You're the One (27 page)

Oh yeah, she
had no doubt that he’d heard from someone else what she should have
told him.

Behind his
mirrored sunglasses, Moz watched as she strode down the steps to
the ground, those slim shoulders back, head held high. That blonde
ponytail flicked side to side as she approached briskly.

With one
finger, Moz drew the sunglasses down his nose as he studied her
advance over the top. Yep, no hesitation. Brazen as the day was
long, she was already showing attitude. Part of him admired that,
but part of him feared it for her sake. That attitude could get her
seriously hurt by the bastard across the road and his cronies.

Chin lifting,
Del’s gaze met his.

His eyes
narrowed.
Oh yeah, baby, keep showing me that sass and see what
it gets you.

Stopping in
front of his work ute, she folded her arms and waited.

Pushing the
sunglasses back in place, Moz got out of the ute, shutting the door
firmly behind him before walking around to the front to lean back
against the bonnet. Stretching out his legs, he crossed his ankles
and rested his palms on the bonnet each side of his thighs.

Seeing her now
he wanted to give her a hug, make sure she was okay, but he didn’t
trust himself not to then start reaming her a new one, so instead
he simply greeted her with a rumbled, “Del.” Hugs later. And
reprimanding, to put it politely.

“Moz,” she
returned. Her gaze went past him to track the cops’ progress.
“Maggie, Kirk.”

“Hi Del.”
Maggie nodded.

Everyone being
civilized. Maggie a little tense, no doubt expecting him to make a
leap for Del. Del watchful, keeping a wary eye on him. Kirk doing
his usual calm, steady shit.

The
golden-haired cop pulled a notebook from his pocket, replacing it
with his sunglasses. “You doing all right, Del?”

“Fine.”

“Good. Just to
let you know that we haven’t found Harding, Dawson or Cutter
yet.”

“Headed for
the hills, have they?”

“Possibly.”

Del cast Moz a
quick glance before focussing back on their friend. “Ian says the
dog’s doing okay.”

“He’s a nice
dog. He’ll have a good home with Ian.” Kirk clicked his pen. “Del,
do you remember hearing anything about a week ago?”

“A week ago?”
She frowned.

“Sunday night
a week ago, one of your neighbours, Bassinger, says he heard dogs
barking.”

“Oh.” Her face
cleared. “In the early hours of the morning?”

He didn’t
agree, just asked, “You heard dogs then?”

“Yeah, they
woke me up. It was about two o’clock. I remember because I looked
at the clock.”

Moz watched
her closely. Had she remembered his warning and not gone
outside?

“Anything
else?” Kirk was jotting down notes.

“A truck.” Del
peeked at Moz. “Voices.”

He nodded
encouragingly. He might be angry at her earlier actions, but in
this she was an innocent.

Relaxing a
little, she looked back at Kirk. “I didn’t see anything even though
I looked out my window.”

Damn it,
anyone could have seen her. “You looked out the window,” Moz
repeated flatly.

Kirk cast him
a fleeting glance.

Del nodded. “I
could see lights but the bushes are too thick to see through
properly.”

Kirk kept
jotting. “Did it sound like dogs fighting or anything?”

“No. I opened
the window to see if I could hear anything more-”

Moz’s knuckles
whitened. Jesus, she’d
opened
the window.

“-I heard
Cutter’s voice, sounded close, but sound carries at night.” She
shrugged.

Moz’s teeth
clenched. Cutter. She’d had the window open and Cutter sounded
close. A vein in his temple started to throb.

Del happened
to glance at him, her eyes widened a fraction, then narrowed.

Good thing she
couldn’t see his eyes behind the mirrored sunglasses. He was
glaring at her so hard he wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d
drilled holes through her head.
Oh Del, this is not
finished
.

“One of
Dawson’s dogs was in my yard again, and I
didn’t
go out to
hunt it away.” This was directly aimed at him.

Maggie grinned
a little.

Ignoring her,
Moz kept his attention on Del.

“Could you
distinguish other voices apart from Cutter’s?” Kirk queried.

“Dawson’s,
when he came after his dog.”

“Must have
been scary,” Maggie commented sympathetically.

“It was a
little unsettling, especially when I thought someone was in the
bushes watching me,” Del agreed.

