Too expensive, too fancy, and too clean for a local’s.
The pitch of the motor dropped as the Range Rover coasted to a halt a dozen feet behind her station wagon. Wipers swept rhythmically across the glass, blurring her view of the driver.
The engine died, and Lauren’s stomach twisted into macramé-tight knots. She debated the wisdom of letting Java out to stand beside her. Injured and facing a stranger on a deserted road, she figured the dog’s stocky body and wicked incisors would be reassuring.
Drew’s nose and palms pressed against the misted windows, as he no doubt watched her move farther away from their car. No…Better if Java stayed with her son. Nobody would hurt Drew with a hundred pounds of Rottweiler protecting his family.
Nobody would hurt Drew, period.
A huge blue and white umbrella unfolded out of the vehicle, followed by two legs clad in a masculine-sized pair of gumboots. The driver nudged the door shut and ploughed through the downpour like a striped galleon, only his oilskin coat and denim-clad calves showing. He stopped in front of her and lifted the umbrella so it covered them both. Wiping rain from her eyes, Lauren glanced up—way up—into startling green eyes.
“Looks like your car is well and truly stuck. Do you need a hand?” His gaze travelled down, and his brow creased. “Wait a sec—are you hurt?”
“W-What?” Lauren’s thoughts leaped to the raised scar on her cheek, the first thing most people noticed. But no, the man’s gaze didn’t shift above her legs. Of course he was talking about her injuries. One vertebra at a time stiffened as she transferred her weight onto her good leg. “It’s not that bad.”
“You’ve grazed your knees, and your ankle’s starting to swell.” His tone was that of a teacher explaining a difficult concept to a child.
He stared down at her, and his advantage of at least three inches made her feel dainty at five-foot-ten. The suggestion of broad shoulders under the oilskin caused a pearl of sweat to gather on her top lip.
He was too big, too close, and too vividly male.
“Really, I’m fine.” Lauren half-turned toward the car. “I just need someone to—”
“Sure, hold this a moment.” He shoved the umbrella handle into her hand and crouched at her feet.
“What are you doing?”
He looked up. Blue-tinted light and shadow played over the slight kink marring his otherwise patrician nose. One wisp of brown hair in the center of his forehead flicked off in a winsome cowlick, but nothing else about his cool expression gave any indication of a matching personality. Her eyes widened, riveted to the long fingers reaching for her ankle.
A tall, dark-haired man with large hands…She forgot to breathe as memories flashed into her mind.
The perfume of red roses clogging her throat, mixed with the feral stench of fear—her fear. The coppery taste of blood slick on her tongue. A hand clinching her ankle, grinding bones together as he dragged her along the parquet floor.
The man’s fingertips brushed a trail across her puffy flesh. Lauren’s head spun in carousel circles.
“Don’t.” She lurched backward, jolting her full weight on her injured ankle. Her knees buckled, and her vision blurred into hazy greens and greys.
A hand gripped her elbow as the world tilted sideways, and then arms scooped her up against a broad chest. She blinked, cold rain and sheer determination keeping her from fainting.
A car door slammed, and a dog barked.
“Put my mummy down, you big bully!”
Her son ran toward them, his trembling fists raised in a boxer’s stance as he tried to defend her. Jagged pieces of her heart plummeted to the ground.
Drew stomped on the man’s instep with his little gumboot. “Put her down or I’ll—I’ll set Java on you.”
The arms supporting her knees and upper back flexed. A voice grunted by her hair, whether in laughter or pain she couldn’t tell. Slight movement as the man twisted to stare behind his shoulder. Java’s bark turned into a growl.
“Your mum’s hurt. I don’t think she can stand by herself at the moment.”
The man’s voice sandpapered her skin, abrading what remained of her nerves. She wriggled in an attempt to ease out of his arms. Java’s growls exploded into a series of deep, echoing barks, but the man didn’t flinch or loosen his grip. He was either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid. Stone chips rattled as Java edged closer.
“Drew? It’s okay.” She kept her voice pitched in a calming monotone. “I got a little bit dizzy, and Mr.—?”
