Oliver squirmed under Karl’s teasing look. But Carol leaned against him with a smile.
“Of course he got too close to me, Kapa!” she said. “But not too too close. It was just right.”
Oliver could hear the grin in her voice, and Ida and Karl returned it.
“Can we go home already?” The bright soprano voice came from above. A third rider hadn’t gotten off her horse. “I mean, can we ride into the yard, put the horses in the barn, and go in the house? I’m dying of hunger.”
“Mara! My goodness, you’ve grown so much!” Carol greeted the girl just as enthusiastically as she had her parents. “You’ve met my sister before, haven’t you, Oliver?”
Oliver looked up at Margaret Jensch, his breath catching in his throat. Of course he’d met Mara, and she had always been a pretty little child. But now . . . The foyer of the White Hart Hotel also had beautiful goddess statues, but none of them compared to the girl perched on her horse in the moonlight like an apparition. And a white horse, at that. The sight made Oliver think of fairies.
“I—I’m enchanted,” he said, unable to tear his eyes away from Mara’s delicate face with its Madonna-like features, long black hair, and huge eyes with dark, arched brows.
Karl rolled his eyes. He had obviously noticed the effect his daughter had recently begun to have on men.
“Then you can take my horse,” Mara instructed Oliver casually.
She dismounted and handed Oliver her reins as though he were a groom. She wasn’t very tall, but she held herself straight and smiled with self-assurance. The girl also seemed to be aware of her effect on men and obviously knew how to use it.
Chapter 6
The reunion at Rata Station was so cheerful and noisy that Oliver felt uncomfortable. His mother surely would have been appalled at all the hugs and kisses, laughter and teasing. Ladies and gentlemen should act more distinguished. It made Mara’s aloofness seem even more attractive. She didn’t rebuff her family’s embraces, but seemed to be wishing she were somewhere else. Oliver offered to carry her bags into the house, but she declined.
“They can stay outside,” she said. “We’re sleeping in the stone house.”
That was another thing that Oliver found strange about Rata Station. There were two houses on the farm, one of which almost met Deborah Butler’s standards. It was made out of stone, at least, the local gray sandstone. It had two stories, and was built on a low hill that offered a lovely view of the river, meadows, and garden—if one could call it that. At Rata Station, no one bothered with decorative gardening. There were only a few beds of vegetables and medicinal herbs. After Chris Fenroy had started the farm, he’d had the house built to please his wife, Jane. But when Jane had left Chris for the Maori chieftain—an event that had actually caused Deborah Butler to faint in shock—Chris and Cat had moved into a much smaller wooden house on the edge of the river. They’d left the stone manor house to Ida and Karl, and Carol and Linda had their rooms there as well. It would have been easy for Oliver to sneak into his fiancé’s room if she’d wanted him to. The young man felt a quick stab of regret, but then turned to Mara again.
“I’d be glad to carry your things over later,” he said.
For now, everyone had convened in Cat and Chris’s cheerfully lit house. Carol and Linda were helping Cat quickly prepare an improvised meal. As there wasn’t enough seating for all, Mara sat down with natural grace on one of the colorful, handwoven rugs. Oliver took a chair opposite her. Now he could see the girl in good light—which only served to magnify her charm. Mara Jensch looked much more like her mother than Carol did. She had dark hair and a widow’s peak, which made her face look heart-shaped like Ida’s. But Mara’s cheekbones were more defined, like her father’s. Her fine features made the gauntness look exotic and almost ethereal, especially next to her strong, sweeping eyebrows and thick dark eyelashes. Her eyes were a captivating shade of sea green, but not like the sea lit by sun. They were more the color of the shadows that clouds cast on the water. The girl had cherry-red, finely formed lips; while not as sensual as Carol’s or Linda’s, they were just as attractive.
Oliver felt almost irritated when Carol sat down by his feet and carefully leaned her head against his knee. Resigned, he tore his gaze from the beautiful girl who was much too young for him, and played inconspicuously with Carol’s blonde hair. The others seemed not to notice, or at least pretended not to. Linda smiled to herself.
Mara paid just as little attention to Oliver as she did the rest of the family. At the moment, she only had eyes for the plate of sandwiches that Linda had just put on the floor. She’d obviously never heard the rule that a lady should eat like a sparrow in public. Mara ate heartily and drank three glasses of cold tea. Cat had brought out a bottle of wine for the adults. She gave Carol a look.
“We will talk later, young lady!” she whispered, but seemed to forget about the stolen wine when Ida smiled mysteriously and opened her saddlebag.
Ida herself almost never drank. Where she had grown up, alcohol had been frowned upon. But she knew Cat’s weakness for a good drop. She delightedly pulled out two bottles, and even accepted a glass when Karl filled one and handed it to her.
“Let’s drink this one; they recommended it at the White Hart,” he said. “Actually, we wanted to bring a bottle of champagne, but I was afraid it wouldn’t survive the pounding in the saddlebags.” Karl raised his glass, looked around at everyone, and then allowed his eyes to rest lovingly on Ida’s. “To Korora Manor!”
Ida smiled back. “To Korora Manor!”
“To what?” Cat inquired. “Does this have something to do with the news that you wrote about, Ida?”
Ida nodded. “You shouldn’t give it all away at once,” she said, scolding her husband. “I thought we could discuss it in a quiet moment. We don’t even know how Cat and Chris feel, and—”
Karl shrugged. “Don’t worry so much, Ida. Cat and Chris will be happy for us. They—”
“What will we be happy about?” Chris asked, taking a sip of the wine.
Ida and Karl exchanged a look, as though each wanting the other to break the news.
Mara sighed. “Mamida and Kapa are buying a house.”
“Mara!” Ida scolded.
Mara shrugged. “Mamida, if we wait until you come out with it, I’ll never get to bed tonight, and I’m already falling asleep. So please just tell them all about your dream house in Whangarei, and the beach and garden, and everything that makes you so happy about it.” She yawned demonstratively. “Kapa and Mamida are moving away,” she announced. “But I’m staying here. I don’t want to live on the North Island. You promised I don’t have to, right, Mamida?”
Ida sighed. “Yes, we really are buying a house. But first we have to discuss it with Chris and Cat before we know if you can actually stay here.”
Cat smiled at her friend, who was obviously frustrated with her teenage daughter. She remembered only too well how Carol and Linda had gotten on her nerves at that age. But this conflict was very easy to solve.
“How could we have anything against Mara staying?” she asked kindly. “This is her home!”