You're the One (9 page)

“I’m the wife
of the mayor, I need to look the part.”

“He might like
you in hipsters.”

“He says my
hips are like bone now.”

“That’s rather
insensitive of him.”

Penelope
shrugged. “I tell him he’s like a small, round, Christmas
pudding.”

“Because
that’s not insensitive at all.”

“Thirty years
later and we’re still together.”

“That’s
something to be proud of.”

“That’s a
miracle.” Penelope placed down several cuttings from a magazine.
“Can you get me these?”

Picking up the
paper, Del studied the dresses. “Give me today to scout around my
usual haunts, I’ll let you know by tomorrow. I’m ninety nine point
ninety nine percent certain I can get them.” And if not, for the
price the dresses were selling for, she’d sew the damned things up
herself.

“Lovely!”
Penelope daintily draped her handbag over her wrist. “Thank you,
Delia.”

“No worries,
Penelope.” Del watched her leave the shop and head over the road to
the bookstore. “But Penny and Del would be so much easier to
say.”

Putting in
several phone calls finally netted her the dresses in Penelope’s
size. Luckily thin was in and high fashion warehouses stocked
plenty of dresses in her size. Del ordered what was requested and
sat back with a sigh of contentment. The sale of just those dresses
would make her bank balance preen.

Glancing at
the clock, she realised it was nearly lunch time and decided to
shut the shop five minutes early and go next door to Dee’s for
lunch. She’d just locked the door when she felt someone behind
her.

Heart
stuttering at the thought that it might be Moz, she swung around
only to find Pierce Harding and Brand Dawson.

“Hi,” she
said. “Did you want something from the shop?”

A sale was a
sale, even if it was to snakes.

Pierce leaned
his hand against the wall next to her ear, his smile a touch
unpleasant when combined with the hardness of his eyes. “I’m not
sure we’re welcome in your shop, Del.”

“I’ve never
kicked your arse out, so I’m not sure why you would think
that.”

Brand stood
almost sullenly, his hands in the pockets of his dirty, ripped
jeans. The sneer on his face was as unpleasant as his friend’s
smile. “Oh, I know we’re not welcome in your shop.”

Del folded her
arms. “And why would that be?”

“Got yourself
a new boyfriend, I see.”

“A what?”

“Boyfriend.
You know, muscle-head.”

“Yeah, you’re
going to have try a little harder than that, Brand. Give me another
hint.”

“Your
boyfriend, the interfering inspector.”

“The
interfering - oh.” Enlightenment dawned on Del. “You mean Moz?”

“Know anyone
else built like a brick shithouse with an attitude problem?”

For one wild
second Del thought they’d seen the kiss, until commonsense kicked
in. No one could have seen them at the back of the shop. Relaxing,
she shrugged. “Moz isn’t my boyfriend.”

“He sure acts
all territorial.” Pierce leaned closer. “You like men walking all
over you? ‘Cause that’s not how I remember you being, Del.”

“No, I don’t
like men walking all over me.” She looked at him coolly. “And I
don’t like blokes crowding me, so I suggest you back off.”

His gaze
slipped over her, lingered on her bosom before sweeping back up to
her face.

If Moz had
looked at her like that she’d have had the wobbly-knees disease all
over again, but Pierce’s gaze just made her feel disgust. “Get a
good look?”

“I could get a
better one if you’d come out with me.” Lifting his hand, he tucked
a strand of hair behind her ears.

In a flash Del
grabbed his hand, twisting it back while digging her thumb into the
web between his thumb and forefinger.

With a yelp of
pain, he half bent over as she twisted his arm around and up.

Brand just
stood there shaking his head in loathing. “You always were a hard
arse.”

Using her grip
on Pierce’s hand, Del shoved him away, sending him staggering back
as he clasped his hand in his other one.

“Always have
been.” Del kept her gaze on Pierce. “Always will be.”

Straightening,
Pierce cradled his hand to his chest. “You bitch!”

“Next time you
touch me without an invite, Harding, I’ll break your wrist.”

He hissed in
pain and anger.

Brand looked
past him. “We gotta go.”

“Not before I
teach this bitch a lesson,” Pierce snarled.

“Really?” Del
drawled. “Here in the street in plain daylight?”

