by Loretta Hill
‘Very true.’ Sebastian shook his head as he scrolled through text messages. ‘By the way, how did you cut your hand?’
Jet glanced down at it briefly. ‘In the kitchen with a knife.’
‘Really. Do you have any pets, a dog perhaps?’
‘No. My apartment wouldn’t allow for that. Not that I like animals.’ Jet grimaced.
‘Does Frank have any dogs?’
‘Not that I’m aware of.’ Jet shrugged but at Jack’s stern’s glare he quickly added, ‘But I could be wrong. It’s not like we’re close or anything. We don’t hang out after work.’
‘Do you know Leon McCall?’
Jet blanched. ‘You mean that criminal guy who’s always on the news? You guys work for him?’
‘No,’ Sebastian informed him, ‘and clearly neither do you.’ He sighed, putting Jet’s phone down on a nearby bench and turning to Jack, ‘Let him go. He doesn’t know anything.’
Jack slowly released the man’s shoulders. ‘Great, so what do we do now?’
‘Leave this bar, that’s what,’ Jet stabbed a finger at him, ‘before I call the police.’
Jet quickly marched to the bench and snatched his phone up, shoving it once more into his back pocket. As he was doing so, Seb and Jack’s phones both buzzed simultaneously. It was a message from Claudia.
I need you! Hurry.
The words were followed by a list of instructions on how to get there.
They both glanced up.
‘My message is from Claudia,’ said Jack. ‘Is yours?’
‘Yes. You’re in luck, Jet,’ Seb said to the waiter. ‘We’re leaving. Make sure you keep my card. You never know, you might need it one day.’
Under Jet’s stunned gaze, they both filed out.
‘Seriously?’ Jack muttered as they crossed the bar at a smart pace.
Sebastian shrugged. ‘Business is business, after all.’
They reached the double-doored entrance to the building and walked out. ‘
So it looks like we’re going south,’ Jack commented.
‘Yes,’ Sebastian grimaced. ‘Almost to Mandurah. It’s going to take us nearly an hour to get there. I just hope we’re not too late.’
Jack felt his muscles tensing up at the mere thought of it. ‘I hope those two didn’t get out of the car.’
‘As I’m sure you’re aware, the problem with your sister is that even when her brain advises her to do one thing,’ Sebastian mused, ‘her heart gets in the way.’
‘Is that what happened with you?’ Jack demanded shrewdly as they headed back towards the car.
Sebastian gaze snapped up quickly, then he looked away. ‘I have no idea.’
‘Just what are your intentions towards my sister?’ Jack demanded.
‘My intentions?’ Sebastian responded with a mocking smile. ‘My intention is to get her home safe and sound.’
‘And after that?’
‘If she’s safe and sound,’ Sebastian said quietly, ‘then that will be completely up to her.’
Chapter 33
For so long Seb had prided himself on not letting anyone hold him back. What he’d never counted on was that person being himself.
His body shuddered. He couldn’t bear it if anything had happened to Claudia. Or, God forbid, they didn’t arrive in time.
Luckily, Claudia’s texted directions were fairly easy to understand. He had been half afraid they would be incomplete and he’d get lost. However, forty-five minutes after he and Jack Franklin left The Quiet Gentleman, they turned off the freeway and found the quiet dirt road just where Claudia said it was.
Relief, however, was short-lived. The dodgy hidden track led straight into bushland. He gritted his teeth. Great! The perfect place for murder, rape, dog fighting and any other crimes Frank and his men had on their minds. It was at this point he really wished he didn’t have such a good knowledge of the criminal psyche. He could do without all those past cases in his head.
In turn, he could feel his companion tensing up beside him as the car jumped and bumped when he turned off the smooth road onto red gravel. Jack clutched his left armrest tightly, his face set and his eyes fixed intensely upon the road ahead. It was twilight. And while not dark yet, the light was definitely fading. Seb couldn’t imagine a worse time for a couple of unarmed women to be chasing criminals.
‘If Claudia’s all right,’ Jack murmured, ‘I’ll kill her myself.’
‘Get in line, my friend,’ said Seb. ‘Get in line.’
