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  “I’ll show you around tomorrow, if you want,” Jake yelled over his shoulder as he ran to the house.

  Thomas stayed where he was until the boy disappeared inside. While he doubted there would be much of interest on this farm, the kid had seemed okay. For a kid that is. And being with Jake would sure beat being with his mother.

  ****

  Monday dawned wet and blustery. Hurrying Thomas to be ready for school an hour earlier than had been necessary in Riversleigh wasn’t easy. His grumbling and moaning tightened Shannon’s already-tense nerves as she worried about her first day of work with Luke.

  “Hurry up, Thomas,” she yelled up the steps. “Luke said the bus comes at eight.” She slammed her hand against the steps. He couldn’t miss the bus, not today. Not on her first day of work.

  A horn tooted outside. Rushing across their living area she threw open the door to see Luke leaning out the window of an old farm truck, his nephew bouncing beside him.

  “One of us always drives Jake down if it’s raining.”

  Jake’s head squeezed through the window beside his uncle. “C’mon Thomas. We don’t want to miss the bus.”

  Shannon smiled at Luke’s wince as the yelled words penetrated his ear from a mere centimeter or two.

  Thundering footsteps rattled down the steps and Thomas propelled past her. He paused for a moment near the vehicle, eyeballing Luke, but at Jake’s insistence soon clamored into the front seat alongside the boy.

  Shannon waved, though she didn’t expect any return acknowledgement from her son. He’d barely spoken to her all weekend, something she had become accustomed to. However he had spent considerable time with Luke’s nephew and niece as they dragged him all around yesterday.

  The children hung on his every word. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. Thomas had changed since his father died. He used to be kind and considerate. She bit her lip as she slowly closed the door. She prayed he would show due consideration toward these children.

  She returned to the breakfast table and her coffee, sitting down in the hope of calming her nerves. With a deep sigh she thrust her concern for Thomas to the back of her mind. It was time to concentrate on herself and how to approach this job. She couldn’t afford any mistakes or clashes with her new boss.

  At precisely two minutes before eight-thirty Shannon unlocked the connecting door between the flat and the main house. With a steadying deep breath, she walked along the hallway toward the office area where she would be working. She ignored the family sounds from further into the house and entered.

  Surprise stilled her entry. The room was no longer the spotless, well-organized office space Luke had previously shown her. Books and papers were scattered everywhere. The desk which Luke had indicated would be hers was covered with drawings and plans. Shannon sighed. This chaos reminds me of any time Eric had been home.

  Her throat thickened as it struck her yet again. Eric wasn’t coming home. Angry and confused by the state he’d left behind, she still missed him. She ran fingers through her hair. She doubted their marriage could have survived much longer, but she had loved the selfish bastard. Long ago she’d thought the sun and the moon had shone out of him.

  With a determined shake of her head, Shannon marched toward her desk. She couldn’t work in this chaos.

  Uncertain of the need for everything scattered around, Shannon had placed the papers and books in neat piles on her desk by the time Luke wandered in with a coffee mug in his hand.

  “Good morning.” He sounded rather sheepish. “You didn’t need to tidy up my mess.”

  If you want me to do any work I did, she almost replied but luckily her brain switched into gear quickly enough to stop the criticism from sounding.

  Luke dragged an armchair across into the center of the room before slouching into it. Shannon pursed her lips as his stocking feet hitched up onto the edge of her desk.

  “How do you want to play this?”

  Surprise weakened Shannon’s knees and she dropped into the chair behind the desk, her back stiff. “You’re the boss,” she croaked.

  Luke threw back his head and laughed.

  Laughed!

  He has a pleasant laugh, she decided, quite infectious.

  “Would you be very surprised if I told you I haven’t been a boss before?” His eyes twinkled across the desk at her.

  Shannon shook her head. “You’d better watch out you’re not taken advantage of by your employees then.”

  “I wouldn’t mind you taking advantage of me, Shannon.” Luke grinned, his voice lowering. “I wouldn’t mind that at all.”

