Outback Blaze Read Online Free PDF Page B

balm on her nerves. ‘Thank you,’ she whispered.
    â€˜Hey, don’t mention it.’ He lifted his hand and brushed his thumb against the corner of her eye, wiping away a tear she didn’t realise had escaped. For the briefest of moments she forgot what surrounded them, almost leant into his touch to beg for more, but she caught herself in the nick of time. This wasn’t sexual. She had no reason to think he felt anything towards her at all. He was merely doing his job; looking after her just as he’d looked after Grace a few hours earlier. And now was not the time for her to be developing lustful feelings, no matter how long it had been.
    Wiping her hands against her jeans, she straightened up and slid off the bonnet. ‘I should get back to my parents.’ He’d taken her away to fall apart for a few moments, but they needed her now. It was time for her to be the adult, to comfort and look after them.
    As if reading her mind Drew nodded. ‘I’m guessing your dad will want to stick around for a while, but your mum looks exhausted. Maybe you should try to get her to go home and get some rest. The next few days are going to be tough.’
    Ruby sighed, knowing Drew spoke the truth. She didn’t want to think about the sleepless nights that would follow this disaster or the hard work of clearing the rubble, dealing with insurance companies and comforting the employees who’d no doubt be out of work while they got the business up and running again.
    â€˜Yes, you’re right.’ She started towards her mum and dad, but turned back briefly to look at Drew. ‘Some birthday, hey?’
    His lips lifted in an almost smile. ‘Yeah, this won’t go down as one of my top ten.’
    â€˜Mine either.’
    Drew watched Ruby’s hips sway as she walked across to her parents and couldn’t help but feel sorry for the woman. Still, even in the height of disaster, she carried herself well and those tight jeans accentuated her sexy butt with each step.
    Hell, Drew! Now was not the time to be lusting after a woman. Quite aside from the fact he’d sworn not to get entangled with anyone while he was here, he was on a job. He rubbed at his eyes, which stung with that all too familiar gritty feeling. The last thing he’d expected when relocating to a tiny country town was to find himself dealing with arson again. Intuition told him this fire was deliberately lit and that knowledge set all his instincts rolling. Folding his arms, he glanced between the fire and gathered crowd, scouring everyone’s faces for clues. Typically arsonists stayed around to witness their crime, so it was highly likely one of these onlookers had intimate knowledge of how this fire began.
    He ticked off the faces in his mind, making a mental register of everyone he recognised and for those he didn’t, he jotted down notes in his pad. The obvious people to look at were the Jones family who, right now, looked both shocked and devastated. But Drew knew better than most that looks could be deceiving. Ruby had a dozen people to confirm her alibi – himself included – but he knew next to nothing about her parents. Then you had to consider disgruntled employees, ex or current lovers, competitors. The list of suspects could get ridiculous when it came to arson, which was usually a crime against people rather than property.
    â€˜Oi, Noble, what are you doing standing around gazing at the flames? Make yourself useful and go and find those delinquents of yours.’
    Drew turned towards O’Leary’s gruff voice but it took a moment for him to realise who his sergeant was referring to. ‘Jaxon and Brad?’
    â€˜Nah. Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men.’ O’Leary shook his head. ‘Of course Jaxon and Brad. Those little thugs have gone one step too far this time. That’s why you’d better haul ’em in because if I do the honours I’ll throw them