandwich? I haven’t eaten since this morning.’

She was conscious of Camilla getting to her feet, and glanced round half apprehensively to find the other woman surveying her contemptuously. Without her controlled mask of composure she looked older than Joanna had first thought her, but no less intimidating.

‘Shannon will not want you here,’ she stated with cold conviction. ‘I know how he feels about his— family !’

Joanna squared her shoulders. ‘Do you? Well, I intend to stay and find that out for myself.’

‘Then you’re a fool!’ Camilla controlled her sudden outburst, and with calmer emphasis, asked: ‘Where do you intend to stay? There are no hotels here.’

Joanna gasped. ‘I—shall stay here, naturally.’

‘Where? There is only one bedroom. These bungalows are built for individuals, not for entertaining.’

Joanna looked about her. ‘I can use two of these chairs, pushed together. You don’t have to bother about me, Miss—Miss——?’

‘Langley. Nurse Langley,’ retorted Camilla abruptly. ‘And you can’t sleep here. There’s no mosquito netting, and these chairs are probably infested with bugs. Or don’t you care?’

Joanna hid her instinctive shiver of fear. Insects of any kind terrified her, but she refused to let Camilla see that. ‘I’ll manage somehow,’ she insisted, clinging to the knowledge that this woman could not force her to leave.

‘Why have you come here?’

Clearly her presence at Kwyana represented a problem to Camilla, but Joanna had no intention of satisfying her curiosity.

‘I want to speak to Shannon,’ she said steadily. ‘Now, will you call Jacob, or shall I?’

That small piece of defiance brought an angry darkening of colour to Camilla’s cheeks, but before either of them could speak again, someone knocked at the outer door and a man’s voice, with a definite American accent, called: ‘Is anybody home?’

Camilla’s face cleared, and ignoring Joanna, she walked to the hall door, her smile warm and welcoming. ‘I’m here, Brad,’ she answered. ‘Come on in.’

Footsteps sounded in the hall, and then a man appeared in the doorway, casually dressed in a bush shirt and shorts. He was a huge man, with broad shoulders and rusty hair that extended from his head, over his chest and down his arms and legs. Joanna guessed he wasn’t much more than Shannon’s age, and his bushy eyebrows ascended rapidly at sight of her.

‘Hell’s teeth, who’s this?’ he exclaimed, grinning. ‘A white female, no less. Shannon has all the luck!’

Camilla cast a denigrating glance in Joanna’s direction. ‘That is Shannon’s sister,’ she remarked briefly. ‘Or so she says. I must say, she doesn’t look much like him!’

‘I am Shannon’s sister!’ declared Joanna hotly, and then coloured herself at the look in the American’s eyes.

‘I believe you,’ he said, coming towards her holding out his hand. ‘I’m Brad Steiner, ventilation superintendent at the mine. And you’re …?’

‘Joanna. Joanna Carne. How do you do?’ Joanna allowed him to envelop her small hand in his much larger one, and then withdrew her fingers quickly. ‘Are you a friend of my brother’s, Mr Steiner?’

‘The name’s Brad, and yes, I guess you could call me that. We’re old buddies. Used to work together in the Transvaal. Came up to Lushasa at the same time.’

‘I see.’

As Joanna absorbed this, Brad turned back to Camilla. ‘Anyway, how is he?’ he asked, with evident concern. ‘That’s why I came. Meeting Joanna …’ he used her name quite unselfconsciously, ‘was just a bonus.’

‘He’s a little better,’ replied Camilla shortly. She had not liked Brad’s response to Joanna’s fair attraction, and her smile was no longer in evidence. ‘I’ve just been explaining to Miss Carne that she can’t possibly stay here.’

Brad frowned. ‘Stay here? Oh, you mean actually here, in Shannon’s house?’ He looked Joanna’s way again. ‘Shannon didn’t mention you were coming, or we’d have fixed something up, wouldn’t we, Camilla? As it is——’

‘Shannon didn’t know I was coming, Mr Steiner,’ said Joanna reluctantly, aware of the other woman’s contempt. ‘It’s a—surprise visit. And you really don’t have to worry about me. I’ll manage.’

‘I think Miss Carne should be accommodated at the hospital,’ put in Camilla, as Brad Steiner stood considering the situation, his brows drawn together. ‘There are plenty of spare beds there, and it would avoid the inevitable speculation her arrival is bound to cause among the men.’

‘You could be right——’ Brad was beginning, when Joanna broke in angrily.

‘I have no intention of sleeping at the hospital,’ she exclaimed. ‘I’ve already told Miss— Nurse Langley. I’m staying here.’

‘Sleeping on two chairs!’ Camilla was scornful.

‘Have you a better suggestion?’ countered Joanna, but Brad raised his hand in protest.

‘I have,’ he said with finality. ‘I have that folding camper my nephew Rod used when he visited last year. Providing the bugs haven’t eaten it away, you could use that, Joanna.’

Joanna wasn’t quite sure what a camper was, but she guessed it was some sort of folding bed. ‘That would be marvellous!’ she thanked him, but Camilla still had an objection.

‘What about the mosquitoes?’ she demanded.

‘I guess I have some netting somewhere,’ Brad assured her, his eyes twinkling at Joanna. ‘Like the lady says, we’ll manage.’

‘I shall have to report this to Doctor Reisbaum,’ stated Camilla shortly, and marched out of the room.

After she had gone there was an uneasy silence, and then Brad grinned at Joanna, and some of the tension left her. ‘Don’t mind Camilla,’ he said. ‘Like all medical people, she thinks we ordinary mortals don’t know how to look after ourselves. But she’s a damn good nurse, and she’d do anything for Shannon, you know.’

‘I know.’ Joanna had gathered that, but she had her own interpretation of Camilla’s motives. Camilla didn’t want her here, but it was a much more personal thing than caring for Shannon’s health. She had made that very plain.

‘I live next door,’ Brad was saying now, and Joanna dragged her thoughts back to the present. ‘What say I go round, get my houseboy to fetch you the camper and set it up in here while you wash up, then maybe later you’d come round and have supper with me?’

Joanna plucked the damp denim away from her midriff, looking doubtful. She longed to submerge her sticky limbs in cool water, but the idea of taking supper with this friendly American did not appeal. What she really had in mind was to wash and change her clothes, cajole Jacob into making her something to eat, and then sit with Shannon for a while. Even if he wasn’t aware of her presence, it would give her time to collect her thoughts.

‘I really think I’d rather stay here this evening,’ she refused him politely. ‘I’m grateful for your offer of the bed, but I am rather—tired.’

Brad nodded understandingly. ‘Okay. Point taken. I’ll have Andy fetch the camper round in a few minutes.’ He walked towards the door and then paused. ‘If you have any trouble with Jacob, just let me know.’

Which wasn’t very reassuring, Joanna thought, but she saw Brad to the door, and then walked down the hall looking for the kitchen. It wasn’t difficult to find. Someone had switched on the strip lighting, and when she paused in the doorway she saw that Jacob was sitting on a tall stool beside a steel-covered working surface, studying the newspaper which was spread out in front of him. There was no sign of Camilla, and Joanna looked round the small, functional room with interest. Because of the incidence of electricity, everything was extremely modern and up to date, even to the presence of a deep freeze in one corner.