Her Happy-Ever-After Family: The Cattleman's Ready-Made Family / Miracle in Bellaroo Creek / Patchwork Family in the Outback

‘I’ll definitely need a helper—a foreman. It’s a big job, Ty, and I’ll need your help.’

Ty’s eyes grew as big as cabbages, his chest puffed out. That awe hit Cam again as he pulled his cell phone from his pocket. Surveying Krissie’s dream chicken coop, and doing his best to keep his eyes from the plump temptation of Tess’s lips, he placed an order at the stock and station store.

They spent the afternoon on Phase One of the chicken coop. Tess couldn’t believe Cam’s patience with Ty or the way her nephew blossomed under his quiet but authoritative guidance. He’d lacked a male role model for so long.

Eventually, though, both children wandered off to check on Old Nelson. And then Ty set about teaching Barney how to play fetch while Krissie fell asleep on the blanket beneath the shade of the lemon tree, leaving Fluffy free to scratch about the yard.

Tess glanced at Cam whistling idly as he nailed boards to the frame he’d built. Something inside her shifted. Ever since that moment yesterday when she’d hugged him, she’d grown increasingly aware of the breadth of his shoulders, of the flex and play of the muscles in his arms, and of the fresh-cut-grass scent that followed in his wake and stirred something to life inside her. Something she desperately tried to ignore.

The sun shone brightly, but not too fiercely, picking out the lighter highlights in his chestnut hair. Fiona had thrown this man over for Lance? Tess snorted. What a loser! The woman quite obviously had her head screwed on backwards. Lance might dazzle with those playboy good looks of his, but when a woman looked at Cam she was left in no doubt that he was all man.

One hundred per cent fit and honed man.

And the longer Tess stared at him, the more that thing inside her stirred and fluttered and stretched itself into heartbeating, mouth-drying sentience.

Thoughts of Lance, though, slid an unwelcome reminder through her. The expression on Lorraine’s face—that mixture of anxiety, regret and heartbreak—rose in her mind and she bit back a sigh.

‘You want to tell me what’s on your mind?’

She blinked, and then realised Cam had caught her out blatantly staring at him. The skin on her face and neck burned. ‘Oh…I…nothing.’

‘Why don’t I believe you?’

He wielded a hammer as if he’d been born to it. She dragged her gaze from muscled forearms lightly dusted with hair, and the pull of lean brown hands. She tried desperately to dispel thoughts of what else those hands might be expert at.

She clenched her eyes shut and counted to five. For pity’s sake! She didn’t need this at the moment—this wild, desperate ache. She needed to remain focused on the children. On not letting Sarah down. On making amends.

‘Tess?’

She went back to tacking chicken wire to the frame of their mansion of a chicken house, the way he’d shown her, but she couldn’t resist another glance at him. The brilliance of his eyes struck her afresh. She swallowed and shrugged. ‘Oh, I was just thinking about stuff you’d no doubt declare me nosy for contemplating.’

He set his hammer down. ‘Like?’

Keep your mouth shut. She set her hammer down too. ‘Like how a man who is as gentle with children and animals as you could just ignore that his mother might be in trouble.’

He stiffened as if she’d slapped him.

‘I said it was nosy,’ she muttered, though she wasn’t certain she was actually apologising.

‘You’re not wrong there.’

Minding her business was the wisest course of action. She knew that. Cam was a grown-up. He knew what he was doing. She swallowed. She used to be really good at minding her own business.

‘You must really hate Lance if you haven’t spoken to him in ten months.’ She shivered. She understood his bitterness. She really did, but…‘How can you stand to live in the same town as him when you bear that much resentment?’

He eyed her for an interminable moment. It made her chest constrict. ‘I’m not planning on staying for that much longer, Tess.’

He hammered in a nail with more force than necessary, and a sickening thump started up in her stomach. ‘What?’

He set his hammer back down and glared at her. ‘In two months I’ll be out of this godforsaken town and Lance can sink or swim under his own steam. I’ve washed my hands of him and his tantrums and his so-called troubles.’

‘But…’ Cameron couldn’t leave!

‘What about your mother?’ she burst out.

He picked the hammer up again. ‘I expect my leaving will be a blessing for her. With me gone, tensions will ease.’ He hammered in another nail. ‘Besides, like I told you, my mother has made it clear where her loyalties lie.’

Tess’s mouth opened and closed. ‘Can’t you see her loyalties are being torn?’

‘By remaining in the same house as Lance and Fiona she’s given them her tacit approval.’

‘You mother is not the type of woman who would ever kick her offspring out of her house, regardless of what they’ve done.’ She planted her hands on her hips. ‘But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t love you.’ Couldn’t he see that? ‘Do you really mean to make her choose between the two of you? She’s not responsible for the things Lance has done.’

‘My leaving means she won’t have to choose.’

She glanced at Krissie and an ache exploded in her chest. Cam’s anger and bitterness were warping him and tearing him apart. Couldn’t he see that? ‘Oh, Cameron, it’s been ten months.’

He strode around and seized her chin, his eyes blazing. ‘And you naively think that time can heal all wounds?’

His fingers were gentle but his voice was hard. He smelled of wood and grass and sweat.

He paused and she swallowed, aching at the pain she sensed behind the flint of his eyes.

He scanned her face and then released her with a shake of his head. ‘Why does this matter so much to you?’

She had to take a step away from him. He was too…much. Too much for her senses. Too much for her hormones. And the hardness in him clashed too deeply with the places that grieved inside her. ‘I just lost my sister, Cam. I never appreciated her enough. I wish I had but I didn’t. And now I’ve lost her and I can’t get her back.’

He paled.

‘I have no one now but Ty and Krissie. Don’t get me wrong, they make up for everything, but…you have a mother who loves you and I’m jealous.’ She tried to smile. He had a brother too, but she left that unsaid. In his shoes, would she be able to forgive Lance?

His eyes darkened, his hand half lifted as if to touch her cheek…and then he wheeled away.

She hunched her shoulders, wishing she hadn’t started this conversation. Wishing she’d left well alone. She tried to make her voice bright. ‘Where will you go when you leave Bellaroo Creek?’

He turned back. ‘Africa. I’m an advisor for a charity whose mission is to increase agricultural production in Third World countries. I’ve requested a field position.’

‘Wow!’ She stared at him. ‘Just…wow! That’s amazing.’ She swallowed and chafed her arms. ‘What an adventure.’

‘I’m hoping so.’

‘Is it a secret?’

‘I haven’t told anyone, if that’s what you mean.’ He shifted his weight to plant his legs firmly.

She tried another smile and mimicked zipping her mouth shut to let him know she wouldn’t say anything to anyone, and she had a feeling he had to fight back a smile of his own. She’d like to make him smile for real. ‘We’ll miss you, Cameron. You’ve been just about the best neighbour we city slickers could’ve had.’

His eyes widened. He blinked and then they narrowed. It made her want to fidget. Did he think she was making some kind of a move on him? Her spine stiffened and her chin shot up. ‘You can lose that nasty suspicion right now,’ she shot at him. ‘Even if I was in the market for something more, I’m not stupid enough to get involved with a man on the rebound.’ She folded her arms. ‘In fact, I’m starting to think the sooner you leave, the better!’