“Right.” Though the idea of getting into his car chilled her blood, at least they’d have Java with them should he try anything funny.
“So, how about you make up your mind before it’s pitch black outside?”
Drew wrapped his arms around her leg. “Mummy, I want to go home now.”
Lauren wove her fingers through Drew’s mop of hair. “I know, sweetie.”
Nate didn’t say a word, just crooked an eyebrow.
She pulled her soaked jacket closer together and straightened her shoulders. “Thank you. We’d appreciate a ride home.”
In the distance, over mist-shrouded kauri and totara trees, thunder grumbled through the valley. An omen of turbulent weather still to come.
“If I help you to my car, will your dog decide I’m fair game?”
“Only if you make a threatening move toward us.”
He huffed out a sigh, offering her his arm. “Lean on me and you can hop.”
***
Ten minutes later, the Range Rover’s headlights passed over the bogged station wagon. Wipers swept fans of rainwater off the windshield, clearing the blurred landscape outside before the next deluge splattered across the glass. Lauren pulled the borrowed blanket around her shoulders, fighting not to let her teeth chatter. Drew yawned in his booster seat behind her, squashed between rescued luggage and Java panting at his feet.
Nate stopped in front of a closed gate across the road and hauled on the parking brake. She moved toward the door handle, remembered her ankle, and froze mid-reach.
“I’ll get it.” His voice was a study in exasperation as he flung open his door and plunged into the rain.
She swiveled in her seat. “How’re you doing, my big boy?”
Drew shrugged while pulling on Java’s jowls. The dog licked his hand and continued to pant.
“Okay.”
“That’s good. You were a bit scared of Nate, but he was only trying to help.”
Drew’s eyes were far too knowledgeable for those of a four-year-old. “I thought he was a bad man. Like Daddy.”
Lauren focused on the throb of her ankle. Anything to block out the hurt his words caused. “I know. You’re my big, brave boy.”
“Is Nate…” Drew’s fingers latched onto Java’s collar. “Is he a good guy?”
Lauren turned to stare through the windshield so Drew couldn’t see her expression.
Rain glistened on Nate like liquid mercury in the headlights, shimmering over the bold planes of his profile as he unlatched the gate. Straightening, he looked back at the car. The force of his gaze released a flurry of butterflies low in her stomach. He moved with purpose, not with the casual swagger more suited to the stockman coat he wore.
“Yes. I’m sure he’s a good guy.” If he wasn’t, it wouldn’t matter after tonight. “We’re very grateful to him that you don’t have to carry me all the way home, aren’t we?”
Delighted she’d coaxed another giggle from him, she still wore a smile as Nate climbed back inside. His eyes locked with hers, direct, intense, and assessing. Lauren dropped her gaze, staring at her reddened fingers wrapped around the blanket’s edge. Rain dripped off his coat onto the leather seats. The silence stretched, wind hissed and wailed, the engine purred.
He drove through the gate, stopped, and got out to re-latch it.
“Mummy, can we have monkey-roni for dinner?” Drew said after Nate walked away.
Lauren blew out a quiet breath. “Sure. Monkey-roni and cheese it is.”
“Yay.”
After a moment, Drew’s head slumped to one side, his eyelids drooping. His fingers slid from Java’s jowls and curled on his lap. The weight on her shoulders lightened. Her son was coping, so she’d pull up her big-girl panties and endure this awkward situation for a little longer.
When Nate returned to the car, Drew’s snuffles had evened out into a rhythmic snore.
Nate fastened his safety belt and looked over his shoulder. “That was fast. Your boy must’ve been tired.”
Lauren followed his gaze. “He’s always been able to conk out no matter what stressful situation he’s in, just like that.” She snapped her fingers for emphasis. “I wish I could fall asleep so quickly.”
The instant the words slipped off her tongue, she regretted revealing anything of herself, and she jerked her head toward her window. Nate drove into the oncoming darkness, his shadowed profile offering no trace of emotion when she risked a sideways glance.
She directed him to turn off into her driveway fifteen minutes later. Thunder boomed overhead, and flashes of lightning lit the yard in front of her house to brilliant pewter, the headlights paling to insignificance.
