by Tania Joyce
A loud rumble crossed the sky and the rain started to fall heavier. Another wet day out in the field. At least it would be the last.
Troy’s eyes swirled with concern. “The creeks are up from all this rain. If we get another couple of inches, the crossing over to Larry’s will be impassable. You don’t want to get stuck. Keep an eye on the weather, okay?”
“I’ll keep an eye on it.” She struggled to get her feet moving. “You take care.” She stepped forward and kissed him on the cheek. Breathed him in one last time before she whispered goodbye, turned away and rushed back down through the paddock to her Landcruiser.
“Kelleigh—”
His voice made her heart jolt and the first tear slipped from her eyes. But she didn’t turn back. She couldn’t. This was hard enough. She yanked the door open, jumped in the driver’s seat and sped off down the road.
Chapter 22
Troy looked out the window of his cottage across the vineyard to the road that separated Gumtrees from Larry’s. He could barely make it out through the thick curtain of rain. He sipped on his afternoon cup of coffee, the steam curling up and misting in front of his face.
This morning, Kelleigh stopping to say goodbye had torn at his insides, knowing it would be the last time he’d see her. But what could he do? What would he have said if she turned back around when he called to her?
The noise of the rain on the tin roof was deafening. The torrential downpour had been getting worse for the past few hours. His concern for Kelleigh was growing. He’d seen her team leave from Larry’s at noon when the rain had begun to get heavier. But he could still see her Landcruiser parked down near the creek bed in the paddock. It wasn’t far from the rising waters. What was she doing?
The thought of her all covered in mud, soaking wet, and peeling her saturated clothes off of her body brought a smile to his face. But he was startled from his daydream when he heard on the radio another severe flood warning and more torrential rain was heading their way. The water would be starting to cross the road now. He’d warned her about the rising water, why wasn’t Kelleigh leaving?
A sharp pain burst in his kneecap. His reflexes caused him to bend it and smacked it hard against the kitchen cabinet in the process. Fuck! He’d never had a shock like this in his joint before. The odd ache and grievance, but nothing ever like this. He stood up straight and glanced back down toward the creek crossing. His stomach twisted into knots like a ball of bailing twine. Something wasn’t right. He grabbed his keys off the table, his oilskin coat and Akubra and headed out the door. Splashing through the mud, he jumped in his Landcruiser, headed down the driveway and up the road to Larry’s.
The windscreen wipers slid noisily back and forth across the windscreen, squeaking with each wipe. The teeming rain made it hard to see as he approached the creek crossing. He was right. The water level had risen drastically. He wound down the window to look at the swarming mass of water making its way down the Valley. The serene creek had transformed into a raging rapid before him. The rickety old concrete bridge was nearly a foot under water.
“Help!” The piercing scream sliced through the air and speared the center of his chest.
Kelleigh!
His eyes darted toward the direction of the voice. He scanned up and down the creek bank, looking in among the fallen trees and long overgrown grass.
“Kelleigh?” he yelled as he jumped out of the car and dashed along the edge. “Kelleigh?”
“Troy!”
There, he saw a flash of bright orange. The sleeve of her hi-vis shirt. As he got closer he saw her on the other side stuck in an old fallen tree. The water swirling around her waistline.
“I’m stuck. My foot. I can’t it get out. Help me, please!”
The terror in her eyes and tremor in her voice sent panic through his system. The tree was huge. The water level was rising quickly. How was he going to get across to her without risking his own life?
“Are you hurt?”
“My foot. It’s twisted and stuck in the tree. I can’t get it out.” Tears streamed down her face as she tried to pull her leg free. She winced in pain as she cried out. “Troy, help! Get me out of here!”
“I’m coming!” With that, he dashed back up to his Landcruiser and kicked the engine to life. Without a moment’s hesitation he headed for the swollen creek to cross the bridge.
Shifting the gear stick into low-range, he motored through the stream. The waters parted as the work ute charged on through. The water wasn’t too high yet, only just below the top rim of his wheels. The engine purred its way over the bridge. Safely across the other side, he jumped out of the car, grabbed fence pliers from his toolbox and ran over to cut the fence. Driving all the way up to Larry’s house and then down through the paddock would take too much time. Time he didn’t have. He had to save Kelleigh.
With four loud snaps, Troy cut the rusty wires and threw each strand out of the way for him to drive through. Jumping back into the cabin, he charged the car up the embankment and into the muddy terrain, heading straight toward Kelleigh.
“Hurry, please!” He heard her desperate cries as he grabbed the crowbar out of the Landcruiser’s tray and dashed down to the water’s edge. He waded through thigh-high water to reach her. “What happened?” he yelled over the rushing water.
“I was trying to walk across this to the embankment to retrieve some of the surveying equipment. Hurry! The water. It’s rising too fast.”
“Do you think your foot’s broken?” The rain soaked him through, trickles running off the brim of his hat and down his back.
“No, it’s fallen through a rotten piece of timber, and something has lodged over the top of my foot. I can’t get it off. I can’t get my boot off. I’m stuck. Please hurry.”
The water swirled around her. He tried not to panic as the water crept higher and higher. The current getting stronger and stronger.
