Page 66 of Jillaroo from Jacaranda

Yeah, it was finally time to admit to herself that she crazy for him.

But she wasn’t about to tell him. Not when she hadn’t taken the time to heal.

And that terrified her, because what if another woman, someone who was ready to love and be loved, stumbled into Ty’s life and swept him off his boots?

* * *

The sun hovered, big and omnipresent, beating heat down upon the barren earth, making the horizon shimmer as if on fire. Floating on his back in the middle of the dam, Ty dragged his gaze from the magnificent woman floating beside him to the brilliance of the sun. It was so damn hot, and so damn relentless – just like the fire Rose had built inside of him. Man, what he’d do to grab her right now and …

A splash of water had him gasping. ‘Oi, you! That’s asking for trouble.’

‘What? I didn’t do anything.’ There was a triumphant smile on her face when she turned to face him.

She had found her way into the parts of his heart he’d walled off, and that both elated and terrified him. ‘Oh yeah, you did.’ He flashed her a devilish grin. ‘I’ll get you back when you least expect it, Miss Jones.’

Mrs Parker has a much better ring to it.

‘I’ll be on guard, so bring it on.’

They floated in silence once again, but with Rose eyeing him stealthily, as if waiting for him to splash her. He deliberately didn’t, to tease the playful moment out. Life with her was always so … everything.

‘Have you ever opened up about what happened in Afghanistan?’ Her voice was soft, and a little cautious.

‘Not really.’ It was an instinctive reply. Short and to the point – his way of keeping his defences up. He’d told Jasper most of it, and his sister half of it, but no one knew the whole story.

Rose rolled over and held the swimming noodle he’d brought along beneath her arms. ‘You don’t have to talk about it now, but … please know I’m here for you if you ever want to.’

Drawing in a breath, Ty considered clamming up, but then … ‘Actually, you know what? For the first time since it all happened … I think I want to talk.’

She floated closer to him, resting a compassionate hand on his arm. ‘I’m all ears.’

Ty stole a few moments to steady himself. ‘It was a routine check of some buildings. Someone yelled IED, but it was too late. I saw the blast before I heard it. I watched my father get flung through the air, almost three storeys high, then … then he plummeted back to earth.’ He pushed back raw emotions that were trying to claw to the surface – he wanted to do this, to get this heavy weight off his chest. ‘Dad was dead on impact. There was nothing I could do to save him.’

‘Oh my god, Ty. I’m so sorry.’ Shock laced her every word. ‘I don’t understand how any human being can do something like that.’

‘I don’t want you to ever try and understand a mind as evil as that, Rose. It’ll take you to one of the darkest places you’ve ever been.’ He placed a hand over the one she still had resting on his arm. ‘You deserve to only feel light and love and joy, being the empathic soul that you are.’ Now he was the one starting to choke up. ‘Because you’re a beautiful woman, Rose Jones, inside and out.’

‘Oh, Ty. I don’t know what to say. I feel so blessed to have met you.’ Tears rolled down her cheeks. ‘Thank you for giving me some of the best times of my life over these past four weeks.’

Pushing his hesitations to the side, because damn it, he loved this woman, Ty reached out and wiped her tears away. ‘I wish we had more time.’

‘Yeah, me too.’ Her lashes fluttered and she briefly closed her eyes, breathing in deep. He couldn’t help but wonder what thoughts were rolling through her mind, and if they were anything like his. The intensity behind them gave his heart hope.

And where there is hope …

‘I’m going to miss you, Ty.’ Her words were whispered. ‘More than I believed possible.’

‘I’m going to miss you, too. So very much.’ He had to stop it there, because he was about to break in two – the relief of finally being able to speak openly to someone about his grief and pain was overwhelmingly poignant. ‘Come on, let’s get out before we turn into a pair of prunes.’

Staying close, they swam to the water’s edge, dried off, and drove back to the homestead in a companionable, although electrified, silence. Ty could feel their connection had shifted to a deeper place, and although that buoyed him, it also worried him. There were so many ways this could go. So, before she left here in two days’ time, he was going to do his absolute darndest to steer her in the right direction. To him.

CHAPTER

19

Rose woke to the crows of Colonel with messy hair and an even messier hangover. The bottle of wine she’d drunk around midnight to try to knock herself out enough to stop thinking about Ty and finally sleep had been a bad idea. Dragging herself from the bed, she tried to stop her mind, and the room, spinning. First things first, she took two ibuprofen washed down with a litre of water, showered, washed her hair back into order, then curbed her craving for greasy food with a bacon and egg sandwich.

Stepping outside to enjoy her second coffee, she found the day painfully bright. Blinking into the sunshine with watering eyes, she quickly decided to retreat inside, where she did anything and everything she could to get her mind off Ty, and the fact she would be driving away from him tomorrow.