He killed the engine, and intermittent spots of rain dripped on the roof.
Nate flicked on the overhead light and held out his hand. “Pass me your keys. I’ll open up and help you inside.”
Drew smacked his lips sleepily in the back seat. Lauren gripped the straps of her handbag, warring with the urge to remain in control. Damn it, what choice did she have?
She rummaged through her purse, found her keys, and dropped them into his palm. “The gold one opens the back door on the other side of the house. If you follow the deck around past two sets of French doors…”
He dangled the keychain under the tiny bulb. “‘Kia Kaha.’” A wry note reverberated through his voice as he read the commonly known Maori phrase. “Do you need a reminder to ‘be strong,’ Ms. Taylor?”
His speculative stare pinned her in place. The luxurious amount of space between their seats suddenly felt cramped and claustrophobic. A tidal flow of warmth heated her cheekbones.
She swallowed a snippy comeback and set her jaw. “The keychain was a gift from my sister-in-law, and yeah, on some days, I do.”
Neither blinked as their gazes clashed under the steady drip, drip, drip of rain. Then Java whined, pawing at the door.
A muscle in Nate’s jaw twitched. “Today was one of those times, I imagine. Let’s get you all inside.”
***
A swooning woman, an agitated kid and a ridiculously named Rottweiler that looked as if it’d enjoy gnawing a chunk out of his leg. Not what Nate had in mind when he’d come north from Auckland this afternoon. In good conscience, he couldn’t have driven past, but playing the Good Samaritan was proving to be a pain in the ass. He wanted a hot shower, a cold beer and to be left the hell alone for the next seven weeks.
After unlocking her back door, he scooped the woman out of his car and trudged through the rain. Tucked away at the base of a hill covered in native bush, the house was small but welcoming. He stepped into an open-plan kitchen and dining room, where timber countertops and brickwork provided a rustic touch. Two couches covered with striped Mexican blankets, and fresh-cut flowers on top of a circular dining table gave the living room area a homey feel.
Nate helped the woman onto a kitchen chair and propped another under her injured ankle. He wasn’t getting that shower and beer anytime soon.
“Before I go back for the kid—”
“His name’s Drew.” Her voice was devoid of the earlier flare of passion.
“Got it. So, before I get Drew, do you have any bags of frozen veggies in your freezer?”
“Sorry?”
You’d think he’d asked an intimate question. Shaking his head, he walked past her into the kitchen. “Never mind.”
Nate opened the fridge and scanned the contents. Vegetables, yogurt, and stuff in neatly labeled containers that looked way too healthy lined the shelves. Maybe she was on one of those no-fat, no-taste, no-bum diets?
But the tactile memory of her pressed to his chest was only a heartbeat away. His fingers had accidentally grazed her breast while preventing her from collapsing on the road, and he’d cupped her firm thighs carrying her around. No…some wonderfully wicked curves hid under those baggy clothes.
He found green beans in the freezer below and wrapped the bag in a dishtowel.
“Here, Ms. Taylor, a make-
do icepack.” Nate settled the dishtowel-wrapped beans on her ankle.
The muscles along her calf coiled tighter than old-fashioned rolls of film. Was everyone living in this godforsaken backwoods so edgy?
“Oh. Thanks.” She slanted him a glance from under dark lashes. “I guess you should call me Lauren.”
Defrosted a little, had she? “You’re welcome, Lauren. And here”—he patted the pocket of his coat and drew out her key ring—“your keys.”
Her gaze narrowed then flew wide. “I just remembered—you didn’t use my keys to unlock the gate, so where did you get a set to our private road? My brother and I are the only landowners who have access.”
Back to being prickly and suspicious again. “You’re not the only landowners anymore. Didn’t the local grapevine tell you someone bought Old Mac’s land?”
“What?”
He captured and categorized the emotions flickering across her face the same way he would’ve with his viewfinder pressed to his eye. Line up the shot, frame by frame. Disbelief, click. Recognition, click. Fear, click. The struggle for control. Click.
