Adopted: Twins!

away from Matt and was at the river’s edge almost before the poles had touched.

‘No,’ she said sternly, but they tuned out as if they hadn’t heard her. The poles clashed in salute and clashed again.

And then the fight was on in earnest. Robin Hood and Sheriff of Nottingham-without the finesse.

And without the Hollywood blunted swords. These sticks were big enough to hurt!

‘I said no!’ Erin was out of the water now, stalking toward them. She couldn’t get close-the sticks were flailing wildly enough for her to be injured if she got in the way. ‘William. Henry. You put those sticks down this minute or you will walk home. The long way or through the Joe Blake paddock. Take your pick.’

There was one more clash, but they’d heard her. The sticks slowed and their eyes grew thoughtful.

‘You know I mean it,’ Erin said, as if she didn’t particularly care what they decided. ‘You choose.’

They turned and stared at her, and Matt, who’d swum to the shore, watched the battle of wills with some surprise. This was a side of the twins he hadn’t seen. They were being crossed, and they didn’t like it.

He could have intervened, but he didn’t. This was Erin’s territory after all, he thought. She was the child expert, and she was facing them down with a sternness that told him she had every intention of following through with her threat.

‘We want to fight,’ Henry said, his voice mulishly stubborn.

‘And one of you will win and one of you will be hurt. Those sticks are heavy enough to hurt badly,’ Erin said. ‘You heard me, Henry. Put them down.’

Henry turned to William. Their eyes locked and Matt knew they were asking a question of themselves.

And finally Erin won.

But not happily. As if of one accord, the boys glowered, then turned and threw the sticks as hard as they could across the beach toward the paddock beyond.

It was just unfortunate that Sadie chose that moment to appear from behind the tractor.

The old dog hadn’t been with them during their tour-there’d simply been no room for her in the tractor cab-but she must have watched the tractor’s progress from the house. When it stopped she’d plodded on down to the river to find them. Just at the wrong time.

William’s stick caught her right across the foreleg. She gave one stunned yelp and collapsed. She tried to rise, yelped again and lay still.

No!

Matt launched himself up the beach like he’d been shot. His dog! His Sadie…

With one incredulous look at the twins, Erin followed him, her heart sinking to her toes. Dear heaven, just when everything was going beautifully…

It was always like this with the twins, she thought, her heart sick with dread. It was why no foster family would have them. Disaster followed them like sunshine followed rain.

‘Is she hurt?’ Erin couldn’t see. Matt was crouched over his dog, his whole body tense, and all Erin could see was one black and white tail. It lay ominously still. She took those last few steps around him, and then sagged in relief as she saw the collie lift her head and look pathetically up at her owner.

It had been her foreleg, then. For one awful moment Erin thought maybe she’d been mistaken in what she’d seen, and the stick had caught her head.

Her leg was bad enough, though. It was bleeding sluggishly at the point of impact, and Matt’s face was grim as death.

They’d be out of here tonight, Erin thought bleakly, as she looked down at the lovely old dog. And they deserved it. Oh, no!

‘Matt, I’m so sorry.’

‘So am I, but it’s not you who should be apologising.’ Matt’s voice matched the grimness of his face. One hand was cradling the old dog’s head, the other was carefully examining the injured leg. ‘Maybe it’s not so bad. I can’t feel a break, and she’s holding it up.’

She was, too. When Matt released the leg-just half an inch from the ground so it couldn’t be further hurt if it fell-Sadie kept it up, as much as to say, ‘Look at this, it hurts.’

‘She really is a bit of a hypochondriac,’ Matt told Erin in an undervoice, so the twins couldn’t hear. ‘But it was a fair whack. She’ll have to be checked.’

‘I’ll pay the vet’s bill.’ Heaven knew her wages weren’t sufficient to cover all she’d have to buy in the next few weeks but this…

It was her fault, she thought bleakly. She should have seen the sticks. She should have moved faster.

She’d let herself be distracted by Matt…

‘Erin, don’t! I told you before, it’s not you who should be apologising.’ Matt cradled his dog and looked up at her. She looked so distressed that he couldn’t bear it. Damn, she’d been through enough because of these kids.

She was so lovely. Standing there in her crazy crimplene that had turned totally translucent with the water, she looked…

Actually she looked naked.

Maybe he’d better concentrate on his dog-and on the twins, he told himself firmly. As Erin was so distressed, then it was time for him to take a hand in the twin-control stakes.

What these kids needed to learn was consequences.

But what?

The twins were standing side by side, ashen-faced and flinching. He looked up at them, and he knew instinctively that these kids had been beaten in the past. Beaten beyond reason. They weren’t in an orphanage for nothing. Nobody loved this pair, and they knew it.

So now their faces were stoic, expecting pain. They were expecting the world to come crashing down around their ears, as it had so obviously done in the past.

What had Erin said of them?

They expect to be rejected.

They expected it now. They were waiting for a good thrashing and to be sent away, and a glance at Erin’s face said she thought the same. Oh, not the thrashing-because she was here-but she was surely expecting him to toss them out.

‘Come here,’ he told them and then, when they didn’t move, he lowered his voice a notch. ‘Henry. William. I said come here. Now!’

With an uncertain look at each other they came. Slowly, their shoulders touching, they came, waiting for what was to come, but waiting together.

Erin’s whole body tensed.

She was like a mother hen, Matt thought. If he laid a finger on these boys, no matter how justified he was, he’d have her to contend with, and he just knew that taking her on would be some task.

He was doing no such thing, but the boys had to face up to what they’d done.

‘You’ve hurt Sadie,’ he said, and waited for what most kids would say. William did it-or We didn’t mean to, or It wasn’t our fault.

They said none of those. Instead their faces fell to Sadie and the knowledge that had hit home when he’d watched them with Tigger in the dryer was reinforced yet again. These kids weren’t bad. They cared. Their loyalty, once won, was won forever.

So no, he wouldn’t thrash them, and he wouldn’t throw them out.

‘We…we’re sorry,’ Henry whispered and one glistening tear slid down his cheek. Only one. These kids had schooled themselves not to show emotion and it didn’t show now.

‘Being sorry won’t help Sadie,’ Matt growled, immeasurably moved despite his anger. ‘You need to do something that will.’

‘Like…’ It was Henry again. William was trembling, and the urge to lift the child and give him a hug was almost overwhelming. Erin, though, was managing to hold her hug instincts in check. She was leaving this to him. ‘Like what?’ Henry whispered.

And Matt made a snap decision.