Men In Uniform: Taken By The Soldier: The Soldier's Untamed Heart / Closer... / Groom Under Fire

‘I don’t understand,’ Romy casually dropped in, going straight into investigation mode, ‘whose work is he doing?’

Simone blinked at her. ‘Yours. At least, some of it.’

‘What?’

‘He’s coming in at night, Romy. Working on park security. I thought you knew?’

‘How would I know?’

‘We assumed it was something you did. You know, in the city.’

‘Even in the city I’d stop short on spying on my employer,’ she said. Unless there was good reason. ‘No wonder people are keeping me at arms-length.’

Simone’s face dropped as she finally realised she’d said something wrong. ‘Oh. No. That’s not what I meant. We’re all just getting to know you…as best we can…’ she finished a bit pathetically.

Romy winced. ‘Have I come on a bit strong?’

‘Not strong. Just…’

Pushy? Nosey? Determined? She’d been called all three in her time.

‘God. Sorry.’ Simone slid off the bench. ‘I’m making a real mess of this. Quendanup is the country, you know? People like to get to know everything about you. And you’re a bit private, that’s all. People here are already sensitive to that because of Mr McLeish, so…’

Romy relaxed. This wasn’t the first time she’d had the criticism. There was one sure way to end gossip. Satisfy it. ‘What would you like to know about me?’

Simone stopped in the doorway. Chewed her lip. ‘I can ask?’

‘Go ahead. I have nothing to hide.’ Ha! She leaned on the counter and forced herself to relax. ‘Three questions.’

Simone slid her cup into the sink and clenched her hands in front of her, thinking fast. She spun back. ‘Why did you leave the city?’

Straight for the million-dollar question. There was no good answer for that one. Except the truth. ‘There was…someone…I wanted to get far away from. This seemed like a sufficient distance.’ Let them think she had left Leighton’s father. And it would be ‘them’; she had no doubt her private business would run through the park staff like a strain of gastro. ‘And I didn’t like some of the kids my son was hanging out with.’

Simone thought about that and then her eyes brightened. ‘Question two. How do you know Mr McLeish?’

Romy tilted her head. ‘What makes you think I do?’

Simone laughed. ‘He emerges from his forest for the first time in a year on the day you happen to be interviewing for a job. Then he hires you, having made not one single business decision since Justin arrived. Then he helps you move house…’

How did people know this stuff? Were the forest possums running a blog?

‘…and, finally, the pair of you have enough chemistry to start a bushfire. That doesn’t evolve overnight.’

Romy shook her head. ‘You saw us together for about twenty seconds after the interview, Simone.’

‘I could feel the tension in the room. The vibe between the two of you was the closest to action I’ve had in a while, let me tell you.’

‘The only tension you felt was irritation. He was ticked off because I embarrassed him about his store security. And he hired me for the same reason. Besides, if he hasn’t emerged for that long, where am I supposed to have met him?’

‘Oh, he comes out, just not amongst people here. Supposedly he heads up to the city a couple of times a year for…You know…’

She shook her head, bemused. ‘For?’

Simone’s mouth opened and then closed again and a blush stained her pretty features.

Romy stiffened immediately. ‘Let me see if I have this right. People here think I know Clint McLeish from the city where he sometimes goes to pick up.’

Simone flushed to her roots. ‘Um…’

‘And him hiring me unexpectedly is some kind of evidence the two of us are an item? Oh, that’s right, let’s not forget the explosive chemistry zinging around when we’re together. Can’t keep our hands off each other. I suppose he’s also the father of my child, yes?’

She didn’t know skin could turn so crimson. Romy slammed her mug on the sink in disbelief. ‘Oh, you are kidding me! For the record, Simone, my son’s father is not Clint McLeish. He and I had never met. We are not secret lovers. He’s not helping me do my work. And there is no chemistry—he doesn’t even like me particularly. Can I be any clearer?’

Her pitch had risen considerably and her chest heaved with anger. Simone backed away a step or two during her outburst but then stood her ground, silently assessing. Romy stared at her through steady, furious eyes.

‘I believe you. I’m sorry if I jumped to the wrong conclusion.’

Romy could only nod.

‘I wouldn’t want anyone saying something about you that’s not true.’ Serious blue eyes stared steadily at Romy. The irony was exquisite.

