Heartbreak Homestead (Hearts of the Outback Book 2)

by Susanne Bellamy

  Lizzy planted herself in front of Richards and glared at him. “While we’re standing around, Dan’s being taken further and further away. Can we go now?”

  He nodded and looked around until his gaze settled on Pete. “Show me where the quad was. Then we’ll track them.”

  Perched on the saddle in front of Alex, they followed Pete’s horse as he tracked the quad bike. Twice they had to cast a wide circle when they lost the tracks on stony ground until they picked them up again.

  At last, the eastern sky lightened, swiftly changing from a soft violet to flaming pink and gold.

  Lizzy’s head jolted against Alex’s shoulder and her eyelids flew open. Had she dozed off as they tracked Dan’s kidnapper? Blinking dry, gritty eyes, she looked at the landscape revealed by dawn. Fingers of sunlight touched the rounded tops of the hills, glowing warm red and signalling they were no longer on ‘Craeborn’ soil.

  “This is Tait land, isn’t it?”

  “It is. If that bastard has harmed Dan, I’ll kill him with my bare hands.” Alex’s voice was husky with fatigue but his promise of retribution sent shivers down Lizzy’s spine.

  “You’ll have to get in line behind me. How could anyone do this to a baby?” Her arms ached to hold Dan and she needed to smell his sweet baby smell and nuzzle the red strands of silky hair that were growing thicker each week.

  Struck by the memory of Alex gently stroking Dan’s hair and announcing he was a ‘ranga’, she tipped her head and tried to read his expression. “He matters to you, doesn’t he? Even though he’s not your biological child.”

  “Of course he matters. I love him. We’re a family, Lizzy, regardless of whether we have a piece of paper saying so.”

  Bemused, she realised Alex loved little Dan like his own son. Perhaps they could build on that when—”

  She closed her eyes, refusing to contemplate any other outcome. One step at a time. First they had to find Dan and get him to safety.

  Pete stopped at the top of a hill and he and Richards dismounted. Alex and Lizzy pulled up beside him and formed a rough semi-circle. All eyes followed Pete’s pointing finger. “The tracks lead downhill and there’s a quad parked beside the settler’s hut. Reckon that’s our goal.”

  Wide awake and adrenaline racing through her veins, Lizzy edged forward until she spotted the hut. Sunlight glinted off a quad bike parked on the eastern side of the lop-sided and derelict dwelling. Faintly, a baby’s cries carried across the distance to where she waited. Heart thumping, and gaze fixed on the hut, she sensed Alex at her side.

  “What is it, Lizzy?”

  “Dan’s down there.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Lizzy took off, sliding down the side of the hill on her bottom. Beside Alex, Richards’ “Shit!” was annoyed but soft. The detective began issuing orders softly into his walkie-talkie radio as Alex muttered, “Not without me,” and took off after Lizzy.

  With the sun behind them and the western side of the rise in shadow, he prayed the kidnappers wouldn’t see his approach. Or hear Lizzy’s panting. By the time he reached the bottom of the small hill, Lizzy was within reach. He tackled her around the waist and landed half on top of her.

  She wriggled and pushed her bottom up trying to dislodge him. “Get off me. Dan’s in there.”

  Alex hauled himself higher and covered her body with his. Wrapping one hand over her mouth, he leaned close and murmured in her ear. “We want to get inside before they know we’re here. Think with your head, not your heart, Lizzy. We need a plan.”

  She stilled. Finally she nodded and he released his hold over her mouth. Easing his body off hers, Alex sat up.

  She scrambled to her knees and turned to glare at him. Red dirt coated one cheek and her hair fell in a wild tumble around her shoulders. “I’m listening. What’s the plan?”

  “Richards is up there issuing orders. I expect the helicopter will be here soon but I don’t think he’d be thrilled if we returned the way we came to find out.”

  “I’m not sitting here while Dan”—she flung an arm in the direction of the baby’s cries—“gets more and more upset.” Fierce as a lioness protecting her young, Lizzy turned towards the hut and crouched ready to spring on Dan’s kidnapper.

  Alex’s hand shot out and held her wrist. “Lizzy, what does your SES training say about this type of situation?” Keeping her mind on the problem and her emotions in check was all he could do until Richards’ team was in place.

