Return to Riversleigh

by Anne Ashby

  They wandered off in a different direction from the two men, although Shannon noticed Luke’s gaze remained on them.

  They strolled across the face of the hill. “Are you going to take part in this mud run thing?”

  Debra stopped, her eyes bulging. “You’re kidding, aren’t you?”

  Shannon shrugged. “Not completely. You and Jase would make a great team.”

  “He’s welcome to join in if he wants, but he’d better not be expecting me to be right there beside him.”

  Damn. Shannon’s furtive glance showed both men were now moving their way.

  “I have to say it wouldn’t be my first thought for an entertaining day out, either.”

  Debra tapped fingers against her lips. “Perhaps if we both volunteered as adjudicators? What do you think? When Jase first mentioned the mud run idea, I felt an urgent need to attend meetings in Wellington that weekend.”

  “Oh.” Shannon raised her eyebrows. She’d understood this was still in the very early planning stage. “Has a date been set?”

  “No, but I’ll be urgently needed elsewhere—whenever it is.”

  Shannon burst out laughing. “You fraud,” she spluttered. “You’re going to string—”

  “Shh,” Debra warned as the men got closer. “That is not for general publication. Jase is excited…”

  “Mum’s the word.”

  “What’s going on?” Jase asked, as the men joined them.

  Shannon dropped her head to smother a smile at Debra’s innocent look.

  “Nothing, darling. Shannon was just showing me where the mountain track is going to be.”

  “The mountain bike track,” Jase corrected. “And that’s hilarious because—?”

  “Oh, any number of reasons, Jase.” She patted her husband on the cheek.

  Shannon couldn’t stop a chuckle from escaping.

  “We’ll wait for you in the truck.” Shannon’s arm was grabbed somewhat fiercely and Debra dragged her toward the truck. “Take your time, Jase.”

  After helping Amy slide down, both women climbed into the truck with her before the giggles gave way to full blown laughter.

  “Do you think it’s terrible of me to deceive Jase?”

  “Probably do him good.”

  Debra chewed on her bottom lip. “I’m not sure. Would you do the same sort of thing to Luke?”

  Shannon opened her mouth to answer in the affirmative when it struck her. She had no right to think of Luke in such a situation.

  For just a moment, she’d been in cahoots with Debra—two women against their men. Her shoulders fell and she slumped back against the seat. “The situation would never arise.”

  Her tone went flat. “I work for Luke. Nothing more.”

  “Is that right?” Debra’s eyebrows rose. “Oh well, if you say so.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Heat flooded up Shannon’s neck and into her face. Turning a horrified gaze toward Debra, the draining warmth left her feeling strangely vulnerable.

  Her head shook emphatically at Debra’s suggestion. “Luke’s a pleasant boss to work for.”

  “You appear to have a rather tense working relationship, if you don’t mind me saying.”

  Shannon shrugged. “We’ve had a bit of a disagreement—”

  “A bit?” Debra’s eyebrows rose. “There’s a lot of tension floating around for a bit of a disagreement. Sitting in that kitchen was like being stuck in the middle of a minefield.” She paused. “And why do I suspect that ‘bit of a disagreement’ had little to do with the job?”

  Shannon refused to meet Debra’s gaze. Or respond to her question. She imagined the speculation in the other woman’s mind and wasn’t about to add to it. Instead she shrugged again and looked out the window directly toward the subject of their discussion.

  “He’s a hunk all right.”

  Shannon’s head swiveled back at Debra’s comment. She, too, was looking out the window toward the men.

  “Although those dreads don’t do anything for him. He looks like some middle-aged hippie.”

  Unconsciously Shannon leapt to Luke’s defense. “I kinda like them.”

  “Do you?” A knowing little smile hovered around Debra’s mouth as she faced Shannon again.

  “I like Uncle Luke’s hair. It’s easy to hang onto when he’s giving me a horsey-back ride.”

  Despite her sitting between them, Shannon had all but forgotten Amy’s presence.

