Melting Into You (Due South Book 2) (15 page)

“I’m not going back to Auckland? Why not?” Jade’s voice spiked high and she folded her arms tight against her chest.

“Your mum’s getting married again.”

The cherub mouth pouted. “To Jerome?”

“Yeah.”

“Jerome doesn’t like kids.”

“Jerome’s an ass—”

Zoe’s mouth dropped open and Ben snipped off the end of the word to a more child-appropriate insult. Trained like a lab rat to work a maze, that’s what t
wo weeks living with a kid did.

“Astronaut. He’s a real space cadet.”

“You don’t like kids either,” Jade pointed out.

“I like
you
fine. And Zoe.”

Zoe beamed. From around his shoulder, a plate stacked with steaming pancakes appeared as Kezia placed them on the table. She squeezed his shoulder briefly and returned to the stove. Ben dumped on maple syrup and picked up his fork. Hadn’t figured out what he’d do if the waterworks did start, but a man needed sustenance before coping with tearful females. He forked in a mouthful of pure bliss while Jade continued to stare at the table.

Zoe tentatively put an arm around her friend and leaned in. “We can play together all the time, and we’ll be in the same class at school. It’ll be okay.”

Jade nodded, but her lower lip developed a susp
icious tremble. “Mum doesn’t want me anymore, and now I have to stay here.”

She said “here” as if Stewart Island were a place just this side of hell. Perhaps to her, it was.

“Listen, kiddo—”

“No.” Jade pushed her chair backward, the legs screeching on the floor. “I don’t want to listen, and I don’t
wanna live here.” She stamped her foot, her chest heaving. “I hate you and I wanna go home!”

She flew outside, ignoring Kezia and Zoe calling her name. Cold morning air blew
in through the left-open door.

Well, that’d gone as flawlessly as expected. Ben pushed away from the table and stood.

“Guess pancakes to go are out of the question?”

“I’ll heat them up for you later.” Kezia’s dark eyes were full of sympathy.

“I’ll talk to her. God knows what I’ll say.” He couldn’t even say out loud how much his daughter’s words hurt.

Ben tugged on his jacket as he strode up the street, his breath misting in front of him. Dragon’s breath, Jade called it the other day. She’d made him smile. Made him remember how he and his sisters would have competitions to see who could breathe the longest plume on cold winter mornings.

He checked his house first—empty. A glance out the kitchen window to the yard below revealed a small, hunched shape huddled behind the rhododendrons. Hiding from him again.

With a sigh, he walked outside and jogged down the deck stairs. Wet blades of grass clung to his boots as he crossed the lawn and crouched down.

“You’ll get a wet butt back there. How ‘bout you hide in your bedroom instead?”

Rustles from behind the rhododendrons and a long, watery sniff. “I hate that room. It’s ugly.”

“Yeah. We’ll have to redecorate. Move some of my crap out and give it a new coat of paint—so long as you don’t want pink. Pink’s where I draw the line.”

“I hate pink.”

Ben bit back a grin, unsure if Jade could see him through the branches. He wouldn’t mention her beloved Barbie backpack or that Barbie herself seemed partial to pink.

“That’s good then. One thing settled.”

“Why can’t I go and live with Mum and Jerome? I wouldn’t be any trouble.”

His throat pinched closed.
Screw you, Marci Carter, and the douchebag you’ve hooked up with.

“’Course you wouldn’t, kid. But that’s a hard que
stion, and I don’t know the answer.”

Another drawn-out sniff and a hiccup. “It’s because I’m dumb.”

“Bullshit.”

A sudden intake of air behind the bushes, and a scandalized, “You’re not meant to swear in front of kids.”

“I know. But in this case, a swear word’s necessary.” Ben pushed branches aside—careful not to let them flick back in his face. “You’re not dumb, Jade. And whatever reasons your mum’s got for wanting you to stay here, it’s nothing to do with you. It’s all about her.”

