by Mandy Magro
He clasped his hand over hers a little tighter, loving the feel of her skin against his. ‘You’re not making me, Nina, I want to.’ And before she could contest anymore, he handed a fifty-dollar note over to Mary, who then gave him his change. He gave her a little tip, bid his goodbye to Mary and her husband – the cook – and then turned, opening the door for Nina to head outside before he did.
‘Far out, Logan, talk about flattering a girl,’ Nina said, accepting his gallantry with a fulfilled smile. ‘Thanks so much for brunch, too.’
‘Anytime, I enjoy your company.’ And by god he meant it.
Heading towards his LandCruiser, he stopped at the passenger’s side, opened the door, waited for Nina to get in, and then handed her the seatbelt to buckle up. Her warm smile as she accepted his chivalry was all he needed as thanks. He all but floated to his side, slid into the driver’s seat, buckled up too, and then reversed out.
Their conversation flowing easy and effortlessly, the drive home was over way too soon as he and Nina shared chit-chat about nothing in particular, yet all of her words struck his heart. He loved hearing her sweet voice; loved watching how her kissable lips moved as she spoke and smiled; loved feeling her addictive energy so close beside him. It was just like the good old days, when they would drive around town with nothing much to do, but always finding some kind of adventure. She had such a knack of making him feel so alive, so happy, that he didn’t want to let her out of the four-wheel drive when he pulled up out the front of the homestead at Riverstone Ridge.
‘You rock for dropping me home.’
‘No probs.’ Unbuckling, she climbed out, and he wished to god she would invite him inside so he could enjoy her company for a little longer. ‘I’ll give you a lift back in tomorrow to pick up your Jeep, if you like.’
‘That’d be great.’ After shutting the door, she popped her head through the open passenger window. ‘Thanks again, Logan, now I owe you more than one.’
‘I’m going to hold you to all these I-owe-yous, I hope you know.’ He knew his smile was a little suggestive, but he just couldn’t help himself.
‘All good by me.’ She offered him a smile he couldn’t quite decipher. ‘Catch you later.’
‘You sure will.’
And then she turned and walked away, with that easy, confident stride that did things to him that shouldn’t be possible without touch. Although the city had moulded her into a woman with so many layers he was yet to learn, she still had country blood in her – he could see it a mile away. She’d always been competitive, stubborn, and never one to sit on the sidelines, and she was still all of that – all the reasons he’d fallen for her in the very first place, all those years ago, and also all the reasons she still drove him nuts, in a very, very good way. Satisfied in more ways than he cared to admit right now, he turned the four-wheel drive in the opposite direction with a spring in the beat of his heart and a newly-lit fire in his soul.
CHAPTER
13
Soft lamplight spilled over the room. It was one in the morning, and Nina was still wide awake with Tom rolled into a ball and purring on her chest, and Maxwell snoring like a trooper on the floor near the bed. Thoughts of her mother’s suicide plagued her, squeezing her aching heart even tighter. It felt like a kick in the teeth, her mother ending her life like that, when she had her, a tiny three-year-old, to think of. Maybe her mother felt so hopeless, she could see no other way out. Maybe she’d thought her child would have been better off without her, though Nina could barely comprehend the thought.
Exhausted, she moaned and dragged a pillow over her head, willing herself to sleep. The homestead creaked and groaned, as if weary with age, and the curlews cried their eerie calls outside her bedroom window, all of it antagonising her nerves.
A zapping sound was soon followed by darkness as the lamplight extinguished. Lifting the pillow cautiously, she stared into the darkness, unable to see an inch in front of her. The cold black of night engulfed her, feeling as if it were piercing her very bones. At this very point in time, she’d never felt so alone in all her life. She swore she heard unfamiliar noises, followed by a thumping sound as she imagined something menacing hiding beneath the bed, or creeping down the hall. Every inch of her cringed. Her heart raced faster. A breeze shifted the curtains, and a spear of moonlight shot through and reflected off the standalone mirror, providing her with a little bit of light while also sliding shadows across the wall as if they were reaching for her.
