Winds of Change (Hearts of the Outback Book 4)

by Susanne Bellamy

  Sarah led the mare into the shade behind the mess tent and tethered her before making her way to find Suzie. Brodie announced a break while a technical issue was sorted out before diving into discussion with the dolly grip.

  Was that the term for every problem that rose on set? Jax repressed a snort and followed Willa to a fully enclosed tent well back from the main set. Fleetingly he wondered why he was still here. Having made his decision to quit he should have been home by now. But so far, nothing in his day had gone to plan.

  With a sigh, he took up a position outside the temporary makeup space, folded his arms and waited. If Brodie wanted the switch kept quiet, he would make sure the women weren’t disturbed while it happened.

  Twenty minutes later the tent flap was pushed aside and a blonde-haired woman dressed in camouflage gear stepped through the opening.

  She stopped in front of Jax. “Will I do?”

  Up close the switch would fool nobody. Sarah was more slightly built than Willa’s curves, and her chin was missing the tiny dimple Jax had loved kissing. But from a distance . . . “I reckon the crew will be surprised at Willa’s newfound skill.”

  “Great. I just hope I can conquer my dislike of being the centre of attention as well as Willa overcame her fear of horses.”

  “You noticed that, hey?” The more time he spent with Sarah the more Jax liked her. She had a straightforward, no-nonsense attitude and he would bet that, like Willa, she didn’t accept excuses or allow a weakness to limit her.

  He took a few steps and stopped when he realised Sarah hadn’t moved. She stood eyeing off the activity below, folded her arms over her stomach, and pressed her lips together.

  “Is Willa going to stay out of sight in the tent?”

  The flap twitched and Willa stepped through. Her blonde plait was hidden beneath a brunette wig and she wore a pair of jeans and a shirt similar to the one Sarah had worn. “I figured if Sarah is going to play me, I should play her. And if anyone asks me afterwards how it felt, I want to know how my ride looks from this angle.”

  Turning to the horse wrangler, she indicated the way down the slight slope to the mess tent. “Shall we go, Willa?”

  Jax stayed close behind, intrigued to note how well Willa imitated Sarah’s gait. On the other hand, Sarah looked nervous, which could work to their advantage. By now, most of the crew had seen Willa mounted on the mare and wouldn’t think her anxiety was strange.

  He shepherded the women around the outside of the mess tent, avoiding the crew and coming up alongside the mare. Sarah waited while Willa patted Tabitha and told her what a good girl she was before taking hold of the reins and raising her foot to the stirrup.

  “Here, let me help you, Willa.” Carrying on the pretence, Jax helped Sarah mount. She sat astride as though born in the saddle, but Willa’s grip on the lead rope would give her away to an observant set of eyes. Jax took hold of the rope above Willa’s tentative grasp and turned the mare’s head.

  As they passed the end of the mess tent he gave Brodie a wave.

  The director raised a thumb high and marshalled the film crew into position while the trio continued towards the start of Willa’s scripted run across the mostly open ground.

  From the far side of the mare, Willa peeked under the horse’s neck at the flurry of activity. “So far, so good.”

  Once they reached the cairn built by the crew as her marker, she patted Tabitha and grinned up at Sarah. “Ready for your acting debut?”

  “Not really, but at least I’m comfortable on horseback.”

  “You’ll be fine doing what comes naturally. And thanks for making me look good.”

  “Wait until we get back before you say that.”

  Sarah walked Tabitha in a wide circle while Jax kept an eye on Brodie. When his two-way crackled to life, Sarah reined Tabitha in beside the cairn.

  Jax raised an arm and, on the director’s cue, dropped it.

  Sarah and Tabitha surged forward, the mare’s hooves kicking up dust clouds as they flew along the bank of the dry creek bed.

  Willa stood beside Jax, watching the horsewoman manoeuvring around obstacles while maintaining a frightening speed. “I’ve been suspended from ropes high above white water and spent several hours shivering in a giant water tank with artificial waves crashing over me but there is no way I could have done what Sarah is doing. She’s—”

  “Oh my God, she’s fallen off.”