“My name’s Nate.”
“And Nate caught me when I started to fall.” Lauren pushed her hand against a chest with all the flexibility of sculptured marble. Did he have to hold her so tightly?
Drew cocked his head and stared in solemn silence. She could almost see his thought process, using four-year-old logic to determine whether this adult was trustworthy.
“And you are?” the man asked.
She slanted a peek at his chin, and another cloud of dizziness fuzzed her mind. Good question. Who was she, really? Sexy Lexy, short-lived catwalk darling? Alexandra Lauren Knight, the mogul’s ex-wife? Or just Lauren Taylor, Drew’s mum and nobody noteworthy?
Lauren inhaled the subtle spice of the man’s cologne. It did nothing to calm the storm manifesting inside her. “Ms. Taylor.”
A beat passed, a gap of expectation as if he waited for more information or the innate friendliness of most New Zealanders. Well, he would wait. Uncomfortable as this situation had become, she didn’t owe him access to her world.
Java advanced into her line of vision, hackles lifted in a spiked trail along his spine.
She held out a palm. “Java. Friend.”
Java’s growl tapered off to a loud pant, and Lauren breathed easier. The last thing she needed was a publicity circus should her dog attack.
“I’m all right now. You can put me down.”
The eyes that clashed with hers were the color of seaweed eddying under a turbulent ocean, but beneath their cool depths she detected a shimmer of humor.
He tilted his face toward her car. “Lady, you’ve proven you’re not fit to stand, let alone drive.”
“I’m quite capable—”
Before she could finish her argument, a hand tugged on the hem of her shirt.
“Mummy,” Drew stage-whispered. “It’s almost night time. Can we go home now?”
Nate’s car could tow hers from the ditch, but unable to put any weight on her left ankle, she couldn’t drive a stick shift. She swallowed her unease, lifting her chin in response to the man’s quizzically raised eyebrows.
“I’d be grateful if you’d stop at my brother’s house and let him know where we are. He’s ten minutes farther along the road.”
Drew tugged on her shirt again. “I don’t wanna stay here. Can’t the man take us home? It’s not far.”
“Drew, he’d already be going out of his way by stopping at Uncle Todd’s.”
“I’m happy to take you both home.”
Her scalp tingled as she scanned the man’s face, trying to gauge his intentions. His eyes reflected only keen intelligence, but intellect sometimes masked a violent nature. A lesson she’d learned the hard way.
Nate lowered her to the ground and stepped away to pick up the umbrella from where it had fallen into a puddle. “You and your boy have nothing to fear from me.”
“I don’t even know your last name.”
“Fraser. Nathan Fraser but I go by Nate.”
“Nate Fraser?” She scanned his face, the ripple of unease inside her muting from shout to whisper as recognition dawned. “As in the photographer?”
“I’m a photojournalist.” He shook out the umbrella, offered her the glimmer of a smile. “Photographers capture nouns; photojournalists shoot verbs.”
“You published a book of photos a couple of years ago?”
He nodded. “You’ve heard of me—so you don’t need to be afraid, right?”
“Right.” Though the idea
of getting into his car chilled her blood, at least they’d have Java with them should he try anything funny.
“So, how about you make up your mind before it’s pitch black outside?”
Drew wrapped his arms around her leg. “Mummy, I want to go home now.”
Lauren wove her fingers through Drew’s mop of hair. “I know, sweetie.”
Nate didn’t say a word, just crooked an eyebrow.
She pulled her soaked jacket closer together and straightened her shoulders. “Thank you. We’d appreciate a ride home.”
In the distance, over mist-shrouded kauri and totara trees, thunder grumbled through the valley. An omen of turbulent weather still to come.
“If I help you to my car, will your dog decide I’m fair game?”
“Only if you make a threatening move toward us.”
He huffed out a sigh, offering her his arm. “Lean on me and you can hop.”
* * *
Ten minutes later, the Range Rover’s headlights passed over the bogged station wagon. Wipers swept fans of rainwater off the windshield, clearing the blurred landscape outside before the next deluge splattered across the glass. Lauren pulled the borrowed blanket around her shoulders, fighting not to let her teeth chatter. Drew yawned in his booster seat behind her, squashed between rescued luggage and Java panting at his feet.
