Reluctantly, he’d had to agree. This was between the two of them and nobody else needed to be aware of it. They’d all think it was something that it wasn’t and neither of them were prepared to try to explain exactly what it was about.
So, it was that after they showered—and he discovered that the movies were right and you could make love up against a shower wall and it was pretty damned amazing even if his knee had ached a little—he found himself creeping through the misting rain, into his own house at sparrows fart early in the morning like some teenager coming back from an assignation. He kissed Prita breathless at the back door, let her slip inside first, then followed her ten minutes later. He stripped out of his wet clothes and then tried to go to sleep for what remained of the night before he had to get up and go feed the horses and round up those they needed for the rides today.
He woke with Aaron jumping on his stomach. ‘Dad, Dad, wake up. You slept in and Uncle Reid needs you down at the barn and Gran says your breakfast is on the stove and what’s that bruise on your shoulder?’
He jerked upright, and slapped his hand over the love bite Prita had given him during their shower, hoping like hell he hadn’t left any visible marks on hers. This one would be covered by his t-shirt and he hadn’t imagined anyone would see it and what the hell was he supposed to tell his son about it now he’d been caught sleeping with only his jocks on. Which wasn’t unusual. He slept in his jocks most nights. ‘Umm, I …’ Why the hell wouldn’t his brain work?
Not that it mattered, Aaron jumped off the bed and ran over to the armchair, picked up the jeans Flynn had thrown there a few hours ago, and threw them at his dad. They collected Flynn in the face, the wet of them a heavy slap. ‘Thanks.’
‘Sure,’ Aaron said, completely oblivious. Or maybe not, given the cheeky grin as he rummaged in the second drawer of the dresser one armed. A t-shirt followed the jeans across the room, this time landing in Flynn’s lap. ‘Come on, get dressed. The bus will be here soon and Uncle Reid is calling you a lazy gad-about. What’s a gad-about?’
‘Umm, it’s a …’ He got hit in the face again with fresh jocks and socks. ‘Hey! You’re not supposed to be throwing things.’
Aaron gestured at his sling. ‘I’m using the other arm. Prita says that’s okay as long as I don’t jerk it.’
Heat flushed through him and he had to pull the doona back up to hide the evidence of just how much hearing her name affected him. Damn. He thought maybe last night had sorted that little problem out a bit, but it seemed to be worse than ever.
‘Come on, Dad, get up. Gran said to let you sleep but Uncle Reid needs your help. Mac and the men are down by the climbing wall putting out another small fire.’
‘What?’ That sent a rush of cold through him and he couldn’t help shuddering, the glow of last night evaporating under relentless fear. ‘Is anything damaged? How far did it get?’
Aaron frowned. ‘Mac said it singed the edge of the climbing wall, but didn’t do any permanent damage. He thinks the rain we had last night probably stopped it.’
‘Someone was trying to burn down the climbing wall?’
Aaron blanched. ‘I …’
Shit. He shouldn’t have said that. Calm down. Just calm the hell down. He couldn’t burden his son with his weakness too. He touched Aaron on his uninjured shoulder. ‘I’m sure it’s fine. Mac would have called in more units if it was serious, right?’
‘Right.’ Aaron returned his stiff smile. ‘He said it was taken care of and not to worry but sorry he couldn’t be here to help with the ride.’
‘See? Then it’s okay.’ But it wasn’t okay. Not even close.
Flynn pulled the t-shirt over his head and stood, ice shivering through his veins, stomach roiling. This made three fires now. Four if you counted Prita’s house. And he was counting Prita’s house, because someone had deliberately set that fire. The same someone who’d set the others? He didn’t know. Couldn’t see the link. Three of them had been on or next to CoalCliff property, so you’d think it was someone with a grudge against him. But then, why would they set fire to Prita’s house? Because they’d helped her with the renovations and got her in there quickly? It was a link, even though a tenuous one. Especially when you considered the threatening phone calls and dead animals left at Prita’s. Maybe the arsehole who burned down Prita’s house was coming after him and CoalCliff because they’d helped Prita and had befriended her and championed her ever since she arrived. That was a possibility too. There had to be a link because it was just too much of a coincidence that there would be two firebugs in the area. He needed to call Constable Bruce and try to get him onto looking into the link.
‘Dad?’
He looked down at Aaron. His son was watching him, a concerned look on his little face, fingers picking at the edge of the sling. ‘It’s fine. I was just thinking of when I could get down to see the damage to the wall so I can see what we need to do to fix it.’ The thought of going down there and seeing and smelling the charred bush made bile rise in his throat, but he swallowed it down. Maybe he’d pull Prita aside before heading down there and stock up on some good distracting memories. Or maybe she could come with him. She knew he had a problem, wasn’t judging, had agreed to help. Yes.