Jade crawled out, her eyes shiny and red, her pigtails dotted with dead leaves. Ben shifted his weight, so his knees dropped to the ground, the cool dew immediately soaking through his jeans. Like someone or something else controlled his arms—and he entirely blamed K
ezia—he opened them to his daughter. After a beat of hesitation, Jade flung herself forward and burrowed in. He rested his chin on her head, patting her shoulders like an imbecile. But hey, he’d never hugged a kid before. Least of all, his kid.

“
Nobody wants me around.” The words were muffled against his chest.

“I want you around, kiddo.” And in that moment, with her hair tickling his nose and her little hands fisted into his shirt, he meant every word.

Pain in his ass she may be, but she was his. And Ben Harland took care of his own.

She rubbed her nose against his shirt—leaving a trail of snot, no doubt—then pulled away. “If I’m
gonna stay here, I want a purple room. I like purple.”

“Okay. So long as it’s not a girly purple.”

“I get a proper bed, and I choose the duvet cover.”

“Done.”

“And put
4Way
posters on the walls.”

He gave her an epic e
ye roll, which made her giggle.

“If you have to.”

Tilting her head, she half closed an eye. “And if I’m going to be a vet one day, I’ll need a puppy.”

Oh, dear God, not a dog.
He cleared his throat. “You’ll need a puppy?”

“To learn how to take care of it—if you really think I’m smart enough to be a vet.” She blinked, her expre
ssion shifting easily into wide-eyed innocence.

“Uh-huh.”

“A puppy’ll stop me from feeling sad.” She offered up a watery smile.

The kid had inherited his mother’s flair for the dr
amatic, and womankind’s natural inclination to manipulate big, dumb men. Like him.

“
Pleeease, Dad?”

Such. A. Sucker. “When it pees on the floor you’re on cleaning duty.”

“I don’t mind—I’ll teach him to pee outside.” Jade slipped from his arms and bounded across the yard. “C’mon Dad, let’s go and eat breakfast.”

A puppy.

Ben stood, squeezing the bridge of his nose. A puppy and a kid in the space of a month.

“May as well buy a damn minivan,” he muttered and followed his daughter back to Kezia’s.

Chapter 8

Monday morning, the world’s biggest moron, AKA Ben, walked with Jade to school, carrying her Barbie backpack. He pretended not to see Ford busting a gut under the bonnet of the Honda he was working on.

“Off to school, are ya?” Ford yelled as they passed the workshop.

Jade waved, not intimidated by Ford’s black, shou
lder-length dreadlocks and inked arms after all. Ben waited until Jade looked away and shot a one-finger salute to him, which only made Ford laugh more.

And surprise, surprise. West and Piper sat on Due South’s veranda with coffee and matching smug grins.

“Hey rookie, all set?” Piper trotted down the steps and gently tugged Jade’s ponytail—Ben had flat-out refused to tie the kid’s hair into two equal bunches. One was enough of a challenge.

“Yep,” she said.

West ambled over, slipping an arm around Piper’s waist. “Bit nervous?”

Jade cut a sideways glance at Ben. “A little.”

“You’ve met most of the kids already. You’ll be fine.” Piper cupped a hand to her mouth. “And if anyone gives you a hard time, tell them your dad and I will use them as bait for the Great Whites.”

Jade giggled.

Ben shifted the Barbie backpack to his other hand. “Yeah, yeah—Kez’ll love that. C’mon kiddo, you don’t want to be late.”

They continued walking along Oban’s main road, the sea hissing softly over the sand on their left, a sca
ttering of shops and businesses and bush-covered hills to their right. A plump Kererū flapped overhead, the wood pigeon’s wings making a distinctive
whooshing
noise.

Other locals called out to them—Holly Parker,
Shaye’s bestie, ran out of Russell’s grocery store where she worked and handed Jade a “first day” chocolate bar. Kip Sullivan, the new resident hottie, according to his sisters, wished her good luck as he jogged past.