Bright overhead bulbs spot lit her widened hazel eyes. Her nut-brown hair curled in wet clumps, framing the slight flush on her high cheekbones, one of which bore a raised, crescent-shaped scar. Not an in-your-face beauty but she possessed a haunting loveliness that stirred something in him. Strangely familiar too.
When her shocked silence threatened to suck all the oxygen from the room, Nate scrubbed a hand over his face. “Look, I’d better bring in your boy. Will he be okay if he wakes while I’m carrying him inside?”
Lauren’s shoulders hunched forward. “He’s a pretty solid sleeper once he’s out. He’ll be fine and, ah, thank you.”
He hesitated, out of his element in her neat-and-oh-so-cozy kitchen, with its framed herb watercolors and a collection of crayoned pictures stuck to the fridge. Outside the French doors, Java sat with his nose pressed to the glass, his black eyes tracking every move. The dog didn’t worry him, but the kid’s terrified face and raised fists? That did his head in.
Nate moved past her to slip back on his gumboots.
Out from the roof’s shelter, rain dribbled down his collar and soaked with icy efficiency into the legs of his jeans. Java followed, claws clicking on wood as he kept pace.
“I’m not gonna hurt your kid, mutt.” He hustled down the deck steps and across the grass to his car. “Because the sooner I get him inside, the sooner I can leave.”
Asleep, the kid slumped against the booster seat in a state of relaxation only animals and the very young could achieve. Once he’d figured out how to release the straps on the contraption keeping the boy bound in place, Nate found maneuvering the boy into his arms was as easy as picking up a sack of potatoes. Only potatoes didn’t wrap tiny arms around your neck and snore against your shoulder.
He retraced his steps, keeping the sleepy boy close to his chest as he toed off his gumboots at the back door. The sound of a beep and the tinny, recorded voice following it had him cocking his head.
“Hey, sis. Hope your visit with Louisa and the kids was fun. We’re sneaking away for a night while Sophie’s at a sleepover, and we’ll pick up the Camaro on the way back. Catch ya tomorrow.”
Lauren jabbed a button on the small machine beside her and leaned back in her chair. He stepped inside, walking past the island countertop that split the kitchen and dining room in half.
Next to a brick archway sectioning off the darkened area behind it was a raised fireplace. And a fire needed to be lit sometime soon, because a rash of goose bumps dotted the kid’s skin.
He laid the boy on a couch, plucked a throw blanket from the back of it, and draped it over him. “Your brother’s not home?”
“No.”
“Better call a friend.”
“Yes, I’ll do that.” Her gaze darted to the left, the tip of her tongue swiping across her top lip. “I appreciate all you’ve done.”
“You do have a friend to call?”
“Of course.” She studied her thumb, rubbing her index finger along the side of the nail over and over. “We’ll be fine. Don’t worry about us.”
The boy was asleep but shivering under the blanket in his rain-blotched tee shirt and shorts. Nate’s attention shifted back to Lauren and the dishtowel-wrapped bulge on her ankle. He had spotted steep stairs through the first set of French doors he’d walked past. How would she navigate those? Not your problem, a voice hissed in his ear. Don’t get involved.
Great plan, in theory, but his conscience wouldn’t allow him to leave an injured woman and her kid in the middle of nowhere without help.
That cold beer got farther away every second.
***
Inside Lauren, a slow fuse of unease smoldered. She was injured and stuck with a stranger in her home. Strike that. Not just a stranger, but also her new neighbor. Super. And Nate—a photojournalist who was only one degree removed from a card-carrying member of the paparazzi—wouldn’t acknowledge her hints to leave. In fact, he’d stripped off his coat and hung it on a hook to dry.
“Where’s his room? I’ll get some fresh clothes.”
“Upstairs but that’s really not necess—” Her bare toes curled, and her fingers clamped around the chair seat as she attempted to stand.
“Stay.” He pointed his finger and disappeared through the archway leading to her family room and staircase.
She stared after him. As if she could do much else. Her ankle now resembled an inflatable armband like the ones her son used for swimming. Nate’s footfalls thudded dully around Drew’s room, followed by several moments of silence. Then the floorboards in her bedroom above creaked. A dresser drawer rattled on its tracks.
