Cinderella's Guardian (24 page)

Conner lunged at his brother and continued their play fight. They were both purring loudly so their mates and Kelly would know they were only playing.

"You boys cut it out already. I swear, human or animal, boys never grow up."

"Preaching to the choir here, Adele."

Kelly's laugh filled the air as she ran over to Dominic. Conner padded over to Tina where he curled around her on the picnic rug and watched as Dominic crouched low to allow Kelly to hop on his back. She grabbed fists full of fur and squealed when Dominic began moving. He took Kelly on a ride through the nearby bush, never leaving their sight as he slowly increased his speed.

Tina turned and buried her face and hands into the fur of his neck.

"Hmmm, you're so soft."

He preened under her compliment and purred loudly as he delivered a lick up her cheek. She laughed loud with her head thrown back. Conner loved seeing her like this. Completely carefree and happy. She would be like this every day of their lives if he had anything to do with it.

"That was so much fun!"

Kelly's excited voice brought his attention from Tina to her. Dominic crouched down again and she climbed off and ran straight to Adele with the biggest grin Conner had ever seen the kid have.

"Well, now you're all back, how about you boys change so we can eat our lunch?"

Conner reluctantly moved to his feet, nuzzling his head into Tina's embrace before he trotted over to the large gum they had left their clothes behind. He watched as a blue glow enveloped Dominic before he began his own shift.

"You know Kelly's going to want to do that all the time, right?"

Dominic chuckled. "Probably. I don't mind. It's fun having her laughing her heart out while I race around with her on my back."

They finished dressing in silence while Conner shored up his courage.

"Dom? What's being a father like?"

"Why? You got Tina pregnant already?"

"No, well, at least, not that I know about. I was just thinking. That's all."

"Conner, you'll be a great dad. Don't worry about it. I'm guessing it's different with Kelly, because she's older and has issues from her past. But fatherhood is mostly an instinct thing. You need to follow what you feel is right—and listen to your mate. Adele just knows things I'd never thought about. C'mon lets go eat, maybe a full stomach will stop you going all girlie on me."

Conner growled but didn't move toward his brother. Dominic seemed to be getting way too much enjoyment out of riling him up lately. Maybe Mum was right and if he started ignoring him, Dom'd give him a break. Conner seriously doubted Dom would ever stop, but it was worth a shot.

Seeing Tina happily chatting with Adele and Kelly had his heart swelling. She was so beautiful sitting there on the picnic rug, with the sun shining off her hair. It kind of looked like she had a halo glowing above her white blond tresses. She looked up at him with a sparkle in her eye as he reached her side. Unable to resist, he dropped down and gave her a solid kiss, only pulling away when Kelly started making gagging noises at them.
Kids.

His phone began ringing as the women started serving up lunch. Pulling it free, he checked the caller ID, damn it was a private number. Moving away from everyone to the other side of the clearing, he answered the call.

"Hello, Conner White here."

"Mr. White, this is Constable Ross from the Rosebery Police Station."

Oh shit, what the hell had happened now?

"What's happened? Please don't tell me Robyn has escaped custody."

"No, nothing like that. Robyn is still in her cell I assure you. I'm ringing in regard to Barbara Johnson."

At the mere mention of her name his whole body tensed, Conner knew this wasn't going to be pretty.

"What about her?"

"She's been located. You know that small tourist park down Murchison Highway?"

"Yeah, sure. It's real small. Only has a couple of cabins and a stack of unpowered campsites."

"Well, it appears she was assisting Robyn, hiding her in one of those cabins. Our guess is something happened to make Robyn turn on her."

"Are you saying she's dead?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. And I can tell you it was not pretty."

"So, finally Tina and Dale are safe now?"

"I believe so. With Barbara dead and Robyn locked up, neither poses a risk to them."

"Where are things with Robyn? She's not going to get bail again is she?"

"No. Definitely not getting bail after she jumped it last time. To be honest, I doubt she'll make it to a hearing. She's gotten worse since her arrest. She is being assessed this afternoon and my guess is, she'll be institutionalized for the rest of her life."

"Good, that's good. Look, I have to run but thanks for the call. You'll keep me posted about what happens with Robyn?"

"Yeah, I can do that for you. Have a good one."

He hung up his phone and scrubbed his face with his hands as relief poured through his body.

The threat to Tina was over.

He returned to the others and scooped Tina up so he could hold her close. His body shuddered as elation coursed through him. His mate was safe.

"You going to tell us what that call was about? Maybe loosen your grip so your mate can breathe again…not that pale blue doesn't suit her…"

Dom's words snapped him free from his introspection and he lowered down onto the rug with Tina now loosely held in his lap.

"Sorry, baby doll. I didn't hurt you, did I?"

She laid the sweetest kiss on his cheek. "Not at all. Your brother was stirring you up again. Who was on the phone?"

Conner proceeded to give them all a recap of the phone call. He was careful to only allude to Barbara's death. Kelly didn't need to hear about more death so close to burying her mother.

Chapter Fourteen

Gripping the two Lofstrand Crutches in her hands, Tina pushed down the nausea and slowly walked across the floor of the rehab room at the hospital. Clenching her jaw, she ignored the sweat trickling down her back. Finally she was walking and she wasn't going to let some stomach bug hold her back. Conner had told her now that they were bonded she shouldn't get sick but she was definitely coming down with something.

She made it to the far wall and turned to grin at Nina.

She'd done it.

For the first time without falling, she'd made it the whole way across the room.

"I did it!"

"You sure did, Tina. Well done."

