Outback Sisters (37 page)

He thought about it a moment—no way was he taking a sixteen-year-old girl all the way to Perth without her mother's permission, but nor was he about to leave her on the side of the road for the first sick fuck to come along and take advantage. He thought of what he'd want if this was Liv. What choice did he have?

‘Get in,' he said, grumpy because this diversion was the last thing he needed. Seeing Simone again was going to ruin all the good work he'd done so far towards forgetting her. Not that he'd been so successful in that mission.

Harriet's expression brightened as she yanked open the door and climbed inside. ‘Thanks. I was beginning to think I was going to have to walk the whole bloody way.'

‘You've walked a fair way already.'

She dumped her backpack at her feet, clicked on her seatbelt and thrust a finger at the stereo. ‘Can we change radio stations? This stuff is ancient.'

He raised an eyebrow but nodded his head. It didn't appear she knew the first thing about hitchhiking. ‘Why's your mum not driving you?' he asked, as he pulled back onto the highway and the ute's doors locked automatically.

‘Because I'm done with her,' Harried said, perching her feet on the dashboard. ‘I'm done with this whole dump of a town.'

‘You got a plan for when you hit Perth?'

‘Yeah. I'm gonna live with my grandma. She's so much cooler than Mum.' Something young and boppy—he guessed Taylor Swift—filled the cabin as she succeeded in changing stations.

‘And your mum is okay with this?'

She didn't answer and he glanced sideways to see guilt scrawled all over her face. Just as he'd suspected.

‘She doesn't know, does she?'

‘So what? She won't care. I only cause her stress. I'll call her when I get to Grandma's. Where exactly are you going in Perth? Gran lives in Inglewood. Do you know where that is?'

It wasn't at all far from where Liv rented in Bayswater but he didn't tell Harriet this. Instead, he checked the rear-view mirror, then indicated right and did a U-turn so they were facing back towards Bunyip Bay.

‘What the hell are you doing?' Harriet screamed, looking back in the direction of the city. ‘I said I want to go to Perth.'

He nodded. ‘I heard you. And once we've checked with your mum, if she's agreeable, I'm happy to give you a lift all the way to Inglewood, but you're not choosing the music the whole way.'

Harriet didn't seem to care about the music anymore. She grabbed the passenger door handle and rattled hard, trying unsuccessfully to open it.

‘I wouldn't suggest leaping from a car travelling a hundred-and-ten kilometres an hour,' he said, keeping his eyes on the road ahead.

‘You can't keep me in here against my will,' she spat, folding her arms across her chest and glaring at him. Thankfully looks couldn't kill because if so he'd have been a dead man.

‘Fine. Give your mum a call and let me talk to her. As I said, if she gives her permission, we'll turn around.' He was calling her bluff but his heart rate jumped at the prospect of speaking to Simone again.

Harriet didn't say anything; she turned away from him, sighed and leaned against the window. He contemplated changing the station back to his preferred one but didn't want to rile her unnecessarily. After a few minutes he heard her sniff and although she was still staring out the window, he could tell she was crying.

His grip tightened on the steering wheel. He wasn't good with women and tears. ‘You okay?'

She wiped her eyes with the back of her hands and glared at him again. ‘Do I
look
okay? I'm trying to run away from home here and you've spoilt everything.'

‘You want to … talk about it?' He wasn't a big talker but he figured they only had a few minutes and they'd be back in Bunyip Bay.

‘You wouldn't understand.'

‘Possibly not, but you won't know unless you try me.'

She peered at him as if trying to make a decision. ‘You ever been in love before?'

He thought of his son, Liv and Logan, and then nodded.

‘Love sucks. My boyfriend dumped me and I know Mum is going to be all smug and pleased when she finds out. She hated him anyway.'

‘I'm sure that's not true,' he said, although as Liv's guardian he understood that a parent never thought anyone good enough for their child.

She screwed up her face. ‘And what would you know? You barely know my mother.'

You have no idea
, he thought, but didn't say this for obvious reasons. ‘Maybe not, but I raised my little sister from when she was six years old and I know I'd have died if anything ever happened to her. Your mum will probably be worried sick right now. Do you really hate her that much that you want to cause her so much grief?'