  Praying Lizzy’s frantic descent and his pursuit hadn’t been noticed and jeopardised the plan, he cupped her cheek and met her gaze. “Charging in could put Dan in more danger. We don’t know how many of them are in there, if they’re armed, what they want. Let’s find out what we can first.”

  She looked at him and frowned briefly before turning back and studying the terrain. “If we keep close to the hill, we can come up behind the hut. From there, we can work out the next step.”

  “Okay.”

  “Let’s get him out of there.”

  Staying low and close to the base of the hill, Alex followed Lizzy. Each time Dan cried she flinched and her pace increased until they reached a point at the rear of the hut and crouched behind a rocky outcrop. Close up, the hut appeared to be in imminent danger of falling down.

  From inside, Dan’s cries rose to an agitated level and Lizzy shoved a knuckle in her mouth. “He’s hungry.”

  Laying an arm across her shoulders, Alex hugged her. Tense as a drawn bowstring, her gaze fixed on the hut. “Now what, Lizzy? Think.”

  “I’ll go up to the back wall and try to see inside.”

  “No, we’ll go. There’s three in our family, and that’s our boy inside.” Lizzy wasn’t the only one who wanted to charge into that hut but Alex schooled himself to wait. He’d give Richards five more minutes before he and Lizzy made another move.

  A shower of dirt fell around them and Caleb Richards slithered quietly down the slope, a rifle slung over his shoulder. He removed the weapon and rested it on top of the rock. “Don’t go off half-cocked like that again.” His tone was authoritative, not angry. The detective understood their reaction but he was in charge.

  Alex nodded. “Sorry. What’s the plan?”

  “My team is in place. I’ll try talking them out first. If that doesn’t get results, we’ll make a two-pronged assault around the sides. Stay here.”

  Lizzy gripped the detective’s arm. “No. Dan is my nephew. I should be the one to talk to them.”

  “Mrs. Carter—Lizzy, are you a trained negotiator?”

  “No but—”

  “I am. Please trust me. I’ll do everything I can to get Dan out safely.”

  Lizzy bit her lip. She looked at the hut, then Richards, before turning back, a question in her eyes. “Alex, I—”

  “I know, babe. Let him do what he does best.” His gaze connected with Caleb Richards’. “I want to come with you in case there’s more than one kidnapper.”

  “Okay, but you don’t say a word.”

  She was a doer, not an observer. An SES leader with a team of her own, not a follower. Every impulse pulled Lizzy to follow the detective and rescue her baby but Alex had convinced her to stay and had gone in her place. At some level, her rational mind accepted that emotional exhaustion was affecting her judgement. She gripped the rock to stop the urge to rush toward Dan. Caught in a helpless rush of emotion and watching from the other side of a rescue, Lizzy understood what her trainers had taught her. Why families were kept behind the lines. In their desperation to rescue loved ones, family members could endanger themselves and rescue workers by charging in. Fear of failure, fear of the wrong outcome, the writhing, numbing fear of not making life and death decisions seized her body. Dan’s life lay in the hands of a stranger.

  Adrenaline surged through her body and she thumped her fists against her thighs.

  “He’s almost there.” Talking to herself, she could only watch as Alex tensed and turned his head and Richards dropped to the groun
d beside the back wall. Alex did the same.

  Hoof beats approached at a gallop and a lone rider burst into view on a huge bay horse. She pulled up in a flurry of dust in front of the house.

  Lizzy held her breath as a young woman dismounted and flung the reins around a post. It had been years but—yes, it was Sarah Tait. The trademark purple streak in her dark hair would have identified the horse trainer at any distance.

  Sarah stormed inside, a door banged and voices rising in anger reached her.

  Richards eased up and peered into the interior through a hole in the corrugated iron. He signalled to Alex to go in the opposite direction before sliding around the corner and along the southern wall.

  Not knowing what was going on inside or being able to assess the situation and make decisions was driving her crazy. Lizzy edged out from cover to keep the detective in view. Staying out of the line of sight of the windows, she crawled towards where Alex lay.

