CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Ewan had to know how much he affected her. It wasn’t just the cold leaving her incoherent and shaking. As he’d unbuttoned her shirt, she could barely breathe, let alone speak. His expression might have been inscrutable but when the stubborn third button gave way, his control had cracked. If she hadn’t been so intent on reading his face, she’d have missed the sparks of need in his eyes. Sparks that disappeared as quickly as they had appeared.
Kree placed her mug on the floor and let go of the sleeping bag. It pooled around her lap. The fire’s warmth washed across her torso, bare except for her boring white bra. Silk and French lace hadn’t exactly been on her ‘to take’ list when she’d packed to search for Seth. She dragged her almost dry hair off her face and finger-brushed out the tangles. Even just a hairline fissure in Ewan’s control was good. Now she had to find a way to bust his self-control wide open, if she had any hope of giving life to what lay between them. She stared into the fireplace as though the clues to unlocking their relationship glowed in the embers.
A draft of cold wind raced over her back and fed the fire flames as the hut door flew open. She pulled the sleeping bag over her chest and turned as Ewan strode through the doorway. Water streamed over his bare chest and shoulders, highlighting every well-honed ridge and work-hardened contour. She’d seen him shirtless before, but the flicker of firelight on his golden skin ignited warmth deep within her she couldn’t blame on the fire’s heat. She took another sip of her hot chocolate.
He collected his shirt from the drying rack, and swiped it over his face and torso before sitting on the block of wood in front of the fireplace. He still hadn’t looked at her.
‘Banjo and Rocket okay?’
‘Both are good,’ he said as he took a gulp of his coffee and studied the fire.
From over the top of her mug, Kree considered his carved features. So much for levering open his control. His relief at the cattle being found had evaporated as quickly as the fire dried the moisture from his skin.
‘The storm showing any signs of easing?’ she asked, filling the silence growing between them. ‘It seems hell bent on shaking every window pane.’
‘Not yet, but it should soon.’
‘Just as well you knew this place was here. I don’t mind getting wet, but that lightning was a little too close.’
He finally looked at her. His eyes grave. ‘I’m sorry the lightning scared you. I should have found shelter sooner.’
‘You don’t need to apologise. I didn’t even think to pack waterproof jackets.’
Ewan again stared at the fire.
Kree finished her hot chocolate and set her mug on the floor beside her sleeping bag covered feet.
A large water droplet ran from his hair over his collarbone, leaving a trail of goosebumps. She caught the droplet with her fingertip before it had a chance to slide further.
‘You’re freezing. Here.’ She stood. ‘I’ll get dressed and you can wrap the sleeping bag around you.’
‘No, I’m fine.’ Ewan’s gentle fingers circled her wrist and tugged her back onto the wooden block. ‘Your clothes need longer to dry.’
A wave of goosebumps littered his skin. ‘Don’t be a princess, Ewan. Take the sleeping bag.’
He grinned. ‘I take it chatterbox Braye mentioned my conversation with Travis?’
‘Yes. I must admit I did have a chuckle, but there are worse things Travis could have called you to stop you being so precious about me coming.’
The amusement curving Ewan’s lips vanished. ‘I wasn’t being precious, I was just … worried about you.’
She hesitated, and then ran her palm over the curve of his muscled shoulder, hoping the warmth of her touch would transfer to him. ‘I was worried about you, too. That’s why I came.’
His eyes darkened but he didn’t draw away. She slowly eased her hand along the line of his shoulder until her hand settled into the curve of his neck. Her fingers splayed into his wet hair. She stilled. Was he going to move away? The only sound in the rain-shrouded hut was the pop of burning wood.
An indefinable expression sped across his face before his eyes closed and his head tilted. She took her time to massage the tension and chill from his rigid shoulder.
The sleeping bag rustled as she wriggled forward to reach the knot at the base of his neck. The heavy weight of her hair swung forward and brushed his chest.
A shudder rippled through him before his near-black eyes opened. He caught her hand and slowly drew it away from him. Tension etched his face in sharp and strained lines.
