Outback Blaze (17 page)

It was for that reason Ruby ventured out of the house on Friday to Frankie's café to meet Simone.

‘Ruby!'

She turned at the sound of her name as she walked down the side path. Mrs O'Neil, a sprightly sixty-something who still worked full time at the library and on half a dozen committees, hurried towards her, her hand resting on her enormous bosom as it heaved up and down from the brief exertion. ‘How are you, sweetheart? I've spoken to your parents but haven't had a chance to offer my sympathies to you. Such a horrible thing to happen. We're going to do a write up in the
Bunyip News
and wondered if you wanted to make a comment.'

Ruby swallowed, sometimes it felt like she'd done nothing
but
discuss the fire. ‘Please just tell everyone thank you. The firefighters, Frankie and the café, all the people who've brought us casseroles, everyone. It's been a very tough time for Mum and Dad but knowing the whole community is behind us makes it that much easier.'

‘Oh my dear.' Mrs O'Neil dug a hanky out of her large bag and patted her eyes. ‘I'm sorry to hear about Lyn's illness, too. How the good Lord can let such awful things happen to such lovely people I will never understand.'

‘Me either,' Ruby replied, her shoulders slumping. She glanced ahead and saw Simone parking her car outside the café. ‘Thank you, Mrs O'Neil, but I must go. I look forward to reading the paper.' That last line was a lie, bad news in the headlines was never good to read even when you were expecting it.

‘See you later, dear, and remember if there's anything I can do to help, just give me a yell.'

‘Thanks.' Ruby forced a smile at the older woman as she walked briskly away. Already she'd lost count of the number of people who'd stopped her this morning. She was almost regretting her decision to walk, but it was such a beautiful day.

Simone held the door open as she arrived. ‘Hi there. Grab yourself a cold drink and let's get started.'

‘Cold?' Ruby asked, thankful that Simone hadn't mentioned the fire. ‘It's the middle of winter.'

‘Trust me,' Simone whispered as they walked to the counter. ‘When you see these photos you'll need cooling off.' She fanned her face with her hand to emphasise her point.

Despite Simone's warning Ruby ordered a hot white chocolate – Faith had introduced her to it and it was the best drink on Frankie's menu as far as she was concerned. They commandeered a table in the corner so as not to overwhelm the groups of pensioners enjoying morning tea. While they waited for their drinks Simone pulled her laptop out of her bag and set it up on the table. She wiggled her eyebrows at Ruby, clicked a few buttons and then…

‘Oh. My.' Ruby didn't consider herself a prude but neither did she regularly look at images of naked men and the way Simone had taken these photos her subjects may as well not have bothered with their undies. She leaned closer to the screen, scrutinising the group shot. Ryan Forrester looked like something out of the Chippendales and it was clear to see why Adam Burton had garnered
Cleo
magazine's interest. But Liam was a surprise. Simone's lights glistened on the men's tanned bodies, accentuating muscles Ruby didn't even know existed on them. ‘How did you do
that
?'

‘Tricks of the trade,' Simone replied smugly. ‘I take it you're happy with them?'

How could she not be? Too consumed by the photos, Ruby hadn't noticed Frankie arrive, but now she saw the steaming mug of white chocolate in front of her and wished she'd listened to Simone. It might be winter outside but her insides were experiencing a summer heatwave.

Frankie squatted down beside them. ‘I snuck a look the other night when I was over at Simone's and I've been having X-rated dreams ever since.'

‘Quite understandable,' Ruby said, her eyes glued to the screen. ‘I'm not sure the media will be comfortable flashing that photo around.'

Simone laughed and pressed another button. ‘It's okay, I've got plenty of tamer ones.'

Frankie resumed work while Simone and Ruby spent the next few minutes clicking through the other images. ‘I think this'll definitely get us a crowd of females watching the event,' she said, ‘but I'm not sure it'll get us more entrants.'

‘Sure it will, I think we'll get interest from female runners who like the idea of running next to these blokes,' Simone said with a twinkle in her eye. ‘In fact, I'm going to register to run myself.'