“And with him
coming?” Brand nodded in the direction he was looking.

Del and Pierce
looked over to see Moz crossing the road from further up, a scowl
on his face, big fists bunched as his long legs ate up the
distance. He was forced to stop to allow a farm truck to pass, but
then he resumed striding.

He might have
been a distance away but he was covering ground fast.

“You’ll get
yours,” Pierce hissed at her before hurrying for the car parked not
far off.

Brand followed
him, getting quickly into the driver’s seat. Revving the engine, he
backed out and took off down the road.

Heart beating
a little quicker from the encounter, Del watched Moz draw near. Now
her heart was tripping for an entirely different reason. Moz’s gaze
was fastened on her, concern evident on his face.

Oh boy, and
he’d kissed her. Now what did she say to him?

“What the
hell?” Dee stepped out of the newsagent. “Did I just see the pair
of local dickheads pulling out in a hurry?”

“You did.”
Partly relieved to have her cousin as a buffer, Del turned to
her.

“Who are they
running from?”

Del pointed at
Moz who was now stepping up onto the footpath. Dee switched her
attention to him.

“Are you all
right?” He was completely focussed on Del.

“Of course.”
She shrugged.

“Did he hurt
you?” Reaching out, Moz brushed his thumb across her cheek.

Yep, her knees
went a little wobbly. Cripes, he was bringing out some odd
reactions in her today.

“Not at all.
Pierce is all strut and show, little achievement and
determination.”

“You can’t be
sure of that.” He frowned. “You need to report it to the
police.”

“That he
tucked my hair behind my ear? Are you kidding me?”

“Del, even I
could see what you did to him.”

Dee flicked
her interested gaze from Moz to Del. “What did you do?”

“Made him
think twice,” Del answered. “He might actually file a complaint
against me for assault.” Like she was worried.

“He wouldn’t
want to,” Moz growled.

Whoa, man, he
full-on growled. Like a big bear, and not a koala bear, either.
Nothing as cute as that. Nope, he looked majorly pissed. His eyes
were narrowed and a muscle jumped in his tightly clenched jaw.

Becoming aware
of Dee’s uncharacteristic silence, Del glanced sideways at her,
only to find her cousin watching her and Moz speculatively. Okay,
that never boded well. Time to defuse this situation. “Look, Dee,
nothing major happened. Pierce decided to tuck my hair behind my
ear-”

“He
what
?”

“And I took
his hand and politely removed it.”

Dee scowled.
“Why the hell was he getting amorous with you?”

“He wasn’t.
He…” Del stumbled to a halt. Why had he done it?

She glanced at
Moz to find him watching her steadily, anger still simmering in his
eyes but also a touch of curiosity. “I don’t know, all right?”

“What a jerk,”
Dee said. “He ever tries anything like that again, you yell out and
I’ll come and kick him up the arse. The weight I carry on my arse
will travel right through my foot and have his balls ringing in the
hour on his tonsils.”

“Wow, I’m
touched.”

“Not as much
as that drongo is going to be.”

“Don’t you
worry about him,” Moz said. “I’ll take care of it.”

“What?” It was
her turn to be surprised. “Wait a minute-”

“I’ll have a
word to him.” Moz turned and started striding away.

Del was right
behind him. “Wait! You can’t do that!”

“It’s
done.”

She grabbed
his arm. “Damn it, Baylon, you don’t have to do this!”

“Yeah, I do.”
Moz turned and faced her, his hand coming around to cup her elbow.
His voice gentled. “No man places a hand on a woman who doesn’t
want it, and he damned sure isn’t going to put his hands on
you.”

“I took care
of him. You saw that.”

“You did, but
you shouldn’t have had to in the first place. Now I’m taking care
of him.”

“Are you
insane?”

“I’m as sane
as you.”

“Then that
throws the whole thing open for debate,” Dee commented.

Ignoring her
cousin, Del glared up at Moz. “Look, this is my business and-”

“I know it’s
your business.”

“Then you
don’t-”

“And I’ve made
it my business.”

“Holy heck!
How can you-”

“Don’t
stress.”

About to give
him a scathing reply, Del suddenly became aware of Jill from the
bookshop and Freda from the estate agent across the road standing
on the footpath watching her. Even Ian from the furniture store
beside the newsagent was heading their way.