Simone chewed her lip. ‘But…he is working on security at night—it’s the only thing he’s touching. I’m not mistaken about that.’

Romy’s heart squeezed with familiar pain. He was doing her work for her. She’d clearly made a very bad first impression if he thought her so incapable. ‘Then I’ll take it up with him,’ she said tightly.

Simone nodded and turned for the door. At the last moment, she put her head back in the room. ‘And, Romy, the chemistry? I’m not mistaken about that either.’ She shrugged gently before turning out the door. ‘Sorry.’

Romy did a fantastic job of internalising her irritation that Clint was helping her out behind the scenes, taking her frustration out on the damaged fence line instead. So when she glanced down and saw his distinctive, battered ute pull up to one side of the deep, blue-green dam she was working near, she knew fate wanted her to say something.

And not just one thing.

Dumping the wire strainers and her heavy gloves onto the hard earth and tugging her broad-brim hat further down her head she marched down the slope in the direction of the dam. Flies buzzed around the perspiration on her face and throat and she shooed them away with angry flicks of her wrist, every one matching words she never, ever said in front of her son. But she said them now, and not quite under her breath.

How dared he patronise her by helping her out secretly? She was perfectly capable of doing the job she was hired for. This wasn’t the first time she’d started in a new field and she had every confidence in her ability to hit the ground running. But he didn’t obviously. To sneak in at night and prepare things for her, or order new equipment, or fix things before she had a chance to. It was galling!

Her furious feet moved her quickly but when she got down to the edge of the dam, Clint was nowhere to be seen. She scanned the horizon, glanced into the ute, turned and looked back the way she had come.

Silence.

‘McLeish!’ Her call was more of a cry to battle. It echoed across the empty clearing before being swallowed up in the thick trees leading away from it.

Still nothing. Damn him!

A splash behind her had her spinning around on the spot.

‘You rang?’ Clint bobbed in the dam like a buoy, dunking under briefly, then emerging, glistening, and pushing his hair from his face. Wet, his features were all perfect angles and sharp, sparkling edges. Strong arms brought him closer to the shallows. ‘What can I do for you, Ms Carvell?’

Romy fought to ignore the slow reveal as his feet found the dam floor. ‘You can stop holding my hand,’ she called out, her heart thumping.

He stopped drifting towards her and stood straighter in the water. ‘Explain that to me.’ His fingers came up to shield his gaze from the glare and sunlight bounced off the rivulets streaming down the hard planes of his chest.

She ignored that, too.

She swallowed to put some moisture back in her mouth. ‘You’re doing my job for me.’ She didn’t have to yell now he was only metres away from where she stood on the dam’s edge. He looked so infuriatingly confident standing there like some kind of aquatic god. While she was all sweaty and revolting.

Again.

That fired her up even more. ‘I’m perfectly capable of doing the job you’re paying me to do. I don’t need your help. I don’t want it.’

‘Who says I’m helping you?’ His legs carried him through the shallows and the dam seemed to drop away from him as he approached.

Her breath hitched as first broad pecs and then a ridged stomach emerged from the water, then it released on a whoosh when his feet found the ascent to shore and pushed a pair of dark board shorts, slung low on angular obliques, into view.

Not that she was looking.

‘You’re coming in at night and doing things before I can get to them.’ Deny it, she wanted to shout.

He dragged his feet onto the sand and stopped in front of her, dropping his arm from his eyes, suspicion live in the shadowed gaze. ‘How do you know what I’m doing at night?’

Great. Another person who thought she was capable of a bit of internal espionage. But she was loath to get Simone in trouble, not after the hard time she’d already given her.

She hedged. ‘Is it true or not?’

Dark lashes clumped by water droplets blinked down over vibrant green eyes. No wonder the townspeople had such a romantic view of him; between the face and the intrigue, he was mysterious and handsome enough to be flashing on feminine radars across the south-west.

Her own was going ballistic right now.

‘It’s true I’m working at night,’ he said.

‘And…?’

‘And it’s true I’m looking at some aspects of our security—’ Romy turned to stalk off. A strong, wet hand wrapped around her elbow and drew her back. ‘But relax. I’m not doing you any special favours. Why would I? I hardly know you.’

