Page 29 of Finding English

“I need to go and see if I can help. Will you be okay here with Aubrey and my parents? I expect Jack will leave some of his guys here. Possibly Nate and Zin.”

“Which one is Nate?”

“The tall, dark one built like a brick shit house.”

Cassie grinned at his description. “That didn’t help at all. They’re all like that except for the blond one with the beard who looks like he eats nails for breakfast.”

It was Henry’s turn to laugh then, loving that she still had the ability not to let this steal away all she’d achieved.

“That’s Zin and he’s a good guy, but I get what you mean. He has a past I’m not sure anyone truly knows about. But if you saw the way he fawned over his woman and how he fed her dog steak, then you’d know he’d protect you and Michaela with his life. It’s who he is. But back to Nate, he was the tallest and has slightly darker coloring. His mum is Spanish.”

“Ah, I see. He looked like he could stop a house.”

“Yeah, that’s him. He’ll keep you safe though, and he’s a good guy. He has a son and daughter, Noah and Nancy, so he’s good with kids too.”

“You’ll still be around though?”

He saw the anxiety in her face at his lame attempt at reassurance. “I told you. It’s you, Michaela, and me. We’re in this together. If I get my way, you’ll be a permanent fixture in this house and most definitely in my life.”

“Well, maybe you can have your bed back tonight, or you could share it with me?”

Her flirting and the images it conjured made him hard, and she grinned at him as she felt the effect she had on him. “That’s a date.”

He lowered his head and kissed her hard and fast, not trusting himself to do more right now when he had to go.

He blew her a kiss as he left through the front door, loving the heavy, dazed look in her eyes, and how it had replaced the fear he’d seen when he walked in.

Outside the bunkhouse, he stopped and looked at Aubrey who was grabbing her laptop bag.

She must have felt his stare as she turned and offered him a smile. “You didn’t have to come, you know,” Henry announced as he took in her watchful, assessing gaze.

“I know, but as Jack said, you saved my butt many times. Plus, I’m really nosey and was desperate to meet the woman who’d grounded the eternal bachelor.”

Henry smiled at that. “She’s everything to me.”

Aubrey smiled softly as she moved past him back toward the house. “I’m pleased for you, Henry.”

He watched her go and then turned back to the bunkhouse and the men inside. He needed to hunt this bastard down and now.

Chapter 12

Cassie popped her head through the door of her daughter’s new temporary bedroom. Michaela was sleeping soundly in the middle of the bed, her dinosaur tucked in beside her. Jerry had dragged the single four-poster bed from the attic, explaining it had been his sister’s when she was young.

The pinewood was beautiful, and Michaela had been captivated by it, as had she, especially when Josie had added a pair of creamy sheer curtains with tiny purple butterflies to the corners and then strung some fairy lights along the picture rail of the room.

As the décor was already a neutral beige, it allowed the focus to be on the beautiful bed which also had a pink and purple cover with a unicorn on it, which Henry had picked up in town. He’d said he wanted her and Mic to be happy here.

The truth was she’d never been more at home anywhere than she was here. This house, these people were more home to her than anywhere she’d ever lived, except for her own childhood home. Memories of her old bedroom came flooding in, happy thoughts filled with laughter and love. Bunce had stolen all of that from her, and not just her but Michaela too.

Her mom and dad would have adored the granddaughter they never got to see. Would have lavished her with love and attention, much like Jerry and Josie were doing now. She missed her parents every single day, wondered what her life would have been like if they hadn’t fallen prey to evil.

Henry’s lips touch her bare shoulder and she turned, a smile on her face seeing the man she was falling in love with behind her.

“She okay?”

Cassie loved how much he cared for Michaela, knowing she could never be with a man who didn’t want them both equally. “Out like a light as soon as I finished her story.”

Henry took her hand as she pulled the door but not entirely closing it, allowing the light from the landing to filter in a touch.