‘Kree, stop.’ He rasped as his cold lips kissed her warm knuckles. ‘My self-control can only hold for so long.’
She curled her fingers round his and gazed deep into his eyes. ‘Then stop fighting.’
‘I can’t.’ He lowered their hands to rest on the wet denim of his thigh, entwining his fingers with hers so she could no longer touch him.
‘Can’t or won’t?’ She wasn’t abandoning the fight to save what existed between them. She leaned forward and just before her mouth met his whispered, ‘You’re not the only one who wants what they shouldn’t.’
For a heady moment, his lips sought hers. Then he released her fingers and his hands grasped her shoulders. He carefully set her back on the wooden block. Longing burned in his eyes, but resolve firmed the line of his jaw.
‘This will only end in pain, for both of us.’ Even as he said the hoarse words, his eyes fastened on her mouth. ‘I can’t hurt you, Kree.’
‘Then don’t push me away. The decision to end what’s between us isn’t solely yours, it’s mine, too.’
Her chin angled. She wasn’t leaving this hut until he’d nullified his decision to walk away. She was done fighting fair. The stakes were too high. She’d come to the outback to find her brother and also found a good and decent man to … love. A man she wasn’t willing to now lose.
She released her grasp on the sleeping bag she held against her chest. With a silken whisper, the smooth material slithered to her waist.
‘And I want to give us a chance.’
She had no idea if Ewan heard her last words. When the sleeping bag dropped to reveal her curves cupped in nothing but her bra, it was as though the outside storm raged in his eyes. He groaned, his urgent mouth covering hers.
When they drew apart for air, Kree realised she’d somehow ended up in Ewan’s lap. Reluctant to loosen her grip around his neck, she leaned back in his arms to examine his face. Would he fly the white flag or stick to his decision to walk away?
But where minutes before tension had set his features, now only softness existed. The light in his grey eyes gave her hope he’d laid down his weapons.
‘I gather you no longer think it’s best if we go our separate ways?’
‘I wonder what gave you that idea?’
His lips twitched. ‘It couldn’t have been the slipping sleeping bag?’
‘Definitely not.’
‘I thought you were scared?’
‘I was. You make me feel so out of control and that frightened me. But I’m not scared anymore.’ She traced the shape of his mouth with a shy finger. ‘What I am scared of now is throwing away what we have. I’ve realised my life can’t always be about Seth.’
Caution eclipsed the smile in his eyes. She rested her hand on the side of his face.
‘Ewan, I’m flying by the seat of my control-freak pants. We don’t need to plan where we’re headed. All I ask is we take each day as it comes and see what happens.’
The tanned skin of his throat moved as he swallowed. ‘No promises?’
‘No promises to be broken, if that’s what you need to feel safe.’
The hand in the small of her bare back pressed her closer, before his mouth confirmed they had a deal.
Breathing ragged, he then lifted her in his arms as he stood. She laced her hands around his neck as though she’d never let go.
The corner of his mouth kicked into a smile. ‘It w
asn’t just a drying rack Tish insisted we needed.’ With his foot Ewan pushed open a door to the left of the kitchen. Kree caught the gleam of firelight on brass as she made out the rectangular shape of a double cast-iron bed dwarfing the small room. ‘Tish still prefers glamping to camping and wanted a real bed to sleep in.’
Kree returned his widening smile.
Ewan walked through the narrow doorway to place Kree on the mattress. For a moment he stared down at her. In the dark intensity of his eyes she saw the same need and desperation that beat within her. She tangled her hands in his hair, pulled him down onto the bed and lost herself in the magic that only Ewan’s touch could bring.
‘So, Sleeping Beauty, who’s the princess now?’
Ewan’s husky voice flowed over her like the sweetest honey. She smiled and stretched, making sure she lost none of the contact her naked body had against him.
‘Who could blame a girl for sleeping? You’re so warm …’ her hand took its time sliding over his chest as she leaned in closer to his mouth, ‘and so …’ and she let her kiss finish the rest of her sentence.