Moz’s nostrils
flared as he drew in a deep breath, forcing himself not to swear,
not to lurch upright and start ripping her for opening her bloody
window when someone might have been lurking in her yard. He wanted
to find whoever might have been lurking in her yard and beat the
living shit out of them. He pressed his fingers against the metal
bonnet, forcing himself to stay still and silent.

As if she’d
realised what she’d just said, Del’s fingers on her folded arms
gripped a little tighter. Refusing to look at Moz, she told a
stoic-faced Kirk, “It was just the dog, though. Brand came, took
the dog, and nothing further moved outside. I waited with the
window closed and locked. Finally I went back to bed.”

“You sure you
don’t remember hearing anything else?”

She shook her
head.

“No more dogs,
no more cars, no more voices?”

“Nope. Sorry.”
She took a deep breath. “I’m really sorry, Kirk. I know I was
supposed to phone you guys but by the time I remembered everything
was quiet. It would have been a waste of time. I didn’t want to
call you out for nothing. I really am sorry.”

“Okay.” Kirk
studied his notes before lifting his head. “Guess we’re finished
for now. But if you remember anything, anything at all no matter
how small or insignificant it might be, you call us.”

“I will. I
promise.”

Kirk slid his
sunglasses on, put the notebook back in his pocket. “Del.”

“Yeah?” She
transferred her gaze back to him from where she’d been studiously
ignoring Moz.

“Next time you
hear anything you do
not
unlock or open your windows, you
phone the station immediately. Do you understand?”

“I just-”

“Del.”

“Yes.”

“Your actions
were irresponsible.” Hands on hips, he looked down at her. “You
risked your safety by unlocking the window to try and see outside.
Keep your windows locked.”

“If I did that
you wouldn’t know what I heard or saw, would you?”

Damn, the
woman had balls. Figuratively speaking, of course. Not many people
would stand up to Kirk but there she was, almost toe-to-toe with
the cop, giving him attitude. He’d thought it was just Molly who
was game to do that.

If it wasn’t
such a dangerous situation, Moz would have laughed.

Kirk stared
hard at Del for several seconds.

She relented.
“I know. I’m sorry. It was dumb of me to do, I didn’t think. But I
will in future, I promise.”

“Good to
know.” Kirk nodded before turning to Moz. “All yours.”

Maggie opened
her mouth but one head shake from Kirk had her closing it again and
heading for the cop car.

As Kirk drew
level with Moz, he stopped. “We’re going to have to tell her for
her own safety.”

“You think?”
Moz didn’t remove his gaze from where Del stood watching them.

“She has no
idea how bad this can get. Living in a safe place like Gully’s Fall
all her life hasn’t prepared her for what could happen. Twice now
she’s had face-offs with Cutter’s mob. She thinks Pierce and Brand
are harmless, that they won’t hurt her. We have to tell her that
she’s possibly living right in the transfer zone from the sound of
it, and they know she’s heard and seen things.”

“If they touch
her, I’ll rip them apart.”

“You won’t be
the only one, but Moz, you can’t be with her all the time.” Kirk
glanced back at Del. “That woman has courage, but it’s the kind of
courage that is a challenge to some men.”

Moz cut his
eyes to Kirk.

“Some men,”
Kirk said soberly, “would take it as a challenge to break her.”

“I’d kill
anyone who tried.”

“This is a
close-knit community. You’d be one of many.” With that, Kirk walked
back to the cop car.

Remaining
still, Moz watched Del as the cop car made its way back to the
road. Within no time the only sound was the birds in the trees and
distant vehicles.

Del didn’t
move, just continued to stare him down.

Moz continued
to watch her, waiting for her next move. Would she apologise? Back
down? Try to explain?

“If you’ve
come here to yell at me, Baylon,” she stated, “you can get your
arse back in that ute and leave.”

Oh,
defiance.

Heat slithered
through him as simmering anger started to bubble.

“Mind
repeating that?” he asked softly.

Hands settled
on slender hips as she lifted her chin. “I saw the way you got out
of your car, Moz. You came looking for a fight.”

“I came
looking for answers.”

“Bullshit. You
heard about me helping out a friend and you came out here breathing
fire.”

