Wild About Harry (Hearts of the Outback Book 5) Page 6

  Sir Harry—night, Sir Harry. He clicked into the seldom-used music app, found some white noise and turned the volume up until it overwhelmed Bri’s soft tones in his memory.

  Just before ten o’clock his phone rang. He was about to dismiss the call when he saw Felicity’s name on the screen. His nanny had never called this late and that was reason enough to move his finger to the green button. “Hello, Felicity, what’s up?”

  “Mr. Douglas, they think my leg’s broken.” Her voice conveyed pain and tears before a brief, muffled conversation excluded him. Harry’s shocked brain vaguely registered hospital sounds—a beeping machine and the clatter of a gurney before the implications of Felicity’s news hit him.

  “Felicity? Are you okay?” Stupid question to ask, but the words slipped out without him thinking. “Do you need help? How did you it happen?”

  “The doctor just came back with my X-ray. I fell down some stairs and my ankle’s broken. I won’t be able to look after Vicky for a few weeks.”

  “Don’t worry about that, just—get well soon, okay? And let me know if there’s anything I can do.”

  “Sorry, Mr. Douglas. I can ask around for a temporary nanny if you like?”

  Harry thought about Felicity’s friends—nice kids, but immature. “Don’t worry about it for now. You stay off your feet and concentrate on getting better. Thanks for letting me know so quickly. I’ll work something out.” God knew what, or how, or why fate had thrown all this at him.

  He pinched the bridge of his nose. Tired, frustrated and out of options, he contemplated running his business entirely from home. If he could shuffle some jobs into the following month, he might just manage until Felicity was back at work. But how long would that be—six or eight weeks at least.

  The computer screen dimmed into low power mode. He moved the mouse, saved his work then closed down for the night. A headache nagged at him, the snarly, sneaky kind that bunched his neck muscles and made it impossible to concentrate. The kind he’d had only since Linda died. He switched the office light off and tiptoed into Vicky’s room.

  Kneeling beside her bed he touched her hair and dropped a kiss on her forehead as he did every night. Habit some might call it, but he needed this small ritual to reassure himself she was fine. From out of nowhere the fear hit. What if something happened to him? What if one day a random event stole him away, just like one had with Linda? Who would look after his beautiful girl then?

  His stomach flipped and his heart flopped, but deep inside, Harry knew it was time. Time he let go of the past and secured Vicky’s present and future.

  She likes you. Bri’s random comment about Clare Spencer might be as good a starting point as any.

  It was time he looked for a wife.

  Chapter Ten

  Amy returned from the hangar with a clipboard and an armful of headsets for the Cessna 182. She handed one set to Bri and one to Dan. “The forecast is good for the whole day. Clear skies all the way to ‘Craeborn’. Have you seen Harry yet?”

  “No. It’s not like him to be late.” Dan slipped the headset around his neck and flipped his sunglasses down over his eyes.

  Bri rummaged in her tote bag for her sunglasses and slipped them on. “What’s the big deal? Everybody is late sometimes.”

  “Not Harry. He plans everything down to the smallest detail. That’s why he’s successful in his work and a formidable chess player, but it keeps the rest of us on our toes.” Dan grinned and looked up at the sky. “Strange, the sky isn’t falling down. Harry’s shout.”

  “Should I know what you mean?” Bri looked from her cousin to Amy, who shrugged.

  “We have a bet that the day Harry is late is the day the sky falls down, like in Chicken Little. The sky hasn’t fallen in, so Harry owes us a round.” Amy climbed into the pilot’s seat and began a series of checks.

  The thump of running feet along the concrete path caught Bri’s attention. She turned to see Harry and Vicky running hand in hand. Harry looked flustered as they pulled up and Vicky giggled, her cheeks pink and her ponytail slipping to one side of her head.

  “Hi, Bri, hi, Dan, hi, Amy.” Vicky slipped her hand out of Harry’s and threw her arms around Bri’s hips.

  Harry’s mouth thinned, but Bri couldn’t see his eyes behind his aviator sunglasses. A flicker of annoyance licked at her mind. What had she done now? She smoothed a hand over Vicky’s hair and repositioned her ponytail. “That’s better. Hey, I saw a pretty blue scrunchie at the chemist that matches your T-shirt.”

