Page 31 of A Chance to Believe

‘Mummy says he needs a loooooong rest.’

That was going to be hard with the farm to run and no man to help. Shayne glanced across at Jordan, but he was focused on his conversation with Ned. Something would be sorted. The man had a lot of good friends and neighbours.

He watched Cassie with the child and knew with a certainty he’d lacked before that she would be a wonderful mother. All these months he’d assumed she lived in an adult world without children. As a music teacher, she would need empathy and patience, and he could see that in her interactions today.

She looked up as the child wandered off and he met her eyes, seeing in them a tenderness he wished was for him. Her smile was tender too, a curve of her generous lips that made him want to taste her. It broadened as he watched and her gaze flicked over the crowded backyard as if to remind him they weren’t alone. He would not let the moment go, so he picked up her hand and pressed his mouth to the pulsing heat where her veins showed on the inside of her wrist.

Her breath caught. ‘Shayne …’

He gave her hand back and turned to his meal. ‘You should finish your steak. Jordan will be offended if you leave it uneaten.’

Obediently she took a bite, the soft moan of pleasure doing dangerous things to him below the belt. It was food. He needed to concentrate on the food.

When she sat back with a sigh, a surge of satisfaction hit him in the chest. He enjoyed caring for this woman. She needed nurturing. For all that she was an independent woman. He knew she could manage her own life, but a little support and TLC hurt no-one.

‘We work well together, you know.’

Her response was a stiffening that warned him she had taken it in the way he meant it and didn’t like it.

‘Is this about your family’s expectations? What Jordan said?’

‘No, it’s about us. You know I don’t let my family make my decisions about my relationships.’

‘I’ve been clear about what I want. A personal relationship isn’t one of them.’

‘Is that non-negotiable?’

She pushed her chair out. ‘Absolutely. Now I’m going to talk to your nana. If she tells me to take the money and run, at least we’ll be on the same page, apart from the money, of course.’

‘Of course.’ It came out dry, and she hesitated.

‘Look, I’m sorry, but you know this isn’t going to work any other way.’

Without waiting for a reply, she made her way to sit beside Nana. His nana cast him a look of triumph, which suggested she’d been watching them for some time.

There were other people looking, and he wondered how much Becca had heard from her place beside Cassie. He shrugged and leaned forward to join the wider conversation. Two months until the babies were born. He still had time.

Chapter 7

Cassie paused in taking off her hat. She’d been for a walk around the garden in the cool of the evening, trying to keep active, though the pressure on her pelvis was making it a penance.

The noise in her bathroom sounded like more than the blinds being rattled by a breeze from the vent in the window.

‘Oh.’ Kimberley jerked out the word, freezing in the doorway when she spotted Cassie.

She had a small box in her hand, and Cassie raised her eyebrows. ‘Looking for something?’

‘I … I found them. They aren’t yours.’ The words came out defiantly, matching the drawn together brows and defensive stance.

‘How do you know?’

‘Nate always keeps a pack here. They were in the bottom drawer with some of his kit.’

Interesting that Kimberley knew they were there. Maybe this Nate’s reputation suggested he always kept a supply of condoms handy. There was no self-consciousness aside from the embarrassment of being caught in Cassie’s bathroom in the girl’s expression, so it didn’t indicate a romantic interest. ‘Couldn’t you buy your own?’

The girl wrinkled up her nose. ‘Not likely. It would be round town in three minutes flat. Half the girls on checkout are at school with me.’

‘There’s always the chemist.’ The words were out before she’d acknowledged the issue. She knew about small towns.

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