Jade’s hand slipped into his and Ben sucked in a breath.

He squeezed her fingers. “We’ll mention to Gran that you need some mittens, eh? Your hands are freezing.”

“So are yours.”

Ben opened the school gate for her. “I’d look kinda silly with mittens on, don’t you think?”

“Especially pink ones.”

“Just for that, I’m telling Gran to make you a pair in the brightest pink wool she can find.”

Jade laughed, and a flush of warmth spread over his skin. Maybe he wasn’t cut out to be a father, maybe his size might sometimes intimidate her, but at least he could make her laugh.

Zoe and a bunch of other kids spotted them and raced across the playground. Following close behind and looking like his wet-dream come to life in a grey pencil skirt and yellow blouse, strode Kezia.

A huge act of willpower clenched his jaw shut so his tongue didn’t loll from his mouth. Fresh, hot, and u
ntouchable, she tossed her halo of curls over her shoulder and smiled.

“Morning, Mr. Harland.”

Ben gawked for a good two beats of awkward silence. Kind of hard to pay attention when dozens of brain cells had exploded from the curve of her breasts pressing against her slim-fitting blouse. And the smell of her—flowers, sunshine, and woman—should be bottled and distributed as a potent aphrodisiac.

“Hey,” he croaked, as a cluster of giggling, hyped-to-the-max kids swept Jade away. “She seems fine.”

“She’ll have a great day. The kids are excited to have a new girl in class.”

He shifted from foot to foot. Looked down at Jade’s Barbie backpack still in his hand—crap!

“Here.” Ben shoved the bag into her arms. “I gotta fishing trip booked this morning. Mum will pick her up at three.”

The sea breeze picked up a curl and blew it across her face. It caught in the corner of her lush mouth, sticking to whatever clear glossy stuff she’d painted on her lips. He itched to step forward and remove that strand of hair, but instead, he raised his hand in a half-assed wave and bolted for the gate.

“
Ciao
, Ben.”

Her smoky laugh followed him out into the street, and the tips of his ears blazed hot enough to start a bush fire.

***

With the pound full of drooling, barking, wet-fur-stinking canines, Ben nearly turned tail and fled. To hell with Jade and her overly excited BFF. Not to me
ntion the BFF’s hot mum, whom they’d conned into joining them on this Saturday morning torture trip.

Since bailing out over a four-legged poop-machine would make him a
wuss, he straightened his shoulders and continued walking down the concreted aisle between the cages.

Not that he disliked dogs. West’s old mutt was pretty cool. Donny rarely barked, and he sat and stayed and didn’t dig huge holes in West’s yard. He certainly didn’t pee on himself like the tiny ball of fur in the first cage they walked past.

“Not that one,” he said to Jade, as the mutt leaped about in its own urine.

Over Jade’s head, Kezia shot him a grin, a certain devilish enjoyment in her dark eyes. Yeah, everyone’d ragged him about getting a puppy. But he figured it would give him and the kid something to talk about on the long winter nights ahead.

“You could get a slightly older dog.” Kezia pointed farther along the aisle. “People always want the puppies. They forget about the older ones.”

Jade trailed a hand over the wire fencing. She’d a
lready been up and down the rows a dozen times and still couldn’t make up her mind.

“Nobody takes the older dogs?” Jade turned her face up to his.

“Some people think they’re not as cute as the pups,” he said.

“And so they have to live in these cages forever?”

“No,” said Zoe. “After a while, if no one takes them home, the vet gives them a special injection to make them go to sleep and never wake up.”

Kezia’s eyes flew open, and her gaze jerked to his, before lowering to her daughter. “Zoe!”

“
Mamma
. Jade’s not a baby. We talk about death all the time.”

“You do?” Ben said.

“Sure. Zoe told me how she could’ve died from lu-keem-ee-a.” Jade folded her arms across her chest. “And a kid at my school in Auckland was killed when a tree branch fell on him at the park. We had a special assembly and everything.”