Rebekah was glad she was off duty for the next two weeks.
It would give her a chance to unwind and just be Rebekah Westmore, not Agent Westmore.
It'd also give her a chance to catch up with her sister, Claire, who she hadn't seen since her last visit. She was looking forward to catching up with her big sis.
And it seemed Claire was looking forward to the visit, too, because as soon as Rebekah parked her Ford FG rental in the driveway, Claire came racing out of the house and launched herself at Rebekah, giggling like a little girl as they embraced.
“Oh, it's so good to see you again!” Claire said, her hold on her baby sister tight.
“I know. It's been too long.” Rebekah replied.
Claire pulled back but kept her hands on her sisters shoulders as she took in her casual jeans-and-tee appearance. “You look different. Where's the gun and badge?”
“I'm on holiday. No gun. No badge. No bad guys.”
“That's good to know.” Claire said. “Come on inside. Everyone is dying to see you.”
Rebekah locked the car before walking with her sister inside. At the door, Claire's twin boys – James and Andrew – launched themselves at her, laughing as they greeted her in unison, their little arms going around her neck as she picked them up, one six-year-old in each arm.
“Aunty Becky! You're here!”
“Hey, guys.” She said, a smile on her face as she carried them into the living room. She sat down on the floor and let the boys take up a spot on her lap as she smiled at them and said, “It's good to see you again.”
She talked with them for a few minutes, learning what they'd been up to in school and play before Claire told them to go wash up for dinner.
Rebekah stood and asked her sister, “Do I have time to take a shower before dinner?”
“Go ahead.”
“Thanks.” She headed out to the car to grab her suitcase before going upstairs and into the guest shower, wasting no time in stripping out of her clothes and stepping under the cleansing spray of a hot shower.
As she washed away the grime of a twenty-hour-long car trip, Rebekah smiled and thought, “It's good to be home.”
Chief Petty Officer Steven Leigh – the Radio Operator for the HMAS Sydney – climbed out of his Ford XR8 ute and headed up the front steps of the Hawkins residence. He was fresh in from a patrol and ready to mingle with some friends he hadn't seen in a few months.
Benjamin Hawkins greeted him at the front door and handed him a beer before leading the way into the living room, where Steven could hear laughter and talk. Ben's wife, Claire, sat on one of the couches, talking with a woman who sat opposite her.
The resemblance was unmistakable and he knew right away this was Claire's sister.
She was a stunner.
Red hair the colour of fire. A body that was showed off to perfection in jeans and a grey shirt. A full mouth that he wanted to kiss.
He hadn't been with a woman for what seemed like forever, and this one was tempting him like he'd never been tempted before.
“Oh, hi, Steven.” Claire said, smiling up at him. She pointed to her sister and said, “This is Rebekah. Becky, this is Steven, a friend of Ben.”
Rebekah smiled up at him and he almost groaned in sexual frustration. “Hello, Steven.”
“Rebekah.”
He downed the rest of his beer in one gulp, knowing he'd need something to do with his hands least he haul Rebekah off that couch and kiss her like he so badly wanted to.
Claire was a beautiful woman and had kept that beauty after two kids.
But Rebekah?
She was a knock-out. Smokin' hot with the power to drive a man crazy with desire without even trying.
Claire headed into the kitchen to check on dinner and Ben went upstairs to check on their sons, leaving Steven alone with Rebekah.
She looked at him as he took a seat and asked, “You're in the Navy, right?”
“That's right.”
“Have you been RAN for long?”
“Over twenty years.” He told her. “I joined just before my eighteenth birthday.”
“Impressive.”
“Have you ever served?” He asked, figuring that was the politest way to learn what she did for a living.
“No. I'm AFP.”
“You're a fed?”
Rebekah looked at him and asked, “Is that a problem?”
“Absolutely not.” He said. “Have you been one for long?”
“Eight years. I was a cop with the Valley police before I transferred out.”
“What part of the AFP are you with?”
“WPP.”
“Which means you know Ronald Coleman and Kevin Nolan.”
“I was on the team that was working with the RAN to bring them in.” Rebekah said. She frowned slightly and asked, “How do you know them?”
“Two of my mates from the ship are married to their ex's.”
“I heard about that.” She said. “It's good to know being with men like Coleman and Nolan didn't mess them up enough to make it so they couldn't find happiness in life.”
Steven smiled and said, “I agree.”
