An hour after the storm hit, Steven entered his home through the back door and stopped dead in his tracks on the threshold of the living room.
Rebekah was curled up in a ball on his large, man-sized leather sofa, looking so small and fragile as she flipped through a photo album. His housekeeper, Martha, was at her side, eagerly telling her the stories the accompanied the photos.
It was a cosy scene that looked entirely out of place in a house that had been bachelor quarters since the day he'd purchased it twelve years ago.
Steven joined them as Martha finished telling Rebekah about the day he'd joined the RAN and as he sat down on his sofa, Rebekah looked up at him. Her face was flushed from the heat of the fire, her eyes sparkling and her mouth lifted in a smile.
He'd never seen anyone look more beautiful.
“How are the horses?” She asked.
“Good.” He replied. “They're all settled in for the night, so the storm won't bother them.”
She nodded and went back to looking at the album.
Steven could tell she wasn't as comfortable as she was trying to pretend she was, but he had to admit, he thought she looked right at home. She was the first woman to be in this place that stayed more then one night who wasn't family.
They sat together in the living room for a few more hours, listening to Martha's stories as the rain continues to pour down outside.
When Rebekah got a call, she excused herself and took the call in the kitchen.
“She's a sweet girl.” Martha commented as she closed the album. She looked at him and asked, “What sort of trouble is she in?”
“Federal. She's an agent with the AFP.” Steven told her. “She's got someone after her, out for revenge.”
“She's AFP?” Martha asked.
“Yeah. Been that for eight years.”
“Now there's a surprise.”
Steven frowned and asked, “How so?”
“Well, frankly, she doesn't look the part.” Martha explained. “If you'd said she was a model or aspiring actress, I wouldn't find that so hard to buy.”
He chuckled and told her, “Trust me, Martha. She's a fed.”
But her federal agent status didn't mean he couldn't keep her safe.
Claire had asked him to protect her baby sister and keep her away from that person out to get her.
Her position with the federal police meant nothing to him.
Rebekah came out of the kitchen and took her seat again.
“Everything okay?” He asked.
“For now.” She replied. “That was just my boss, giving me an updated sitrep.”
Martha left them alone to get a start on dinner and Steven joined her on the couch as he asked, “What's happened?”
“Edwards has been sighted in the vicinity of Lowood. It's a small town outside of Brisbane that was the scene for where I ended my last case.”
“So there can be no doubt that he's after you.” He stated.
“Exactly.” She looked over to the large windows and said, “Tomorrow, I'd like to ride the property, if that's okay.”
He nodded. “Whatever helps.”
He meant that, too.
He'd do whatever it took to keep Rebekah safe. He'd also do whatever it took to concentrate on that, and not the lustful desire coursing through his body.
Four
Dawn had only just broken over the land when Rebekah and Steven took the horses out. Northern Star was a huge property that stretched to the north for ten hectares and had a large blue dam at the back that separated Steven's property from the neighbouring one.
As Steven gave her the tour of the land, she saw that there was no place for Stan Edwards to sneak in, and no place for him to hide. Every inch of the large property was out in the open, allowing the horses that he owned to run free.
The ranch was also mostly flat, allowing it all to be seen from the large back windows on the house.
Reigning in Snow, Rebekah looked around her.
Twenty horses gazed in the fields around them, all of the beautiful creatures abandoned and re-claimed by Steven. Rays of sun were slowly lighting the area as it made it's way up and Rebekah saw the water of the dam winking in the distance.
“So,” Steven said, as he came up next to her, “Happy about the place?”
“Yes.” She said. “This place is just so ...” She paused, looking for the right word. “... amazing.”
He smiled and nodded. “I know. Dawn and dusk are the best times to be on the land out here.”
“I can see why.”
For the first eight years of her adult life, Rebekah had been in the city, submerged in the life of an active AFP agent. Being surrounded by tall buildings and concrete had let her forget about the beauty of the place she'd come from.
Cairns was her home, but the minute she'd been given the chance,Rebekah had run away, leaving everything behind for a job in the city.
Now that she was back, she'd put her family in danger.
Stan Edwards was a convicted rapist and murderer, his victims both men and women.
She knew the twisted freak wouldn't hesitate to kill someone if it meant getting to her. Being here, with Steven and a short distance from her sister, was a bad idea. When she'd been given the news about Edwards, she should have returned to Brisbane, drawing him away from her family.