Just when he couldn’t get any more tense, the road ended abruptly on the side of an oval.
What the – ?
A wave of colour and commotion blasted his senses. A fair! He abruptly killed the engine and both men stepped up out of the car in a daze to take in the scene before them. As Seb’s left hand slowly pushed his door closed, ‘How Much is that Doggie in the Window?’ erupted brightly over the loudspeakers that seemed to be dotted everywhere. Surely this was how Charlie had felt when he’d arrived at Willy Wonka’s Chocolate factory.
As if to add proof to this statement, two persons, one dressed in a large ginger cat suit and the other as a huge black-and-white Snoopy detached themselves from the crowd and headed in their direction. Seb couldn’t move, overwhelmed by the surreal nature of it all. The ginger cat was lugging a black suitcase while the dog seemed to be breaking into a sprint before launching itself at Jack.
‘Jack! It’s me, silly,’ Snoopy protested when his startled travelling companion took a giant step back.
Bronwyn whipped off her large headpiece.
‘Bronwyn,’ Jack cried, immediately grabbing her by her large plastic shoulders. ‘Are you all right?’
‘Of course.’
‘But what are doing?’
She rolled the large dog head under her armpit. ‘Dressing up as a dog, obviously. We’re giving out flyers for the talent show that starts at six tonight.’
Seb’s mind reeled. ‘Talent show?’
‘You guys will love it.’ She grinned at both of them in turn. ‘I believe one of the acts involves a dog who can drive a motorbike.’
What the fuck is going on here?
‘Where’s Claudia?’ Seb demanded.
‘I’m right here.’ The ginger cat came up to the group, dropped the suitcase and removed her own head. Claudia smiled brightly at him as she tried to smooth down her static hat hair. ‘How’s it going?’
‘How’s it going?’ Seb repeated through his teeth. The fear and worry morphing into an anger that permeated up through his ribcage. ‘How’s it going!’
Claudia’s giant ginger paw touched his arm sympathetically. ‘Are you okay?’
He ignored the question. ‘Where is Frank?’
She shrugged. ‘Probably still setting up lights with the other guys. Who knows how late the show will run into the evening.’ She slapped a palm to her forehead. ‘Oh, did I forget to mention it? Turns out he’s not a dog fighter.’
‘No shit!’ Seb responded.
Luckily at that point Jack jumped in. ‘Seriously, Claudia, you had us both tearing down the freeway to get here in time because of your text message. I’d be surprised if Seb doesn’t have a few speeding tickets for it.’
‘Well, it’s all for a good cause,’ Bronwyn piped up. ‘You are still preventing animal cruelty. Just indirectly. All the proceeds for the fair go to the cause.’
‘Yeah,’ Claudia told her brother, ‘isn’t it fantastic? We found Bronwyn’s dogs too.’
‘My mother had them.’ Bronwyn looked at Jack. ‘Would you believe it was her who took them?’
‘Yes.’ The winemaker replied. ‘Not trying to get herself some leverage again, is she?’
‘Something like that.’ Bronwyn smiled. ‘But I told her where to go. I’m not going to let anyone come between us again.’
He drew her into his side, dog suit and all. ‘I’m glad we’re finally in agreement about something.’
Seb turned away in disgust to the ginger cat who wa
s eyeing him innocently. ‘If there are no criminals, or dog fighters, or life-threatening situations, why am I here?’
‘Oh!’ Claudia jumped as though she’d just realised she was late for an appointment. She turned around, got down on her knees and unzipped the suitcase, explaining as she went. ‘The dogs all had to be given back to Leon McCall’s wife, Linda, who, would you believe, the dogs were actually meant for the whole time.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘Bronwyn, however, wants to keep Elsa so we agreed to help Linda out of a jam in order to earn the ownership. After we spoke to her, that’s when I sent you guys the text message asking for help.’
‘And what kind of help would that be?’
‘Her mascots didn’t show up and she had no time to hire new people. So we’re it. We have to put on these costumes and hand out flyers. This one is yours.’ She stood up, holding a white-feathered, half-plastic creation with a giant orange beak.
