Anna tightened the strap, waiting a moment before driving her knee into her horse's belly. He exhaled and she finished pulling the strap until it buckled in place. She walked back to her horse's head and rubbed at it.
"How many times do you have to do that before you learn?" She patted his side and led him from the stable, straightening the blanket under the saddle before mounting in an easy motion. She leaned down, pulled the stirrup higher for her smaller frame and took the reins in both hands. "Ready?"
The horse only snorted in response, his breath fogging in the early morning but Anna was too alive to feel the cold. She trotted out to the edge of town and aimed her horse south toward the open trail. "Let her buck."
The horse reared slightly but Anna leaned forward with it and the horse tore off, hooves meeting the ground in a swiftly beat escape. They tore through the underbrush and took the road into the mountains, riding south in the breaking daylight. Anna steered the horse through the winding pathways, sometimes right on the edge of the cliffs, and back into the bush.
It was not until midday that her horse flagged slightly and she pulled him into a trot. They meandered over the mountains as Anna took in the scenery with deep breaths. This high up she could see for miles and basked in the silence peppered only with the scurrying of animals in the underbrush or the occasional bird shrieking from the sky.
When she stopped for the night, building her fire big enough to light her little camp until morning, Anna just sat staring into the flames. She heard her horse snort and immediately sat up straighter. Anna squinted into the darkness, waiting for her eyes to readjust when she saw someone leading a horse. Her hand slipped into her bag, pulling at a handle as she drew the coiled whip to use.
"No need for that Ms. Smith." Anna relaxed, dropping the whip on top of her bag as Mr. Bates led his horse to where Anna tied hers. "Sorry to drop in on unannounced you like this."
"I might be tempted to think you followed me, Mr. Bates." Anna stood, shaking his hand, "But judging by the state of you I don't think you did."
"Would I embarrass you too much if I admitted I got a little lost?" Mr. Bates cringed and Anna laughed.
"No. Here," She pointed to the spot next to her, "Show me how you got lost."
Mr. Bates sat next to her, pulling a worn map from his pocket and a compass. "I followed this trail after one of the miners suggested that bushrangers use this old route to raid the fringes of town."
"Which miner?"
"Tom Branson."
"Ah, that's your problem." Anna pulled out her own map, laying it next to Mr. Bates'. "Tom's not been anywhere outside of the traveled trails between Kiandra and Melbourne. If he gave you this map it's because he's never used it and doesn't know one trail from another."
"Am I to believe I've been 'had' Ms. Smith?"
"No, just took advice from the wrong person." Anna pointed to her map, "That trail washed out two winters ago and since it led to at least one death and a few injuries no one repaired it. They made this trail to replace it and connected it back to the main road."
"Cartographer Ms. Smith?"
"My father taught me how to use maps from the moment I could write my own name." Anna leaned back on a tree. "He insisted that if he'd raise me in the bush I needed to know how to leave it one day."
"And is Kiandra leaving the bush?"
Anna shrugged, "It's a step in the right direction. My mother wanted us to go back to Scarborough the minute my father landed us in Melbourne but she stuck with it until she got sick. Then he sent her back to England, promising we'd join her when he finished up his work for Mr. Crawley."
"And did he?"
"Didn't get the chance." Anna hugged her knees close, "My mother died on the voyage back and my father was shot by bushrangers two days before we'd scheduled to go back to get the boat at Melbourne."
"I'm sorry."
"It's the life here. It's rough and tumble and more often than not we bury those we love." Anna sniffed, "It either breaks you like a stubborn horse or you kick through it."
"I can guess what you did." Mr. Bates grinned at her and Anna scoffed out a laugh, nodding. "Why didn't you go back to England?"
"I didn't know one city from another there. I can't do more than point to them on a map with all the memories I have of our home there and I had responsibilities here. I wasn't going to go back just to see a grave and distant relations I didn't know. So I stayed."
