There was love for this little one written all over him, and it was a smile to make hearts stand still. Whew! But Maddy held herself aloof.
‘If Miss Lester promises to leave her dog at home, we’ll win next time,’ Jack promised the child. Jack cast a doubtful look across at Bryony. ‘And I don’t think she’ll be here again. She’s not local.’
Of course she isn’t local, his look said. No one this dumb could be a local.
‘Well, I am local,’ Bryony said, hauling herself upright again to meet his look with defiance. ‘I’ve just moved here.’
The child stared at her from Jack’s arms.
‘What’s your name?’ she asked cautiously.
‘Bryony.’
The child considered. ‘Bryony’s pretty,’ she pronounced. ‘Mine’s Madelaine but my... People call me Maddy.’
‘I’m pleased to meet you, Maddy.’ Bryony didn’t put her hand out to greet her. There was something about this child that said she wasn’t into being touched. Not even by the man who was holding her.
‘I’ve just moved here, too,’ the child said. ‘Where did you come from?’
‘Well, this time I’ve moved from New York.’
‘But...New York’s in America.’
‘Hey, that’s right.’ Bryony beamed her approval and Maddy gave her a shy smile.
‘My grandma lived in America,’ Maddy confided. ‘I don’t expect you knew her. We lived in California.’
‘You’re American?’ Bryony had already guessed. It was obvious when Maddy spoke. The man was broadly Australian, but the child definitely wasn’t. ‘Wow. I’m very pleased to meet you, Maddy. I spent the last few years in the States and I’m homesick. It was Thanksgiving last week and no one here knew about it but me. I had to eat my turkey all by myself. Are you homesick?’
Maddy cast a doubtful look at Jack.
‘Y-yes.’
‘Have your family moved here?’
‘No.’ The child’s face clamped down. Her lips pressed together and there was a look of pain in her face that told Bryony to ask that question had been really dumb. The child took a deep breath, as if she was about to confess something shameful. And she did.
‘My mom doesn’t want me,’ she said bleakly. ‘My grandma did, but she’s dead. I have to live with my father now.’
Oh.
‘I see.’ Bryony looked doubtfully at Jack, her heart sinking.
Jack. This must be the father, then, in the ‘I have to live with my father...’ There was definitely a resemblance. The eyes were the same. And the firmness of the set mouth.
“This is your daddy?’
‘My mom says Jack’s my father.’ The child’s voice said she didn’t believe a word of such a stupid statement. Maddy gave an uncompromising wriggle in Jack’s arms. ‘I want to get down.’ She was set on the ground by a silent Jack, and she stared up at Bryony with interest. Her father was discarded. ‘Where’s your bad dog gone to now?’
‘I don’t know.’ Bryony hesitated. There were things going on here she didn’t understand in the least, but maybe they weren’t her business. ‘I guess I’d better go find him.’
Should she, though? What were her priorities here? Bryony looked dubiously over at the stands. One sheep was right up at the top of the seating, trying to figure whether jumping down into the Haunted House was worth the risk. That was the only sheep in sight. Heaven knew where the rest were. ‘Maybe I’d best help catch the sheep first.’
‘At the risk of giving offence, Miss Lester,’ Jack told her dryly, ‘you’d be more help just catching your dog. Jessica and I will round up the sheep. You concentrate on getting your dog under control.’
‘Harry could help find them!’
‘And then he’d keep chasing them.’ Jack shoved his wide hat down further over his eyes, forming a barrier of shadow. ‘They’d end up in Queensland. Just find your dog and keep him out of trouble. That’s all I ask.’ He held out his hand to his daughter. ‘Come on, Maddy.’
Maddy considered Jack’s hand and shook her head, firmly. Instead, to Bryony’s surprise, she reached out and tucked her hand into Bryony’s.
‘I’ll help Bryony find Harry.’
‘Maddy...’ Jack’s voice took on a tone of exasperation, and the child froze, and cringed, looking up at Jack as if she expected to be struck.
‘Hell!’ Jack swore, and then he knelt so his eyes were level with the child’s. He sighed as the fear in the child’s eyes didn’t fade a bit. ‘It’s okay, Maddy.’ His voice softened, but there was defeat in his tone. ‘You go hunt for bad dogs with Miss Lester.’ He looked up at Bryony. ‘Can I trust you to bring her back here when you’ve found him?’
‘Of course.’ Bryony glared. Jack Morgan might look like an absolute hunk, but there was no denying his temper—or that Maddy was afraid of him. Jack saw the thought, for Bryony didn’t attempt to hide it and this man was astute. He flinched.
‘I don’t hurt her,’ he said, and there was pain behind his words. ‘I never have and I never would. I promise you. Things aren’t what they seem.’
Bryony looked into his eyes—and believed him.
‘Yeah, well...’
Who knew what was happening here? Certainly not Bryony. She nicked her hair back from her face and tried for nonchalance. ‘We’ll leave you to your sheep, then, Mr Morgan,’ she managed. ‘Let’s go find Harry, Maddy Morgan.’
CHAPTER TWO
THEY found Harry fifteen minutes later and Harry was neck-deep in trouble. Or rather he was neck-deep in dung.
The cattle pavilions were the last place they searched. Bryony nosed her way through the cows, Maddy clinging to her side, and there was Harry rolling with canine delight in a pile of fresh manure.
The dog looked up as he saw Bryony. Bryony! Source of dog food, toast and electric blankets. He struggled to his feet, cocked a mucky eyebrow at his mistress, quivered all over from nose to stump—and launched himself at her with love. Straight into her arms. It was the only trick Bryony had been able to teach him—to fly straight up into her arms. He trusted her absolutely to grasp him and not to let him fall as he jumped.
So Bryony had no choice. She grasped as expected and Harry wagged himself all over in her arms. Green dung dripped straight down the front of her cream sweater and further, onto her white leggings.
Bryony stood on the concrete floor of the cattle pavilion, thinking longingly of goldfish as pets and wondering whether schnauzers made good goldfish food.
‘He is a bad dog!’ By her side, Maddy was breathless in horrified awe.
‘He certainly is.’ Bryony took a deep breath—then decided she didn’t need to breathe again for a while. Harry looked adoringly up through his bushy eyebrows and wagged his stump of a tail. It was too much. Around them there was shocked silence as the cattlemen saw what Harry had done, but Bryony’s mouth was curving into a grin she couldn’t contain. She either laughed here or she sat down amid the dung and howled. So she laughed and, with relief, the