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it all out, and she asked for my help. She hated asking, but she was desperate.’

      ‘Oh Pierce.’

      ‘Maureen was so ill she was facing having to have the children fostered. She couldn’t bear subjecting them to the life she’d had. She’d brought it on herself but, well, maybe I could see what was driving her. And, while she was talking, that time…the times she took the beating for me came back. I didn’t have a choice. There’s a dialysis unit at Murribah, half an hour north of here. I offered her a home here for as long as she needed.’

      Silence. She stared across the table at him for a long, long moment. Then she smiled. ‘I always thought you were a nice boy,’ she said warmly. ‘Despite the pinstripes.’

      He smiled back, but it cost him a bit, that smile. It was hard for him to tell this story, she thought.

      ‘Okay. Moving on. You asked for the whole story so you’ll get it. I was already having trouble with the neighbours here. What I didn’t realize when I bought this place was that one of the bidders was a huge dairy corporation. They’d been looking for a site for their new factory, which would have meant the locals didn’t have to pay cartage for their milk. But I’d fallen in love with the place and paid more than it was worth. So the factory went somewhere else. Then I’d no sooner taken possession when along came four kids and a mother who looked desperately sick and was pregnant again. I drove a bright yellow sports car when the kids looked starving. Maureen wouldn’t talk to anyone about her background, and no one ever asked me. I’ve been judged and found wanting in just about every respect.’

      She swallowed. ‘I’m so sorry.’

      ‘Don’t be. I’m sorry enough for myself. Anyway, Maureen had Bessy and she grew even more ill. We were hoping against hope for a transplant but it didn’t happen.’

      ‘So…marriage?’

      ‘You see, Social Welfare had taken care of these kids before, in periods when Maureen was desperately sick. So the kids were on file. It’s not hard to understand. There are good people in the department who were genuinely worried. Then we had the community bad-mouthing us. Maureen started believing—and maybe she was right—that as soon as she died they’d send the kids to foster homes, regardless of what I wanted.’

      ‘There are some good—’ she started cautiously, but he was before her.

      ‘You don’t need to tell me there are some great foster homes,’ Pierce said explosively. ‘Foster parents are some of the best people in the world. Generous, big hearted, taking on all comers even though getting attached comes at the price of having their hearts ripped out over and over.’

      ‘Goodness,’ she said. ‘Did I hit a nerve?’

      He managed an apology for a smile. ‘Yes,’ he said, consciously lowering his voice. ‘Sorry. If I hadn’t had Ruby I’d be in such a mess now. But I was on my own, and these kids aren’t. Despite Maureen’s often incompetent care, they love each other, and they’ll defend each other to the death. They should never be separated, and there’s the problem. You think there’ll be a foster parent who’ll take on five kids?’

      ‘I guess…Maybe not.’

      ‘They’d be put into a group home,’ he said. ‘The welfare people told Maureen that, as if it was something good. A house in the community with paid carers. That’s what Maureen couldn’t come to terms with. A series of people employed to care. Maureen hated the idea, and by the time she became desperately sick I hated the idea as well. You’ve seen Wendy. She’s been Maureen’s principal carer for years. It took so long to teach her that I could help. Even now she doesn’t completely trust me. Why should she? But I couldn’t bear…I just couldn’t bear…’

      ‘So you married their mother.’

      ‘Yes. We moved fast, in the window of opportunity before Maureen became too ill. We married. I applied to legally adopt them. Maureen filed everything saying she approved, and she assigned me as their legal guardian.’

      ‘Oh, Pierce.’

      ‘It’s not noble,’ he said. ‘At least, it wasn’t supposed to be noble. I’m paid ridiculous amounts for the work I do. I thought I’d house the kids, employ a housekeeper, someone to run the farm and come down here on weekends.’

      ‘But?’

      ‘Have you any idea how hard it is to find a housekeeper for five kids? In this community? I found a woman who did intermittent babysitting for a while, but the kids hated her and she quit two weeks ago. And now we’ve had chicken pox followed by school holidays. I’m going round the twist.’

      ‘I see that you are.’

      ‘And then Ruby said she’d contacted you and persuaded you to give us a try. Hence I’ve had one day of child care, a clean kitchen and a sparky clean fridge. And kids who weren’t taken away from me today. For which I’m eternally grateful.’ He hesitated. ‘Shanni, dare I ask that you’ll stay?’

      ‘I’m not a housekeeper.’

      ‘You’re excellent at scrubbing.’

      ‘That’s only because I’m suffering severe loss of pride. I need to vent my spleen. Scrubbing works.’

      ‘Ruby says you’re an artist.’

      ‘I’m not.’

      ‘No?’

      ‘I love dabbling with paints. Did you see my cow this afternoon? Perfect, except for one leg looking longer than the others. I measured it. It’s not. It’s perspective, but I can’t work it out.’

      ‘So you’re an abstract artist?’

      ‘I did a degree in fine arts. I worked as a curator for a tiny gallery here and an even tinier one in London. Then I scraped up enough money to open my own. It was miniscule, but it was devoted to one particular kind of art that I love. My parents lent me money. I didn’t eat. I put everything into it that I had.’

      ‘And?’

      ‘And like I said, I caught my artist boyfriend in bed with one of my models. I tossed ice water on them, and he retaliated by using my credit card to spend a fortune. I had the choice of risking my parents’ money and keeping on trying or bailing out. I bailed out.’

      ‘Ouch.’ He hesitated. ‘You never tried recovering your money?’

      ‘He said he’d have me for assault.’

      ‘I see,’ he said cautiously. ‘So you fled home.’

      ‘Yep. To you.’

      ‘And now?’

      ‘I’ll go to Ruby’s. I’ll get a job somewhere and move on.’

      ‘But it’d help if you could stay here for a bit while you regroup?’

      ‘It might,’ she admitted. ‘But I don’t intend to fall in love with these kids.’

      ‘Of course not.’

      ‘So don’t even think I might be a long-term proposition.’

      ‘I’m not looking for a long-term proposition.’

      ‘I don’t fall for kids. I don’t fall for you.’

      Uh-oh. Why had she said that? It had come from nowhere but suddenly it was important that she say it.

      He so needed a shave. He looked so vulnerable.

      Stop it. She gave herself a sharp metaphoric slap to the side of the head. Do not fall for Pierce MacLachlan because you feel sorry for him.

      ‘Just because I’m a soft touch…’ she whispered, and he smiled.

      ‘Two of us. Two soft touches. We’re doomed.’

      ‘Speak for yourself.’

      There

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