He liked that he could talk to her so easily, even though his brain kept straying towards adult thoughts, and he found himself looking forward to any conversations they might have in the future.
Two
Day one of her holiday dawned and Rebekah was babysitting the twins while Ben took Claire to the doctors. She was in the middle of playing hide-and-seek with them when the doorbell suddenly chimed.
“Stay hidden, guys.” She said. “I'll be back in a few minutes.”
She headed out to the front of the house and opened the door to find Steven Leigh standing on the threshold, dressed casually in a red tee and jeans.
She allowed herself a few seconds to take in his tanned skin, dark hair and friendly eyes and even found herself smiling back when he grinned at her in greeting.
“Hey.” He said.
“Hi. What are you doing here?”
“I'm here to see Ben.”
“He took Claire to the doctors.”
“Is she okay?”
“Stomach bug.” Not wanting to appear rude, Rebekah stood back and gestured him inside as she said, “You can wait in here in if you want. They should be back soon.”
“Sure.”
As they headed down the hallway to the living room where the boys were hiding, James came out and ran at Steven.
“Uncle Steve!”
He bent and picked the kid up with ease, just as James's brother, Andrew, came out of hiding and launched himself at Rebekah.
“You still play?” Andrew asked.
“Sure.” She replied with a smile.
“What about you, Uncle Steve?” James asked.
“Absolutely.” He agreed with a grin. “What are we playin'?”
“Hide and seek!” The boys said in unison.
Rebekah's phone rang then and she left them to begin a new round, heading into the kitchen to pull the mobile out of her bag. The caller-ID on the screen of the smart-phone told her it was Michael Blake, the agent-in-charge of the WPP. She swiped the screen and answered, “Westmore.”
“I've got some bad news, Westmore.” Michael told her. “Remember Edwards?”
“How could I forget?”
Stan Edwards was a convicted felon who Rebekah had put in jail at the beginning of her career with the AFP eight years ago. He'd raped and murdered his neighbours nineteen year old daughter before hitting the road in a bid to escape the police, becoming an interstate fugitive when he crossed the NSW border and took a hostage, who he later killed.
When Rebekah and her partner had caught up to him, he's resisted arrest, taking wild shots at them that had put her partner out of a job. In return, she'd put a round into Edwards' knee before he went to prison.
“What about him?”
“He's out of prison and on his way north again.”
She frowned and ask
ed, “How did he even manage to get out? Wasn't his sentence life?”
“He broke out. Killed a guard and took another hostage to get out of the prison.”
“How come I haven't seen this on the news?”
“We're keeping it quiet because Edwards isn't really a threat to the public at the moment.”
“He's a convicted rapist and murderer, Blake. How can he not be considered a threat?”
“Because he's after you.”
“What?”
“Edwards' cell mate told one of my men that Edwards did nothing but talk about getting revenge against the bitch cop who shot him and put him in prison.” Michael told her, “And that's you.”
“So you think he's headed up here to exact revenge against me?”
“That's the only logical reason we can think of why he's still in the country.”
She'd gone to Cairns to get away from the dramas of being a federal agent, but now it seemed that that drama would be following her. And it was going to put her family in danger.
“Westmore? I don't expect you to face him alone.”
“How soon can you get here?”
“We're meeting with the director tomorrow and, once we get the okay, we'll be on our way within twenty-four hours.”
That would put their arrival time around Saturday morning.
“I'll be waiting for you and him.”
When Steven saw the badge on her belt, he knew something was wrong.
The call she'd taken in the kitchen hadn't lasted that long, but he'd heard her say something about someone named Edwards and revenge.
“Guys, why don't you go outside and play until your Mum gets home?” She said to the twins.
“Yeah!”
After they'd raced outside, Steven watched as Rebekah pulled a gun out of her handbag and checked the slide and magazine before slipping it into a black holster and attaching the holster to her thigh.
That only made her look down-right sexy.
Claire chose that moment to walk in through the front door. When she saw her sister armed and badged, she frowned and asked, “Is everything okay?”
“No, but I can't tell you what's going on.” Rebekah said.
Steven could tell by the look on Claire's face that she wasn't too happy about that. When Rebekah ducked into her bedroom and reappeared with her bags, her sister's frown deepened.
“Are you leaving?”
“I'm just moving out and into a hotel for a few days.”
“Why? What's happened, Becky?”
The pet-name made Rebekah pause in what she was doing, and she looked at her sister with a pained expression on her face as she said, “I wish I could tell you, Claire, but I can't. It could put you in danger.”
