Breaking Free (Thoroughbred Legacy #10) Read online

  They were heading out the gates now, weaving fast through the masses.

  Blood boomed in her ears, and perspiration broke out over her body. Damn!

  If that stubborn ass had just called her before he’d left the Hunter. If June Hastings could have told her they were right here in Sydney…What must they think of her?

  She needed to speak to him. To Heidi. She needed to get to a phone, fast.

  But she hesitated suddenly, realizing she didn’t have a number. And she just stood there, staring numbly after them while the crowds closed around her and her heart did a slow freefall through her chest.

  No, she didn’t need a phone number,

  She knew what she had to do.

  It was suddenly crystal shimmering clear.

  She wasn’t going to speak to him.

  She would show him.

  Her actions would speak louder than any words.

  She’d already discussed things with Patrick and Louisa. Now she’d just put her plan in motion and show that cop she could be just as ass-stubborn as him.

  Heidi sat in the passenger seat of Dylan’s truck and bashed her hat flat as a pancake. “I don’t want to go to Brookfield,” she muttered as he drove her to the school where she would board from tonight on. “I don’t want to leave you all alone in the Pepper Flats house.”

  He turned into the Brookfield driveway, coming to a stop outside the grand old brick buildings covered in ivy.

  He killed the engine and shifted round in his seat. “Heidi, you have a passion. You’re damn good at your art, and you heard what the evaluator said about your portfolio.” He hooked a knuckle under her chin. “I never knew just how good and determined you were, chook. I needed to do a lot of learning these past few weeks, and the one thing I did learn was that I need to let you follow your heart. I need to let you be your own person. And don’t you go worrying about me now.”

  Her eyes filled.

  “It’ll take a while to settle,” he said, “to make new friends. Change can be scary. It can feel real lonely, too.” Boy, did he ever know that right now. “But without taking that leap, you won’t become who you really want to be.”

  Her bottom lip quivered and a lone tear tracked down her cheek.

  “Hey, I’ll always be there for you, kiddo,” he said, wiping the tear away with his thumb. “You know that. And I hope you’ll be there for me, too.”

  She lurched forward and hugged him so tight. “I love you, Daddy. I just wish Megan loved you, too.”

  His eyes burned. Hell, yeah. But that wasn’t going to happen.

  He sat back. “We can’t have everything we want, chook. Come, let’s go get you settled in.”

  “Will you go home tonight, Dad?” she asked as they walked up the pathway through the manicured school lawns.

  “Maybe tomorrow or the next day,” he said. “I want to meet with the detectives about Liam’s cold case, see whether Interpol is able to use the old DNA evidence. They kept Liam’s clothes.”

  She nodded her head solemnly. He’d told her everything. They’d talked long and often over the last two weeks, catching up and forming a new kind of father-daughter bond. One based on love and a genuine friendship.

  He felt richer for it. And he knew he had Megan to thank for it. She had been a ray of nurturing sunshine in their lives. She’d shown him how to break free, and now they had to move on. Alone.

  Dylan pulled into his Pepper Flats driveway and sat quietly in his truck for a while.

  It was good to have gone to Sydney. It had gotten some of his issues with the city out of his system.

  It had been even better to spend time with his daughter, to see her so grown-up, and he’d felt so proud to be with her. They were doing the right thing with Brookfield. He could see it now. And he’d relocate his mother to the nursing home in a few weeks, once she got used to the idea. He was sure she’d be happier, too.

  He’d mortgaged his Hunter Valley property to do it all, and he was comfortable with that.

  But right now he felt so incredibly hollow.

  He stared at his brick house, thinking about the reason he’d moved out here when Heidi was only four. How he’d wanted to build on core values, make a life for her. With a dog and a yard and a pool. Build a family.

  He smiled sadly.

  He’d done some of it.

  And, yeah, sometimes change was hard. Like now.