Holding her breath, Nina kept really still, allowing her vision to adjust. She looked to her alarm clock and noted the time was blank. Everything had gone out. Damn it. She’d have to go and check the power box to see if a fuse had blown. The fact it was outside gave her the heebie-jeebies, but it was her and her alone on the homestead so she had to step up to the plate. Wriggling Tom off her belly, she slid from the sheets, slipped her feet into her thongs, grabbed her mobile phone and tapped the flashlight button as she called a sleepy Maxwell to her side. She strained to listen as she stepped into the hallway and she and Maxwell slowly padded down the steps towards the front door.
A pool of silvery moonlight seeped across the threshold as she tugged the door open. It was brighter outside than in the house – the realisation brought her a little bit of comfort. Crossing the verandah with every one of her senses on high alert, she stopped at the top of the stairs and tried to swallow down her nerves while scanning the backyard. Nothing caught her eye, and everything seemed still, although she reminded herself with a shiver that there were plenty of places for someone to be hiding and watching her every move. The overwhelming sensation that there was almost glued her to the spot with fear.
Cautiously wandering down the steps, she heard movement at the side of the house, in the direction she was headed. She stopped, breath held, and listened harder. If someone tore out of the shadows right now, what would she do? Run? Stay and fight? Would she even have time to consider her chances of survival? Fear penetrated her limbs, weighing her down. Staring into the gloom, she glanced from left to right, and then behind her. Twice. Then three times. Stuck closely to her side, Maxwell seemed completely at ease, and while trying to slow her racing thoughts and heart, she reminded herself to breathe and to stop being so damn paranoid.
Nothing was out there, and nobody was stalking her.
With a deep breath, she reprimanded herself and took hurried steps forwards, making sure to keep Maxwell close to her side, just in case. Reaching the power box, she flicked the latch with trembling fingers, willing herself to hurry the heck up so she could get back into the safety of the house. The door of the power box creaked open, and as suspected, a fuse must have tripped. With a relieved sigh, she flicked the main power switch back on, and the gentle whirr and beep of appliances turning back on in the homestead brought her peace of mind, as did the glow of her lamp from her bedroom window.
Her steps quick, she rushed back inside and slammed the front door shut, making sure to lock it before heading back upstairs where she shut her bedroom door and locked it before flopping back into bed. The lamp was staying on.
It was only then, from the comfort of her locked room, did she allow herself to consider the thought that someone could have quite possibly flicked off the main switch. But if they had, why hadn’t they taken the chance to attack her then and there? Was it because she’d had Maxwell at her side? Was it just some sicko, getting his kicks by scaring her? Icy fingers trailed down her spine with the thought of what might have been if she hadn’t had her doggy bodyguard.
And with that thought, her mind ran off on a tangent. Who could it be? Why would someone want to stalk her? What had she done to deserve it? Perhaps it was just kids playing around? Or was it more sinister? Should she be worried? Should she tell Logan? Would he laugh at her, tell her she was being silly? With every single question, more questions came, and not one of them gave her a concrete answer. Scaring herself half to death, she pulled the doona up and over her head, begging for sleep
to take her away from reality. Damn the dark. She hated it. Morning couldn’t come quick enough.
* * *
It was eight thirty and the sun was high in the bright blue sky when Nina sat down at the dining-room table, still shaken from the events of last night. Unsettled, exhausted after hardly any sleep, but desperately trying to pull herself together, she stared out the kitchen window, a cup of Earl Grey tea in hand. Although the untainted country air and the blissful nothingness were refreshing, the feeling of being watched was becoming stronger, and on top of that, being back here was so terrifyingly confronting. The memories, and painful reminders, were everywhere she turned. God, how she wished Bea were here to talk to, to tell her there was nothing to be afraid of.
With all the noise and distraction of the city long gone, it was just her now, surrounded by a past she wasn’t sure she wanted to face up to while trying to come to terms with the fact that Bea was gone and her mother had committed suicide. Overtired and overwhelmingly emotional, she felt her first urge to cry in three days. And so she did, plucking tissue after tissue from the box in front of her, sobbing her heart out for the loss of two women who’d been important to her in their own ways. Suddenly she felt a presence behind her.