  As Jax ran, it was like watching a slow motion movie. Sarah grabbed the horse’s mane and slid even further to the side. As the mare galloped, Sarah was all but lost in the red dust flying up around them. The sick feeling in his gut and the sharp pull of his protesting thigh muscles disappeared as he pounded along the creek bed, jumping rocks and dimly aware of Willa trailing behind.

  Time seemed to slow before he reached the mare and her rider. Sarah was on the ground struggling to remove her boot as Jax pulled up, breathing heavily. “Are you okay? What happened?”

  “No idea. My saddle slipped off and I had a hell of a job hanging on to the reins and stopping myself from falling.”

  “Sarah, how are you?” Willa dropped into the dirt beside her.

  “My ankle is caning me.”

  “Let me look.” Jax knelt at her feet and removed the boot and her sock. Sarah sucked in a sharp breath and tensed. Her ankle had begun to swell and would undoubtedly colour up.

  “Looks like a sprain but you won’t be riding for a while. Let’s get you back and find some ice and a doctor.” He slipped an arm under her knees and the other around her back and stood.

  His injured leg screamed in protest and he gritted his teeth, biting back expletives and focusing on putting one foot after the other.

  By the time they’d crossed the creek bed, several of the tech crew arrived and Jax carefully placed Sarah into their willing hands. Then he sank onto a nearby rock and massaged his leg until the pain eased. Something was niggling at the back of his mind as Willa came up beside him leading Tabitha, still awkward with the horse but determined not to allow her fear to show. She had collected the saddle, which sat precariously on the mare’s back.

  “Jax, there’s something you need to see.” She dropped the reins and dragged the saddle onto the ground beside him.

  Gingerly he got to his feet and lowered himself on his good leg until he reached the saddle.

  Willa held up a leather strap that cinched around the horse’s girth. “Look at this.”

  He ran a finger over a clean cut with a narrow jagged edge. It explained how Sarah had fallen. But not why.

  “That was no accident.”

  Anger roiled in his gut at the callousness of the attack, followed by a sickening thought. Was Sarah the intended target, or Willa?

  Chapter Nine

  Detective Caleb Richards hefted the saddle into the back of his ute before joining Sarah and Willa in the makeup tent. Sarah’s boyfriend had dropped everything when he heard about the accident and Willa was certain he’d broken every speed limit on his way out to the film site.

  Sarah sat with her leg on a chair and icepacks cocooning her injured ankle. Caleb took her hand between both of his, and kissed it. “Are you sure you’re okay, darling?”

  “Shaken up but I’m fine. Does this qualify me for breakfast in bed?”

  “You mean this is what it takes to keep you in bed past five a.m.?”

  Caught in their happiness of being together, they seemed to forget Willa’s presence. She turned her back to give them privacy, tugged off her dark wig and returned it to Suzie’s box of hairpieces and tried to block out their private moment.

  Since Jax, she hadn’t found that close connection with anyone. It was strange; at eighteen, she’d been sure they were two halves of the same whole, but they had wanted such different things from life. Since his arrival on set, civil conversation had been beyond her. Despite his efforts, she’d been unable to hold back the hurt, snapping at him in a totally uncalled for manner.

  She sucked in
a breath at the realisation. No matter what Jax decided to do, she owed him an apology. If he reconsidered leaving, she would be grateful, but he had to know she was truly sorry for the way she’d acted.

  “What was that, Willa?” Caleb’s question reminded her she wasn’t alone.

  Had she spoken aloud? “Nothing. I’ll go see if I can rustle up some coffee for us.”

  She pushed through the canvas flap and jogged past the tent, putting half the length of a footy field between her and the couple inside. Stuffing both hands into her pockets, she paced, trying out a variety of ways to tell Jax she’d been a bitch, and knew it, and was sorry. It was long past time to pull up her big girl panties and begging him to stay would not be on the agenda.

  As she reached the small eucalyptus tree that had become her turnaround point, Jax walked up the slope, carrying a tray of cups.

  Determined not to lose the chance, or her resolution, Willa jogged to catch him before he entered the tent.