‘How old's your sister?' she asked, not answering his question.

He decided not to press the issue. ‘She's nineteen. It's her I'm going to visit in Perth. Now, are you going to give me directions to your place or am I going to have to drive around guessing?'

She sighed. ‘I'm never going to forgive you for this.'

He stifled a smile. ‘Fair enough. But I'd rather that than some crazed axe murderer pick you up on the side of the road.'

‘You obviously watch too many horror movies,' she said and then rattled off her address. ‘You turn at the next right and we're the fifth house along.'

‘Thanks, Harriet.'

Neither of them said another word until they turned into the driveway of the house she said belonged to her mother. ‘This it?'

‘Yep.' She scooped up her backpack and put her hand on the door. ‘Thanks for the ride. I'll take it from here.'

He switched off the ignition, unclicked his seatbelt and shook his head. ‘I don't think so.' Despite having sweaty palms at the thought of seeing Simone, there was no way he'd backtracked and delayed himself only to have Harriet run off again. ‘I'm taking you inside, and don't think about running or I'll chase you.'

‘Whatever.' He couldn't see her expression as she climbed out of the ute, but he'd bet his life savings she'd rolled her eyes.

She stormed ahead of him up a path cluttered on either side with overgrown plants and an assortment of garden ornaments. Along the verandah hung mismatched baskets, overflowing with bright flowers. The house was an old fibro, also painted odd colours, and suited Simone down to a tee.

He forgot his nerves and smiled just as the front door opened.

‘Oh, thank God,' Simone shrieked, dashing out of the house and throwing herself at Harriet. She flung her arms around her daughter and held her in what looked like a very tight grip. As Simone sobbed and made a number of unintelligible utterings, Harriet stood like a wooden soldier and Angus waited awkwardly a few feet away.

Finally, Simone pulled back and, still clutching Harriet by the arms, gave her a thorough once over. ‘Where the hell have you been?' she asked, her voice still choked. ‘I was so worried.' She blinked as if fighting further tears. ‘Oh, my sweet baby.' She pulled the silent girl against her again and then looked up and met his gaze. She blinked as if she hadn't noticed him until now, but he'd sure as hell noticed her.

She was wearing a Frankie's Café polo shirt and denim cut-offs, which showcased her tanned, taut legs perfectly. Despite the uniform, her hair was messy, as though she'd just woken up, which of course took him right back to the memory of them being in bed together. He tried to focus on the situation to cool his rising desire—to remind himself that the object of his sexual fantasies had two teenage daughters, one of whom was more than a bit of a handful. Even if there could be something more between them, the last thing he wanted was to raise someone else's kids. He'd been doing that for the last thirteen years and although he adored Olivia, it was good to only have himself to worry about now.

‘You brought her home.'

The way Simone spoke, he couldn't tell if it was a question or a statement, but he nodded, cleared his throat and said, ‘Yep. Don't think I'm her favourite person anymore, but I doubted you'd approve of her hitchhiking.'

Simone gasped. ‘Hitchhiking! What were you thinking?'

Harriet, taking the opportunity to extract herself from her mum's embrace, shrugged and looked at the ground, not saying a word.

Simone, still clutching her daughter's hand like she would never let go, looked at him with tears in her eyes and offered a heartfelt, ‘Thank you. I've never been so scared in my life.'

Something shifted inside his chest and he fought the urge to hold her close, to tell her everything would be okay. But it wasn't his role to comfort her.

‘I'm going inside,' Harriet said, yanking her hand from Simone's.

Simone looked torn—as if she wasn't sure whether to chase after her daughter or stay and talk to him. ‘Don't you think about running off again,' she called, ‘Drew and Mike are out looking for you.'

Harriet turned back, hands on her hips. ‘You called the police?'

At that moment Grace appeared at the front door and flung herself at Harriet. ‘You're back. I missed you so much.'

‘Get off me, squirt,' Harriet replied, but she sounded kind of chuffed. ‘I'm starving. Let's go inside and eat something.'