Nate stopped in front of a closed gate across the road and hauled on the parking brake. She moved toward the door handle, remembered her ankle, and froze mid-reach.
“I’ll get it.” His voice was a study in exasperation as he flung open his door and plunged into the rain.
She swiveled in her seat. “How’re you doing, my big boy?”
Drew shrugged while pulling on Java’s jowls. The dog licked his hand and continued to pant.
“Okay.”
“That’s good. You were a bit scared of Nate, but he was only trying to help.”
Drew’s eyes were far too knowledgeable for those of a four-year-old. “I thought he was a bad man. Like Daddy.”
Lauren focused on the throb of her ankle. Anything to block out the hurt his words caused. “I know. You’re my big, brave boy.”
“Is Nate…” Drew’s fingers latched onto Java’s collar. “Is he a good guy?”
Lauren turned to stare through the windshield so Drew couldn’t see her expression.
Rain glistened on Nate like liquid mercury in the headlights, shimmering over the bold planes of his profile as he unlatched the gate. Straightening, he looked back at the car. The force of his gaze released a flurry of butterflies low in her stomach. He moved with purpose, not with the casual swagger more suited to the stockman coat he wore.
“Yes. I’m sure he’s a good guy.” If he wasn’t, it wouldn’t matter after tonight. “We’re very grateful to him that you don’t have to carry me all the way home, aren’t we?”
Delighted she’d coaxed another giggle from him, she still wore a smile as Nate climbed back inside. His eyes locked with hers, direct, intense, and assessing. Lauren dropped her gaze, staring at her reddened fingers wrapped around the blanket’s edge. Rain dripped off his coat onto the leather seats. The silence stretched, wind hissed and wailed, the engine purred.
He drove through the gate, stopped, and got out to re-latch it.
“Mummy, can we have monkey-roni for dinner?” Drew said after Nate walked away.
Lauren blew out a quiet breath. “Sure. Monkey-roni and cheese it is.”
“Yay.”
After a moment, Drew’s head slumped to one side, his eyelids drooping. His fingers slid from Java’s jowls and curled on his lap. The weight on her shoulders lightened. Her son was coping, so she’d pull up her big-girl panties and endure this awkward situation for a little longer.
When Nate returned to the car, Drew’s snuffles had evened out into a rhythmic snore.
Nate fastened his safety belt and looked over his shoulder. “That was fast. Your boy must’ve been tired.”
Lauren followed his gaze. “He’s always been able to conk out no matter what stressful situation he’s in, just like that.” She snapped her fingers for emphasis. “I wish I could fall asleep so quickly.”
The instant the words slipped off her tongue, she regretted revealing anything of herself, and she jerked her head toward her window. Nate drove into the oncoming darkness, his shadowed profile offering no trace of emotion when she risked a sideways glance.
She directed him to turn off into her driveway fifteen minutes later. Thunder boomed overhead, and flashes of lightning lit the yard in front of her house to brilliant pewter, the headlights paling to insignificance.
He killed the engine, and intermittent spots of rain dripped on the roof.
Nate flicked on the overhead light and held out his hand. “Pass me your keys. I’ll open up and help you inside.”
Drew smacked his lips sleepily in the back seat. Lauren gripped the straps of her handbag, warring with the urge to remain in control. Damn it, what choice did she have?
She rummaged through her purse, found her keys, and dropped them into his palm. “The gold one opens the back door on the other side of the house. If you follow the deck around past two sets of French doors…”
He dangled the keychain under the tiny bulb. “‘Kia Kaha.’” A wry note reverberated through his voice as he read the commonly known Maori phrase. “Do you need a reminder to ‘be strong,’ Ms. Taylor?”
His speculative stare pinned her in place. The luxurious amount of space between their seats suddenly felt cramped and claustrophobic. A tidal flow of warmth heated her cheekbones.
She swallowed a snippy comeback and set her jaw. “The keychain was a gift from my sister-in-law, and yeah, on some days, I do.”