Claire crossed to her and pulled her into a tight hug.
Rebekah held on just as tight and Steven could tell she was torn between being a sister and an agent. Seeing that look on her face, he felt an unusual urge to comfort her and tell her everything was going to be okay.
“Where are you going to go?” Claire asked.
“Just into the city.”
“Am I going to see you while you're here?”
“Yes, just not as much as we both thought.” Rebekah pulled back and looked down at her sister. “It's going to be okay, Claire. You've just got to trust me.”
Claire nodded and went to her husband when Ben walked in the door.
“Everything okay with you?” Rebekah asked her sister as she resumed checking her bags.
“Yeah. In fact, I have something to announce.” Claire said, smiling up at her husband.
“Go ahead.”
“I'm pregnant.”
“Oh, my God!” Rebekah shrieked. She laughed and pulled her sister into another hug. “Congratulations!”
Steven shook Ben's hand and said, “Congrats, man.”
“Thanks.” Ben said before hugging his sister-in-law.
But the celebration was short lived when Claire made a request that shocked both him and Rebekah.
“You want me to move in with a man I don't even know?”
“Ben and I know him.” Claire said. “And it'll make me feel better if I know you've got someone watching your back.”
“Claire, I'm a fed. I don't need someone watching my back.”
“Please, Becky. For me.” Claire said.
Rebekah looked torn again and she looked at him as she said, “I doubt he'll even want me living with him.”
To his surprise, Steven liked the idea of having her as a house guest and he said as much.
Claire beamed and said, “There? Happy?”
Rebekah sighed and said, “Fine.”
Steven helped her with her bags out to her car, and as he loaded her sedan, he told himself he wouldn't just stand by and let her face whatever trouble she was having on her own.
He barely knew her, but he still vowed to help her, no matter how much she wanted to argue.
Three
Steven's house was a two-storey brick building located on thirteen acres of prime grazing land just a short drive from Cairns. A sign at the beginning of the driveway said the place was called Northern Sunrise, and Rebekah could agree that was a perfect name for a place that looked so peaceful. Tall trees hid the house from the highway, with a large in-ground swimming pool fenced off to one side and a large, four-car garage on the other.
As Steven parked his ute and she pulled in next to him in her rental, Rebekah noticed horses frolicking in the land behind the house. She looked over at Steven as he got out his car and asked, “Do you own those horses?”
“Yes. I take in neglected champions and find homes for them with people who want them.” He told her. “Want to take a closer look at them?”
“Sure.”
She followed him around the house and out to the paddock that as closest to the house. Several horses were there, but only one – a beautiful white mare – walked over when they got close. Rebekah put her hand out and gently rubbed the mare's long, white nose.
“That's Snow.” Steven told her. “She won the 2003 Melbourne Cup before her owner decided she was too much of a hassle and sold her for dog meat.”
“How did you come to own her?”
“The RSPCA managed to step in before anything could happen and I purchased her at a sale held by them.”
Rebekah looked at him, finding herself liking him even more now that she knew what he did with these animals. She smiled when he looked at her and said, “You're a Navy man who serves on an active Patrol boat and you still manage to find the time to take in all these horses.” Looking out over the fields where the horses were spending their time, she asked, “Where do you find the time?”
“I've got two competent hands that run this place when I'm not here.” Steven told her.
Snow whinnied just then and rested her head on Rebekah's shoulder, making her laugh.
Steven grinned. “She likes you.”
“I guess so.” She agreed.
“Can you ride?”
“Sure.” Before she'd left this place to become an AFP agent, she and her sister used to ride all the time on the family farm.
“We'll head out now and you can get to know this place better.” Steven said. He reached past her to stroke the mare's nose, adding, “You can ride this one.”
They headed into the barn that stood next to the house and grabbed all the equipment they'd need for a ride before heading back over to the paddock where Snow waited for them, but before either of them could get into action, storm clouds suddenly rolled in and rain began to pour down from the darkening Heavens.
“Maybe some other time.” Steven said. He took the saddle she held and told her, “Head into the house. Martha, my housekeeper, will show you where you can clean up.”
Rebekah nodded and headed inside as two jack-a-roo's came over to join Steven in rounding up the horses so they could be put out of the rain. She'd been hesitant about coming out here and spending so much time with a man she didn't
know, but now that she was here at Northern Sunrise, she had to admit she was going to like it here.
A Hero In Uniform - The Complete Series Page 11