Breathless minutes later, Ewan smiled against her lips. ‘Do you hear that?’
‘No.’
‘Exactly. The rain has stopped.’ He dropped a kiss on her shoulder. ‘So, as much as I’d like to keep making you fly by the seat of your control-freak pants, we’d better get going if we want to be home by nightfall.’ He eased away and her senses mourned the loss of his muscled warmth. ‘The boys will be worried enough without having Tish there to tuck them into bed.’
Together they dressed and when the fire was extinguished and the hut tidied, Ewan smiled and held out his hand. She looped her fingers with his. As they walked through the door, it was like journeying to a different place. No longer was the hut draped in a cloak of wind and rain. Late-afternoon sun streamed through the clouds. Thunder rumbled in the far-off distance as the storm retreated. The lemon scent of the nearby pale-trunked gum tree carried on the now placid breeze. A black-and-white willy wagtail fluttered its wings in a puddle beside the hut steps.
After Ewan locked the front door, hands still linked, they headed to where the horses were sheltering. She slowed as she caught sight of the brilliant hues of a rainbow arcing above the rusted shed roof. She turned to follow the curve of rich colour and got a proper look at the dwelling they’d left. Her hand slipped from Ewan’s as she stopped. The place where they’d sought cover was no camping hut. With its stone chimney and pitched roof, it was a cabin. Her breath caught.
It was the cabin in her mother’s drawing.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
‘I can’t believe you’re willing to poison Old Harry with chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies,’ Ewan said.
Kree patted the plastic container she balanced on her lap as she sat in the passenger seat of his ute. ‘Old Harry is about to have his culinary world rocked.’ She cast him a cheeky sideways glance. ‘Besides, I thought you said they weren’t that bad.’
‘I think what I said was they were … edible.’
Her sunglasses shaded her eyes and focused his attention on her smiling mouth. ‘Well, for just edible cookies, you ate three of them.’
Ewan forced himself to concentrate on the road and not on what he really wanted to be doing with Kree right now. He didn’t know what was worse, the need to kiss her that had burned from the moment she’d smiled her sad, sweet smile. Or now, knowing he could kiss her any chance he could get. They were already running late for morning tea at Old Harry’s because they’d snuck into her room when the boys had gone to fill their backpacks with whatever they needed for their morning at Travis’s farm.
‘True. You do know Old Harry calls it as he sees it. If he doesn’t like the cookies, he’ll let you know.’
‘As long as he can tell me about my father and the murals, he can say anything he likes. I still can’t believe Harry is who Mrs Fisher told Anne I needed to see about the murals.’
‘I know. He’d be the last person I’d have suggested. Having said that, for someone who hates going to town, he does still seem to know what’s going on.’
She shifted in her seat to face him. Her hand settled on the denim of his thigh. ‘Thanks for coming with me. I’m sorry you’re not unloading your cattle.
He took her small hand in his. Even in the close confines of the ute cabin, he couldn’t get enough of her. ‘No worries. The cattle will be fine spending another day at Travis’s. The paddocks will dry out soon enough and he’ll be able to drive his truck in to load them. They look none the worse for wear after their adventures.’
‘No wonder the truck would get bogged right now, Travis sure had some rain. There was a mud puddle on the driveway I caught Braye eyeing off. Luckily, I packed an extra set of clothes.’
‘Once they’ve found the tree house, I’m sure Braye will forget all about playing in the mud.’
‘Let’s hope so and let’s hope he doesn’t do what Seth once did and jump out of a tree house instead of using the ladder.’
‘Ouch.’
‘Ouch all right. He was lucky to escape with a sprained ankle.’
Ewan squeezed her hand. ‘What did Seth say when you told him about finding the cabin in your mother’s picture?’
‘He was excited and wanted to know how I found it.’ Colour painted her cheeks. ‘Needless to say, I didn’t tell him the whole story of what happened while we were out in the storm.’
‘Will you tell him?’
Ewan held himself still while he waited for her answer. Even though they were taking each day as it came, it suddenly seemed important she was prepared to tell the brother she loved about him.