Troy leaned down and felt the log underneath the muddy water. He couldn’t see anything so he had to feel the shape of the log, judge where Kelleigh’s foot was and work out how the hell he was going to get her out.
“Okay, I’m going to try and smash the trunk near the top of your foot. If’s it rotten it shouldn’t be too hard. I don’t want to hurt you.”
She bit her lip and nodded. Her red cheeks were flooded with tears, interlaced with the pouring rain.
Troy stood up with the water swirling around his legs, assured his footing was secure and raised the heavy metal bar up in front of him. He brought it down onto the log beneath the water. A dull thud sounded in his ears. Kelleigh winced as no doubt the vibrations coursed up through her leg.
Troy hit the spot several more times before he stopped. He leaned down and felt the wood beneath the surface of the water to see how he was progressing. God, he’d hardly made a dint. Damn hardwood.
Kelleigh tried to dislodge her foot and started to whimper. “It’s still stuck.”
All he could do was raise the crowbar and try again.
“Hit it harder. Hurry.”
“I am. I don’t want to break your foot.”
“Don’t worry about my fucking foot. I’ve got steel-caps on. Get me out of here. I don’t want to drown.”
The anguish and panic in her voice made him fight his own fears. Come on! He coaxed himself. This wasn’t Nicola who always toyed with death; this was Kelleigh. She was begging to live and desperate for life. It tugged at his heart, making him fight harder to free her.
Troy started to sweat as he pummeled at the log again. The water was hindering the hard blows. Of all the trees to be stuck in, she had to pick a hardwood.
As the water reached their waistlines, he was running out of options. There was no time to do anything else. No time to call for extra help. This had to work. Kelleigh sat on the log in the water; her eyes were closed and tears rushed down her cheeks. Strands of her hair stuck to her face; her lips were trembling and turning blue. She looked like an angel praying, saying her last words, but Troy
was adamant heaven wasn’t going to take her yet. God was going to have to wait. With grit and determination, Troy heaved the bar above his head and brought it down with such force, the reverberations ricocheted up his arms.
He gasped as the wood finally split. With three more mighty blows the tree broke. Wading down beside her, he felt the hole he’d made in the stump and pulled the broken timber away. Reaching in with his hands, he cleared away the debris and dislodged a chunk of wood to free Kelleigh’s foot.
He caught her in his arms as she fainted. Scooping her up quickly, he made his way back to the Landcruiser. Placing her in the passenger seat, he rested her head carefully against the side of the cabin and wrapped her in his oilskin coat.
He threw the crowbar in the back, rushed around to the driver’s seat and headed back through the paddock. The water had risen a foot higher since he came over the bridge and the flow was now too dangerous to cross. With access to Larry and Brian’s house cut off from the floodwaters too, he only had one option. He turned the car up the road, entered through a side access gate into Gumtrees, crossed over the top ridge paddock and back down along the far road. Thank God for four-wheel drives. It was a long way around back to his cottage, but he needed to get Kelleigh safe and warm.
Chapter 23
Twenty minutes later Troy pulled up outside his cottage, rain still bucketing down from the heavens. He darted around to the passenger side of the Landcruiser, opened the door carefully and caught Kelleigh in his arms. When fresh raindrops splattered onto her face she finally stirred as he carried her inside.
“You’re okay, Kel. I’ve got you. I’ve brought you back to my place. You’re safe now.”
Holding her close to his chest, her shivering body had him head straight for the bathroom. He placed her gently down on top of the closed toilet seat and made sure she had her balance.
“Can you sit upright while I get the shower running? You need to get out of these wet clothes and warm up as soon as possible.”
She nodded, as her pale blue lips trembled. Her green eyes watched his every move as he opened the glass door of the shower and turned the taps on. Once the temperature was right, he came back out and knelt in front of her.
The muddy trail of water he’d brought into his house could be mopped up later, his only concern now was for Kelleigh. He grabbed her good foot, unlaced her boot and took it and her saturated sock off. Then he reached for the foot that had been caught. He rolled up her wet workpants and carefully removed the lace from her boot. She let out a pained cry as he slid it off her foot and peeled the sock away.
He winced when he saw the flaming redness, the scratches and the bruising starting to swell across the bridge of her foot. “Are you sure it’s not broken?”
“I’m sure. Look. I can wiggle my toes.” He watched her move her soft-pink nail-polished toes up and down, but the pain on her face was evident.
“Okay then. Are you right to shower, or do you need some help?”
He was stupid to think it, but he was sure he saw a flash of mischievousness in her eyes. He didn’t mean he wanted to shower with her. She was hurt and cold and needed to get cleaned up so he could tend to her foot. This was no time for games. “Come on, you’re shivering.”
“Can you help me out of my clothes, please? My fingers are too sore from trying to free my leg.” She held out her bleeding, scratched fingernails; her hands trembled profusely.
With filthy water dripping all over the floor, fending off his own chills, he stood up in front of her and offered out his hands. He pulled her to her feet, her face stopping inches away from his. Her eyes locked on to his. Her breath, warm on his face. Her body, so close to his. This was not the time to lose focus.