  He opened his door and ruffled Muttley, who came rushing from round the back, his snout and paws caked with fresh dark soil.

  “Geez, Muttley.” He took the dog’s collar. “Let’s go see what you’ve done to the veggie garden this time.”

  But as he rounded the corner of his house he saw someone bent over in his vegetable patch, digging up carrots, and plunking them into a wicker basket. He stilled in shock.

  Megan?

  His heart tumbled, and then raced as he walked over the grass toward her, wondering if he was seeing a mirage.

  She looked up as he approached. “Hey.” She smiled, pushing away tendrils of soft blond hair that blew in the breeze with the back of her wrist.

  Dylan was speechless, his mind trying to reconcile this gorgeous woman digging in his earth with the unattainable princess he’d seen at Warrego Downs the other day.

  She stood up slowly, dirt on her knees and sneakers, and heat seeped to his belly. His heart thumped faster. “What are you doing here?” he managed to say.

  “You mean in the Hunter?” She smiled, angling her head with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “I live here.”

  “Megan, don’t mess with me. Not now.”

  She came up to him, placed her hand on his chest, soil-caked trowel in the other. “Don’t be so serious, Dylan. I’ve made some changes.” She leaned up on tippy-toes and kissed him.

  He could barely breathe.

  He didn’t dare take hold of her, crush her to him as he wished to. God, he loved her, wanted her.

  “Changes?” he managed to say.

  “Patrick and Louisa helped me put together financing for some acreage farther downriver that I’ve got my eyes on,” she said.

  “What acreage?” He looked deep into her eyes, searching for evidence she might be joking with him.

  “I’ve decided to extend my art co-op business out this way. I want to establish a gallery on the tourist track, a place that can also serve as an artist’s retreat.” Her eyes shone with infectious excitement. “I want somewhere I can host overnight guests in small cottages, and a central dining area where I’ll serve fine Hunter Valley wines. I want to have a beautiful, inspiring garden, and maybe a few horses.” She hesitated, worry creeping into her eyes as he remained overtly dispassionate, while inside he vibrated, trembled.

  She swallowed. “Louisa gave me Breaking Free, Dylan. She saw how I found myself with that horse. And…” She hesitated, voice faltering slightly at his silence. “Maybe…Anthem could be stabled there?”

  “Anthem?” What in hell was wrong with his brain? Why did he feel like he was moving through water?

  “Heidi could ride him at my place when she comes home on weekends and on holidays. The rest of my private consultancy business I can do just the same from here—the buying, the travel. I’ll hire a manager to run the retreat when I’m out of town.” She looked into his eyes and touched his hand. “Dylan, I have an appointment with the real estate agent this afternoon. Will you come with me? Just to look at the property?”

  “Of course,” he managed to croak out, emotion pricking his eyes, his heart beginning to turn goddamn somersaults.

  “Will you help me build something here in the valley, Dylan? A family maybe?” She touched his lips with her fingertips. “One little step at a time.”

  It was an offer beyond his dream.

  Dylan had finally found the woman he’d been searching for all his life, and Heidi would have someone she loved, admired, a beautiful role model. A mother.

  An old crime had been put to bed. Sam Whittleson’s murderer was
behind bars, and Megan—in helping Dylan bridge the gap with his daughter—had made peace with her own past.

  And ironically, the foes who’d squared off on opposite ends of a homicide investigation—threatening each other’s families and values and livelihoods—were ultimately becoming one family. Because, at the core, they all essentially wanted the same.

  “Come,” he said softly, taking her hand.

  A thrill punched through her stomach as she looked up into his clear blue eyes.

  “Come inside, Megs. Come to my bed. Be mine.”

  And she kissed him, her body melting against his, knowing she’d finally found home.

  She’d found family.

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-2547-7

  BREAKING FREE

  Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to Loreth Anne White for her contribution to the Thoroughbred Legacy series.

  Copyright © 2008 by Harlequin Books S.A.

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