‘What?' Ruby tried to hide her shock. She didn't know Simone well and although she had a reasonably good body, Ruby assumed it was from running after teenagers rather than physical exertion.

‘Yes, I've asked Ryan Forrester to help me train.'

‘Oh.' Suddenly Simone's motivations were crystal clear and Ruby couldn't help but smile. ‘And he agreed?'

‘Uh huh. We started our regime this morning with some sprint training along the beach.'

So that explained her good mood and rosy cheeks. It would be lovely to see Simone find happiness again and Faith would be pleased if Ryan found someone and finally settled down.

‘Good for you,' Ruby said. ‘And will you be buying some special underwear for the event?'

‘God yeah, long johns and a full-length singlet. You won't catch me parading around in bra and knickers on the first weekend of spring. The weather up here often takes a while to catch on.'

Ruby laughed. Being with Simone was like tonic for her soul. At least ten minutes had passed without her thinking about the fire. Or Drew. ‘So how are we going to pick the photos for the poster?' she asked. ‘Are you still okay to design it?'

‘Sure. It'll be fun.' Simone sipped her milkshake. ‘I'm thinking we could do a few different posters and…a pity we didn't get a photo of
that
.'

‘What?' Ruby turned quickly to see what Simone was referring to and immediately wished she hadn't. A swagger in his step, Drew had just entered the café. His gaze met hers and the look on his face said he'd caught her looking. She cursed her body's reflexes as heat coursed through her cheeks. He looked fine whatever he wore but the uniform amplified every inch of his gorgeousness. She'd never had a thing for men in uniform but suddenly understood the fascination.

Ruby swung around to face Simone. ‘I thought you didn't like him.'

‘Honey, you don't have to like someone to appreciate they'd look mighty fine in their jocks.' A mewl like that of a satisfied kitten escaped her mouth. ‘Besides I might have over-reacted a little the other day. He was only doing his job. I
should
know where my daughter is at all times.'

Ruby hadn't heard this last line as her mind was stuck on the image of Drew in jocks. More to the point what he'd look like without them. She swallowed, aware of her heart beating strongly in her chest.

‘His accent isn't bad either,' continued Simone, oblivious to Ruby's condition. ‘I've always quite liked British boys. They can be hot and have good manners at the same time.'

‘Yes,' Ruby said, unable to offer any further comment. She fought the intense urge to turn around and look at Drew again. What was he buying? She hoped something healthy because so far she'd only ever seen him eat junk.
Argh
.
It doesn't matter what he eats. He's no concern of mine
.

‘Accents and good looks aside, we need to focus.' Simone looked down at her laptop as she opened up a design program. ‘I've drafted a couple of ideas and was hoping you could give me your thoughts. With only five weeks until the run we shouldn't waste time.'

‘Agreed.' Ruby tried to ignore the fact the hairs on her arms and the back of her neck were standing to attention. Although she'd managed not to take another look, she could feel Drew nearby. Ruby couldn't focus until the door of the café opened and closed a few moments later. As the tall shadow stalked past the window, the tiny hairs on her arms relaxed.

She knew that this felt worse because they'd kissed. She'd felt the soft tenderness of his mouth against hers and it was hard to reconcile that passion with the man who believed her parents were criminals.

Somehow she got through the next half hour, helping Simone choose the photos that would make up the publicity. Funny, after seeing Drew again, the near-naked shots of other men didn't do a thing for her. When she finally said goodbye to Simone, Ruby couldn't face going home just yet. She needed to get out, to take Roxie for a proper ride before the horse-riding lessons that afternoon.

Ruby glanced at her watch, reluctant to head home as much for Roxie as for herself. The old mare had relished the outing, prancing down their regular riding track like she was a queen inspecting her kingdom. Unfortunately the afternoon had gotten away with them and it wasn't long until she had to teach a horse-riding lesson.

‘Easy, Roxie,' Ruby placed a calming hand on her horse as they entered the town. They only had to travel the outskirts to get back to her place, but Roxie didn't like being told to slow down. An ex-race horse that had mothered many champions in her time, she still had airs and graces that made Ruby smile. Unfortunately one of those was that she didn't like children riding her, but thankfully Riley adored them. Ruby hoped to build up her business enough to buy another couple of suitable horses so she could start giving group lessons.