  Vicky’s eyes brightened and she skipped back to Harry and patted his arm. “Daddy, can we buy the blue scrunchie for my hair?”

  “Sure, if we can find it again.” The smile he gave Vicky was fleeting before he turned a blank-shaded stare to Bri. Even without seeing the look in his eyes, the weight of disapproval rolling off him made it clear. He wasn’t happy to see her. “You didn’t mention you were coming today.”

  “Is that a problem?”

  “No.” But he turned away and took over from Amy, running through the checks with that attention to detail Dan had mentioned. He said nothing more and before long they were in the air. Red hills and plains unfurled beneath their wings, but Harry flew the Cessna higher than Bri would have liked. She wanted to see the land up close and take photos and work out the best angles for her shots.

  She touched the microphone to her bottom lip as Dan had shown her. “Do you always fly this high, Harry?”

  From her seat on the other side of Vicky, Amy answered. “We all do. Best height for smooth travelling at this time of year. You know all about smooth flying, don’t you, Harry? Tell Bri about your experience with—”

  “It’s ancient history, Amy. Leave it where it belongs.” He turned his head and looked at Vicky sitting between Bri and Amy. “How are you enjoying the ride, Pumpkin?”

  What had Amy been about to reveal before Harry cut her off? Something that he didn’t want Vicky to hear? At least, she thought, I’m not the only one to put my foot in my mouth around him. She looked down ready to help Vicky with the headset, but Vicky moved the microphone onto her lips. “Great. Daddy, will you make the plane rollover?”

  “Not today. Maybe when you’re big enough that your feet touch the floor.” He turned back, adjusted his radio setting and made contact with Alex Carter.

  By the time the plane landed at ‘Craeborn’, Alex was waiting at the airstrip. Harry taxied to the end of the runway and turned the plane ready for their departure.

  “G’day, everyone, welcome, Bri. Hey, Vicky, young Dan will love to see you.” Alex scooped Vicky up into a bear hug before handing her back to Harry. Bri’s cousin, Dan took the front seat and the other three lined up across the back, with Vicky on Harry’s knee and Bri in the middle between him and Amy.

  Each time the 4WD bounced into a rut along the dirt track to the homestead, Bri bounced off Harry’s hard shoulder and thigh. She gripped the back of Alex’s seat and tried to hold herself steady, but one dip, deeper than the rest, bounced her into the air. She landed hard and her leg tangled with Harry’s, which set Vicky giggling. “I don’t think there’s room on Daddy’s lap for both of us.”

  Heat spread through Bri and it had nothing to do with embarrassment. She had never been more aware of a man. Of Harry’s long legs, and the strength and certainty of his body. Of how his knee tucked in behind hers and his thigh muscles twitched as she slid her leg off his.

  “I must remember; Daddy’s lap is reserved for Vicky.” Bri looked away, certain everyone could see how Harry’s touch affected her. Seeking a diversion, she latched onto a simple fact. “Bit of a coincidence having two Dans at the same gathering.”

  Amy grinned and, reaching over the front seat, patted her partner on the shoulder. “Doctor Dan here delivered young Danny boy under rather trying circumstances and little Dan’s mother named her baby after him.”

  “That’s Lizzy, right?”

  Alex pulled into the driveway and turned off the engine. “Dan is
our son right enough, but we adopted him. His mother was Donna. She died when he was two months old. His father was Lizzy’s brother, also deceased.”

  “Oh. That’s sad.” Tragedy had touched both the Carter and Douglas families. Clearly there was much more to the story, but the subtle tension in the car, the averted glances and Vicky’s presence stopped her asking. Bri closed her mouth on the thousand and one questions that popped into her brain. If nothing else, her experience with Harry had taught her a little discretion, and the importance of not asking questions at the wrong time.

  Lizzy Carter greeted them at the door. She was a red-haired dynamo, directing everyone to a wide, closed in veranda without apparently trying, and putting cold drinks into their hands before they sat on an assortment of squatters’ chairs and a cane sofa. Once her hostess duties were done, she sat beside Amy on the sofa and engaged Bri in conversation. “Amy tells me you saved the day at the kindergarten after they were scammed.”