  “Is it, honey?” Debra’s gentle smile changed and her eyebrows rose as her gaze lifted from Amy to Shannon. “That might be something Shannon will want to remember.”

  Shannon’s whole body burned at the visual Debra suggested—so much so she threw the truck door open and sucked in a few deep breaths of cool air.

  “No way!” Shannon spluttered. “I’ve been that route before. I’m not going there again, especially not with another adrenaline junkie.” After a moment she cleared her throat. “Anyway, I’m past that nonsense.”

  “What?” The loud astonishment in Debra’s voice was enough for Shannon to shut the door again, lest the men might hear. “What? Are you dead?”

  Shannon wrapped her arms tightly across her chest. She had to stop Debra making any more suggestive comments before her rising blood pressure blew her head apart.

  “Look, my marriage wasn’t particularly successful, nor happy. I learned to live with all you might imagine I missed out on. I’m not interested in reliving the excitement that comes with relationships.”

  Debra remained silent for so long Shannon ended up glancing across at her. The sympathy bouncing back brought tears to Shannon’s eyes. She blinked, determined not to make a spectacle of herself.

  “You’ve felt like that for a long time?” Debra guessed.

  Shannon nodded.

  “And working with Luke is proving more difficult than you expected?”

  Shannon couldn’t answer. How did I end up in such an intimate tête-à-tête with a complete stranger? She swallowed.

  “Sometimes we don’t get the choice, Shannon. Sometimes life throws things at us when we least expect it.” Debra reached across Amy’s back and touched Shannon’s shoulder. “Embracing those things might just be worth the risk.”

  About to snap back, something in Debra’s expression instead made her ask, “Is that how it happened to you?”

  Debra’s gaze flew out the window to her husband. “I was fast turning into a wrinkled old prune when I met Jase. I didn’t much want to change, either—not for some time, anyway.”

  Her gaze swung back to Shannon. “I was petrified, scared of how out of control my life suddenly became.” She shot a wry smile at Shannon. “I’d been a control freak for years, you see.”

  Shannon chewed her bottom lip. “Just because it worked out for you doesn’t mean much.”

  “True. But I guess you have to question whether you feel your life as it is now is fulfilling enough? Whether you can look ahead ten or twenty years and believe you’ll be happy then, too.”

  “I’m content,” Shannon insisted. “I have Thomas, he’s twelve.” Shannon guessed Debra didn’t know she had a son.

  “Twelve, aye? So he’ll be gone in another four or five years.”

  Shannon turned away, and kept hidden from Debra the fear her son was already gone from her.

  ****

  “Hey kids, Aunt Marcia asked me to give you both a hug and kiss goodnight. She’ll be home tomorrow.” Luke entered the bedroom and proceeded to carry out his aunt’s instructions amid squeals and giggles.

  Once order had been returned and their goodnight story read, Luke brushed a gentle hand across Amy’s forehead as he prepared her pain medication. “How’s your leg, pumpkin. Is it very sore tonight?”

  He breathed a sigh of relief when she shook her head. “I had fun today. Shannon and that lady were funny. They giggled a lot.”

  Luke forced his lips into a smile as Amy snuggled down. He drew the blankets up around her shoulders. Yeah, I notic
ed giggling, too. His jaw clenched. Was I the brunt of their jokes?

  “Uncle Luke, what’s a hunk?”

  “Where did you hear that word, pumpkin?” He bent to kiss the sweet little face.

  “They called you a hunk.” Luke’s chest expanded as heat flooded through him.

  But Amy’s enquiring mind swapped lanes quicker than a fleeing lawbreaker with sirens screaming behind him. “Then Shannon got real sad.”

  “What?” he reared back.

  “Shannon got sad. She cried.”

  The breath sucked out of Luke’s lungs. “What? When?”

  “She’s not going away, is she?” Amy’s voice trembled.

  Jake shot up in his bed. “You can’t let her go away, Uncle.”

  Shannon’s leaving? Luke became a piece of jetsam in a tornado’s vortex. Although he remained at Amy’s bedside, his mind spun, his body slumped, and he struggled to re-inflate his lungs.