He was in her room, pawing through her sensible panties and plain cotton bras.
She struggled to her feet and hopped to the stairs, each small jolt causing sweat to pop out on her forehead. Above, more drawers opened and shut. Prickles sped along her body, her skin flushing hot enough to melt metal.
Lauren balanced on one foot, hanging on to the bannister. “Nate?”
Footsteps clicked across the floor, and his head appeared around the doorjamb.
“I can get my own clothes later.” Her leg trembled with strain as she fought to stay upright.
Nate flicked off her bedroom light and jogged down to her. “Thought I told you not to move?”
Fingernail tips carved half-moon craters into her palm. Just what had he seen in those drawers? “I could’ve got—”
“Bathroom through here?” He pushed open the door at the foot of the stairs.
“Yes, but wait a minute, you can’t—” She hopped after him.
“Is this where you keep your towels?” He stood in front of her linen cupboard. “I couldn’t find any upstairs.”
“Towels?” she parroted.
“Yes, you’re soaking wet.”
His deep, patient voice decimated her poise to that of a tongue-tied schoolgirl standing in the principal’s office.
“Bottom shelf.” It was then Lauren noticed the clothes tucked under his arm.
Drew’s red and blue Superman pajamas, and her much-worn sweatshirt and yoga pants. No boring cotton underwear in sight. Thank goodness.
“Here you go.” He passed her a towel and placed the stack of clothes beside the washbasin.
“Thanks.” She buried her heat-stained cheeks in the soft folds and scrubbed at her hair.
Get with it, Lauren. He’s just being nice. Kind and helpful and nice. Nate Fraser certainly didn’t seem like the type of man to rummage in a woman’s lingerie for kicks.
She lowered the towel, her hope he’d become bored while she’d dried her hair dashed. Still there. Dominating the room, gaze steady as he draped a towel around his wide shoulders. As if he didn’t intend to leave any time soon. Short of knocking him unconscious with the nearby bathroom scales, she couldn’t imagine a way of removing him.
He opened the medicine cabinet. “Is your fi
rst aid kit in here?”
She nodded, and he plucked out a plastic container with a white cross taped to the lid.
“Now.” He leaned back against the washbasin, crossing his ankles and flashing a feral smile. “Can you manage removing those wet clothes by yourself, or do you need me to help?”
Blood napalmed the length of her body again. “I can handle it.”
“If you’re sure.” He rubbed the towel along the back of his neck with lazy strokes. Broad shoulders and defined pectoral muscles shifted beneath his black tee shirt with each up and down motion of his hand.
Lauren blinked. What on earth?
Nate turned and sauntered out of her bathroom.
Don’t. Have some pride.
But she couldn’t prevent her gaze from dropping from the width of his back to his hips…and lower. The man possessed an A-plus example of a tight, male ass.
Lauren hopped forward and shut the door. She rested her brow against the cool wood until her pulse slowed from a crazy gallop to a respectable trot. Maybe she’d knocked her head earlier and now suffered from some weird form of concussion.
She stripped out of her wet shorts and tee shirt then perched on the edge of the bathtub to tug on the dry clothes. Alone, she would’ve remained in the bathroom for a few moments longer. But if Drew woke to find a strange man in their home, it could wipe out everything she’d worked toward these last two years.
Using the walls for balance, she grabbed the Superman pajamas and hopped all the way into the kitchen. Her gaze darted to Drew—still out of it, thank goodness. She looked toward Nate, who sat at her dining table, dark hair tumbling onto his brow, long, concert-pianist fingers rifling through the first aid kit. He plucked a tube of Arnica cream from the container and laid it beside a roll of elasticated bandage.
“Sit down, and I’ll wrap your ankle.” He pitched his voice low, flicking a glance at the couch.
“You don’t have to do this,” Lauren said from the archway.
“I’m happy to drive you to Bounty Bay’s hospital, if you’d prefer.”
A forty-minute trip each way into town. Plus curious faces, medical records, questions…
Christmas Down Under: Six Sexy New Zealand & Australian Christmas Romances Page 100