"That's quite the accomplishment Ms. Smith." Mr. Bates sighed and then shot to his feet. Anna laughed, trying to suppress her guffaws as John realized it was only Anna's horse nuzzling him from behind. He pointed a finger at her, "It's not funny Ms. Smith."
"Oh it is." She tried to breathe, "Layl won't hurt you."
"You named your horse 'Leel'?"
"It means 'Night' in Arabic and it's spelled L-A-Y-L." Anna clicked her teeth for her horse and he nuzzled at her as she pulled an apple from her bag. He bit for it and she fed it to him. "My father won him as a colt from an Arabian man who came to Melbourne wanting to breed some of his mares with the wild Brombies here."
"You're father a card player?"
"Horse racer." Anna clicked at the horse, sending him away from her, "He raised most of the racing horses Mr. Crawley uses and used to drove for him."
"Drove?"
"Cattle driving. Cattle don't make it to beef in Kiandra. You have to take them to Melbourne for that." Anna reclined, closing her eyes to enjoy the fire, "I'd stay with the Crawleys when I was younger but when I got older my father agreed to let me come with him on a few droves once my mother realized she couldn't stop me."
"Quite the education I'd assume."
"It was." Anna giggled, "It'd surprise you how fast the men in camp forget you're a woman when you drive as well as they do."
"I imagine they said things your mother wouldn't approve of."
"My father didn't either when he learned I taught them to Mary." Anna shuddered, "He never let me drive with him again because it meant I wouldn't be lady enough to get married."
"I don't believe making a woman less capable make her an attractive marriage prospect."
"And what do you believe determines that?"
Mr. Bates took a moment before blowing out a stream of air, "Temperament, attitude, the way she treats those who she doesn't have to treat well, and how she carries herself when she thinks no one's looking."
"You seem to've given this a lot of thought Mr. Bates."
"When you're married you tend to think a lot about what drew you to the person you married."
Anna did not respond, staring into the fire. She pursed her lips, sucking the inside of one cheek before finally finding something to say, "So you're married, Mr. Bates?"
"I was. In Ireland."
"She didn't want to make the trip?"
"More that she couldn't make the trip." Mr. Bates' voice was barely a whisper, "She's passed on."
"Mr. Bates I'm so sorry."
"Don't think less of me, Ms. Smith," Mr. Bates faced Anna, "But I'm not. Her death freed me and led to an opportunity I didn't think I'd have again."
Anna swallowed, "I'm not sure I understand."
"I wasn't happy, married to my wife. She didn't make me happy, I didn't make her happy, and we both only succeeded in making one another miserable. In the end I was a drunk and she was violent. Her death gave me the chance to find myself again."
"And have you? Found yourself, I mean?"
"I believe I have. A little bit anyway."
"Then I'll assume you like it here."
Mr. Bates nodded, "There's a quiet here I never found in Ireland. Here I can find peace and put all that behind me."
"How'd she die?"
"That's a story for another time." Mr. Bates pointed to his horse, "I didn't expect to get myself lost out here in the dark so I'm a little underprepared as far as sleeping arrangements go."
"We're in the bush, Mr. Bates." Anna stood, rolling out her saddle blanket, "There's not much in the way of preparation."
Mr. Bates just stood, his face a scrunch of confusion that almost had Anna laughing again at the naiveté of this man who had seen so much in the world and yet had so much to learn. Anna pointed to the blanket and laid herself close to the fire. When Mr. Bates did not move she snapped her fingers at him and spoke.
"On the blanket Mr. Bates."
"But-"
"But nothing you might freeze sitting all on your own somewhere and if you don't freeze you'll wake up bloody uncomfortable." Anna patted the spot next to her, "Get as comfortable as you can. I warn you, the ground is unforgiving but at least it's reliable."
Mr. Bates shuffled closer, laying himself out as though the ground where an ice-covered lake and he might fall in. Anna waited for him to lay down before pulling him closer to her. She made herself comfortable with him at her back and sighed.
"See Mr. Bates, comfortable."
"I don't know if I'd say the same."
Anna twisted to look at him over her shoulder, "If you stopped being so stiff you might find yourself relaxing enough to sleep."