Demand had been high since she'd first put out the word of her desire to teach.

As an orange school bus approached – bringing high school kids home from Geraldton – Ruby directed Roxie further off to the side of the road to wait. The horse stamped her hoof, showing her disapproval at being made to wait for a mere bus and Ruby lifted a hand to wave at the passengers. A number of younger kids returned her wave and she almost didn't notice the teenagers on the back seat, who were far too busy to be looking out the window. Yet, as the bus slowed to let a few students off, Ruby couldn't help but recognise one of the back-seat bandits as Simone's rebellious daughter, Harriet. With bright red hair like her mother's, she was hard to miss.

And she was kissing Jaxon Bird.

Ruby's first thought was that Simone would be horrified to see her daughter playing tonsil hockey with one of the town rabble, but it was the second thought that truly rocked her soul. A memory slammed into her head of Harriet being AWOL the night of the fire and her heart started pounding. The bus was long gone and the students who'd gotten out a good few hundred metres up the road before Ruby managed to arrange her thoughts in some kind of logical order.

I could be overreacting
.

Just because Harriet and her friend were more than a little friendly with Jaxon and Brad didn't mean they'd been with them the night of the fire. And if they had been, did that take the boys out of the frame or put the girls in? The last thing Simone needed was more issues with her daughter. And where would that leave Ruby's parents? If the girls provided alibis for the main suspects and they got off, the police would hone in on the next most obvious ones. Her mum and dad.

Drew already had a head start in that department and would be more than happy to follow through.

She pressed her hand against her stomach, trying to quell the sick feeling. Things that had been bothering her about her parents surfaced again. She'd reasoned their forgetting her birthday down to worrying about her mother's disease, but what if it was because they'd been fretting about what they were about to do? About the fire? No, it was impossible, she couldn't believe her parents capable of such a thing. Whatever the circumstances.

Maybe she should simply ignore what she'd seen. If Drew was such a top-notch police officer surely he could have discovered this little snippet of information without her help. If she hadn't been riding Roxie this afternoon no one would be any the wiser. The bus driver was from Geraldton and either didn't care or hadn't connected the dots, and none of the kids had mentioned the young lovers either. Maybe she was overreacting.

Her racing pulse beginning to return to normal, Ruby gave Roxie the signal to continue on, but the whole way home and all through her three lessons that were scheduled that afternoon, she couldn't think about anything else. If she didn't tell someone about what she'd seen, was she as bad as O'Leary who had pegged the crime on the easiest suspects? And if she really believed her parents innocent – which she
so
did – then giving the boys an alibi wouldn't change the facts.

Ruby was the last person Drew expected to see when he opened his front door early Friday evening. He'd been home all of ten minutes when he'd heard the knock and had debated long and hard about opening it. Dolce had been in her garden when he arrived and he assumed it would be her with cookies as a ruse to talk about non-existent town crime. For a second when he peeled back the door and found Ruby standing before him in tight riding pants, a fitted jumper and flushed cheeks, he thought maybe she'd come to pick up where they'd left off the other day. The scowl on her face said otherwise. He swallowed his disappointment.

‘Hi Drew,' she said, her voice frosty.

Yep, she was definitely not here for pleasure.

‘Good evening, Ruby.' He gestured inside. ‘Would you like to come in?' Half-expecting her to say her bit on the front doorstep, he was a little shocked when she barged past him into the living room. A surprisingly alluring combination of hay and vanilla almost overwhelmed him.

Conscious that his house, which was merely a place to sleep, had nothing of the warmth held in her parents' house, he remembered his manners. ‘Can I get you a drink? I don't have much but I can offer you a coffee or a glass of water?'

‘I'm fine. Thanks.' She glanced around the room and for the first time ever he wished he'd bothered with a little more furniture. The ratty couch that came with the house wasn't much larger than an armchair and there was no way she'd want to sit beside him. He'd have to have been blind not to notice the anger in her eyes when they'd seen each other at the café earlier.