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

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Год написания книги
2019
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His voice dropped to husky. ‘You have a soft centre, Romy Carvell.’

She snorted. ‘Yeah, I’m a regular Turkish delight.’

His lips twisted as he returned to watching the road. ‘Maybe you have to have seen the loss of life to appreciate saving one.’

Romy glanced at him. ‘Maybe so. I’ve never had anyone close to me die. Not that I remember.’

He glanced at her. ‘Grandparents?’

‘Nope. Gone pre-me.’

‘Parents?’

‘Mum died having me. Dad’s still around.’ Somewhere.

‘Consider yourself lucky, then.’

‘You’ve seen a fair bit of death.’ Not a question.

‘Seen it.’ He took his eyes off the road for longer to stare at her. ‘Been it.’

She chuckled. ‘Now I’m imagining you getting around in a hooded cape with a sickle.’

‘It felt like it some days.’

Her voice softened. ‘It would take a lot of saved kangaroos to offset that, I would imagine.’

He thought about that. ‘Not so many. Death is a process. Life is a miracle. Saving even one means something.’

They passed through the WildSprings entry statement and Romy instinctively glanced around for any signs of trouble. Hard habit to break. She noticed Clint did the same. As they reached the admin building, Justin emerged with an armful of files, heading for his 4WD. He raised his free hand in a wave. Clint responded with the obligatory country salute, a couple of fingers lifted from the steering wheel.

She glanced at her watch, wondering why Justin was working so late and gasped. ‘It’s ten o’clock! I didn’t ring Leighton.’ It was too late to call now; the boys would probably be in bed.

‘He’ll be fine. Call in the morning.’

Being managed irritated her as much as the fact that Clint was once again giving her parenting advice. She reached for her mobile. ‘What if he needs me?’

He slid his hand over hers to prevent her from flipping her phone open. ‘Then he would have called you. Seriously, Romy. Let him enjoy a night away.’

Away from me? She measured her words before uttering them. ‘You think I overprotect him.’

‘I think you’ve done an amazing job with him…’

But…

‘…but he’s growing up and he’s going to start needing some space from Mum now and again.’

Romy knew he was right, but she didn’t like having it pointed out by a virtual stranger. No, her inner voice condemned. She may have only met him a week ago but Clint McLeish was less of a stranger than the small handful of people she’d known her whole life. He just seemed to…get her.

‘Are you speaking from personal experience? Did you value your space even as a kid?’ she asked.

He looked at her, surprised. ‘I guess I did, yes. I was eight before my brother came along, so I learned early to entertain myself.’

A younger brother. No wonder he knew how little boys could be. He’d watched one growing up.

‘What happened to your parents?’ Romy knew he owned WildSprings outright. Had they died?

‘They split after twenty-five years together.’ He coughed. ‘Mum met someone else. She moved to the US around about the same time I enlisted.’

Wow. ‘What happened to your brother?’

‘He was only ten. He went with her to America.’

She watched the tension play out across his features and tried to imagine how that would have divided a son’s loyalties, even a nearly grown one. ‘That must have been hard.’

He shrugged. ‘It made me a prime catch for the Taipans. The most effective operators have little or no family ties. Nothing to come home to. Nothing to hold them back on missions.’

Nothing to live for?

‘With his whole family gone Dad didn’t really have a good reason to stay. He sold up half the land to a neighbour and joined his brothers in Tasmania on the proceeds. He signed the remaining property over to me. To give me somewhere to come home to.’

‘To an empty house?’ Romy didn’t have to like him to empathise with that.

Clint’s smile was grim. ‘I only came here because it was empty. I was no fit company back then.’

She risked poking the stick a bit further in, her curiosity piqued. ‘Why not?’

Like an angry sea anemone, he shut down before her eyes. ‘Don’t interrogate me, Romy.’

Whoops, too far.

She sighed. ‘You should really get out with people more often, McLeish. Your social skills could do with some polishing.’

She turned to stare out into the darkness. The silence was hardly golden. The fork in the track separating her house from Clint’s came up in the headlights. He slowed the ute to turn.

‘What are you doing?’ Her head snapped around.

‘I’m following your advice. Getting out with people more often. I’m taking you to my place.’

The lurch of anticipation in her chest was warning enough. She could not be alone with him in his house. Not while she was so emotionally raw from the evening’s events. She needed fortification before she tackled this. ‘No, you’re not!’

He read the panic in her voice. Glanced at her. ‘You’ve never seen my house. You’d like it.’

‘I’d like it in the daytime just as much.’

‘I’m talking about a short visit, Romy. Grabbing something to eat. As your growling stomach keeps reminding me, I kept you out through dinner.’

Embarrassed, she pressed an hand to her belly. But being so close to him all evening had triggered a different kind of appetite altogether. And she absolutely, categorically, could not hunger for this man.
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