  Pressed against the wall, Richards held his rifle high against his chest. She saw the back of his head as he leaned towards the window. “This is the police. We know you have Daniel Campbell in there. Come out with your hands behind your heads.”

  “You’ve brought the fuckin’ police here, you stupid woman.” The male voice yelled and a glass window exploded beside Richards.

  Dear God, please don’t let it be a gunfight. Dan was screaming. Surging to her feet Lizzy was pulled back sharply and dumped unceremoniously on her backside.

  Alex gripped her elbows and pointed with his chin. “He threw a lamp out the window.”

  Shattered glass and an old-fashioned lamp base lay strewn around the detective’s feet but Lizzy’s heart thudded double time. “Dan! Let me go to him.”

  “Keep her back.”

  “I am.”

  “I’m coming out with the baby. Don’t shoot.” Sarah Tait called loudly. “Did you hear me?”

  “I heard you.” Richards adjusted his grip on his rifle. “Come out with your hands where I can see them.”

  The male kidnapper roared. “Don’t you dare, Sarah. I did this for us.”

  “You’re wrong. You did it for yourself.” Sarah’s voice grew louder and Dan’s cries sounded less intense. “I’m opening the door now and I’m bringing the baby out.”

  Slowly, Sarah Tait walked around the front corner of the house with Dan in her arms.

  Lizzy shook off Alex’s hold and ran past Richards. Arms wide, she scooped Dan into her arms and dropped kisses on his head and face.

  Alex jumped through the broken window followed by the sound of fists connecting with bodies and breaking furniture.

  Richards shouldered his rifle, grabbed Sarah Tait and pushed her to the ground as the helicopter hovered overhead. He pulled her arms behind her and placed a knee in the small of her back.

  “Get off me, you big baboon. I’m not the kidnapper.”

  Richards clicked a pair of handcuffs on Sarah’s wrists. “Funny, it sure looked like you were holding the baby.”

  She kicked his shin and struggled to escape his grip on her upper arm. “You moron, I was here to stop Granger doing anything more stupid. I was rescuing Dan.”

  Alex appeared in the doorway covering the man ahead of him with a rifle. Lizzy approached the woman. “Sarah? Why did your brother take Dan?”

  Sarah turned to look at her and frowned. “Lizzy Campbell? Wilmot?” Her gaze flicked over Alex standing behind her brother. “I heard you’d married. Long time, no see.”

  “I’m Lizzy Carter now.”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t get home sooner or I might have been able to stop Granger’s stupidity before it went so far.”

  The helicopter rotors thump was deafening as it kicked up red dust and set down. Dan’s soft whimper turned into a full blown cry and Lizzy turned her back on the team and pulled his blanket over his head.

  Sarah took a step towards her and was pulled back by Richards. She jerked her arm but he held her tightly. “Lizzy, I don’t think that fool brother of mine fed Dan. I tried giving him water when I arrived.”

  The detective pulled her towards the helicopter as the rotors stopped. “Come on, Miss Tait. You can tell it to the judge.”

  Over her shoulder, Lizzy’s one-time neighbour looked back. “I’m sorry I wasn’t quicker.” She stumbled and the detective caught her before handing her into the helicopter.

  One of Richards’ officers approached. “We’ve arranged transport back to your property. The Flying Doctor will be out soon to check both the baby and Mrs. Carter. Is there anything else I can help you with?”

  Alex dropped his arm over her shoulders. “Unless you’ve got a bottle of baby formula in your bag, we’ll be fine.”

  Lizzy looked up at him and smiled. “Let’s go home.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Fed, bathed and in Lizzy's arms, Daniel Jebediah Campbell slept the sleep of the innocent. She sounded out his name. It sounded perfect now she knew the truth about her brother. Alex’s revelations on the way home had shattered everything she thought she knew about Jeb. Rocking in the chair Donna had bought for the nursery, the motion soothed Lizzy’s tumultuous thoughts.

  So many things were not as they appeared. But the most important was the restoration of her brother’s name. Guilt at her too-quick condemnation of her dead brother as a wife-beater gnawed at her but she was determined his name would live on in his son. If—when—the adoption application went through, Jeb’s name would be added to Dan’s birth certificate.

