Outback Blaze (42 page)

It was then he saw the blood gushing from her thigh and realised the knife had plunged into her leg. Dropping to his knees he grabbed her hands that were clawing at Mike's face and cuffed them above her head.

‘Get off her, Mike. She's stabbed herself.'

Barely regulating his breathing, Mike struggled off. Somehow, despite the wound, she managed a sharp kick to his groin. Drew winced and Mike swore, but all credit to his colleague because he didn't bounce around yelping in pain like Drew had expected.

‘Shut up, you silly bitch,' Mike roared down at her. Frankly Drew would have used stronger words.

‘And stop rolling about,' ordered Drew. ‘You're not going to get away now and if you don't want to bleed to death, you'd better let us help.'

Surprisingly, she stilled, glanced down at her leg and went limp on the grass.

‘Shit,' said Mike.

‘Call an ambulance. Now.' Drew pulled the knife's tip out of her leg, threw it aside and then, swallowing the bile that erupted at the back of his throat at the gush of fresh blood, he tore off his shirt, ripped it into a few strips and racked his brain for whatever they'd taught him in first-aid training about stab wounds.

As fast as he wrapped the strips around her wound, the material turned red.

Roxie startled at the sound of a gunshot. Grabbing a hold of the horse's reins, Ruby rubbed her neck and uttered soothing words, while every organ in her own body shook. She was pretty certain Saskia didn't have a gun and the cops all did but…What if something had happened to Drew? Her eyes prickled with tears. She'd already lost so much and although she was, in essence, losing him next week anyway, she couldn't bear the thought of him being hurt. Or killed. Because of her.

Frozen, she listened for another shot but thankfully none came. It seemed like hours since she'd seen the door of the cottage open but it could only have been about an hour. Her foot tapped against the dirt and her fingers caught in Roxie's mane. Every nerve in her body was on high alert in case Saskia had somehow lost her pursuers and tracked back.

‘We can't just stay here and do nothing.'

The horse said nothing but Ruby's decision was made.

‘I need you to stay calm,' she said softly to Roxie. ‘We're going to go for a little ride.' Part of her thought she was being one of those too-stupid-to-live movie heroines but she needed to know what was going on. As she mounted Roxie and looked down the gravel road in the direction they'd gone she saw O'Leary climbing into the police car.

Although he wasn't the cop she'd most trust with her life, she felt safer simply seeing a uniform and urged Roxie towards him. He stopped and wound down his window but before he could speak, the in-car radio crackled and he snapped his head to the sound. Mike's voice punched out. At his mention of a knife wound, Ruby tightened her grip on the reins. With the feeling of cold water washing over her, she breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Saskia was the one who was injured. She almost asked about the gunshot but if anyone had been hurt, Mike would have mentioned it.

‘The ambulance is already on the way,' Mike said. ‘Drew's doing the best he can while we wait.'

O'Leary nodded. ‘All right, I'll head to the main road so I can direct them. I guess you heard all that,' he added as he looked up at Ruby.

‘Yes.' Relief flooded through her. She leaned forward and pressed a kiss against Roxie's neck. They had Saskia. The nightmare was over.

O'Leary barked a few more orders and then turned the patrol car, red dirt splattering up behind him as he hooned to meet the ambos. Ruby had the feeling he'd barked an order to stay where she was or head back to somewhere safe but since she hadn't actually registered anything he'd said, she chose to ignore whatever he had said.

Stopping only to open the gate that neither Saskia nor the police had bothered with, Ruby tried to tamp down her impatience as she directed Roxie. She didn't want to push her when she was already on edge from the gunshot. After riding on further than she imagined they could have gotten on foot, she saw Drew and Mike kneeling on the ground.

Saskia lay lifeless between them.

Ruby's heart clenched at the sight. She didn't want Jonas's sister dead, just out of harm's way in some kind of secure hospital where she could get professional help. Or prison – that would be good too. She approached with caution, but Mike looked up and came to meet her.

‘Is she still alive?' she asked.

He nodded. ‘The wound isn't too bad. Drew reckons she fainted at the sight of her own blood.'

