Page 17 of In Hiding

At least he’d been up front about it. With a deep breath, Sarah put both hands on the table and pushed up to her feet. The movement caused an unexpected headrush that made her dizzy. In a blink, Jake was beside her, his arms around her, helping her back to her seat.

“Easy, there.” His deep voice at her ear soothed and comforted.

Blinking, she tried to stamp out the confusion clouding her head. “Sorry.”

“No need to apologize.” His hand took hers. “It would seem you’re bleeding.”

Sarah tried to focus on her hand, but she didn’t need to see the blood. The throbbing in her finger was enough to confirm his observation. “Under the sink,” she waved a hand, “is a first aid kit. Would you get it, please?”

He came back with the red kit and a glass of water. “Here. You might need to boost your blood pressure.”

Sarah sipped, feeling embarrassment heat her cheeks. “Thank you. It’s nothing, really. I just get lightheaded from time to time.”

Dragging the chair around the table, he sat beside her and removed the blood-soaked bandage from her finger. He cleaned the wound with a cotton ball. “Doesn’t look like it needs stitches. Should I take you to the hospital for a checkup?”

“No, no. I’ll be fine.”

She tried to tug her hand out of his, but he held fast. “Allow me.”

Watching his strong hands work, she tried not to let the notion of being cared for sweep her away. He was a stranger. An ex-con. A biker. He’d admitted himself he’d beaten people up. Should she really consider employing him? Having him around her son? What sort of influence might he be?

Despite the warnings in her mind, the tender touch of his hands and the surety in his movements settled her racing heart and helped alleviate the dizziness. She sipped more water and noted the strength of his muscled limbs as he cleaned up the mess. His motorcycle leathers hid nothing, and she was left with a certainty the man in her kitchen understood how to handle threats and dangers.

Maybe he was exactly the kind of influence Will needed. Perhaps he could offer the protection she’d been searching for, but if she expected those things from him, she needed to be as honest as he was with her.

Exactly how did she raise the possibility her ex-husband might show up on her doorstep, intent on fulfilling his promise to kill her the next time he laid eyes on her?

4.

The parcel of land surrounding Andersen House proved to be much larger than Jake expected. Aside from the house, there was the woodshed, the chicken coop, and a separate garage, but what surprised Jake was the guest house—where he stayed at Sarah’s insistence. At least for the trial week he’d insisted on.

The one bed cottage had once been the site of the original horse stables. Sarah explained it had been lost in the Black Friday bushfire of 1939, and was subsequently rebuilt as a guest house. It sat a hundred meters to the north of the main house, further up the cliff face. A view, much like the one he’d seen from the kitchen window the day he’d arrived, greeted him when he woke. As the fog in the valley floor below began to break up, he sipped coffee on the balcony off the bedroom. It was a sight he could get used to, even if the chilly air burned his nose with each breath.

Three days into the trial week, he’d been kept busy with a multitude of tasks he suspected were devised to test his skill. It was true, he hadn’t played the role of handyman for many years, but the knowhow was there. It was like riding a bike, though he honestly didn’t remember cycling to be so enjoyable. The days had been sunny and still—if a little cold—and the sky blue and the clouds light. This morning appeared to be much of the same, despite her prediction that the weather would turn.

Returning to the warmth of the cottage, he sat at the small dining table and reread the file Lucy had given him. Erik’s sister, Katherine Margaret Sarah Christensen-Mitchell had combined her middle name with her mother’s maiden name, in effect, assuming the same name of the great aunt who’d Andersen House to her in her will.

---