"I fell off my bike," she said and realized she'd spoken aloud. "The dog was on me before I could find the handlebars. The real pain didn't hit until later. There was no internal damage."
He tugged her close and spoke against her hair. "Something to be grateful for, I suppose."
Other recollections swam up.
"The doctors and nurses were great. I was a long time in the hospital. When he visited, my dad's face was lined with guilt. He'd given me the bike. Said with lots of practice I'd get better. I was a bit of a klutz."
"You wouldn't know it now. You move like a vision."
She laughed softly. "I do not."
"Believe me, you're not that klutzy kid anymore. You're a very desirable woman."
She laughed again. "Very desirable."
"Very, very desirable. That's something that comes from inside."
In the shadows, she pushed up on one elbow. When she found his eyes, she sent him a mock chagrined look. "You're such a charmer."
"Are you doubting my sincerity? Because if you are-" he shifted until his nose was an inch from hers "-I should show you how serious I am."
His kiss was tender and at the same time held more meaning and passion than any other. At that moment Jack wasn't Dahlia's brother, or Beau's uncle, or even an enigmatic, sexy-to-a-fault grazier. He was the man who'd transformed her into the most beautiful woman in the world. And the feeling was fairy tale fabulous. It was also almost sad.
No one would ever be better than Jack.
When her throat closed off and emotion pricked behind her eyes, Maddy broke from the kiss and wriggled out from beneath him.
Hormones. One minute she was floating, the next she wanted to cry. Too much excitement. Too much emotion. She needed to take a few deep breaths and focus on something else.
When her feet sunk into the soft carpet, she dragged the sheet along with her. "I wonder what Beau's doing now?"
"Sleeping. Where're you going?"
"To get some fresh air."
She moved out onto the balcony where the smattering of town lights twinkled below and mournful curlews cried out in the distance. She was still thinking about Beau when something soft and warm wrapped around her shoulders. Then big hands raveled the blanket around her middle and pressed in.
Jack's deep voice was at her ear. "It can get chilly out here at night."
"I hope Beau's warm enough. Maybe I should have put him in his fleecy PJs."
Chuckling, he grazed his chin over her hair. "You're quite the mother hen, aren't you?"
"He's a cute kid." She smiled into the night, remembering way back. "He reminds me of a life-size baby doll I used to have."
"Dolls, huh? Dahlia liked skipping. One summer she skipped so much I thought her brain would get shaken out of her head."
"And she liked horses?"
"Sure." There was a pregnant pause. "You should try it."
Grinning, she wrestled the blanket more firmly around her. "The day I get on a horse, Jack Prescott, is the day I change my name and dance the polka."
His smile grazed her temple. "My mother didn't like horses much either, even though she'd ridden since she was five."
"How did your parents meet?"
"At a dance. My mother was visiting a cousin. My father fell in love with her on sight." He grinned. "Or that's what he told us kids."
She imagined a couple thirty-odd years ago locked in each other's gazes and an intimate embrace while they moved around a dance floor. The man she imagined looked a lot like Jack. A heart-warming glow filtered through her and she smiled.
"I bet your father treated her like a queen."
"He'd have given her anything she wanted," he said, "But she didn't want a lot." He exhaled and his tone changed. "She had a dream of taking a long vacation on an island. She had a thing for that movie Endless Love. Dad booked the flight without her knowing. They'd only been gone a week when she went out swimming and got in trouble. He went out to help."
Maddy held her sinking stomach and pivoted to face him. So that's how he'd lost his parents.
"Jack … I'm so sorry."
Even sorrier that she'd spoken up so strongly about that creek. After losing his parents to a drowning accident she was sure he would rather die himself than risk placing Beau in similar danger. Or any danger, for that matter.
Her palm fanned over his hot bare shoulder. "It must have been hard losing them both."
His eyes glistened in the shadows. He didn't seem to be looking at her but rather through her. "Dahlia didn't take it well."
"Is that why she left for Sydney?"
That bronzed shoulder lifted and fell. "She said she didn't want to be stuck at Leadeebrook like Mum had been all her life. She wasn't going to be trapped." A humorless smile tugged one side of his mouth. "My sister didn't get that if Mum and Dad had stayed on the station they'd still be alive."
Maddy angled her head. Had she heard right?
"Jack, you can't look at it like that. Your parents were on vacation, a well-deserved one, I'm sure. It was an accident."
"An accident they could've avoided."
The line of his mouth hardened and he didn't say the rest although Maddy could guess. Like Dahlia's accident could've been avoided if she'd stayed at home.
She had to know for Beau's sake.
Taking his hand, she turned so he held her again while they gazed out over the peaceful outback view. A falling star trailed through the star-studded sky.
"I was speaking to Cait about the nursery," she began. "She told me that you and your wife decorated it."
When his silence stretched out, Maddy cursed herself. She shouldn't have brought it up. If he told her not to speak of it again she wouldn't blame him. Three years was a heartbeat when you were trying to get over a tragedy. She knew.
She'd accepted that he wouldn't reply when his deep voice rumbled over her head.
"The contractions started at three in the morning. She was so excited and anxious. I reminded her that we were a month from the due date. On our last visit the doctor explained about Braxton Hicks. Basically false alarm contractions. A storm was raging outside. The contractions eased but she wanted to go into town and check with the doctor. Her own mother had died in childbirth and now she couldn't seem to think of anything but that. I tried to calm her. Told her we'd wait until light. When she started to cry … " He groaned and exhaled slowly before ending. "I packed her up and headed off. A tree came down on the car. I lived. Lesson learned."
Maddy was holding her stomach, her moist eyes shut. She couldn't bear to think of his pain.
"What lesson is that?" she finally got out.
"Don't tempt fate."
"But no one could guess such a terrible thing would have happened."
"Terrible things seem to follow me around."
Maddy's heart fell. She'd never felt more pity for anyone in her life. He'd lost everyone he'd loved including his unborn child and he blamed himself because he couldn't control the uncontrollable. No wonder he wanted to lock himself away from the world, somewhere he believed he and his memories could be safe. He so desperately wanted to go back in time and make everyone else safe there, too.
But he'd ventured beyond Leadeebrook boundaries tonight. He'd wanted to share an experience with her, the gala, dancing … making love.
"None of those things were your fault," she said, wishing he could lower his defenses for a moment and see.
"Doesn't change the fact that the people I loved most are gone."
She turned in the circle of his arms and held his gaze with hers. "If I was in trouble, if I needed someone to be there to rescue me … I'd choose you."
His gaze softened only to darken more. "And if I failed?"
"Then no one could have saved me."
Maddy thought of her mother, how the leukemia had won; Helen Tyler had accepted her fate even when her husband had begged her to fight. By being strong now-for her father, for her future-in some weird way Maddy felt as if she was making her mother strong, too, and fixing what no one could fix back then.
She'd never admitted those feelings to anyone. Would Jack understand if she told him?