  “I was happy to help. Child photography isn’t my usual line of work, but I’m delighted with the results.”

  Amy piped in. “Don’t sell yourself short, Bri. They’re really good. There’s one in particular that—”

  “It’s a surprise, Amy. I’ll explain later. ” Bri didn’t want her thank you gift for Harry ruined. Then again, Harry was being a jerk for no reason she could see. “I’m currently photographing landscapes and a small number of portraits for a special project with my grandfather.”

  Dan joined the three women, his interest piqued by Bri’s reference to their grandfather. “Gramps didn’t say a word last time I visited. Tell us about it, Bri.”

  “Well, it’s all on the quiet at the moment, but you know that Gramps had been speaking at rallies about mining companies’ duty of care to their miners?”

  Dan nodded. “And their responsibility to pay compensation to sufferers of black lung disease. He wasn’t looking well when I saw him, and that was a few months ago.”

  Sadness welled in Bri as she thought of her last visit with Gramps. ‘Coughing his lungs up’ was his wry expression for the miner’s illness weakening his body. Two of his former workmates had died of the same condition in the past year. “He’s gone downhill. He’s no longer their spokesperson; the travelling between gatherings is too much for him, but we hatched this idea of a visual presentation. I’m capturing images of mining practices and the effects of mining on the environment. I’ll add those to a series of portraits of miners.”

  “Have you approached a publisher with your idea?” Harry’s question startled her. She hadn’t noticed him join Dan, nor expected his interest. The night he’d rescued her and taken her home with him, he’d shown no more than polite interest in her work.

  “I will, but I’m missing a whole series of aerial photos. I need to hire a private plane for the low-level shots I need, and that kind of money I don’t have. Especially after yesterday.”

  “What happened yesterday?” Dan asked.

  “The mechanic rang and suggested I sell my car for parts. He reckoned it wasn’t worth repairing, given its age and what needed to be replaced.” Bri dug deep for a rueful smile.

  The reality was without a car, she was stuck in Mt Isa and would be unable to complete her folio of photos. Gramps would be disappointed. More than that, she didn’t know how much time he had left and she was desperate to finish her project—their project. Gramps was the beating heart of their strategy to hold the big mines accountable for what they had done to the miners and to the land. She needed to see justice done for him and his friends, and she didn’t want it to happen posthumously.

  Bri’s throat tightened, choking further words. She turned and looked out over the haze shimmering above the far paddocks. The heat was building, but here on the screened in veranda of the homestead, the insulated roof and an occasional breeze kept the temperature bearable.

  “Tough luck, cuz.”

  Not wishing to put a dampener on the gathering, Bri shrugged as though it was no big deal. “It is what it is.”

  Lizzy patted her shoulder. “That’s very Zen of you.”

  Dan looked thoughtfully at Bri. “I’d say you’ve been spending a lot of time with Gramps. His attitude has rubbed off on you.” She knew Dan appreciated Gramps almost as much as she did, but there was a tone in his voice, something vaguely negative she couldn’t pin down that made her leap to Gramps’ defence.

  “That’s a good thing, Dan. I couldn’t do better than to follow his footsteps.”

  Somewhere inside the house, a baby cried and Lizzy excused herself. Harry’s hooded gaze gave nothing away as he raised his bottle of beer to his lips, but Dan sank into Lizzy’s vacant chair. “Don’t get me wrong; I’m proud of you, Bri, and what you’re doing for Gramps and the others. It’s just that I haven’t seen you so—focused before. So you have no transport for now, right?”

  Bri nodded. The crux of all her problems was lack of funds. She’d put so much of herself and her time into helping Gramps in recent months, she had no money to fall back on. And now no car to move on in.

  Dan looked thoughtful. “If you were to stay in the Isa for a while, I reckon you’d find enough work to keep you going while you save up for a car.”

  “If I could save enough for a decent deposit, that would be a start.” Gramps had offered a loan, but she was loath to accept. Standing on her own two feet meant sorting out problems without using the safety net of family.