  “Jax, can I talk to you?”

  “Can it wait? I want to go over what happened with the detective.”

  “I know. It’s just that—” They were almost at the tent and she was going to miss the opportunity if she didn’t spit it out.

  She turned and walked backwards, her gaze fixed on his face as she tried to make him look at her. To see that she meant what she said. “Jax, I’m sorry I’ve been so awful. Honestly, I should have—”

  She stumbled and Jax’s free hand shot out to steady her. Like a jolt of electricity, his touch stopped her in her tracks and her breath caught in her throat.

  His eyes narrowed and he frowned, but at least he was finally looking at her. They stood close and his breath fanned across her cheek.

  The scent of coffee and spearmint gum took her back to days by the river and she raised her chin until their lips were mere centimetres apart. His grip tightened briefly on her arm.

  Then he let go and stepped back, and scanned the area around them. For those few seconds, his touch, and that combination of scents had carried her back ten years and she’d forgotten the drama and the awful image of Sarah clinging to the horse’s reins as the saddle slipped away.

  “Jax, please stay.” Damn. She hadn’t meant to ask but the thought of him leaving was unbearable. They needed resolution. She needed to know why he’d left her. Why he’d given up on them when she’d been prepared to throw all her dreams away to be with him.

  “Why, Willa? Give me one good reason why I should stay.”

  I want to know why I wasn’t enough.

  “Brodie said that—”

  He held up one hand. “I don’t care what the director said. I don’t really care what the army wants either.”

  “We need you. I—I want you to stay.”

  “Why, Willa? So your precious film director gets what he wants?” Tension thrummed between them like a live electrical wire.

  “Of course I want the series to be the best it can be but—” Okay, she’d been mean to him but did he have to make this harder than it was?

  She took a deep breath. “I want to talk about us.”

  Jax shrugged and looked away. “There is no us, Willa. We are history. Raking over the ashes can wait until we have a plan of action to deal with the present situation. Until we know whether the tampering with Sarah’s saddle was directed at you or her, we have bigger problems than rehashing our past.”

  An icicle of dread speared her and she retreated to the tent. “Of course. After you.” She raised the flap and Jax entered with the tray of coffee. He placed the coffee on a small table in the centre of a circle of four chairs, handed a cup each to Sarah and Caleb and sat back with an arm along the back of Willa’s chair.

  Willa reached for a cup and remained perched on the edge of her seat. Inadvertent or otherwise, she wanted no more physical contact with Jax until her crazy response to him was under control.

  Because, in that moment when their mouths were close, she’d been on the point of leaning forwards—and kissing him.

  Her body recognised what her brain had been slow to grasp. No matter what had gone before, she was still attracted to Jax.

  That complication aside, it didn’t alter the fact she was glad Jax hadn’t resigned. Right about now, his presence was the only thing helping her hold it together. If she’d been riding the horse when the strap broke, her neck would be broken. It was nothing short of a miracle Sarah hadn’t been more badly injured.

  “How did you manage to hang on, Sarah?”

  “Sheer bloody-mindedness. I couldn’t let my beautiful Tabitha be blamed for an accident like that.” She looked at Caleb and smiled. “Nor could I leave this man when I’ve only just found him.”

  Caleb gently squeezed her hand. “Love you too, babe.”

  “Brilliant bit of horsemanship, Sarah.” Jax’s admiration was well deserved but Sarah ducked her head. She hadn’t been kidding when she said she hated being the centre of attention.

  Jax raised one booted foot and drew it across his knee, brushing Willa’s thigh in the process. The touch didn’t mean anything. The brush-off he’d given her outside the tent had been loud and clear.

  Willa edged back on her seat, trying to create space between their legs and felt the warmth of his arm. Jax surrounded her, hemming her in until she couldn’t think of anything else. She gripped the edges of the plastic chair and prepared to stand and move away as Jax spoke.

  “We have clear evidence of tampering; this was meant to look like an accident and I think we were meant to draw that inference. It’s also possible Sarah’s fall may have been intended as a warning of some kind.”