  Heat swamped through her, momentarily robbing her of the ability to speak. He’s flirting with me.

  Her hands clenched the edge of the desk. She daren’t allow any familiarity to enter this relationship. She couldn’t afford to lose the job, and their new living space.

  He was her boss, nothing more. He’d never be anything more. “I’m here to work, Luke, not play. Find a playmate elsewhere.”

  Apart from a quirked eyebrow and a lazy half-smile, Luke showed no reaction to her words. At the pointed glare she gave them, his feet dropped from her desk.

  “You’re ready to work, then?”

  Shannon nodded and waited. When no instructions were forthcoming, her own eyebrows rose.

  Luke slammed his mug down on the desk as he leapt to his feet. “I have no idea what you should do.”

  He paced across the little room, shoving the chair he’d just vacated out of his way. “Jase McEwan’s wife seems to think I have to have a business plan and discuss my ideas with an accountant before I do anything else.”

  He swung around to glare at her, as if the advice had come from her. “I talked to my accountant yesterday. She confirmed my suspicion on how little a bean counter knows about building an adventure park.”

  Shannon leaned back in her chair with a smile. “Possibly, but I bet she would know about making it a going concern,” Shannon dared to point out. “I guess you have to decide whether you’re going to build a playground for your family or an adventure park.”

  Luke frowned. “I know exactly what I’m going to build, and it’s not any kids’ playground.”

  “Then we need to start by checking with the council—”

  “The council?” Luke’s frown deepened. “What’s it got to do with the council? I’m building this on my own land.”

  “You can’t have been away from New Zealand for so long you don’t know how tight the councils have become on environmental issues.” Shannon kept a straight face as Luke’s consternation grew.

  “It doesn’t matter that it’s on your own land, a wealth of rules exist that you’ll need to follow. You’re going to have to show you’re not destroying any waterways or trees, or endangering any native wildlife. You need to visit the council and find someone sympathetic to deal with. And hope they’ll give you resource consent to go ahead.”

  Shannon wasn’t surprised by the strength of Luke’s frustrated pounding on the wall. She managed a weak smile. He had no idea of the obstacles he’d have to scale before he could even break ground. The abhorred business plan was the least of his worries.

  Chapter Eight

  After a prolonged time on the phone, where he’d been transferred from person to person, Luke finally threw the poor devise across the room. Luckily it landed unscathed in the armchair.

  He glanced across at Shannon, a glazed look in his eyes. “This is ridiculous,” he muttered.

  “But you have an appointment to see someone?”

  He nodded. “Bloody bureaucrats.” He stormed across the room banging a fist into his palm, his dreads flying each time he swung around to repeat the journey.

  Shannon ducked her head, murmuring under her breath, and focused on a website she was checking.

  Unfortunately Luke caught the sound and halted beside her. “What did you say?”

  Shannon coughed, heat stealing into her cheeks. “Nothing.”

&nb
sp; He leaned across, blocking the monitor and forcing her to look at him. “Out with it,” he demanded. “I’m sure it’s a piece of worldly wisdom worth sharing.”

  Shannon stiffened as she edged back. He was crowding her, invading her space again. His angry breath whizzed across her cheek. “It might be a wise idea to calm down a little before this meeting.” Her heart pounded and she bit her tongue, something she’d have been wise to do moments before.

  He glared into her eyes.

  Her pulse thumped in her throat, her ears reverberated the thud, increasing it ten-fold. She couldn’t escape the force of his stare.

  Inside she cringed, kicking herself for having such an unmanageable mouth. Her first day—no, it was still her first morning—and she’d already upset the boss.

  What’s the matter with me? My God, I have to apologize. She sucked in a breath, hoping he didn’t notice how shaky it was. It jammed in her throat as his expression changed.

  First a little smile played around his lips before he straightened and burst out laughing. “I’m going to enjoy working with you, Shannon Turner.”