  “You asked about doing a feature on the Flying Doctor. Amy and I would be happy to help you with that one. And I was thinking, there are a number of schools that might have signed up on the scam site and now need a new photographer. With your experience at Vicky’s kindy and their recommendation behind you, some of the other schools might be glad to grab your services.”

  Amy leaned forward. “What about Sarah? She runs a riding school for disabled riders. There’s a whole other world of equine photography you could tap into.”

  Bri’s head whirled with possibilities and with the fact her cousin and his friends were trying so hard to help her. The only one who hadn’t said a word was Harry.

  Why would he? They weren’t much more than strangers, ships passing in the night. After today she wouldn’t see him again. It didn’t matter that this fizzing awareness of Harry, the man was pointless. A lick of disappointment flickered through her, a ghost of might-have-been inspired—she was certain—by the incident in the car.

  She sipped her wine and schooled her expression before answering. “Thanks for the suggestions. I’ll follow up on the schools and your friend, Sarah in the morning.”

  Lizzy appeared carrying her son. “Say hello, Dan.” The chubby-cheeked baby put his thumb in his mouth and looked solemnly at the group. His gaze landed on Vicky and suddenly he clapped his hands and waved at her.

  Lizzy put Danny down and held both his hands above his head. He teetered forwards, took one step, two steps before his legs gave way. Vicky threw herself down on all fours with her nose pressed against his. The children erupted into fits of giggles and the game was on.

  “Alex, if you’ve got a minute, can we talk about my report before lunch?” Harry drew his friend aside and the two men wandered away, deep in conversation.

  Bri tried not to watch their retreating figures. Harry could be stuffy and taciturn, but that moment of awareness in the car had thrown her emotions into chaos. Now she was aware of him as more than her rescuer, more than Vicky’s father. Every tingling neural pathway in her body followed his retreating figure, remembering the hard, lean length of his thigh beneath hers. She sucked in a breath. If that was how she reacted to just one touch of handsome Harry, thank heavens she was staying with her cousin. Harry, the man was more distraction than she needed, or wanted.

  “Mmm, smell that.” The aroma of onions cooking on the barbeque teased Bri’s nose as Lizzy picked Danny up off the floor. “Now that is my favourite summer smell.” She turned to Amy, seated by her side. Dan’s partner turned pale and a moment later
, Amy slapped a hand over her nose, leapt from her chair and bolted inside. “What’s wrong with her?”

  Lizzy tipped her head to the side and a shrewd, knowing look entered her eyes. “I think I can guess.”

  Recalling the mug of chamomile tea and Amy’s distaste for the brew, her sudden sickness made sense. “Do you think she’s pregnant?”

  When Amy returned a few minutes later, calm if paler than usual, she looked from Lizzy to Bri and placed one hand over her flat stomach. “You’ve worked it out I see. Yes, due in April.”

  Dan set a tray of drinks on the table and grinned. “I thought we were going to wait to announce it.”

  “They guessed, darling. It wasn’t hard when I went green around the gills at the smell of the barbeque.” Dan dropped to one knee beside Amy and felt her wrist. “I’m fine, it’s morning sickness—that rolls on and on through the day.”

  Dan dropped a kiss on her forehead and handed her a glass of sparkling mineral water. Harry and Alex joined them bearing a large platter of steak, onions and sausages, and a bowl of foil-covered potatoes.

  “Set it down at the far end of the table, Alex. Amy doesn’t need that right under her nose.” Lizzy set two large bowls of salads on the table and added a pair of servers to each.

  “Why?” Alex paused in the act of setting the meat in the centre of the table.

  “Because, dear heart, she’s having a baby.”

  Vicky squealed and clapped her hands. “Can I play with your baby, Amy? Please, I’ll be really careful.”

  “He or she will be much smaller than Danny for a while, but yes, you’ll be able to come and help me look after him or her.” Amy smoothed a hand over Vicky’s head.

  “I’d love a sister, or a little brother like Danny. Can we get a sister for me, Daddy? Please?”

  Once upon a time Bri would have laughed at the cute innocence of Vicky’s request. Now, her glance darted to Harry, took in his tightly pressed lips and frown, the white knuckles around his beer glass. Her heart ached for him and his daughter. The loss of his wife and her mother meant no siblings for Vicky, and a lonely life for Harry.