  Blinking to re-focus, Luke registered the children’s agitation. Jake knelt on his bed, his face pale, his eyes bulging. Amy lay still except for the wobble of her little chin.

  Luke cleared his throat and hoped his voice sounded normal. He didn’t feel normal. Sweat erupted all over his body. “When was this? When was she sad?” Fear lent urgency to his voice.

  I don’t care about the moral ethics of questioning a child. He shook his head. Shannon crying? It seemed unconceivable.

  When Amy didn’t answer he softened his voice. “What did she say? Do you remember?” He had to find out why Shannon was upset. I know why she’d been angry, but crying?

  “Maybe she was sad ’cause that other lady said your hair looks funny. I don’t remember.”

  Luke’s hand wandered up to touch a couple of the dreads hanging over his shoulder. I doubt that would have concerned Shannon.

  “You won’t let them leave, will you, Uncle?”

  Luke’s head swiveled back to his nephew. He stood and hugged the agitated boy tightly.

  “They’re not going anywhere, if I have anything to do with it. Now stop worrying and go to sleep.”

  He had to think. His brain was working at less-than-fifty baud speed when he needed it to process at terabytes per second.

  As he exited the children’s bedroom he paused, casting a glance toward the connecting door to Shannon’s flat. I need to talk to her.

  Light sneaked through the cracks of the doorway. But he halted his pussyfooting in that direction. Thomas would still be awake. Luke’s fists clenched. Thomas would be awake for hours yet. Whatever might come of any conversation with Shannon, it wasn’t one he wanted an audience for.

  And I have to clear my head first, he further justified his delay. I have to decide what I want to say, what I want to do.

  Luke scrubbed a hand around the back of his neck. I have no idea. He smothered a groan. What will I do if she leaves me?

  Hours later Luke was no further ahead with a devised plan of attack. He grimaced as he slammed out of the house and stomped around to the door of the flat. This was not a time he should approach via the interconnecting door.

  Damn. Thomas’s light was still on. What the hell? A kid his age should be asleep by now.

  A band tightened around Luke’s head as he lifted his hand to knock. He managed to suck a dozen quick breaths into his lungs in the half minute it took before the door swung open.

  She didn’t look teary now. In fact, if anything, she looked the exact opposite, annoyed at the intrusion.

  He pushed his shoulders back. “We need to talk.”

  He shot a pointed glance up at Thomas’s window and continued before she could slam the door in his face. “Would you come for a walk?”

  When she hesitated, he tacked on a hasty, “Please.”

  Without a word she reached behind her for a jacket. Shrugging it on, she stepped out beside him.

  “Thanks,” he murmured.

  By mutual consent they crossed the yard, passed the shadow of the implement sheds and the new building, and continued down the driveway toward the road. All the way Luke couldn’t convince his voice box to work and Shannon appeared determined not to break the silence.

  He tugged his clenched hands from his pockets and rubbed them up and down the side seams of his jeans. “You’re not thinking of leaving, are you?” he demanded.

  The half moon allowed enough light for him to register astonishment on her face as her head spun toward him.

  “You’re not?” Luke stumbled back a step and worked some moisture into his mouth. He closed his eyes, relief rolling over him like waves at the beach. He couldn’t speak beyond a heartfelt, “Oh, thank God.”

  She offered no resistance as he wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. He savored the sensation of her warmth pressed against his body. His nose nuzzled into her hair, drinking in the fragrance of her shampoo and relishing the very essence of her.

  Eventually Shannon wriggled and, after wishing this moment could last forever, he loosened his hold. He was loath to release her.

  “Luke? Whatever brought this on?”

  He searched her face, but the night light didn’t allow him to distinguish much. “Amy said you were upset today. She said you were crying.”

  He ran a gentle finger across her cheek. “You weren’t crying, were you?” he implored. “Please tell me I didn’t upset you so much you cried.”

  ****

  Shannon stared up at him. She couldn’t believe this. Where is the self-assured man I’ve come to know? A remorseful Luke wasn’t someone she recognized. But he did appear filled with remorse.