"I don't usually sleep on the ground with women."
"Is it that you don't usually sleep on the ground or you don't usually sleep with women?"
"I- well, I- what I meant was-"
Anna waited a beat before snickering at Mr. Bates, "I'm having you on Mr. Bates. I don't believe you're anything but honorable."
"Thank you Ms. Smith and it's a no, to both questions."
"Well don't let it trouble you. I promise I'm nothing but the picture of propriety." Anna shifted back to face the fire, "Goodnight Mr. Bates."
"Goodnight Ms. Smith."
Anna woke up wrapped next to something warm. She opened her eyes, blinking in the early morning and squinted at the print on the shirt in front of her face. She worked herself back slightly, slipping from the thick arms, and remembered the night before.
She stood carefully, trying not to disturb Mr. Bates as he shifted. The fire died down slightly and Anna took a few moments to coax it back to life before looking back at Mr. Bates. His face looked younger when he slept, like the lines that covered his face in the daylight, faded when he didn't think about what etched them there. He breathed evenly as if putting himself in sync with the world.
Anna walked around him, clicking for her horse. He walked over her, nudging her arm with his nose. She rubbed at him, scratching under his chin, and dug in her bag for his breakfast. He took the apples from her hand and she patted his side as he walked away, meandering through the trees.
"He responds well to you."
Anna turned to see Mr. Bates blinking at her. She scanned over him and smirked, "You seem to respond well to me too Mr. Bates."
His face went red faster than a setting sun and turned away from her. Anna laughed and stepped toward him, putting a hand on his arm, "I'm not offended. It's nothing I haven't seen before Mr. Bates."
"That doesn't matter, Ms. Smith. It's not very gentlemanly of me."
"Not sure I want someone who's always a gentleman." Anna ducked to pick up her things, brushing the saddle blanket to clear it of detritus before folding it to the side. "Some women need someone with passion who press an advantage."
"Is that what you want Ms. Smith?" Mr. Bates stepped closer as Anna picked up her whip, coiling it in her hands. "Someone who gives you passion?"
"I'm a woman of the bush, Mr. Bates. I may teach at the school and walk around wearing the same skirts as every other lady in town but my life isn't meant to be lived in houses all squashed together as people desperately try to get all the latest fashions that are already half a year behind."
"Are you out here, in the bush, to prove who you are, Ms. Smith?"
"No," Anna shook the whip out, shaking the coils loose. "I'm going to Snowy River. I own a plot of land there and a friend of mine and her husband look after it while I'm in Kiandra most of the year."
"Snowy River?"
"Yes." Anna snapped the whip and the crack echoed through the trees. Mr. Bates jumped a little as Anna walked past him, picked up the snake, and tossed it on the fire. "It was my father's but once he died it became mine. I breed horses there."
"You breed horses, you drive cattle, you teach school, and you do it all wearing a skirt." Mr. Bates dusted off his hat, "If my hat wasn't already off I'd doff it to you."
"That's very flattering." Anna curtsied to him, "Not many men like it when they hear what I do."
"Then they're not worth your time."
"What if they're passionate?" Anna picked up a stick and poked at the snake on the fire as she coiled her whip back up and strapped it to her horse's saddle. "Men of the bush tend may not like my strength but they've got the spirit for it. They tend toward the wild but at least they're not afraid to take what they want."
"Do you think I'm afraid to take what I want, Ms. Smith?"
Anna faced Mr. Bates and put her hands out as though gesturing to the air, "I don't know enough about you to say for sure, Mr. Bates, but you strike me as a very patient, diligent man. I very much doubt you charge bull headed into anything."
"And I may not know you very well Ms. Smith," Mr. Bates stepped toward her and Anna step unconsciously backward. Neither stopped until her back was to a tree and he was within a hair of touching her, "But I think you like surprises. Wild bush men passionately taking what they are want are what you've resigned yourself to want because the boring townspeople would drive you to drink."
"Would they?"
