After hanging up, he came straight through to the sanctuary and put his arm around her shoulders, softening any rebuke in his words.
Brendan and his mate—both in the khaki uniform of country police officers—arrived within half an hour, and assured her and Cam that the animals would be safe.
‘No one will come near the sanctuary with our very obvious vehicle out there.’ Brendan waved his hand towards the big khaki four-wheel drive parked just outside the fence. ‘These fellows know we’re just as serious as they are. In fact, more so.’ He turned to Cam. ‘You live in the house?’ he asked, and Cam explained that he, Madge and Maddie did.
‘Oh, and there’s a dog and a pregnant cat out in the kennels,’ Lauren added.
‘Is there somewhere you can all stay for a few days? Just as a precaution?’
That was Brendan’s next question, and when Cam looked totally blank, Lauren spoke up.
‘They can all come to my house—it’s just over there.’ She pointed in vaguely the right direction.
But she’d barely finished offering, when Cam said, ‘The others can go, but I’ll stay here. I won’t get in your way, but I know where the tea and coffee are kept and I can provide some assistance behind the scenes.’
Brendan considered this and eventually agreed—with the proviso that Cam stayed out of their way.
‘Madge and Maddie and the animals can all come to my place,’ Lauren repeated. ‘You were going to redress Henry’s wounds. Do you want to do that first?’
Had some strain in her voice told him how anxious she was about him remaining in the house? Was that why he put his arm around her shoulders as he walked back into the surgery to get what he needed for Henry’s wounds?
‘I’ll be fine,’ he said, when he’d manoeuvred her away from the two men. He waited until he and Lauren were back in his rooms before turning to look into her face. ‘I won’t do anything foolish, but this is my house and I’ll stay with it. Brendan is right—no one is likely to come with the police vehicle outside.’
‘But they can’t stay here for ever,’ Lauren said, hoping the words didn’t sound like an anguished wail.
‘I don’t think they’ll need to. The police want to catch these people—not just chase them further underground. They’ll already have a plan, so don’t worry.’
He kissed her gently on the lips, then less gently as desire rose between them and passion fired the kiss.
She drew away reluctantly, aware they had things to be doing that were definitely more important than a kiss.
‘I’ll go and talk to Madge while you see to the dog. He can go in the mud room at my place, and the cat into the laundry. Both have doors that will shut to keep them separated.’
Cam paused only to smile at her. ‘You’ve got it all worked out, haven’t you?’ he teased.
She blushed and shook her head. ‘Not nearly all!’ she told him, well aware that her organising was a cover for the disturbance going on inside her—a disturbance she might never work out.
* * *
‘Well, it’s never dull...’ That was Madge’s reaction to the sudden move. ‘I’ve got dinner going in the slow cooker, so I’ll just bring it along. Cam can look after himself.’
Lauren helped Madge organise Maddie’s things, making sure they had Gummie and her favourite pyjamas.
Cam met them as they came down the stairs, ready to drive them back to Lauren’s place. ‘Dog and pregnant cat are all packed in—now we’d better add the humans,’ he said, and turned to Lauren. ‘You are coming?’ he said.
She nodded. ‘There are rooms to be organised, beds to be made, and the animals to get settled.’
But I’ll be back, she said to herself. She was still on duty at the sanctuary and had no intention of abandoning her post.
She climbed into Cam’s four-wheel drive, next to Maddie in the back, and they set off.
Maddie was bouncing with excitement beside her. ‘We’re having a ’venture,’ she cried to Lauren. ‘Madge says there are cock—’
‘Cockroaches?’ Cam offered.
‘Yes, them,’ Maddie said. ‘They’re in our house and we have to sleep at your house until the spray men can get rid of them.’
‘Very nasty germy things, cockroaches,’ Lauren agreed, crossing her fingers surreptitiously and hoping that her guests wouldn’t meet any at her house and want to move again.
It took twenty minutes to sort out bedrooms and bedlinen, bathrooms and towels. Then Maddie insisted on a quick tour of the house before finally settling herself on the floor in the laundry, talking to the cat.
‘I’ve got to go back to see to the animals,’ Lauren said quietly to Madge. ‘Cam’s there, and the two police officers, so I’ll be quite safe. It might be a lot of fuss about nothing,’ she added, ‘but I feel a lot happier knowing you and Maddie are out of the house.’
‘You just do what you have to do,’ Madge said, patting her on the arm. ‘Maddie and I will be quite fine.’
Lauren jogged back along the track as dusk was falling, arriving at Cam’s house to find the police vehicle gone—although one policeman remained in the house with Cam, and Jake, another of the volunteers, was in the sanctuary.
‘Helen wanted one of us here, just in case there’s trouble,’ he said. ‘I’ve set up one of the sun loungers and I will probably just sleep.’
‘I do hope so,’ Lauren told him. ‘Just remember you’re here for the animals, and keep out of any trouble.’
She finished the job she’d been doing in the stock cupboard then prepared to leave—although leaving Jake there on his own didn’t sit well with her.