By this stage, the anger in Seb’s chest had crept up through his neck and was pounding a hole in the top of his skull.
‘Let me get this straight,’ he said in a dangerously quiet tone. ‘You called me here with all the urgency of a dangerous criminal intervention because you want me to dress up as a chicken?’
Claudia’s body jerked at the inflection on the final word, her two paws huddled together under her chin as she eyed him with some concern.
‘You’re really not okay, are you?’
‘No, I am not!’ Seb threw at her. ‘Do you know how terrified I was for you? How out of my mind with worry I was for your safety?’
Claudia winced. ‘Er … I’m guessing … a lot?’
To her surprise, and his own, he grabbed her round the waist and pulled her into full body contact. The bulky cat suit became just another annoyance in his long list of grievances. He finally had her in his arms and there was all that fur in the bloody way. It set him off again.
‘How could you run off to round up a dog-fighting ring all on your own like that? Are you completely insane?’
‘I told you,’ she made no attempt to get out of his hold, ‘I had Bronwyn with me.’
She glanced over at her friend. ‘Bronwyn, back me up here.’
However, it appeared Bronwyn was now far too busy kissing Jack to provide any real assistance. She did offer a rather distracted thumbs up but otherwise didn’t break her lip lock with Seb’s road-trip buddy.
Claudia blew on her fringe, ‘Really? That’s all you got, Bron? Jack, get off her.’
A hand under Claudia’s chin returned her attention to Sebastian. ‘Look at me, I’m still lecturing you.’
She raised her eyebrows. ‘We’re not at work right now, Sebastian.’
‘Don’t call me Sebastian, you’ve never had a shred of deference to me in your life.’
‘How true.’ Claudia inclined her head with a slight smile. ‘But you were right when you judged me guilty of wanting a meaningful relationship. I like you, Seb. There, I admit it. I like you more than I should but I need more than you’re offering.’
‘How do you know what I’m offering?’ His eyes ran over a face that had hooked him from the beginning, along with her irrepressible quick wit and edgy intelligence.
‘I thought I was going to lose you,’ he said softly. ‘I couldn’t bear the thought.’
He felt her body shudder in his arms, her eyes widening as she gazed up at him in adorable confusion. ‘I thought you didn’t do rescue or worry?’
‘And then I met you,’ he growled. ‘You make me want things that I never cared about before. As much as I try, I can’t seem to get enough of you, Claudia.’
She didn’t get to respond because he kissed her with a passion that had been held at bay for far too long. His hand pushed into her hair, angling her mouth for the most intimate contact. His heart seemed to lift out of his chest when she responded completely, clinging to him as though she too had just found home after a long journey.
‘So,’ he murmured when he finally lifted his mouth. ‘Would you like to go on a date sometime?’
‘Sure,’ she said breathlessly, and then bit her lip. A cheeky dimple peeked in her left cheek. ‘There’s just one more thing I need to clarify.’
‘What?’
‘You’re still going to dress up as the chicken, right?’
Chapter 34
One Year Later
Sitting in front of a huge platter of Horace’s famous garlic prawns, Jack’s semillon sauvignon blanc in her glass, while Lydia mixed the dressing into freshly made coleslaw, Bronwyn reflected that life couldn’t get much better.
That year’s vintage had been a cracker – record sales and the best-tasting wine she’d had in a while. The wine wankers had been out in force and she’d encouraged them every step of the way. Now all they needed was James Halliday to pop round and give them the five stars she knew they deserved. She was working on that and also pushing Jack’s wines into Perth’s most popular shows. Antoine had finally got his pinot noir and was making a name for them with that well.
Bronwyn had not regretted her move to Oak Hills one iota, nor buying into a company she had loved for the last ten years. Working there for the past twelve months had been one of the most rewarding experiences of her life. A life she couldn’t imagine without Jack Franklin in it.
He was the man who had helped Oak Hills to thrive and flourish again.
The man she loved.
Who loved her in return.
She’d never forget the day he’d declared it. Her in a dog suit, in the middle of a fairground, her best friend arguing with her now–significant other just over to their right. Who needed drippy candles and chocolates – that was what you call romance!