‘I will when he drives up at the end of the week.’
‘Has he got a lift?’
‘I wish. He bought a ute.’
Ewan glanced at her. ‘Ute? When?’
‘Yesterday. You know what he’s like. He would have seen it and decided on the spot to buy it. I wished he’d talked to you. I’ve no idea if it’s a pile of junk or not.’
Ewan didn’t try to hide his frown. Young males were a high-risk group for car accidents, let alone an American teenager who’d learned to drive on the opposite side of the road. ‘Please tell me it has airbags and anti-lock ABS brakes?’
‘They’ll be my first questions when I talk to him after we’ve visited Old Harry.’
Ewan glanced out the side window at the kurrajong trees lining Harry’s boundary fence. Harry’s emu-shaped mailbox, made out of welded together horse-shoes, would soon appear.
‘Hopefully, you’ll have some answers for Seth then as well.’ Ewan let go of her hand to change down a gear. ‘Harry might be able to explain why your mother had a picture of the cabin. Maybe your father drew it for her?’
‘Maybe.’
Ewan turned at the emu mailbox and sent the ute over Old Harry’s front cattle-grid. ‘You do know if you’d shown me the picture, I could have told you where the cabin was?’
Kree laughed. ‘Yes, I do, smarty-pants. And I would have, eventually. After discovering my father painted the murals, the photocopy of my mother’s picture sat neglected in my bag.’
A border collie and brown kelpie raced out as Ewan parked the ute in the shade of a cedar tree. Old Harry shuffled out the front door, his shrill whistle rescuing Kree from the excited two dogs sniffing her boots, licking her hands and wriggling in close for a pat. Harry disappeared with the dogs around the side of the house to where their kennels were.
‘Now, that’s what I call a welcome,’ she said as she fell into step beside Ewan.
‘I suspect you could be their first female visitor.’
Her brows rose. ‘No way.’
‘Harry has no family and the rumour in town is that it’s been twenty years since a woman set foot inside Yuulong homestead.’
Kree halted. ‘I hope I didn’t force him into having me over. I only wondered if I could ask him some questions and he suggested I come for morning tea and bring you
.’
Ewan pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose. ‘Maybe he’s mellowing in his old age. Just think, he’ll be inviting Mrs Jessop around next.’
Old Harry reappeared and when Ewan caught the glimmer of emotion in the old man’s faded grey eyes as he stared at Kree, he knew his own walls weren’t the only ones Kree had scaled.
‘Thanks so much for having us,’ she said, before she threw Ewan a quick glance. ‘We brought some delicious cookies.’
Harry nodded and motioned for Kree to head inside. ‘In you go. I’ll put the kettle on.’
When Ewan went to follow, Harry took hold of his arm and stopped him. ‘I see you took my advice.’
‘Don’t get too excited, we’re taking it slow. Kree’s supposed to fly home in ten days.’
‘Well, you’d better get a move on then.’
‘Harry …’
But he’d disappeared inside.
Ewan followed Harry into the kitchen, which hadn’t changed in thirty years. Apart from Ewan insisting Harry purchase a new stovetop, the wood grained cupboards and the lino floor were the same as when he visited with his father as a child. But, unlike in past visits, a yellow tablecloth covered the table and a fine bone china teacup sat at a place set for Kree.
‘This is lovely, Harry. Thank you.’ She took the cookie plate out of the plastic container and placed it on the table. Harry opened the fridge and withdrew a china plate covered in lamingtons.
‘My favourite,’ Ewan said as he took his usual seat at the table.
‘Kree’s favourite,’ Harry replied as he sat the pretty plate in front of where Kree would sit. He then pulled out the chair for her.
‘Feeling like a princess?’ Ewan asked as Kree slid into her chair.
Kree returned his secret smile.
Harry picked up the china teacup and saucer and it rattled so much Ewan came to his feet to help make the tea. He ignored Harry’s glower. He’d long ago learned that just because Harry didn’t want help, it didn’t mean he didn’t need it.
Down Outback Roads Page 23
