EMILY FORBES began her writing life as a partnership between two sisters who are both passionate bibliophiles. As a team, ‘Emily’ had ten books published. One of her proudest moments was winning the 2013 Australia Romantic Book of the Year Award for SYDNEY HARBOUR HOSPITAL: BELLA’S WISHLIST.
While Emily’s love of writing remains as strong as ever, the demands of life with young families have recently made it difficult to work on stories together. But rather than give up her dream Emily now writes solo. The challenges may be different, but the reward of having a book published is still as sweet as ever.
Whether as a team or as an individual, Emily hopes to keep bringing stories to her readers. Her inspiration comes from everywhere, and stories she hears while travelling, at mothers’ lunches, in the media and in her other career as a physiotherapist all get embellished with a large dose of imagination until they develop a life of their own.
If you would like to get in touch with Emily you can e-mail her at [email protected]
Tamed by the Renegade
Emily Forbes
For my fabulous brothers and sisters-in-law:
Andrew, Tim, Michelle, Brigid, Terry,
Rebecca, Nick, Alexandra, Duncan, Nick, Rachel,
Luke, Danielle, Ben and Kiera—with love.
Table of Contents
Dedication
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
Sunday, 14th December
RUBY HAD ALWAYS known she’d have to grow up one day but she’d suspected it would be a gradual process, like growing out a fringe or recovering from a broken heart. She never expected to have to grow up overnight.
A few hours earlier she’d been asleep in her bed. Now she was about to walk into an intensive care unit halfway across the country and she was terrified of what she would find. She didn’t know if she was strong enough to deal with this crisis. She suspected she was a flight-not-fight type of personality. In fact, she knew she was. She’d always run away when the going had got tough.
Perhaps being able to cope with traumatic situations was a sure sign of maturation. The trouble was she was afraid of what she was about to see and afraid she wouldn’t cope.
Maybe this disaster would be the catalyst that forced her to grow up. Maybe it would trigger her development into the sort of person others could depend on, but she really wasn’t sure if she had that level of resolve.
She waited as her sister’s fiancé keyed the security code into the door and held it for her and then she trailed in Jake’s footsteps as he crossed the room.
Ruby could see her sister, Scarlett, and their mother sitting side by side. Scarlett was holding their mother’s hand and Ruby knew she was comforting Lucy, not the other way around. Scarlett had always looked after all of them, their mother included.
Seeing her family huddled together threatened to damage the wall around the well of emotion that she’d been trying to keep under control since she’d left Byron Bay in the early hours of the morning. Throughout the flight to Adelaide, and even on the short trip from the airport to the hospital, she’d fought to keep her emotions in check. She hadn’t wanted to fall apart in front of a plane full of strangers or in front of her sister’s fiancé—she didn’t know him well enough yet and she couldn’t let him see that she wasn’t as brave or as strong as Scarlett was.
Scarlett stood up the moment she saw Ruby. She came towards her with her arms open and wrapped Ruby in her embrace. Ruby relaxed into her older sister’s comforting hug. She could feel the tears welling in her eyes and gathering on her lashes ready to spill over as she soaked up Scarlett’s reassurance.
She and Scarlett were of similar height but Ruby’s skinny frame was always a sharp contrast to Scarlett’s curves. Even more so today, thought Ruby as she felt Scarlett’s rounded belly, firm and hard and stretched tight as a drum, pressing into her. Ruby stepped back out of Scarlett’s embrace to take a proper look at her. Scarlett was into the final trimester of her pregnancy and it was the first time Ruby had seen her in several months, the first time she’d seen her looking pregnant. It suited her.
But seeing Scarlett’s new curves served as another little push to Ruby’s subconscious, another little hint that times were changing and she might have to change along with them. Scarlett had always been there for her. They’d always been close because Scarlett had made that her priority. Their relationship had been nurtured, and on occasion saved, by Scarlett’s determination and perseverance. She’d been there for all of them at one time or another but now she had another person totally dependent on her. Her fiancé and their baby would be Scarlett’s priorities now.
Ruby knew that didn’t mean that Scarlett would abandon any of them. Not her, not their mother and certainly not Rose, their younger sister and the reason they were all here in the ICU, but Scarlett couldn’t be expected to shoulder all their worries. Rose needed them and they needed to look out for her. She needed to look out for Rose.
She’d never really given much thought to how her family was faring. She’d chosen her own path at the age of sixteen and hadn’t spent much time considering others. She realised now how selfish she’d been. It was time for her to step up.
She hugged her mother next. Anyone watching may have thought it strange that she greeted her sister before her mother but Ruby and Lucy didn’t have an easy relationship. Ruby had always felt far more comfortable sharing her thoughts and feelings with her sister, but she recognised that the sometimes stilted relationship she had with her mother was her own fault. She’d always pushed her mother away. Ruby had always wanted to assert her independence and it had backfired on her in spectacular fashion during her teenage years but she’d been too proud then to admit her mistakes. She wasn’t sure if she’d changed all that much in the ensuing years.
‘It’s good to have you home.’ Lucy welcomed her with open arms.
Her mother would say she was home but Adelaide hadn’t been home to Ruby for almost eleven