Neither blinked as their gazes clashed under the steady drip, drip, drip of rain. Then Java whined, pawing at the door.
A muscle in Nate’s jaw twitched. “Today was one of those times, I imagine. Let’s get you all inside.”
* * *
A swooning woman, an agitated kid and a ridiculously named Rottweiler that looked as if it’d enjoy gnawing a chunk out of his leg. Not what Nate had in mind when he’d come north from Auckland this afternoon. In good conscience, he couldn’t have driven past, but playing the Good Samaritan was proving to be a pain in the ass. He wanted a hot shower, a cold beer and to be left the hell alone for the next seven weeks.
After unlocking her back door, he scooped the woman out of his car and trudged through the rain. Tucked away at the base of a hill covered in native bush, the house was small but welcoming. He stepped into an open-plan kitchen and dining room, where timber countertops and brickwork provided a rustic touch. Two couches covered with striped Mexican blankets, and fresh-cut flowers on top of a circular dining table gave the living room area a homey feel.
Nate helped the woman onto a kitchen chair and propped another under her injured ankle. He wasn’t getting that shower and beer anytime soon.
“Before I go back for the kid—”
“His name’s Drew.” Her voice was devoid of the earlier flare of passion.
“Got it. So, before I get Drew, do you have any bags of frozen veggies in your freezer?”
“Sorry?”
You’d think he’d asked an intimate question. Shaking his head, he walked past her into the kitchen. “Never mind.”
Nate opened the fridge and scanned the contents. Vegetables, yogurt, and stuff in neatly labeled containers that looked way too healthy lined the shelves. Maybe she was on one of those no-fat, no-taste, no-bum diets?
But the tactile memory of her pressed to his chest was only a heartbeat away. His fingers had accidentally grazed her breast while preventing her from collapsing on the road, and he’d cupped her firm thighs carrying her around. No…some wonderfully wicked curves hid under those baggy clothes.
He found green beans in the freezer below and wrapped the bag in a dishtowel.
“Here, Ms. Taylor, a make-do icepack.” Nate settled the dishtowel-wra
pped beans on her ankle.
The muscles along her calf coiled tighter than old-fashioned rolls of film. Was everyone living in this godforsaken backwoods so edgy?
“Oh. Thanks.” She slanted him a glance from under dark lashes. “I guess you should call me Lauren.”
Defrosted a little, had she? “You’re welcome, Lauren. And here”—he patted the pocket of his coat and drew out her key ring—“your keys.”
Her gaze narrowed then flew wide. “I just remembered—you didn’t use my keys to unlock the gate, so where did you get a set to our private road? My brother and I are the only landowners who have access.”
Back to being prickly and suspicious again. “You’re not the only landowners anymore. Didn’t the local grapevine tell you someone bought Old Mac’s land?”
“What?”
He captured and categorized the emotions flickering across her face the same way he would’ve with his viewfinder pressed to his eye. Line up the shot, frame by frame. Disbelief, click. Recognition, click. Fear, click. The struggle for control. Click.
Bright overhead bulbs spot lit her widened hazel eyes. Her nut-brown hair curled in wet clumps, framing the slight flush on her high cheekbones, one of which bore a raised, crescent-shaped scar. Not an in-your-face beauty but she possessed a haunting loveliness that stirred something in him. Strangely familiar too.
When her shocked silence threatened to suck all the oxygen from the room, Nate scrubbed a hand over his face. “Look, I’d better bring in your boy. Will he be okay if he wakes while I’m carrying him inside?”
Lauren’s shoulders hunched forward. “He’s a pretty solid sleeper once he’s out. He’ll be fine and, ah, thank you.”
He hesitated, out of his element in her neat-and-oh-so-cozy kitchen, with its framed herb watercolors and a collection of crayoned pictures stuck to the fridge. Outside the French doors, Java sat with his nose pressed to the glass, his black eyes tracking every move. The dog didn’t worry him, but the kid’s terrified face and raised fists? That did his head in.
Nate moved past her to slip back on his gumboots.
Beneath the Christmas Stars Page 9