  Caleb drank and lowered his cup. “I agree with Jax; the cut cinch looks deliberate but given what you’ve told me about the girls trading places, I believe Willa was the target.”

  Willa shivered as the implications of the near-tragedy rammed home. Nerveless, she interlaced her cold fingers in her lap. If she’d faced up to her fears, the cinch would have broken with her on the horse. “Someone wants to hurt me.”

  Caleb shook his head. “Not necessarily. How many people know you aren’t a strong rider?”

  “After that display this morning, pretty well everyone on the set. After the training at the riding school in LA, I thought I’d be better than I was.” Fear had overwhelmed every other emotion and she had grabbed at Sarah’s offer to ride Tabitha for the distance shots.

  “I do most of my own stunts and I was determined to do the riding in the miniseries. Most people know that much about me.”

  “So maybe whoever cut the cinch was expecting nothing more than you taking a tumble during a trot. Embarrassing but not enough to break your neck. Can you think of anyone who might want that?”

  Caleb’s question was gentle and it calmed Willa’s wilder speculations. A sick joke almost gone wrong was horrible but, on the scale of things, better than a would-be murderer out for her blood.

  Suppressing a bubble of mildly hysterical laughter, she shook her head. “No. If we were back in Hollywood I’d say there were a couple of actresses who would love to step into my role if anything were to happen to me, but here—”

  Jax placed both feet on the ground and leaned forward, elbows on knees. “The execution was amateurish but effective in creating fear and uncertainty.”

  Caleb mirrored his posture. “You’re right. Which raises another possibility.”

  “What are you thinking?”

  “My gut instinct is that motive is the key. What if neither Willa nor Sarah was the target?”

  Jax frowned at the detective. “Brodie? The production company?”

  Willa glanced from one man to the other. Both wore similar intense expressions as they kicked ideas around, treating the situation as a problem to be solved. It was oddly reassuring.

  Sarah touched Caleb’s cheek, stroking her fingers softly around his jaw before taking his chin in her hand. “Caleb, I’ve been thinking about the timing; when would anyone have had the opportunity to do mischi
ef?”

  “Sounds like I’ve rubbed off on you. Next you’ll be deducing motive from opportunity.”

  Sarah offered a quick smile and continued. “Perhaps you have. As I see it, there was only one window of opportunity to damage the strap. I saddled Tabitha myself after I arrived and everything was fine when Willa mounted her. We took a walk and a gentle trot around the set before arriving at the conclusion that I should do the gallop in Willa’s place.”

  “How many people were privy to that discussion?” Caleb pulled out a well-thumbed notebook and pen and opened it to a clean page.

  “That was a private conversation with Jax and Brodie. Greg, the cameraman on number one camera might have been within earshot. And Sarah and I of course.” Willa turned to Jax. “I don’t remember anyone else close enough to overhear us, do you?”

  Jax shook his head. “No one. Brodie wanted us to keep it quiet. He claimed it was because Sarah didn’t have the appropriate paperwork but I don’t think that was the main reason.”

  Willa placed her coffee cup on the table. “It wasn’t. He wants to control the publicity. If his star isn’t the all-action heroine she’s meant to be, it might affect release ratings, so the fewer people in the know, the better.”

  As far as Willa was concerned, the stunt men and women who worked damned hard and tackled the dangerous stunts deserved every bit of credit she could give them. Somehow, she would find a way to acknowledge Sarah’s contribution.

  Caleb nodded. “So we have you three, and two other people who were aware of the situation.”

  Sarah shook her head. “Three. Suzie had to do our hair and make up, and we changed our costumes in the makeup tent.”

  “Okay, three others, although we can discount Suzie because she was in your sight during that period of time. Sarah, was Tabitha out of your sight while you were in there?”

  “Yes. The flap was down, like it is now, to hide what we were doing.”

  As Jax leaned forward, his hand brushed Willa’s thigh. Her awareness of him spiked and her breath caught in her throat. Were his touches deliberate? Was he trying to throw her off balance or— she glanced at him. A tiny tug at the corner of his mouth, barely noticeable unless you looked for it, gave her the answer.