  He exited the room so quickly Shannon hadn’t time to lift her jaw back into place.

  She hadn’t budged when he returned moments later with two steaming coffee mugs in his hands.

  “Marcia hopes she remembered how you drink your coffee.”

  Bemused, Shannon sipped the offered drink and absently nodded before taking a deep breath.

  “I apologize—”

  “I neither want nor need an apology, Shannon.” Luke sank back into the armchair, his large hands dwarfing the mug jammed between them. His gaze locked on the rising steam. “You spoke your mind.” He looked up and blue eyes clashed with brown. “Something I hope you will continue to do.”

  He leaned forward, placing his mug on the edge of her desk. “Look Shannon, if you haven’t already, I’m sure you’ll soon figure out I’m not your conventional bloke. I’m not into routines or rules or doing things in some organized way just because it’s accepted as being the way it should be done. I make up my own rules as I go along, and rule number one is don’t be afraid to speak your mind. I don’t want to be your boss. I need someone I can trust to help me develop this plan, not placate me with lots of yes sirs, no sirs.”

  He placed his hand over his heart—an endearingly childish thing to do, Shannon thought—and stared deeply into her eyes. “I hereby promise to give you plenty of warning if I ever feel the need to fire you because of your big mouth.”

  ****

  Her first month working with Luke took on a surreal quality for Shannon. While concentrated on developing a business plan for him—with advice from his Canadian accountant—his ducking and diving in and out of the office proved distracting.

  It took only a couple of days to believe Johnny’s scathing comments about Luke’s lack of work experience. Shannon concluded his apparent inability to settle at anything suggested he’d never taken a normal job where one had to apply oneself to a particular task. Luke didn’t seem capable of sitting still.

  The first time they’d video-called his accountant—a woman who resembled a fashion model more than a money reckoner—Luke had dominated the discussion with what was obviously a close friend. When the conversation turned to boring business matters, he’d fabricated an excuse and departed.

  Grateful for Emma’s financial guidance, and with Luke’s permission, Shannon had called her a couple of times to query portions of the plan.

  While her son didn’t speak to her with any more frequency than he had over the last few months, Shannon sensed a slight improvement in Thomas’s attitude. She no longer had to fight to get him ready for school.

  Judging by the banter between him and Luke’s young nephew, they were getting along better than she imagined. Seeing Thomas frequently outside with Jake rather than hiding in his room gave Shannon some hope he was settling into life here on the farm.

  The days fell into some kind of routine. First, she’d shuffle Thomas off to school. He rode an old bike—which had appeared from somewhere after Shannon downright refused Luke’s offer of a pony for him to ride—down to the bus stop while Jake rode his pony alongside him. Then she would slip along into the office.

  Luke had taken to hanging around for the first half hour, ready to answer any queries she might have. He then disappeared for most of the day.

  Some of the steel left her shoulders when he was away. She could relax. Not at all sure why, his hovering made her nervous.

  At Marcia’s insistence, she began joining the family for lunch. Initially careful to watch the clock, stressing she had work to continue, the friendliness shown by Rod and Marcia soon had her spending her whole lunch break in their company. On the odd occasions Luke showed up to share the meal, he didn’t appear to care how long she had for a break.

  Shannon empathized with Marcia over the little shadow that crept around, never uttering a sound. Once or twice she noticed Amy’s little smile in response to something Marcia said or did, but Luke’s niece appeared to feel safer blending in with the background.

  While she might watch Shannon with huge, dark eyes, Shannon couldn’t entice any response from Amy. Remembering how boisterous and noisy Thomas had been at four, Shannon’s heart ached for the little one.

  Living at the farm was better than Shannon had expected. She and Thomas were able to stay separate from the family but were encouraged to join in with life on the farm if they wished.

  It was heartening to see Thomas out in the fresh air again. She was thrilled yesterday when she’d spied him helping Amy feed the hens and take eggs into the kitchen, although he’d made a show of distinct displeasure when he realized Shannon was watching.