Neither of them said another word as Drew monitored Saskia but they all breathed a collective sigh of relief when the ambulance appeared thundering across the paddock. O'Leary followed in the patrol car. Ruby urged Roxie back out of the way as the ambulance officers rushed from the van. They dropped to the ground next to Drew and Saskia. Drew briefed them on what had happened and the first aid he'd given, then he stepped away from the action.

He stood there in nothing but trousers and his weapon belt, rubbing his blood-covered hands violently against his legs as he stared off into the distance. Ruby wondered if he were some kind of shock after dealing with Saskia's injury. Mike and O'Leary were deep in conversation, so Ruby slid down off Roxie, told her to stay, hoped she'd listen, then crossed the dirt to Drew.

‘Hey, you okay?' She placed her hand gently against his arm.

He turned slowly, let out the longest breath and looked her up and down as if seeing her for the first time. He stood like a wooden soldier but his words were raw with emotion. ‘I thought she was going to hurt you. I couldn't bear it. I couldn't bear the idea of losing you.'

‘I'm fine.' Her own voice shook in reply.

‘I'm not.' He shook his head and went to scrape his fingers through his hair but realised at the last minute he had blood on his hands. His fingers curled into fists. ‘I don't think I can do it.'

Ruby frowned. ‘Do what?'

He sighed and glanced again at his hands. ‘Damn this blood, I want to hold you.' He looked around as if looking for somewhere he could clean himself, but finally settled on shoving his hands into his pockets.

‘Do what?' she asked again.

He sighed. ‘I'm probably crazy and selfish to even think about it, but I can't go back to England without you.'

Ruby's breath caught in her throat. Could she dare to hope his feelings for her had grown into something more than lust? ‘You want me to come with you?' She'd do it in a second.

‘Yes. No. I don't know.' His gazed down at her, his eyes glistening with what looked to be unshed tears. ‘All I know is that I don't want to be without you. Saskia's actions made me contemplate a world without you in it and it wasn't a place I wanted to be. I've already lost my best friend and my family, what kind of idiot would I be to let you – the best thing that's ever happened to me – slip through my fingers?'

‘Oh Drew.' She reached her hand up to cup the side of his face and ran her thumb slowly over his two-day stubble. ‘Do you mean it?'

He nodded. ‘You probably shouldn't take me. As I've warned you before, relationships and I have a bad track record, but I swear I've never felt like this about anyone else. It's always all been about work, about putting criminals behind bars to somehow live the life Ian never could.'

He turned his face and pressed his lips against the palm of her hand. ‘I can't do that anymore. Working at the expense of everything else won't bring Ian back – it's never filled the gap he left inside me – but you, you Ruby, have. I think I've fallen in love with you.'

Ruby couldn't speak, her heart overflowing with emotion. Drew took her silence as hesitation.

‘You don't have to say it back,' he rushed on. ‘I know it's only been a couple of weeks and I understand if you don't feel the same but I'm not done with you yet. I'll never be done with you. Quite aside from the fact I can't get enough of you, you haven't taught me to cook yet.'

She laughed as tears eased themselves out of her eyes. ‘Will you just shut up and let me get a word in?'

Smiling, he nodded.

She reached up and placed her hands on his shoulders. ‘I love you. If I didn't I would have broken things off the moment you told me you were going back to England, but I couldn't. I knew I'd be heartbroken when you left but I wanted whatever you could give.'

‘I want to give you everything. I'm petrified that I'll stuff this up and break your heart, but I'm even more scared of not trying.'

‘Drew,' she whispered, ‘you know how you proved to me I'm not a total dud in bed?'

He scoffed. ‘Anything but.'

Heat rushed to her cheeks at the thought of them in bed together but she pushed the vision aside to continue, ‘Well, I'm going to make it my mission to prove to you how brilliant you can be at relationships when you're with the right person. Because everything you've done since I met you – for me and for this town – proves to me that you are.'

‘Thank you.' His hands were still in his pockets as he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers.

‘Oi, Noble, get your hands off the witness! We'll be needing her for a statement or has your brain turned so totally to mush that you've forgotten that?'

