In Her Husband's Image. Vivienne Wallington

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СКАЧАТЬ all these years. I didn’t miss out. My father left me a generous cash pay-out and a bundle of blue-chip stock that’s grown over the years. I’ve also made a lot of money from documentary films and feature articles. I can afford to help you, Rachel.”

      Her eyes sparked. “To help Yarrah Downs, your old home, don’t you mean? You don’t want to see it go under, and you think it will, now that I’m in charge. A woman! What’s your secret agenda, Zac Hammond? Are you trying to sweeten me up so you can buy me out if I sell, like everyone expects? Though why you’d want the place…”

      Her voice trailed off as she became aware of a dog barking outside. “It’s Buster,” she said, glad of the diversion. “Mikey must be back. Excuse me… I have things to do out in the yard.”

      “I’ll come out with you. Mind if I borrow a motorbike, Rachel?”

      She paused, frowning. “What for?” Did he want to check up on the state of the cattle and the paddocks to see what a mess she was making of the place? So he could criticize her some more, undermine her confidence some more?

      “I want to see what damage has been done to Bushy Hill and if there’s anything I can do to salvage it.”

      “Anything you can do?” She tried to sound withering—what right had he?—but how could she blame him for wanting to check? This had been his home once and the animal and bird sanctuary clearly meant a lot to him. And if his father had specified that it be kept as a reserve…

      Funny that Adrian had never mentioned it. Had he thought she might try to stop him from planting his vineyard there? She probably would have tried if she’d known about the sanctuary. The thought of her husband keeping things from her was sobering. But hadn’t she kept far worse secrets from him?

      She hadn’t been back to Bushy Hill since Adrian’s fatal accident. She wasn’t sure how much clearing her husband had done. She’d simply told Vince to stay away from the hill until she decided what to do with it. They had more-urgent priorities. But the truth was, to have squashed the idea of the vineyard outright would have felt like crushing Adrian’s dream.

      Only now that she knew the facts…

      “Quiet, Buster!” she shouted over the dog’s barking, wondering why he was making such a din. What was Mikey doing to him?

      But when she stepped outside, Mikey was nowhere in sight. The yard was empty. “Where’s Mikey?” she cried as Buster’s barking grew even more frenzied at the sight of her. He started to run off, then wheeled back, whining and pawing at her, before scampering off again.

      She got the message and broke into a run. “Something’s happened to Mikey!” The words whipped over her shoulder at Zac. “Find him, Buster!” she urged the cattle dog. “Take me to Mikey!”

      Chapter Two

      As she rushed across the yard in Buster’s wake, she heard faint screams—a child’s petrified screams.

      “Mikey!” she cried out. Where was he?

      She faltered, her blood running cold. Ahead, down past the sheds, stood the big windmill, its glinting blades whirling in the warm May breeze. A small dark shape was huddled way up near the top, crouched on the uppermost rung of the narrow steel ladder, dangerously close to the rotating blades.

      Oh, dear God. Mikey!

      She felt Zac’s hand on her arm, steadying her, his touch, even in her panicked state, bringing a tingling heat to her skin.

      “Try to be calm,” he rasped in her ear. “Don’t let him see how scared you are. You don’t want him to panic.”

      Biting down on her lip, she covered the remaining ground at a sprint, managing not to scream at the terrified boy. Buster reached the windmill first, his barking giving way to whimpers and whines as he circled the foot of the steel ladder.

      “Mummy’s here, Mikey. Don’t move!” Rachel called. Perilously close to him, the whirling blades glinted ominously in the midday sun, sending a black, twisting fear through her. “I’m coming up to get you.” She spoke reassuringly, though she had no idea how she would be able to hold on to her son and keep a firm grasp on the narrow steel ladder at the same time. “Don’t look down!”

      She felt Zac’s hand on her shoulder, easing her to one side. “I’ll climb up and get him, Rachel. I’m stronger. I’ll keep him safe, I promise.”

      Would he? She gripped his arm in agonized indecision. Would he be as careful as she would be, the boy’s own mother? Mikey meant everything to her, but what did he mean to Zac? He’d never met the boy until today, and he only knew Mikey as the son of a brother he’d never had any time for, a nephew he’d known nothing about until today.

      But Zac was strong, far stronger than she was. With those powerful hands and shoulders he’d be more likely to bring Mikey down safely. She must trust him. She must trust the man who’d shown he wasn’t worthy of trust by betraying his own brother, as she’d unknowingly betrayed her own husband. But this was a matter of life and death, not morals.

      “Please…take care,” she whispered, and let her hand drop away.

      “I will, don’t worry.” He started scaling the ladder, his strong, tanned hands gripping the rungs in a way that gave her a measure of comfort. She’d felt those same hands on her body and knew they could be gentle, too….

      She held her breath, clenching her teeth in a frenzy of suspense. Zac was nearly at the top now and she could hear him speaking gently to Mikey. Her heart leaped into her mouth as he managed to loosen Mikey’s frightened grip on the ladder and gather him in one arm, keeping his other hand firmly on the ladder. And then they were coming down, Mikey’s arms curled around his rescuer’s neck and his small plump legs wound around Zac’s upper body.

      Rachel didn’t start breathing again until they were nearly at ground level, close enough for her to catch her son if he fell. She let her gaze dwell for a second on Zac’s strong, competent arms and broad shoulders, feeling a rush of gratitude.

      The wayward thought popped into her head that Adrian, if he’d been here, instead of Zac, would probably still have been hesitating down below, or calling for backup, or putting a detailed plan into action, weighing up the pros and cons before acting—always the safe, precautionary approach, so different from his more risk-taking, man-of-action brother.

      And who was to say which approach was the best? On the one hand, Zac could have lost his grip on Mikey or the ladder as he’d come down, while on the other, her son could just as easily have panicked and fallen while Adrian was preparing a rescue plan, with safety harnesses and bales of hay to provide a soft landing if the worst happened.

      But all that mattered was that Zac had brought her son down safe and sound, without any delay or fuss at all. When the two reached solid ground, she gathered Mikey in her arms and held him tightly for a long moment, her eyes moist as they sought and found Zac’s.

      “Thank you,” she said, and felt a tiny frisson of shock as his eyes caught and held hers for a heart-stopping second before she broke eye contact.

      She could feel Mikey’s weight dragging on her arms and shoulders and was thankful she hadn’t been forced to bring him down from that great height herself. Already he was wriggling to be put down, which only added to his weight. She set him on the dusty СКАЧАТЬ