  He slouched off mumbling under his breath, but that hadn’t dulled any of Shannon’s optimism. That her son would take time to engage the lost little tyke impressed Shannon no end.

  She leaned back in her chair and gave a happy sigh. Coming back to Riversleigh had been the right thing to do.

  Luke bemoaned having to spend much of his time driving in and out of Invercargill. His initial meetings with council officials had him storming home with screeds of paperwork and dire threats as to what he’d like to do to bloody bureaucrats. Each time he left for yet another meeting, Shannon’s anxiety level trebled. What if the council blocked his plans?

  “Maybe this time will be more successful,” Marcia murmured.

  “And maybe pigs will fly.” Shannon stood at Marcia’s side watching out the kitchen window. The flying spray of gravel behind Luke’s truck tires as he left the yard suggested the apprehension level of his mind this morning. “A couple of Valium tablets wouldn’t go amiss.” Shannon slammed her mouth shut.

  The love and respect Marcia had for her nephew showed in everything she did for him. Disparaging him in her company wasn’t exactly prudent.

  Marcia carried her coffee to the kitchen table and joined Shannon. Her eyes were twinkling. “Who for, you or Luke?”

  A deep breath escaped. “I’m not sure, to be honest.”

  They sipped their coffees in silence for some moments before Marcia spoke. “Luke’s a good boy.”

  Shannon’s eyebrows shot up and she grinned across at the older woman. She had difficulty aligning the forty-something-year-old man with a term as innocuous as boy.

  Marcia took another sip from her mug, deep in thought. “Now he’s decided to settle down, he’s changed.”

  “You mean previously he was cool, calm, and collected?” Shannon dared to tease.

  Marcia shook her head. “I can’t imagine Luke has ever been ‘cool, calm, and collected.’ ” She took another sip. “No, I doubt his boisterousness will ever change, and I wouldn’t want it to. He wouldn’t be Luke then.”

  She rubbed her chin. “But he does seem more accepting of his fate now.” Her head lifted and she eyeballed Shannon. “I think that’s largely due to you.”

  “Me?” squeaked Shannon.

  Marcia nodded. �
�You helping with this ridiculous plan of his, he’s got something concrete to focus on. Someone who believes in what he wants to achieve.”

  Shannon squirmed a little. “I haven’t done anything special.”

  “Oh yes, you have.” Marcia caught Shannon’s hand. “You’ve given him some hope.”

  “He did that himself.”

  “But for you, he might have lost his focus with all these obstacles. You working with him, believing in him…” Her voice thickened. “Thank you, Shannon.”

  “It must have been difficult for him to give up what he was doing and come home.” Is this the chance to find out exactly what that had been?

  Marcia chuckled. “He couldn’t believe Gordon had named him guardian for Jake and Amy. I know Gordon would have talked to him about it at some stage, but I guess Luke must have fobbed it off as never likely to happen”—her voice cracked—“as we all ignore such possible outcomes.” Tears were quickly blinked away from Marcia’s eyes.

  Shannon nodded, understanding. She had never considered having to prepare for the news of Eric’s death.

  “Luke was coming home for Christmas. We didn’t expect he’d stay for long, but he’d promised he’d be here for a couple of weeks before he went back.”

  “Back where? To what? What did he do for a living, Marcia?”

  Shannon took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to pry but he dodges my questions all the time. He doesn’t talk about whatever he did before he came back here.” She clenched her fingers around her mug.

  “I’ve noticed that, too. I think it’s his way of coping with not being able to go back to his old way of life.”

  Marcia’s understanding smile reassured Shannon the older woman didn’t consider her prying. “Before this adventure park idea, Luke was going crazy. He once likened living here to having cabin fever. I don’t think he stayed in one place for long, but you know…”

  Marcia paused. “We actually have no idea. We know he had an apartment in Vancouver. His mother visited him there a few times, but”—she shrugged—”other than that…”