Her blood froze solid in her veins.
She slowly turned around. Nobody was there. The slap of the front flyscreen door made her jump, but it was followed by absolute silence. Maxwell raised his head, his ears pricked. A few breathless seconds passed, and he dropped it back to the floor between his paws. His eyes drifting shut, she released the breath she was holding as her fear subsided. Needing to get out of the confines of the homestead, she stood, taking her crumb-scattered plate and empty cup with her. Plonking them on the sink, she turned the tap, but nothing came out. She gave it a sharp rap, and then tried turning the taps again. Nothing.
‘Damn it,’ she mumbled to herself. ‘Talk about everything happening at once.’
Obviously, the top pump had stopped for some reason, and she was going to have to go and fix it. She hoped to god she still remembered how. There was always Google if she didn’t. And if all that failed and she found herself at a loss, she could wait until Bert came this afternoon and ask him for help, or maybe even Logan, when he came to give her a lift into town so she could collect her Jeep – but damn it, she wanted to be able to do it herself. So striding to the back door with purpose, she tugged on her boots, headed down the steps, and across the back lawn. Tom appeared from beneath the house, covered in half the countryside as usual. He stopped halfway across the yard, flopped down, and started sunbathing.
Rolling her eyes at her cat, Nina looked to Maxwell trotting at her side. ‘Hey, boy, ready to go for a run?’ Her plan was to ride the four-wheeler while Maxwell scooted along beside her – the country woman’s way to exercise her beloved pooch.
Wandering past the stables and along the overgrown dirt track made by the wearing of time, she enjoyed the burning of the sun upon her bare shoulders. Saying a quick g’day to Frank, Betty and Don in passing, she stepped into the shade of the shed. She straddled the bike and turned the key. Pressing the ignition, all she got was a ticking sound with zero revs. She rocked it back and forth, making sure it was in neutral, and tried again. Nothing. The damn thing was as dead as a doornail. Tired and overwhelmed, she detonated into expletives. What in the hell was going on around here? First the power, then the water, and now the damn bike? It was as if everything was rebelling against her, testing her limits. This wasn’t someone stalking her – it had to be plain bad luck. Still grumbling beneath her breath, she leapt off, grabbed a few tools from the basket on the front, and then stomped off towards where the pump was housed – about a kilometre hike down a very rarely used track – with Maxwell plodding quite happily at her side.
Along the earthen track, when the scrub felt as if it were closing in on her, she had to stop and assess if she was still heading the right way. Then, finally reaching the little pump shed in a lather of sweat, she thanked the powers that be for getting her here without getting lost. Opening the rickety shed door, askew on its hinges, she stepped into the shadows and crouched down beside the pump, instantly spotting the problem. The power cord had been unplugged and was hanging over the top of it, as if placed there. Her heart skidded to a stop. There was no way it could have fallen out on its own. Someone had to have done it. There was no other explanation. Her mind raced. Was it to lure her here, so whoever it was could attack her out of earshot, away from the homestead, and any hope of help?
This was all becoming way too much of a coincidence.
Sucking in a desperate breath, her heart pounded hard like a spooked horse’s hooves as she quickly plugged it back in and shot back out into the sunshine, glancing all around her. Maxwell’s calm presence helped soothe her, but not enough to curb her gathering anxiety. She headed back towards the homestead, walking faster and faster until she was almost running, not realising she’d taken a wrong turn until it was too late. Scrub and branches snapped back at her as she pushed through the thicket, her breath heaving in her throat. Heavy beads of sweat trickled down her neck and between her breasts. She could feel her pulse thrumming in her temples as she recalled the way Josh had looked at her yesterday. Even now, it made her skin crawl. Could it be him, playing cruel tricks like he sometimes used to, to scare the bejesus out of her, for some twisted, sick reason? And if not him, who else could it be? Who would want to hurt her, or worse? What vendetta would someone have with her?