‘Go,’ he said. ‘I’ve got Cam and at least one policeman in the house, and they’ve set up security cameras all over the place so they can see what’s happening out here. And there are back-up officers in the bush behind the place, so I’m quite safe.’
The thought of security cameras made her decision to slip out through the side gate of the sanctuary easy, but as she took off along the path Cam appeared beside her.
‘I thought you’d come in and say goodnight,’ he said.
‘With cameras all over the place?’
He laughed. ‘They’re not spying on the people inside,’ he told her, slinging an arm around her shoulders and drawing her close, so she could feel the warmth of his body flow into hers. ‘Anyway, I’ve got to get back,’ he said. ‘I’m fixing them something to eat. I’ll walk you to the end of the path through the bush, then head home.’
And the walk home was just that. Cam escorting her—coolly and efficiently—and striding along the bush track like a guard escorting a prisoner back to prison.
Not that she wanted chat, or even kisses—which just confused her more. But this was a Cam she hadn’t seen before, with tension coiled within him.
‘You won’t do anything stupid, will you?’ she said as her house came in sight.
‘The police know what they’re doing,’ he reminded her.
But she remembered how angry he’d been about the injuries to the dog, and knew that anger must still be burning somewhere inside him.
‘We have to assume they do,’ she said, and knew she sounded glum—even upset.
He smiled and bent to kiss her lips. ‘I won’t do anything stupid tonight,’ he said, and she knew it was a promise.
But as she watched him go—striding at first, and then, when he reached the cover of the scrub, beginning to jog—she wondered if he was even capable of keeping out of trouble should it come his way...
She wanted to go back—to check on him, to stay with him in the house—but that would be stupid.
He was tired and he would want to get to bed, so he could be ready for work tomorrow, and she should do the same—after she’d settled her house guests.
* * *
Cam fed himself, and the policeman, then showed him
over the place, pointing out the different exits and where doors led. After they’d cleared the kitchen table, they chose the formal dining room in the centre of the downstairs area as the best place for them to wait, as it showed no tell-tale lights to the outside.
He wasn’t needed, so he left the policeman to it and returned to the kitchen, where he made sandwiches and a flask of coffee and took them through to the sanctuary. He’d met Jake earlier, and decided that the least he could do was share the man’s lonely vigil.
‘Food!’ Jake said with delight. ‘We can make tea and coffee here, but the coffee’s always instant and yours smells real. And the biscuits here have all gone stale—I doubt we’ve tried eating them since the bushfire crisis months ago.’
‘I thought I’d stay,’ Cam said.
Jake smiled at him. ‘I won’t try to talk you out of it,’ he said. ‘It’ll be great to have company and it means we can take shifts. I can make do without sleep, but I always feel it’s better for my patients if I can sneak in a few hours some time during the night.’
‘Doctor?’
‘For my sins! I’m a paediatrician—I work up at the new children’s hospital near Riverview.’
‘Tough job?’ Cam asked.
Jake smiled again. ‘Sometimes it is, but at other times I can’t think of anything more rewarding—and those are the times you have to remember, rather than dwelling on the bad ones.’
They chatted amiably for a while, eating the sandwiches and drinking the coffee. Cam opted for the first shift, and Jake settled on one of the sun loungers.
As the night wore on, with no visitors, Cam wondered if it was all for nothing—which should have made him relieved, not cranky about the whole thing.
He found another folded sun lounger and sat for a while.
Within minutes, it seemed, he was awoken by Lauren.
‘Well, you two proved terrific night watchmen,’ she said. ‘I’d guess you had no visitors!’
Aware he must be looking sheepish, he turned to Jake, who seemed far too fresh for someone who’d slept on the uncomfortable lounger.
‘Sorry, Lauren,’ Jake said. ‘It was probably my shift. I’ll just have a quick wash and be off.’
Lauren smiled at him. ‘Have a quick wash, certainly, but then come into the house. Madge tells me there’s plenty of bacon and a dozen eggs in the fridge. I’ll cook you both some breakfast and make coffee.’
‘Will you be all right here, or do you want to use a bathroom in the house?’ Cam asked Jake, who shook his head and headed for the meagre washroom facilities behind the store room.
‘You go right ahead,’ he said. ‘And please tell Lauren thanks, but I won’t stay for breakfast. I want to see my wife and kids before I go to work.’
His words—‘I want to see my wife and kids’—stayed with Cam as he headed inside, calling to Lauren in the kitchen before hurrying upstairs to shower and change.
He’d enjoyed being married, and had probably taken it for granted that his wife had as well. But these last two years or so, when he’d been on his own, he’d become aware that his life was incomplete in some way. Not that he’d ever given it much serious thought—he’d just got on with things. Yet what he felt now was envy, he supposed, for Jake, having a wife and kids waiting at home for him.
As he hurriedly showered and dressed the thoughts continued to chase through his head, bringing the realisation that it was Jake’s emotion—his wanting to see his family—that he envied.
Because that wanting spoke of love.
* * *
‘You look good for a man who spent the night on what must be the world’s most uncomfortable bed,’ Lauren said as Cam walked into the kitchen. ‘I’m just going to slam your breakfast down on the table and hurry back—I start work in twenty minutes and I need to check my patient list.’
