Cullen's Bride Read Free

drive the ten winding kilometres from town to her family’s farm. Nearly twice as long as usual. But then, she was still shaking, and she wasn’t stupid enough to have a car accident as well as get attacked by a deranged teenager all in the same night
    The house was in darkness except for the porch light. She and her half brother, Cole, were the only ones in residence at the moment. Cole was managing the sheep-and-cattle station while her father was down south in the Waikato, dabbling in his favourite pastime of raising race horses. Her other three half brothers, Ethan, Nick and Doyle, could be in any of a half-dozen cities or countries, pursuing their various business interests.
    The dogs barked as she slotted her car into the four-bay garage, then settled down when she called their names. She’d only been back home for a week, but the adjustment from city living to country was unexpectedly sweet. After the break-up of her marriage, she’d needed the change more badly than she’d been prepared to admit to herself or any member of her nosy, overprotective family.
    Music drifted up from the common room, which was down by the single men’s quarters, signalling that a group of the men who worked for Cole were still up and socialising, probably playing pool. But Cole’s BMW was missing. Rachel locked her car, then let herself into the graceful old house. She didn’t know whether to be upset or relieved at Cole’s absence. Her older brother would have comforted her, but he would have dressed her down just as thoroughly as the stranger in the alley had.
    She couldn’t get him out of her mind.
    Or the danger that had appeared out of nowhere, shattering her image of small-town New Zealand—and Riverbend in particular—as a safe, cosy haven. After all the normal security precautions she’d taken for granted while living in Auckland, she still couldn’t believe how naive and careless she’d been.
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    Rachel was pouring coffee the next morning when Cole padded into the big, sunny kitchen.
    Typically, her older brother didn’t bother with pleasantries “Dan Holt just rang He said you had some trouble last night.”
    Rachel set down the coffeepot and leaned against the bench, cradling her cup and deciding that today she was going to need every last ounce of caffeine kick she could get. Despite her exhaustion, she hadn’t slept well. The scene in the alley had played itself over and over in her mind, and her reaction to the dark stranger had permeated what sleep she’d managed to get, making her toss restlessly until finally she’d given up trying and had lain with her eyes open, waiting for dawn. “I was accosted by a drunk when I left the salon. Fortunately, someone stopped and helped me out.”
    Cole’s jaw tightened as he busied himself at the stove frying bacon. “The drunk who attacked you is a seventeen-year-old kid named Dane Trask, and that ‘someone’ who helped you out was Cullen Logan.”
    Cullen Logan.
    Shock jerked through Rachel, almost making her spill her coffee. Every town had its bad boy—its outlaw. Cullen Logan just happened to be Riverbend’s.
    Rachel had seen him once, years ago, when she’d been home from school for Christmas. She’d been standing on the sidewalk, soaking up the warm summer morning, waiting for Ethan and Cole while they made some purchases in the supermarket, when a biker had pulled up at the adjacent petrol station. The big, leather-jacketed man had straddled the throbbing monster of a bike while he eased his helmet off, peeled gauntlets from his hands, then slipped a pair of dark glasses onto the bridge of his nose. He’d killed the engine, then made a leisurely survey of Riverbend’s Saturday-morning-busy street.
    Rachel hadn’t been close enough to describe exactly what he’d looked like, but even at the tender age of twelve, she could see the hot