She hadn’t a damn clue.
Bursting out into a clearing, she spotted a LandCruiser glimmering in the neighbouring paddock, just up ahead. Although already a lover of Logan’s company, she’d never been so happy to see him in all her life. She raced towards him, the flashback of the night he’d saved her from the weirdo who’d tried to get her into his Commodore charging to the forefront of her mind. She didn’t often recall it, but when she did, she couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if Logan hadn’t come along the deserted dirt road. Would the stranger have forced her into the car, and then hurt her, raped her, or possibly even killed her? Her blood ran cold with the thought and she was eternally thankful she would never know the answer.
Now out of harm’s way, without the threat of anything untoward happening to her, she felt like a damn fool for thinking anyone was after her in the first place. She needed to calm the heck down. Now. Before she made an idiot of herself in front of Logan. Not that she should care if she did – he’d seen all her sides over the years they’d spent growing up together. But being an adult brought with it the need to act like one. And so she did her best to gather her wits and her frazzled nerves, with deep heaving breaths, making sure to slow her steps to a casual walk as she wandered over to where he was kneeling down, his back to her, repairing a fence. Panting, Maxwell flopped beneath the shade of the four-wheel drive alongside Digger. Country music blared from the open driver’s door, the twangy honky-tonk tune one she was very familiar with. Logan had always been a lover of Garth Brooks – it was the reason she’d grown to like the country singer so much. Whenever she listened to him, she always thought about the charming Logan Steele.
She stood for a few moments, grinning at the way Logan was singing as if nobody was listening. Way out of tune, but owning the lyrics with heartiness, he belted out every word in time to the music.
‘Hey, you,’ she said loudly, unable to help the cheeky smile that spread when he almost jumped out of his skin.
‘Hey, Nina.’ He smacked an open palm over where his chest was teasingly peeking out of his chequered button-up shirt. ‘Holy moley, you scared the crapola outta me.’ He dropped the fence strainer gripped in his big strong hand, stood, and closed the distance between them, leaving just enough for it to be acceptable, but also just enough for it to tease Nina into wanting to lean into his chest, so she could breathe him in.
‘Sorry ’bout that – I didn’t mean to give you a heart attack.’
‘Ha-ha, yeah, well, you
almost did.’ He glanced over at Maxwell, crashed out in the shade, and then back to her. ‘What are you two doing wandering about all the way up here?’
‘Oh, I um …’ She glanced back over her shoulder. ‘The house pump stopped working, and the bike wouldn’t start, so I had to go and check it out on foot, and then I decided to go for a bit of a walk, and voila, here I am.’
‘Did you fix it?’
‘Fix what?’
‘The pump.’ He eyed her enquiringly.
‘Oh, yeah, yup, sure did.’ She was stumbling over her words, both because Logan was so damn gorgeous, and also because her weary nerves were still playing a little havoc with her.
‘What was wrong with it?’
‘One of the wires had come loose,’ she lied. Why she did, she hadn’t a damn clue, but now she had to run with it.
‘Oh, cool … Was going to offer to help fix it, if you didn’t.’ His sureness and presence put her at ease, as his air of calm reached out and wrapped tight around her protectively. ‘How ’bout the four-wheeler? Any idea what’s wrong with it?’
She shrugged and held her hands up in the air. ‘Nuh-uh.’
‘You want me to take a look?’
‘That’d be great, if you have time.’
‘I have too much time at the moment, so anything to keep me busy is a godsend.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘I was going to call over in an hour anyway, to grab you and take you into town to get your Jeep.’
‘What would I do without my helpful neighbour, huh?’ She swept her gaze over his dusty RM boots, up his six-foot frame, over his strong thick neck, and snagged on the depth of his blue eyes. ‘You really are bored, aren’t you?’ She had this overwhelming sense of trust in him, wholly and solely – a very foreign sensation, and one she wasn’t sure she was comfortable running with. Logan was the only man that had ever made her feel like this, back when she was a teenager and now, so she knew she needed to find a way to embrace the fact she had such a wonderful friend in him.