Oh.

He might as well have slapped her across the face with a wet reality fish. Romy groaned inwardly and called herself all manners of idiot. She’d allowed her own complexes to totally feed off Simone’s skewed view of what was going on in the office after dark. He was right. Why would he help her out?

‘Why do you care, anyway?’ He lifted a towel from the tray of his ute and patted his face and neck dry. That was when she saw the tattoo, beautifully positioned on his left bicep. A sword surrounded by a garland of snakes.

‘Because I’m more than capable of doing any part of this job. I don’t need backup.’ Before he could open his mouth, she barrelled on. ‘So whatever you’re working on it might be smart to keep me in the loop so we’re not double-handling.’

He slung the towel over his shoulder. ‘It doesn’t matter—I’m nearly done, anyhow.’ Dismissed. His imperious tone got right up her nose. Reminded her of another man. An older man.

‘Going back into hiding for another twelve months?’ She could have bitten her tongue off the moment the bitchy comment slipped out.

He shook his head. ‘Are you always this unpleasant?’ His words were as cool as the water evaporating off his skin. They just begged to be challenged.

She took a deep breath. ‘I don’t buy this whole brooding, damaged act, you know. I’m sure it does great things for your reputation in town but it’s been a couple of years—don’t you think it’s getting a little old?’

His eyes narrowed to slits. ‘So now you’re familiar with my past and all? That’s a bit like me saying your high-and-mighty act is getting tired.’

A needle stabbed through Romy’s chest. High and mighty? Why that hurt particularly, after everything she’d been called in life…Yet her voice was tight when she responded.

‘You’ll have to do better than that, McLeish. I’ve had every name under the sun thrown at me and survived it. I’m resistant to sticks and stones, too. Too many calluses.’

He blinked slowly and considered her. ‘By who?’

Whoa. How did they get here? She only wanted to call him on the extracurricular night-school activity. She backed off, fists clenched tight. ‘I have to get on with the fence. Excuse me.’

‘You were out here working?’

She pointed to the fence line silhouetted against the glare at the top of the hill and he followed her gaze sceptically. ‘Relax, McLeish. I’m not stalking you. Why would I? I hardly know you.’

His own words flung back at him, he smiled. ‘You know how to string a fence?’

The doubt in his voice got her blood racing. ‘You think you’re the only one who gets to be capable? What is it with you military types?’

His rebuttal was soft. ‘The question is, what is it with you and military types?’

She glared at him. ‘That is none of your beeswax.’

Good one, Romy, you sound all of twelve years old.

Ignoring the amused sparkle in his eye, she tossed her hair back over her shoulder and powered on up the hill, swishing at the flies the whole way.

‘Let me give you a hand with that.’ Clint appeared behind her and held out a pair of gloves.

Having assured herself with a quick glance that he was fully dressed now, Romy focused on the wire in her hands. ‘I don’t need help, thanks.’

‘I know you don’t, but I’d like to…’

She squinted into the open sincerity on his face and made to thank him. Then he went and ruined it.

‘…and I’m the boss, so what I say goes.’

She tightened a smile around the retort she was dying to spit and turned back to the torturous fence. She saw Clint flick a glance at her broken wire strainers on the ground and the arrangement she’d rigged up by proxy with a screwdriver twisted into the wire. Thanks to her angry yanking, the ratchet had broken at the crucial moment, leaving her to tighten four strands manually in century-plus heat. Every turn of the screwdriver pulled the wire that bit tighter but it was a hellish way to do it.

One strand had taken her twenty minutes.

‘Go ahead,’ she relented, standing carefully and letting him into her place.

He squatted at the fence line and spoke from under his Akubra hat, getting a feel for the wire. ‘Can I ask you a question?’

Romy hesitated. Something told her it wasn’t going to be about work. ‘Sure…’

He twisted, once, twice, and then he retested the wire. The strength in the contoured triceps emerging from the sleeves of his T-shirt was distracting. He gave it two more twists until he was satisfied, then he levered the screwdriver free and turned to look up at her.

‘Where’s Leighton’s father?’

She stared at him. She preferred the direct approach to Simone’s whispered speculation but she wasn’t entirely ready for the question, despite dreading it half her life. Every clever answer she’d ever imagined abandoned her.