As the girls disappeared into the house, Simone hugged her arms around herself and smiled at him. ‘What did she think I'd do? Throw a party?'

Her smile did weird things to his insides and he couldn't help smiling back, secretly pleased he'd had the opportunity to see her again.

‘Thank you,' she said again, her voice shaky. ‘I can't thank you enough.'

‘I'm glad I could help. And I hope she opens up to you. She's hurting pretty bad at the moment.'

Simone closed her eyes briefly and cursed so softly he barely heard it. ‘She talked to you?'

‘A little,' he confessed, not wanting to upset her but also wanting to prolong their time together. ‘I asked her why she was running away and she told me she broke up with her boyfriend. The one you hated. She was planning to go live with her grandma.'

‘Oh God.' Simone ran a hand through her hair, but her fingers got caught in the tangles. She yanked them out. ‘I must look like a mess. I
am
a fucking mess. And I'm a terrible mother.'

‘You're not.' He couldn't help stepping closer to her and placing his hand against her arm in an attempt at comfort. A jolt of heat shot through him at the connection and he told himself to get a grip. Now was not the time to make a move—Simone was upset and vulnerable and hadn't he already decided that making a move would be a very bad idea? ‘Just talk to her. If she's really hurting, then deep down I'm sure she wants her mum.'

Lord knew, even as a grown man, there'd been many times he just wanted his mum to wrap her arms around him and offer him the kind of comfort only a mother could.

She nodded. ‘Good advice.'

He dropped his hand and smiled back. ‘Good luck.'

‘Would you like to come in for a coffee? Or even dinner?' she asked. ‘Not that it'll be anything flash, but I'm good at heating up stuff in the microwave.'

He chuckled. ‘Thanks. That sounds almost too good to refuse, but I told my sister I'd have a late dinner with her when I get to Perth. And I think Harriet needs to talk to you more than I need a coffee right now.'

She nodded again. ‘Yes, you're right. Guess I'm a little bit nervous at that prospect. I don't want to fail her again.'

He loved that she was so honest with him. They barely knew each other but it didn't feel like that. He felt strangely invested in Simone and even in her daughters. ‘You won't,' he promised and then he turned to go before he could change his mind.

‘Can I have your number?' she called after him when he was almost at his ute.

He stopped, closed his eyes a moment and then finally turned around. ‘Why?'

She blinked. ‘I just thought maybe we could … catch up sometime? I could thank you properly for bringing Harriet home.'

Images of exactly how she might choose to thank him ambushed him, every red blood cell in his body overheating. But remembering the weekend of the wedding and how hurt Logan would be if he ever found out, Angus took a deep breath. ‘Seeing you guys reunited is thanks enough. Goodnight, Simone.'

And then he got into his ute and drove away.

* * *

Simone closed the door behind her and then banged her head against it, welcoming the pain as a momentary distraction from all her other crap.

Seriously … could this day get any worse?

Her cheeks burned from the mortification of Angus's brush-off. She'd thought she'd felt something between them when he was standing there, but it must have all been her imagination. He'd looked at her with pity at her request and then hadn't been able to get away fast enough. She was glad he'd been the one to stop for Harriet and not some crazed psycho serial killer, but she could have done without the awkward reminder that what they'd shared was nothing but sex for him.

When he asked why she wanted his number, she should have told him outright.
Because, Angus too-hot-to-be-true Knight, I'm pregnant with your child and I thought maybe we should discuss what we wanted to do about that. You know, before it turns twenty-one!

She sighed and rested her hand on her flat stomach. ‘I'm sorry, baby,' she whispered. ‘Mummy is a coward and Daddy is a dick.' But she hadn't been expecting to see him again so soon, so hadn't had time to prepare what to say to him. Hell, she'd barely had time to comprehend the news herself.

‘But he's a good-looking dick,' she added, rubbing her hand back and forth. She hated that her damn hormones, which should have been taking a back seat now that she had bigger issues to focus on, had stood up and panted like puppies at the sight of him. It had been so difficult to focus when she was struggling not to gape and drool over the impressive specimen of masculinity standing before her. If anything, his appeal had increased since the last time they'd met.