Kelleigh stood with all her weight on one leg, resting her sore foot on top of her other. Troy let go of her hands and started undoing her top button. His fingers fumbled as the first one popped free to reveal her flesh beneath. His eyes never left hers as he undid her shirt down to the very last button. Grabbing a handful of the fabric near her collarbones, he slipped the shirt back off her shoulders and threw the muddy attire into the basin. He was sure he detected a small grin playing at the corner of her mouth.
He dropped his gaze to the top of her work trousers, trying not to notice the gentle mound of her breasts protruding from within her now muddy-colored bra. He grasped hold of her belt, yanked the buckle free and unzipped her pants. He was going to lose his mind doing this to her. He was trying to be gentle so he didn’t hurt her. Trying not to rush so she wouldn’t faint again. Trying to keep his body reactions under control and avoid the swell in his pants from growing further.
He dropped to his knees and inched the fabric down her legs that clung like glue to her skin. Sitting her down again, he slipped her pants off over her feet. Discarding the trousers into the sink, he sat on his haunches before her. He was far from blind and had to admire her shapely legs, her gorgeous skin and her perfect breasts gently rising and falling with each breath. Even her bright-colored panties were cute.
He wanted to touch her all over and make sure every inch of her was all right. But the musty stench of the creek mud drew him into line. He stood and pulled her to her feet and helped her hobble over into the shower.
“Can you lift me over the base, please?”
He curled his arm around her waist and hoisted her into the cubicle. As he placed her down, she lost her balance and he stumbled in behind her. Gripping on to her tightly so she wouldn’t fall, the steaming water splashed in to his face.
She placed her hands against the wall for support before hobbling around on her foot and finding her own balance. “Sorry about that.”
He was about to get out when her hand caught him on the arm. “How can I ever thank you for saving my life?”
Her eyes glassed over with tears. Kelleigh leaving was one thing, but her drowning would have been horrific.
“You have to thank my dodgy knee. It’s like my own form of intuition and it has a way of telling me when something’s wrong. It’s been working in overdrive since you came to town.”
“Can I thank you, instead of your knee?” She leaned in toward him and touched her lips to his.
Steam shot up around him as her arms weaved around his neck, drawing him closer in to her. No, this was all wrong. She needed to clean up and get warm so he could tend to her foot. His eyebrows furrowed as he resisted the overwhelming temptation to respond to her kiss.
“Kelleigh. No.” He avoided the disappointment in her eyes. “You need to shower and I’ll tend to your foot when you’re done.” But as he went to exit, she put her hand over his.
Troy swallowed hard. A lump lodged in his throat. He had to leave. But she grabbed onto the front of his shirt and tugged him back into the warm flow of water and curled her arms around his neck. “Don’t go. I was so frightened I was going to drown. Please stay with me.” The pleading look in her eyes tugged hard on his heart.
“But you’re hurt.”
She drew him in closer and whispered into his ear. “I don’t want to be alone right now. Please stay with me.” Her soft lips kissed across his cheek before finding his lips once again. Heat shivered across his skin with each and every one of her hot breaths.
Her hands drifted down his back and her fingers felt for the bottom of his shirt. It was saturated and heavy, so he pulled back from her lips, yanked it off over his head and threw it out of the way. Pressing his body against hers, he relished the feel of skin on skin as the warm water cascaded down over them. Drifting his hands around her back, he found the clasp of her bra and eased the straps away from her shoulders.
“You’re so good at that.”
“Why, thank you.” He grinned, admiring her naked hardened nipples. Her body was so beautiful, something so easy to adore.
Inching his hands down the side of her body, over the gentle curve of her hips, he found the top of her panties, eased them off her bottom, her legs, and freed them over her feet.
“How’s your foot?” He saw the swelling was getting worse.
“What foot?”
He gazed up at her. She was beautiful. But she was injured and he had to get her off this foot.
He stood up, reached for the door and jumped out of the shower.
“Why are you getting out?” Kelleigh’s voice sounded desperate and full of anxiety.
“Just getting rid of my jeans.” With much effort, he clambered out of his saturated clothes and left them on top of the pile in the basin.
She smiled when he opened the door and climbed back into the shower. There was no way he could hide the effect she had on his body. She reached for him, wrapped her arms around his waist and drew him in for a kiss. With more self-control than he thought he possessed, one peck was all he gave her before he reached up into the shower caddy and grabbed his shampoo.
“What are you doing?” she asked as he squished the liquid into his hand.
“It’s time for you to get washed and to bed. You need to get off that foot of yours and rest. Now, turn around so I can wash all the mud out of your hair.”
Slowly she turned her back to him and let him lather her hair and soap her all over, cleaning her from head to toe. Gone was the smell of dirt and mud, now the air was filled with the scent of fresh shampoo, soap and bubbles. As he bathed himself quickly, she stood with her eyes shut, enjoying the stream of fresh water gush across her skin. But she looked exhausted. Who wouldn’t be after such an ordeal? Time to get her to bed for rest.
He jumped out of the water; towel-dried off quickly and darted out to the linen cupboard before returning with two fresh towels for her. She turned off the tap and let him wrap a towel around her, lift her out of the shower and place her gently on the mat.