But, she'd made her choice.
Now, she had to figure out a plan that would put Edwards right back where he belonged. She had to make sure no one she cared about ended up in a body bag.
Stan Edwards needed two things.
A car to get him to Cairns and a slut to service him.
Thanks to the bus breaking down, he and about fifty tourists were stranded in some little shit-hole town, ETA on a new bus tomorrow.
The tourists were happy to wait.
He wasn't.
He had to get moving.
With a knife in his pocket and a gun tucked into the waistband of his jeans, Stan began scouring the streets for one or both of his needs.
A hot mid-morning sun was beating down on him and his stomach was growling for food, but he ignored that. Food wasn't one of his needs at the moment, and he'd just spotted what he needed.
A blonde slut was climbing into a black Skyline, her barely-decent dress and sky-high heels making the simple task nearly impossible.
In about twenty seconds, he'd be taken care of and on his way to Cairns.
A grin spread across his face; I'm coming for ya, Agent Bitch!
Back to the north, Rebekah was taking some time to shoot targets.
Empty bottles, cans and rusted equipment that could no longer be used were supplied by Martha and the jack-a-roo's and lined up along an old log that had fallen several years ago.
Shots rang out in the quiet mid-afternoon, echoing through the area around them as target after target fell from the log.
Steven leaned against the railing of his back verandah, watching Rebekah, along with his jack-a-roo's, Martha and Claire.
Rebekah emptied her magazine and swapped the hand pistol she held for a shotgun he didn't even know she'd brought along. One of his men said something that made her laugh and Steven felt a sudden and very swift surge of jealousy course through him.
The idea of someone else touching her made him mad, and it was something he couldn't explain.
The boom of the shotgun made the wood beneath his hands vibrate as the jack-a-roo's whooped and high-fived. Claire placed a hand over her growing belly and shared a look with him as Rebekah came up onto the verandah.
“All good?” He asked her.
“All good.” She agreed.
As she went inside, Steven looked down at where Claire sat on the stairs and saw the look of concern on Claire's face.
“Claire? You okay?”
“Yes and no.” She replied. “I just worry about her.”
“I know. But she can handle herself.”
“It's the emotional side that has me concerned.”
Steven frowned and asked, “How do you mean?”
“Rebekah doesn't show her emotions the way most women do. She has a habit of bottling everything up inside and saying nothing as to how she's feeling.”
“You think she might be hurting more then she's letting on about this Edwards thing.”
“I do.”
Now that he knew that, Steven would keep a closer eye on her.
He wouldn't have Rebekah getting hurt while under his watch.
Five
Later that night, he found Rebekah on the verandah.
She sat on the top stair, seated sideways with her long legs stretched out along the stair and her eyes on the dark, star-studded sky.
Grabbing two beers from his fridge, he went outside to join her.
“Hey.”
She accepted one of the bottles and smiled. “Hey.”
“Countin' stars?”
“No. I'm just reminding myself what a star-studded sky looks like.”
“How long have you been away from this place?”
“Eight years.” She replied. “Always buried in a case for either the FVPD or the AFP. Always working.”
Maybe Claire had been wrong about her sister's emotions because Steven could hear anger and regret in her voice.
Just to keep her talking, he asked, “What was the first case you worked?”
“The six months I worked with FVPD were quiet, but two months into my time as a federal agent, I landed this murder.” She told him. “A drug dealer went out on the town late one Friday. He was high and looking for a good time. He came across these two under-aged girls, abducted them and took them to this old abandoned warehouse. By the time we figured out where he was, he'd raped and murdered them.”
“Bastard.” He muttered. “But how did that become a federal case?”
“The guy was wanted for numerous crimes in both The Territory and here. When the local LEO's identified their perp, they called us in and we took over the man-hunt.” Rebekah said. She smiled slightly and added, “It wouldn't have mattered about jurisdiction, thought, because the son-of-a-bitch never got the chance to stand trial.”
Steven frowned. “He got away?”
“No. I shot him.” Using two fingers, she tapped her chest, adding, “Double-tap to the heart sent him straight to Hell.”
He smiled and congratulated her.
Looking at him, Rebekah said, “Stan Edwards will be joining him if he does anything to hurt my family.”
He didn't doubt that.
* * * *
Early the next morning, Rebekah was in the living room, her laptop braced on her legs as she logged into the AFP's database.