‘I don’t know.’ That was as honest as she could be.

The beat-up Akubra tilted curiously and the flash of green was disconcerting. ‘Doesn’t he see his son?’

‘No.’ Again, short but true.

‘You don’t want to talk about it?’ He balanced on his haunches as though he could sit there all day.

Not with you. ‘I’m not used to talking about it.’

‘No-one’s ever wanted to know? I find that hard to believe.’

Romy kicked the dust at her feet. ‘Most people would think it was a rude question to actually verbalise.’

His hat lifted slightly with his eyebrows. Was that a blush creeping up his throat? Her mouth curved at the realisation it simply hadn’t occurred to him not to ask. The hint of humanity made her more inclined to answer.

‘He and I…parted ways a long time ago,’ she said.

The understatement of all time. The spectre of the Colonel loomed. Whore. Worse.

Clint studied her, then spoke quietly. ‘Does he know he has a son?’

Bang, right on the money. Instincts like that would have been wasted anywhere other than a specialist role. Commandos, maybe? Or Tactical Assault. She struggled to keep her anger in check as old hurts oozed up.

‘I doubt he even knew he’d had sex,’ she muttered grimly.

Those sea-green eyes flicked away for the barest of moments, then locked onto hers again. ‘Right. Next topic?’

She took a deep breath. ‘Yes, please.’

And just like that it was over. She’d shared her shame with someone. The absolute last someone she would have expected to be opening up to but he hadn’t sneered or even judged her. There was nothing but compassion in those twin depths.

‘Can I ask you a question?’ she risked.

‘Maybe.’

She perked up. ‘What branch of the military were you in?’

‘If I told you I’d have to kill you.’ His laugh was only half joking.

‘Seriously…’

He looked at her, his voice tighter than the wire he was straining. ‘Does it matter?’

She kept her gaze steady. ‘No. But I’m curious.’

‘Don’t be.’

A big part of her wanted to smack that hat right off his head. But she reined it in. ‘Hey, I’ve just stripped myself naked for you. The least you could do is drop one article.’

Those powerful hands stopped working entirely and a deep chuckle followed like a distant rumble of thunder. ‘You do have a gift for expression, Romy.’

Not deflected, she stared down into his broad shoulders until the silence grew tangible. He sighed and twisted up to her. ‘I was an operative with Strike Force Taipan. Tactical Assault and Extraction.’ His voice turned from grudging to irritated. ‘Why are you smiling?’

Taipans. It fit. She could see him slipping over the edge of a Zodiac all camouflaged at midnight. ‘Just revelling in the momentary pleasure of knowing everything. It happens very rarely.’

‘Is that right?’

‘I have an eight-year-old particularly gifted at pointing out when I’m wrong.’ He took after his grandfather.

He chuckled again, only this time she watched the grin spread over his face. It really transformed him, as if he wasn’t striking enough already.

In a kill-you-with-a-well-placed-thumb kind of way.

‘All done.’ He pulled off the gloves and wiped his hands on his jeans, then returned to his usual position, towering over her. Romy realised how accustomed she’d become to gazing up at him. Despite always being short, it was possibly the only time she’d felt…fragile. The thought had her scrambling away from him, her voice breathy.

‘Okay. Well, thanks. I guess I should be grateful nature endowed one of us with muscles.’

That smile again. ‘There’s more to life than brute strength. Besides, you virtually repaired this single-handed. I just got to swan in at the end and be the hero.’

At his own words, the light dimmed from his eyes. They clouded with something dark. He glanced towards his vehicle and then busied himself collecting the tools scattered across the ground. She joined him. When her toolkit was packed and there was no good reason to linger, she pulled her hat off and ran her fingers through sweat-dampened hair.

He hadn’t met her eyes for minutes now. ‘I guess I should get going. Thanks for the help…’

‘You’re welcome.’ Still no eye contact but critically polite. He collected up the broken strainer and turned towards his ute at the foot of the hill. Romy frowned. What had she said? Why did she even care? This man was nothing to her, only her employer.

But she did.

She sighed and turned away from him.