Laughing, she and Drew pulled apart at O'Leary's words. He may have sounded gruff but the smile on his face told him he was satisfied with the day's work and not too upset about their public display of affection.

Drew pulled his hands out of his pockets and held them up. ‘I didn't put these hands on her, I swear.' Before O'Leary could reply, Drew said, ‘Hey, where's the ambulance?'

O'Leary and Mike exchanged amused glances and Mike replied, ‘On its way to Geraldton. You two missed all the action.'

‘But,' interrupted O'Leary, ‘we need to get you cleaned up and back on the case. Once the hospital says Miss Vanderbrek is up to questioning, I think you should lead the interview. What do you say?'

‘It would be my pleasure.' Drew looked at Ruby. ‘But I don't like leaving you after all this. Can I call Faith or Simone or someone to be with you until we're finished in Geraldton?'

His concern warmed her heart but Ruby found she didn't need or want company right now. If she couldn't be with Drew, she wanted a few moments alone to bask in her newfound happiness, to reflect on everything he had just said. If Saskia was charged, her parents would be free to come home. Somehow she knew they'd find out. She looked behind them to where Roxie was munching happily on Adam's crop. While the horse seemed more than at home on Annadale, Ruby couldn't wait to take her home. ‘No thanks, I'll be fine. I'm going to take Roxie home and soak away the stresses of today in a long, hot bath.'

Drew turned to face her, blocking out Mike and O'Leary. ‘Did you have to give me a visual of you wet and naked? I'm going to be totally off my game when interviewing Saskia.'

She smiled and shrugged one shoulder. ‘I'd say I'm sorry but I'm not.'

The interview with Saskia Vanderbrek was over. Drew stared down at his hands. Although he'd scrubbed them as hard as he could under the tap outside the cottage, there were still slivers of red beneath his nails and he couldn't wait to get back to Bunyip Bay where he could have a proper shower and totally eliminate all traces of her.

‘Thanks for letting me sit in,' Mike said, slapping Drew on the back as they marched down the hospital corridor towards the exit. Cops from Geraldton would stand guard outside Saskia's private room until she was well enough to be transferred to Perth where a psychiatric assessment had already been arranged for her.

‘No probs,' he replied.

‘Nah, seriously,' Mike continued, ‘You're really good at this job. I've learnt so much working alongside you and I just wanted to say I'll be sorry to see you go.'

This was as close to a ‘moment' as Drew ever imagined he'd have with Mike. He stopped and turned to face the other man. ‘Thanks, but you know, you were as much a part of this investigation as me and you were the one that caught Saskia. I don't know if we'd have had such a good result if I was on my own.'

Mike's face, still not hardened from years on the job, glowed with pride. ‘Thanks, mate. That means a lot. Don't suppose you wanna go get a beer or something?'

Three months ago Drew couldn't have imagined ever volunteering to spend time in Mike's company but a lot had changed during his time in Bunyip Bay. Mike had matured and Drew had mellowed; still tonight the only thing he wanted to do was get back to Ruby.

‘Do you mind if we take a rain-check? I kinda want to make sure Ruby is okay after everything that's happened.'

‘Of course, mate, of course.' They started back down the corridor and then Mike said, ‘Hey, if you two are an item now, does that mean you might stay?'

So overwhelmed and busy with the day's events Drew hadn't thought further than confessing his feelings to Ruby, but now he found himself saying, ‘You know, I'm going to see if that's a possibility. I reckon I'd be happy to call this place home.'

The weekend of the Bunyip Festival dawned bright and remarkably fine for the first day of spring. Ruby awoke to a tiny weight on top of her and sloppy kisses. She opened her eyes and smiled at the adorable puppy face staring down at her, then lifted the little body in the air to admire him.

‘Good morning, Bobby.' She placed a kiss on his black, wet nose and then drew him down for a cuddle. Drew had brought him home the day after Saskia had been caught and she'd fallen immediately in love with the small creature. Holding his warm, squirmy body close, she couldn't help but have hope for the future.