"Do you think I'll be able to walk down the aisle?"

Nina smiled gently. "I'm sure you will. It might be with a crutch or two, but you'll get down that aisle on your own two feet. However, that's enough for today. You don't want to push too hard and hurt yourself."

Tina leaned against the wall as Nina came over with her chair. Sinking down into it, she gasped as her legs throbbed. Apparently taking the weight off them was like a neon sign alerting her legs that it was okay to hurt, and of course that set her tummy off. Somehow she managed to convince her stomach to keep its contents

With her tummy slightly settled, she leaned forward to rub her legs and a twinge in her neck brought her hand to the small scar on side of her throat. It had been two weeks since Robyn had attacked her. Her wound had healed up a lot faster than she'd expected. Conner had told her along with not getting sick she would heal faster—at least the faster healing part of things seemed to be working. However, when she tensed her muscles for a long period of time—like she did with rehab—it would quite often spasm. Clint had told her it would stop on its own in time. She shuddered as she remembered the attack. Without Kit's help, Robyn would have no doubt done a hell of a lot more damage. Thankfully this time, Robyn's bail was refused. She was currently being securely held in a psychiatric hospital far away from Rosebery.

"So, when is the big day again?"

Nina's question snapped her out of her memories.

"Christmas Day."

"Wow, seven weeks to organize it all. You sure you're going to be ready?"

"Oh, it'll all be perfect. Neither Conner or I want a big fancy wedding, and all our family will be in town already so we figured we'd do it all together. Adele, Sophie and Kelly are all more than happy to help me organize everything. I guess Mother might want to help too."

Not that Tina wanted her to. Tina knew no matter how much of a changed woman Gloria was, she still had no idea what 'low key' meant.

The wedding didn't scare Tina at all. Not the organizing or the fact she was making a commitment to Conner. No, it was what was going to happen after the wedding that left Tina feeling a little lost. She had always been an athlete. That took up most of her time and energy. She'd never thought about doing anything else. Now she had her whole life ahead of her and no real idea what she was going to do with it. She knew she couldn't just sit at home waiting for Conner to return from work. She just wasn't wired that way. As much as she missed the actual gymnastics, now that she had real friends in her life, she didn't miss all the superficialness of high-level athletics. Maybe that's why her stomach was playing up? Could it be because she was so stressed?

"Well, it sounds lovely. And speaking of your man, looks like he's here to whisk you away."

She sat up straight in her chair, turning a pleading look at Nina. "Oh, please don't tell him I'm walking yet. I want to surprise him at the wedding."

Nina's face broke out into a huge grin. "That's a great idea. You're going to shock the socks off him when he sees you do it."

"Thanks, Nina."

With Nina holding the door open, Tina wheeled out to where Conner stood waiting for her. He leaned down to give her a quick but passionate kiss before he pushed her out to his car.

"How'd it go, baby doll? You're looking a little pale, your stomach still giving you trouble?"

"My tummy's still a little cranky, but I'm thinking it might just be stress. It'll be fine soon I'm sure. The rehab is coming along really well...But I'm desperately in need of a shower."

He chuckled at her. "Well, yeah, I wasn't going to say anything but you're rather sweaty."

"Gee, thanks. Are you telling me I stink?" Humor laced her voice. Conner could be so damn cheeky.

"Never would I do such a thing. I'm wounded you would think that of me." He said in mock horror. With a wink, he continued, "c'mon, let's get home where I can make sure you're all clean."

She allowed him to lift her into the car and as she buckled herself in, he packed up her chair and jumped in the driver's side. As they drove out of the car park, her thoughts turned to her future.

"Are you sure you're okay? You're not in pain, are you?"

"No, I'm fine. Well, my legs and neck ache a little, and my tummy's not overly happy with me but nothing major. Why?"

"Because you've got a nasty looking frown happening. What's up?"

"Oh, I've just been thinking about my future."

"Ah, hence the stress. Is it looking that bad? I thought I was a good catch."

She could hear the humor in his voice, and she appreciated his effort to cheer her up.

"Oh, you're definitely a great catch, honey. I mean with my career. I've only been an athlete, and that's not ever going to be possible again. I can't just sit around all day, every day, it will drive me nuts."

"Funny you should say that. I was chatting with Mum this morning when an idea occurred to me. You like working with numbers right?"

"Yeah, I've always been good at math. What are you thinking?"

"I was thinking you could have a go at accounting at Uni. You know, only if you wanted to."

Tina leaned back against the seat. Accounting. Suddenly she couldn't work out why she hadn't already thought of it.

"That's definitely something to consider, but I need something physical too. I don't ever want to get into the high level stuff again, but I want to keep my strength and fitness up. That is, once this rehab is over and I get back to normal."

"Actually, Adele suggested something a while back in that regard. I wasn't going to say anything until your rehab was further along."

"What idea is that?"

"You could teach. Just because you can't compete with gymnastics, doesn't change how much you know about it. You could teach classes or coach individuals. There is a club here in town. I'm sure they'd love to have someone with your knowledge and expertise on board."

Tina's head jerked back as she blinked in surprise. "I suddenly feel really stupid for not seeing that as an option. How could I have not thought of that? Or the accounting thing."

"Well, in your defense. You've been more than a little busy."

She chuckled. "Yes, there's nothing quite like a crazy woman coming after you to keep you distracted."

Looking out the windshield, she smiled as their house came into view.

"Home sweet home."

The car slowed to a stop and Conner's finger beneath her jaw turned her face toward him so his lips could take hers with a heated passion she felt all the way to her toes.