Clint felt the loss of her grey, almond-shaped eyes. It hadn’t been hurt simmering away in those smoky depths; she was too protected for that. It was caution. Confusion. And something else, something older that didn’t belong to him. But he felt like a heel, anyway.

‘I’m sorry, Romy. I’m not angry at you.’

‘Who are you angry at?’ Her whispered reply drifted to him on the warm breeze. Anxious. The playful spark in her expression completely absent. Yet another thing he’d killed in this world. It was a reasonable question but impossible to answer. Hadn’t he tried all these years to figure it out? Lord knows he’d had plenty of time. Somewhere along the line it got easier not to think about it any more.

He stared long and hard at her. ‘Do you swim?’

Her confusion doubled. ‘Why?’

‘If you swim, don’t do it in the dams around the cottage. Come here. This is the best for swimming.’

‘I’d already gathered that.’

‘Swim here.’ Why was he obsessing on this?

She straightened. ‘That sounds vaguely like an order.’

‘Will that have more impact?’

‘I’d prefer you to ask me.’

He shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his board shorts. ‘Ah, sorry. Occupational hazard.’

‘You can take the man out of the corps…’

‘What do you know about the corps?’

‘Unit. Corps. God. Country,’ she said. ‘Doesn’t leave much room for being human.’

He squinted. ‘You know the code?’

‘I lived with the code.’

Her simple grimace was telling. He knew only too well the personal price soldiers paid for honouring that ideal. Family came in a poor fifth right behind your unit. The men who kept you alive, who had your back.

Or were supposed to.

For all those big, beautiful eyes seemed to know about loss, he doubted they knew squat about betrayal. The things he’d seen, things he’d done. The things others had done that he’d never been able to reconcile. She didn’t have a clue. Romy Carvell was like a fresh set of combat camos: unsullied, crisp at the seams. The sort of thing you could slip into and feel clean, just for a moment until the sand leached in.

‘I’m asking you, Romy. If you or Leighton swim, please make it here. Okay?’

She considered him long and hard. Then she shrugged. ‘It’s your property.’

Something deep inside him staggered with relief. ‘What are you doing this evening?’

She blinked at his rapid change of direction. ‘Uh…Helping Leighton with a science project.’

‘Friday, then. There’s something I’d like to show you on the estate.’ And there was. But mostly it was an excuse to spend some more time with her, to sit close to those crisp, new khakis and think about how good it would feel to be clean again. ‘Can you meet me in the afternoon?’

‘Where?’

‘I’ll find you.’

She nodded and he turned down the hill, towards the twinkling green water he swam in daily, trying to baptise himself for a new beginning.

Chapter Four

I’ll find you.

The words kept pinging around in Romy’s head. It was only her favourite quote in her favourite movie of all time. Except now, whenever she heard it, she’d think of a jade-eyed, square-jawed giant instead of Daniel Day-Lewis in a loincloth.

Okay, so not the worst trade-off…

She tipped her head back and let the cool water from the showerhead tumble over her.

I’ll find you. When a man like Clint McLeish promised that, you knew he wasn’t kidding. He would find a polar bear in a blizzard in the Arctic Circle. He was just that kind of…doer.

Nothing quite as sexy as a capable man.

She twisted the cold-water tap off hard, warning herself away from those thoughts. There was a very hazy line between capable and overbearing and she’d lived half her life with the latter.

She glanced at her watch and gasped. Leighton’s school bus would be dropping him at the gates to WildSprings in about four minutes. If his day was anything like hers, he’d be hot, bothered and ready for the air conditioning.

It took her two minutes to throw on some clothes and get to the car. As she reached for the doorhandle, a growing plume of dust through the trees caught her eye. A blue Nissan cruised into her drive and pulled up nearby. A rosy-cheeked, blonde gnome popped her head out of the driver’s side window and then pushed the door open.

‘Hi! You must be Leighton’s mum? I’m Carolyn Lawson, Cameron’s mum.’

Cameron? Romy bent to glance in the rear of the Nissan. Her son seemed absorbed in discussion with a blond boy about the same age. A ratty blue heeler with a lolling tongue was squished in there with them. Carolyn Lawson was five foot nothing and nearly as round as she was tall. But her smile was instant and her confidence infectious. Romy’s people metre blinked happily in the green. She held out her hand and accepted Carolyn’s firm shake.