She set down his plate on the already set table. There was toast in the rack, the coffee pot tantalising his senses, but as she turned away he caught her hand and drew her back.
‘Let’s get married,’ he said, pulling her down so he could kiss her lips.
She responded to the kiss, but quickly pulled away.
‘You,’ she said severely. ‘For all you look okay, you’re clearly suffering from a lack of proper sleep. And what is it with you and the marriage thing? A lot of men see it more as a life sentence rather than something to rush into—and yet, although you happen to already be married, you continue to suggest it to me.’
He thought for a minute, not wanting to admit that it had been Jake’s words that had brought marriage back into focus in his mind.
‘I liked being married,’ he said. ‘The being married part more so than the marriage itself, if I’m honest. To me it was always one of those things—you grow up, get married, get a job and a house, and that’s how the future is mapped out. It was what I always wanted—to grow up and get married.’
‘It might be a child’s dream for the future,’ Lauren said, although she was smiling as she said it, ‘but so’s being a princess or a superhero.’
He shrugged, because somehow he couldn’t explain it better. Unless...
‘Jake didn’t wait for breakfast because he wanted to go home and see his wife and kids before he went to work,’ he told her. ‘It’s that part of being married I want.’
* * *
‘Or think you want,’ Lauren said gently.
Cam had sounded so gloomy that Lauren was tempted to stay, but she’d already had two late starts and she didn’t want to risk Janet’s disapproval with another.
‘I’ve patients to see. We’ll talk later,’ she said, and whisked out through the door before she weakened.
‘At least you’ve got patients,’ he muttered.
As she hurried home she thought about what he’d said—not the getting married part, for all that it gave her a secret longing every time he mentioned it, but about patients. Not hers, but his.
He needed to be busy and for some reason the veterinary practice wasn’t busy.
Henry’s practice had always been a busy one, and she’d assumed it would remain the same, but now she thought about it she’d seen fewer cars there lately, and she knew Cam had had fewer call-outs because he’d been around so much.
Damn.
The locum must have let it run down—or maybe been so impossible that people had simply stopped coming.
CHAPTER EIGHT
LAUREN WASN’T THE only one worrying about client numbers at the vets.
Cam finished his breakfast and walked back into his rooms to find a total stranger sitting behind his reception desk. Pretty in a young way—that was the only way he could describe the girl with dark curls and a bright smile.
‘Hi, I’m Debbie, and I’m your new nurse—from the agency, you know? I know I wasn’t supposed to start until Monday, but I wasn’t doing anything today and Harry—he’s my boyfriend—was coming over here on a job, so I came along to get a feel for the place.’ She paused for a moment, before adding, ‘That’s okay, isn’t it?’
He must have nodded, because she was off again.
‘I’ve been looking through your appointment book and it’s terrible, isn’t it?’
He hoped it was tiredness that made him want to strangle her. It was not that someone so bright and chatty wouldn’t be good for business. It was just that he couldn’t handle bright and chatty this morning.
He headed straight into his surgery—hiding—but he was aware she was quite right. His appointment book did look terrible.
The return of Brendan, one of the policemen from the day before, provided relief. ‘You don’t seem busy, so come and see what we’ve discovered,’ he said.
After telling Debbie to call him if he was needed, Cam followed Brendan into the house.
‘I’ll just have a look around, so I’ll know where things are,’ Debbie said, as if
she needed to justify her position.
‘The man did return—with mates,’ Brendan told him, leading him to one of the laptops open on the dining room table.
‘So much for the two guardians of the sanctuary,’ Cam muttered.
Brendan laughed. ‘They came quietly this time, and they had obviously heard about the kennels because they searched there first. We had men ready to go if they approached the sanctuary, but they didn’t go near it or the house—no doubt assuming we’d left men inside, even though our vehicle was gone.’
‘So they got away?’ Cam said, anger stirring again at the treatment of the dog.
‘Not cleanly,’ Brendan assured him. ‘We had a drone follow them to what we’re assuming is their headquarters and a possible dog-fight site near an abandoned farm out towards the mountains. As soon as we get a chance we’ll send someone in to check the place out. And we’re using drones to keep an eye on things there in the meantime.’
‘Sounds great,’ Cam agreed. He was still anxious to see the men involved caught and punished, but when he thought about it he was also pleased to have professionals in charge.
And now that he had Debbie, who would alert him should a patient arrive, he could stay on with the policemen, checking the screens that showed the different shots the drones had taken as they followed the route towards the mountains.
But the men were packing up now, telling him they’d keep in touch, and he tossed up whether to go back into his rooms and face Debbie, or make himself coffee and a sandwich and have a think about patient numbers.
The coffee won.
* * *
‘Anyone home?’
Madge and Maddie had gone into the village, so Lauren had finished her shift and come across to Cam’s to find out what was happening, but the place seemed deserted.
She’d tried the surgery rooms first, and seen a note from someone named Debbie saying she’d gone to lunch, and the sanctuary had yielded only Helen, so now she stood in the big entry, calling out for Cam.
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