  Uncaring of her own need for a shower and bed, Lizzy held him close. The scent of warm baby, milk and talcum powder was the most beautiful combination in the world and no one would ever take Dan from her again.

  Alex joined her, freshly showered with damp hair combed back. “My turn to hold him while you shower.”

  Her arms tightened around the baby. “I don’t want to let him go.”

  “Even to me? Don’t you trust me, Lizzy?”

  With a start, she met his gaze, and saw the love and tenderness for Dan in his brown eyes. And something else that she scarcely dared hope was more than just her imagination. “I trust you. If I needed further proof, you showed me how much Dan means to you by facing a madman to rescue him. It’s just—I don’t want to put him down, even for one second.”

  “Babe, I get that. But I’m not sure he’s ready to shower with a beautiful woman yet, even if she is his mother in every other sense of the word. On the other hand, I’m more than willing to wash your back. And your front and—”

  Lizzy put a hand over Dan’s shell-like ear and grinned. “Hush, you can’t corrupt him with lewd ideas.”

  “Can I tempt you? We can put him in his carrier and bring him into the bathroom.”

  Fatigue vanished and anticipation zinged through her body. So little time remained in their arranged marriage. In years to come, she wanted the memory of Alex’s love-making to shine bright and strong and to be enough to sustain her. In case—if what she wanted almost as much as Dan wasn’t actually on offer. If Alex wasn’t going to be around.

  “You know what? Hold that thought—” She stood and gently laid Dan in Alex’s arms. “And the baby.”

  Alex took Dan with an ease born of familiarity. And love. She couldn’t doubt how much after the past twenty-four hours.

  At the door, she turned to toss him a cheeky retort and the words dried in her mouth. Alex was seated in the rocking chair with Dan in one muscular, tanned arm. Morning light streamed through the window and caught a blue-black sheen in Alex’s hair as he leaned protectively over Dan. His other hand brushed softly over Dan’s head. Lizzy blinked away a tear and hurried to the bathroom.

  She stripped off her filthy clothes and dumped them in the clothes hamper, before turning the tap to lukewarm and stepping under the spray. Red dirt and congealed blood ran down her body as she ducked her head under the water. Her head wound stung and she stepped out of the spray of water and peeled the dressing off with a muttered curse.

  Caref
ully pulling her hair back, she tipped her face to the spray and gently massaged her scalp but washing her hair was beyond her for the time being. Her muscles ached, her arms felt like lead weights, and her head throbbed with fatigue and pain. She reached for the bar of soap and lathered up one arm. As she turned to rinse, light flooded in from the bedroom.

  Reflected in the vanity mirror, she saw Alex step into the bathroom. His gaze dropped to her breasts and he smiled what she fondly called his big cat smile. The smile he gave before sex. Her belly did a little jig. She replaced the soap in the holder and slid one hand sensuously across her breasts. “Decided to join me after all?”

  His grin became rueful. “Amy and Dan have just arrived. Amy’s getting a baby fix while big Dan checks little Dan. You’re next on his list.”

  “I didn’t hear the plane.” Much as she loved her good friends, their timing sucked.

  “No rush. You were tired and focusing on Dan.”

  “I’ll be out in a couple of minutes.”

  Alex opened the shower door and her nipples peaked from the whoosh of cool air. He leaned in and cupped her cheeks and dropped a slow kiss on her lips. “Can I help wash your back or your hair? Or anything else you’re too tired to reach.”

  “Help—?” Chuckling at Alex’s thinly disguised offer, she pushed her hair back and winced as she caught a fingernail on her egg of an injury. “How long do you think they can stay?”

  “Long enough for me to wash your hair. Both of them are laying claim to cuddling rights.” Alex stripped off his clothes and joined her in the cubicle. Sliding in behind her, he squirted shampoo into one palm, and gently worked it through her hair.

  She leaned against him and allowed her head to rest on his shoulder as he massaged her scalp while avoiding her bruised forehead. “Mmm, I could fall asleep like this.”

  “Happy to oblige. At least until the hot water runs out.”

  “Wuss. When did a little cold water hurt you?”

  “I like cold showers; just not when I’ve got you naked and soaped up and like putty in my hands.”