Moz
straightened. Oh yeah, the little witch was pushing all his
buttons.

“You think I
have no clue as to what you’re thinking, but you’re wrong,” she
continued. “I’m telling you right now, I won’t take orders from
you. I’d do it all again in a heartbeat.”

Anger started
to beat in his veins. Without a word, he strode forward.

“I did what I
knew to be right, I stand by my decisions, so if you want to start
ranting and raving -”

In one smooth
motion he bent and straightened with Del over his shoulder.

“Hey!” She
yelled. “What the hell? Put me down!”

“You think you
know me so well.” Hand clamped around her thighs, he marched across
the ground to the veranda, taking the steps in one giant stride.
“See if you can guess what’s coming.”

Chapter 9

Holy
crap!
She couldn’t believe it. He’d actually tossed her over
his shoulder and was taking her inside the house. “Moz, you moron!”
She kicked, struggled.

Didn’t faze
him one iota.

His shoulder
was hard against her hips, his hand seemingly huge on the backs of
her thighs. The flex of muscle was so heart-poundingly evident.

Oh Jesus, what
was he going to do?

Bracing her
hands on his back, she tried to push upright. “Put me down!”

The door
opened, he bent and walked in.

Oh cripes,
he’d had to bend to go in the house with her over his shoulder
because he was so freaking tall. Tall and strong.

My bite is
worse than my bark
. The words seemed to hammer into her brain.
Oh shit, maybe she’d pushed him too far.

In the hallway
he bent once more, hands moving from her thighs to her hips as he
slid her off his shoulder to stand on her feet. While her head was
still swirling from the abrupt positional change, he backed her up
to the wall by the simple process of placing one big hand on her
chest above her breasts, right on her sternum, and pressing her
back. Tossing his sunglasses onto the hall side table, he braced
one hand above her head, leaning down so close she could see the
anger blazing in his eyes.

His eyes
weren’t a hot, decadent brown now. Nope, they were pissed off,
almost glittering with anger.

Expecting him
to start yelling at her, she was shocked when instead he growled,
“Were you hurt at all?”

“What?” She
blinked up at him, thrown by the change of tactic.

“Hurt. You
swear that no one laid a hand on you during that stand off with
Cutter?”

“No. No one
did.”

“No one has
been lurking around since?”

“No.” She
paused. “Not that I’m aware.”

“You knew,
Del. You were told not to go outside at night, to keep your windows
locked.”

She glared up
at him. “I didn’t go out, I’m not stupid!”

“Stupid enough
to open your bloody window at night when you knew things were
happening in the area.” This was gritted out from between clenched
teeth.

Hoo boy, he
was furious.

She started
forward, but his hand pressed her back against the wall.

Looking down,
she observed just how big his hand was, long fingers splayed out
over her upper chest, palm flat against her sternum. Holy heck, she
could feel the heat from his palm burning right through her
blouse.

It would have
been downright sexy if he hadn’t rasped in a deep, threatening
voice, “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t give you a bloody
good spanking for being so bloody reckless.”

Outraged, she
glared right back up at him. “I’m not a kid!”

“Then maybe
you should stop acting like one.”

Oh, that was
unfair. “Acting like one? Give me one good example where I
did!”

“Really?
You’re going to ask that like you don’t know?” Like he had the
nerve to act outraged in turn.

“Yeah, Moz.
But here, let me guess. You think I should have left Farris to get
the living heck belted out of him by three cowards. You think I
should have huddled inside the shop and just watched my friend get
pounded into the ground!”

“You shoved
yourself into the middle of what could have been an ugly brawl.”
His mouth was so tight that white lines bracketed the corners.
“Those bastards wouldn’t have hesitated to take you down, Del. They
wouldn’t have hesitated to beat you.”

“Pierce and
Brand are all strut and show.”

“And Cutter?
Is he so harmless?”

“No, he’s
not.”

“Yet you still
faced him down.”

“Yeah, Moz, I
did.” Refusing to give an inch, she met him glare for glare. “I
faced him down for a friend. It’s what I do, it’s who I am. I don’t
leave friends hanging in the wind. I don’t walk away. I make a
stand beside them. If you can’t handle that then maybe we’re not so
good together.”