Page 41 of Andrew’s Outback Love

Every time he’d asked me in the hospital, I’d managed to divert to another topic because I knew he’d be pissed off about the RFDS paying me to take care of him. I might have known the man for only three weeks, but I already knew he had a great deal of pride. He wouldn’t take kindly to knowing precious RFDS funds were being spent on him. Problem was, I couldn’t really afford time off without being paid. I would have had to delve into my savings and they weren’t all that great as it was, thanks to Blane and his love of booze.

I gathered his hand in mine. “Please don’t be angry.”

“I’d never be angry with you, sweetheart. Annoyed – yes. Pissed – maybe a little. Angry – never.”

I took a deep breath. “The RFDS is employing me to take care of you until you’re back on your feet.”

“WHAT!”

Yep, knew it.

“Drew, listen.”

He pushed to his feet and paced in front of me.

“Where’s my phone?”

I jumped to my feet. “Drew, listen to me.”

“This is not happening. They are not spending money on me. It stops now and I’m gonna pay back every cent. I’ve never heard anything so ridiculous.”

“DREW!”

“WHAT!”

He stepped towards me. I stepped back and cringed at the anger in his voice.

“Fuck, come here sweetheart.” He held out his arm.

I hesitated before moving closer. In my heart I knew he wouldn’t touch me in anger, but I couldn’t seem to get my head on the same page.

“Sweetheart, I’m sorry. I’m not angry with you.”

His eyes softened and I finally got the courage to move into his arm. He ran a soothing hand up and down my back and kissed the top of my head as I trembled.

“I’m so sorry, Linda. I might get angry now and again but I would never, ever lay a hand on you. I give you my word.”

I lifted my head and he brushed the tears from my cheeks.

“I know you wouldn’t.”

“Tell me what you wanted to say before I became so bull headed and started yelling.”

“Neil, my boss said the RFDS had received more than five hundred thousand dollars thanks to your win and donations from people at the gala. He said that was more money than they could raise in a year and a few thousand spent on having you looked after was more than worth it. Neil said you were very valuable to them in a lot of ways and he said when you blew your stack, I was to tell you he was protecting his investment.”

Drew shook his head and laughed. “He knows me well. Five hundred thousand?”

I nodded.

“Even without my win, that’s almost twice what we raised last year.”

“You okay now?”

I knew I sounded tentative but after living with a man who regularly lost his temper, I found I was still somewhat raw.

Drew hugged me close and we kissed deeply before he pulled back.

“More than okay. Do you think we could manage to take advantage of our privacy to make love?”