She couldn't just sit around and wait for Edwards to come to her.
Part of her job was to understand criminals so she could predict how they were going to behave, and one thing she knew about Stan Edwards was he liked to take things that didn't belong to him.
The last time they'd danced, he'd stolen a car to cross the border.
Logging into the database, Rebekah began searching reports from local LEO's and her colleagues in an effort to find Edwards and pin-point his exact location.
She wouldn't let him get close to the people she cared about the most.
Six
That night, Steven was in the middle of packing his duffel-bag for a return to the ship in less then three days. He's short vacation was over and it was nearly time to head back to work.
Which meant he'd be leaving Rebekah behind unprotected if they couldn't end this thing in the next seventy-two hours.
A knock sounded on his door just then.
“Yeah?”
“I've got a break, but I need your help.” Rebekah told him through the door.
He opened it and asked, “What's happened?”
“Edwards has stolen a car with ATT and I need to get to his location before he can move.”
“Whoa, slow down.” Steven said. “What's ATT?”
“Anti-Theft Tracking.”
“Okay. Where is he?”
“Thirty k's outside of Ingham.”
Looking at his watch, he told her, “It'll take you over two hours to get there.”
“That's why I need to move. But I need your car.”
“What happened to your rental?”
“It's at Claire's and if I go there, she's going to know something is up and worry about me.” Rebekah said. Holding out her hand, she asked, “Are you going to help me or not?”
Before he could answer, her phone rang.
Pulling it out of her pocket, Rebekah checked the ID before swiping the screen and putting it to her ear. “Westmore.”
Steven didn't know who she was talking to, but she kept calling him Sir and agreed to meet him in Mission Beach.
“Gimme your car keys, Officer Leigh.” She said when she'd hung up.
“I'm coming with you.”
“No, I need you to stay here and look after my sister.”
“You're sister has her husband.”
“And I have a team of federal agents about to land in the next couple of hours.”
“I'm still coming with you.” He said.
He wasn't about to back down.
He didn't want her facing off against Edwards without him to back her up.
Rebekah placed her hands on her hips and huffed out a sigh. “You're a stubborn one, Leigh.”
He just grinned and said, “Let's go.”
They drove for two hours before both of them were too tired to drive anymore. Steven suggested pulling into a near-by B&B so they could catch a few hours of sleep and Rebekah agreed.
She needed to be energised and alert for when she faced-off against Edwards.
The B&B was big enough to allow them each their own room, but she insisted on sharing one, telling Steven it'd be easier for them to get mobile if Edwards moved. They were given a large room with a king size bed, and although she told Steven it would be okay for them to be in the same bed – after all, they were adults – Rebekah began to have seconds thoughts almost immediately. Despite the bed being massive, she could still feel Steven beside her, his heat wrapping around her like a blanket as they slept.
Being that close to him made her feel odd.
Odd in a good way.
But now wasn't the time to focus on those feelings.
She needed to get some sleep so she could be energised and ready to face Stan Edwards.
During the night, Steven woke up and found Rebekah wrapped around him, her leg thrown over his hip and her arm under his. Having her that close made him instantly hard and he swore under his breath.
His lustful feelings for her were becoming too strong and he feared what might happen if he didn't do something about it.
He wouldn't be responsible for Rebekah getting hurt or even killed just because he couldn't control his cock.
Shifting to put some distance between them didn't work because Rebekah was awake instantly, her hand sliding under her pillow to retrieve the gun she stored there just before they went to sleep.
“What's wrong?” She demanded.
“Nothing.”
She turned on the light and looked at him. “Are you sure? I thought I heard something.”
Just me, fighting for control, he thought. Shaking his head, he told her, “I was just … trying to get comfortable.”
“Oh. Okay.” Rebekah put the gun back under the pillow and turned off the light.
They both settled back down to go back to sleep, but when Rebekah's slim leg brushed against him, he couldn't control himself anymore. Moving before could think about what he was doing, Steven pulled her on top of him and claimed her mouth. He gave her the kiss he'd been wanting to give her since the moment he'd laid eyes on her, using his tongue to show her just what he was feeling.
At first, Rebekah resisted, her small hands pushing against his shoulders in an effort to push him away. But then she surrendered, her hands unclenching so her fingers could become buried i
n his hair as she kissed him back.
A Hero In Uniform - The Complete Series Page 12