Great. Just
great.

Quickly, her
hand still on Moz’s arm, Del went up on tiptoe. Obligingly, he
leaned down.

Fiercely she
whispered in his ear, “Don’t you dare do anything, Moz. I’ll come
looking for you and give you a taste of what I can do to hurt
you.”

He
straightened just enough to look down into her face. A sudden glint
lit up his eyes, and it certainly wasn’t anger. His lips curved.
“Is that a promise?”

Her mouth fell
open. Geez, his voice wasn’t just deep, it was husky, too, and it
held a wealth of carnal meaning. Her knees almost gave out then and
there.

He winked at
her before straightening, the humour swept away by controlled anger
as he said quietly for her benefit alone, “You got a problem with
what I’m doing, you come and see me.” With that, he strode
away.

Del could do
three things. Run after him for everyone to see, yell at him for
everyone to hear, or beat a dignified retreat into the newsagent.
Calling in back-up was also an option.

Turning to
Dee, she smiled brightly. “Lunch?”

Retreat and
back-up it was. She’d kill him later.

~*~

Dawson and
Harding had done a runner.

Driving around
town, Moz couldn’t find them. Wherever they’d gone, they were
keeping their heads down.

Turning off
into a side street, he headed back to the office. Sooner or later
they’d pop up on his radar. There was only so long they could hide
in a place like Gully’s Fall.

He spotted the
cop car parked in front of the office, Kirk leaning back against
the boot with his arms folded across his chest, long legs crossed
at the ankles, identical mirrored sunglasses to those Moz wore
perched on his nose. Nonchalantly, he watched Moz pull in beside
him.

“Hey.” Moz
nodded to him as he slid out of the driver’s seat and locked the
door.

“G’day.” Kirk
angled his head slightly.

“Problem?” A
thought occurred, one that soured his stomach. “Another dog
body?”

“No bodies.
Problem? Depends.”

Moz gazed hard
at him. Hmmm, kind of hard to tell what the cop was thinking with
his deadpan face and the mirrored sunglasses hiding his eyes.
“Depends on what?”

“Let’s take
this inside. I’m dying for a cup of coffee.”

Okay, so
nothing too serious. Maybe.

With a jerk of
his head, Moz led the way to the office, unlocking the door and
entering. The keys he placed on a hook near the filing cabinet.
Going into the back room, he filled the kettle half way and plugged
it in, flicking on the switch.

Hooking an arm
of his sunglasses into the top of his shirt, Kirk leaned against
the doorjamb. “I hear you want a word with Harding and Dawson.”

Ahhh
.
Moz spooned coffee into two mugs. “Someone’s been telling
tales.”

“I hear a lot
of things.”

“Has to be
from one of two blondes.”

“Like I said,
I hear a lot.”

Moz spooned
two sugars into his mug and looked at Kirk. “Sugar?”

Kirk shook his
head.

“Milk?”

“A
little.”

“So who
snitched? Dee or Del?”

“Is it
true?”

“Seriously?
You’re not going to tell me?”

Kirk looked at
him.

The kettle
flicked off and Moz poured hot water into the mugs. “You know Del
sits on her roof.”

“Yep.”

“She sees a
lot.”

“Yep.”

“She was on
the roof yesterday when I went to check if Harding had been
following a directive I’d given him in regards to some of his
stock. He, Cutter and Dawson saw Del on her roof. That’s
dangerous.” He added milk to the mugs before handing one to Kirk.
“I told them outright that I was friends with Del. I thought that
might stop them doing anything stupid.”

“Such as go
after her if she sees something?” Kirk frowned slightly. “Or they
think she’s seen something.”

Moz nodded.
“Then this morning I saw Harding and Dawson with Del. Harding
touched her and next thing she’s got his arm twisted back and up
and is shoving him away.”

Kirk’s eyes
narrowed.

Moz leaned
back against the small bench. “By the time I got back to Del, both
blokes had taken off. I was just going to have a word to them, warn
them to lay off her.” Blowing on the steaming liquid, he watched
the cop through the heat swirls.

“Del was
worried you’d get into a fight.”

Moz smiled a
little. “I don’t get into fights unless my back is to the
wall.”