  “Why would I want to leave?” She sensed his relief. His gentleness had forced rapid blinking to rid herself of any possible errant moisture in her eyes.

  He squirmed a little, lifting one shoulder. “Maybe I interfered once too often, spoke harshly, yelled at you.”

  Shannon gulped and loosened up a little. He hadn’t mentioned that kiss, and she sure wasn’t going to. But Luke’s words harsh? Yelling at me?

  She grimaced. Luke doesn’t comprehend how trifling his attitude has been in comparison with what I’ve been subjected to in the past. “I know you meant well, and that I am a little over-protective of Thomas.”

  The dim light didn’t hide eyebrows shooting toward his hairline.

  “Once Thomas was safe I might have over-reacted a little.”

  Luke’s shoulders slumped a little. “You’re sure? You’re not cheesed off that I overstepped the mark?”

  “Let’s look on it as a healthy difference of opinion.”

  He ran his hand up and down her arm. “I can’t promise I won’t do it again,” he murmured.

  Any thought of her son disappeared. Her stomach clenched. Do what again? Kiss me?

  Their proximity hiked up the sudden tension. They stared at each other in silence. She could tell he was no longer thinking about the way he’d spoken during their minor altercation. Thank God for the dim light to hide the heat creeping up into her face.

  His finger traveled across her face, flicking a lock of hair behind her ear before it halted under her chin. She was incapable of protest as he tilted her face up. All she could think of was the touch of his lips. Last time they’d been applied in a fit of frustration, but they’d touched something deep inside her, too—something she’d been sure was dead and long ago consigned to the depths.

  He gave her plenty of time to move, to turn her head aside. She wouldn’t be able to protest being kissed against her will. He wasn’t catching her unawares this time.

  As Luke’s head lowered toward her, foolish desires had her heels lifting, her arms inching up, and her lips parting as she rose to meet him.

  It was a silly fantasy to imagine her bones were melting, but her fingers gripped his shoulders. Later she might pretend it was to steady her trembling body, to help hold herself upright, but the reality was she needed him closer.

  As consuming excitement soared through her, blood roared in her ears and her staccato heart beat out a
n unsteady rhythm. Itching fingers, searching for a way to dislodge clothing to get even closer, instead encountered one of his dreads and she clutched hold.

  As she twirled the hair around her hand to ensure his continued capture, an unwanted image from her conversation with Debra sprang to mind that quelled this stupidity.

  Unraveling her fingers, she leaned them against his chest, not pushing, but the pressure was enough for Luke to feel and lift his mouth from hers.

  The night muted his gaze as he stared down at her, but Shannon was undeniably aware of how affected he was by the encounter. Their previous kiss might have been fuelled by anger and frustration on his part, but this time…if there was frustration, it was of a very different type.

  “We’d better head back. Thomas will be wondering where you are.”

  Shannon stumbled, glad of the arm he’d tucked around her as they turned. Glancing up she quickly looked away from the heat of Luke’s look. Her bottom lip became the focus of her teeth’s attention.

  She could have told him Thomas would not inquire as to her whereabouts. He’d been ignoring her ever since she’d sent him from the implement shed and hadn’t stayed in any other part of the flat other than his bedroom for one second longer than necessary.

  She could have assured him she might stay out all night and Thomas would not notice. Instead her gaze wandered about aimlessly as they returned to the farmhouse. Disorientated, she needed time to assimilate what had happened.

  With the heat from Luke’s body burning from hip to shoulder as they walked, Shannon grasped at her need to figure out where this was leading. She needed time and a much clearer head.

  The idea of Luke kissing her and obviously wanting more had not occurred to her before. Her attraction to him was something she’d been working hard to overcome, and quite successfully, too. But now? Everything has changed now.

  His arm tightened around her as she shivered. Now I have to decide what I want to do about this new situation.

  She smothered her groan but he must have heard something.

  He stopped walking. “It’ll be okay. Stop worrying.”

  Stop worrying? I haven’t even started yet.