‘I don’t care that it all turned out to be sham. There’s a lesson to be learned in this,’ he’d said sternly. ‘If you want to go chasing after dog fighters, you take me with you. I’m one of those protective types.’
‘Are you, Jack?’ she had asked. ‘You’re not just bored after coming home from exotic France?’
He groaned and grabbed her by shoulders. ‘Isn’t it obvious how I feel about you?’
‘No.’
‘I love you, Bronwyn. Always have. Just never thought I stood a chance against Chris.’
Bronwyn sucked in a breath. ‘I never thought of Chris that way. Never. It was always you, right from the beginning.’
‘What about now?’ he’d demanded. ‘Do you love me right now?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then we’ve got everything we need.’
And he was right.
Since that moment they were exactly where they needed to be. She looked across the table at Horace. His health was still fading but his face was definitely not as grey as it had been when she’d first arrived at Oak Hills. You could say that after he had reconciled with Jack, it had given him a new lease on life. As she observed him, he was busily engaged in giving Sebastian Rowlands the third degree.
‘Why haven’t you been here to visit me before? If you want to date my daughter, you need to get my approval first.’
‘Dad,’ Claudia protested. ‘Leave him alone.’
‘Well, he’s been dating you for over a year now and this is the first time I’m meeting him. I want to know what he’s been hiding, apart from a ten-year bloody age gap and a pink shirt.’
‘I told you you shouldn’t have worn that,’ Jack said with a shake of his finger from across the table.
Sebastian’s lip twitched.
Claudia glared at Jack and then turned back to her dad. ‘Nothing, Dad. He’s hiding nothing. We’ve just been busy.’
‘My apologies, Horace,’ Sebastian smiled ruefully, slinging an arm across Claudia’s shoulders and drawing her into his body. ‘Honestly, I wish I could have come and seen you sooner.’
‘Well, what the hell has Claudia been so busy with?’ Horace demanded.
‘Turning me into a better man, of course.’
Claudia grinned at him. ‘Good answer.’
Bronwyn
loved the way Claudia was with Sebastian. There was no doubt in her mind that they complemented each other perfectly. When they had decided to date properly, Claudia had moved back into Bronwyn’s place and quit her job at Hanks and Eddings. Losing her position there actually hadn’t been a great sacrifice. Working at a different but no less prestigious law firm had given Claudia the confidence to prove herself away from the sniping about her being an Eddings. She also got to do more pro-bono work for an animal-rights charity, as one of the partners in her firm was a strong environmentalist. ‘Uncle’ Cyril had been sad to see her go, but smugly satisfied at her new relationship with Seb. Apparently he was taking complete credit for this development.
Her mother also seemed to be keeping her word. There was no more interference from Bianca’s side of things. Yet Bronwyn suspected that she was far too busy with all the new work coming in from Leon McCall to be concerned about small fish such as Claudia and herself. In any case, if worst came to worst, she was sure Elsa was still prepared to protect her if Bianca decided to cause any more trouble.
And if not Elsa, then Seb would step up to the mark. Claudia still had that ridiculous photo they’d taken of the four them dressed up in their South-West Pet Show costumes sitting on her mantel in Perth. Seb had made one disgruntled chicken. But if that didn’t say ‘I love you’ then Bronwyn didn’t know what did.
By now, Lydia had finished mixing the coleslaw and was handing out plates. ‘Has anyone heard from Chris? That boy is such a poor correspondent.’
Bronwyn gave a secret smile. This observation fit right in with his talent for disorganised paperwork and over-scheduling, but as it happened she did have news. ‘You mean you haven’t seen the photos?’
‘What photos?’ Lydia asked.
‘He sent some photos of him and Maria in front of the Trevi Fountain just last night. It looks amazing.’
Chris’s adventures overseas really did inspire her. For a man in a wheelchair, he certainly made the most of life. She was so proud of him for that, but especially that he’d finally let Maria love him. Sometimes, she reflected ruefully, the hardest thing in life was allowing yourself to be vulnerable. But it could also be the most rewarding.