"Fancy boys dressed in suits they never want splattered with mud are of as much use to you as a bustle." Mr. Bates lifted a finger and just barely ran it down Anna's cheek. "And men with no impulse control would have you taking your horse and yourself over a cliff because they can't stay constant."
"Then-" Anna cleared her throat as his finger traced down her neck, "What do you suggest, Mr. Bates?"
"Someone who has both. Someone whose passion boils just under the surface and, when given the right moment, would only show it to you. Someone who sparks the fires in your mind and your soul."
"A poet on horseback then?" Anna gained a little control over herself and sidestepped Mr. Bates, "When you find one, please let him know where to find me."
She went to walk away but felt a hand grab hers. It yanked her back, but not with undue force. Anna's hands flew up to collide with Mr. Bates' chest and the air rushed out of her as he covered her lips with his.
Never in Anna May Smith's life did she want someone to continue something so badly. Her hands, once passive on his chest, grabbed at the back of Mr. Bates' neck and she molded her body around him as much as possible. He had one hand to the side of her face and the other at her waist, holding her in the perfect position. And for a moment it was perfect.
When he ran his tongue over the seam of her lips and Anna opened as invitation she realized how wrong she was. This was perfect. The feeling of him all around her, kissing her with more energy than most men showed her in their entire lives, and holding her both tenderly and firmly had Anna melting in his arms. If not for the tree behind her he would have been holding her up all on his own.
Mr. Bates broke away a moment but Anna kept her hands on his neck. They both breathed hard, their chests rising and falling in a cadence similar to running hooves. After a moment he went to move but she kept her hands firm.
"I don't think I'm through Mr. Bates."
She pulled him down for another kiss and this time surprised him as she drove into his mouth. His hand at her cheek moved to her back, stroking through her jacket, and Anna shivered. One of her hands risked moving lower to where she felt him pressing into her stomach as her leg rose to his hip.
Before she could do anything he pulled back. She went to speak but he placed a finger over her mouth. "I'm sure you came out here for a reason and I don't want to delay you any further."
"What if I want to be delayed, Mr. Bates?"
Anna tried to run her hands down his chest but he stopped her. He pulled both hands up to his mouth, kissing them reverently, before putting them back down. "If I can anticipate what you're thinking, Ms. Smith, I don't want that."
"You don't?" Anna raised an eyebrow. "I think you're at odds with yourself, Mr. Bates because a moment ago you seemed very sure you wanted that. At least the part of you I could feel did."
"No that's not-" He sighed, "I mean I wouldn't want that here."
"No one could hear us."
"That's not a worry to me." His voice lowered and Anna felt the heat rise in her cheeks, "I'd want people to hear you."
"Then what's stopping you?"
"You're worth far too much to me for a tumble in the dirt." He took one of her hands, tracing along it with his fingers. "I'd want you somewhere I can worship you, show you the adoration you deserve, and drive you mad without having to worry that a snake will attack you in the middle of it all."
Anna snorted, "I see your point."
"Besides," Mr. Bates chuckled, "You won't even call me 'John'. I'd find it very hard to love someone the way I intend to love you when they insist on calling me 'Mr. Bates'."
"Then we should agree that, in private, we're John and Anna to one another." Anna held out her hand, "Is that acceptable to you?"
John dodged her hand and kissed her cheek, whispering in her ear. "More than, Anna."
She shivered, "You'd better get yourself back to Kiandra before they send a search party… or before I have my way with you here anyway."
"I will" John whistled for his horse, "How much farther to Snowy River for you?"
"About half a day's ride. I'll be there for a few days and be back in Kiandra in time for Sunday services."
"I'm sure I've a lot I'll need to ask forgiveness for." John mounted his horse, "Because I won't be able to stop thinking about you."
"Mr. Bates, you are making it harder and harder for me."
"I believe that's something I should say to you, Ms. Smith." John smiled, "I'll see you in church."
Anna watched him ride off through the trees and smiled to herself, rubbing Layl. "What are we going to do about that man?"
Her horse only blustered.
