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By the time Daniel ambled round to the driver’s door, Lily had removed her hat. And, as he settled behind the wheel, she slipped off the blue elastic band that tied back her hair and shook it free.
Her hair was heavy and silky, the pale colour of new hemp rope. It tumbled in waves over her shoulders like rippling water, and with a complete lack of self-consciousness she began to sift strands of it through her fingers. Finally, she lifted the full weight of it from the back of her neck, exposing damp little curls stuck to her warm pink skin. Then she re-twisted her hair into a loose knot and slipped the band back into place.
During the entire process Daniel watched, transfixed.
Eventually, Lily glanced sideways and realised he was staring at her. Their gazes met. And froze. They both held their breaths.
Something happened.
Something in Lily’s misty blue-grey eyes reached deep into the darkness inside Daniel and tugged. He felt an almost shocking sense of connection. It was completely unexpected.
Damn.
Lily gulped.
Oh, man.
Oh…man…It was crazy, actually, the way she was reacting to Daniel Renton. She’d made quite a fool of herself on the riverbank by gaping at his bare shoulders and chest. Such a silly reaction from a girl who’d grown up in the Sugar Bay hippie community, where skinny-dipping was an almost everyday occurrence.
Then again, how could she not be impressed? The tapering line from Daniel’s broad shoulders to his flat stomach and lean hips would have made Michelangelo’s David look like a mere boy.
And now, within the confines of his truck’s cabin, mere inches from his face—from his blue eyes, deep-set and wary beneath strong dark brows, his jaw made extra rugged by a day or two’s growth of beard—she felt distinctly breathless. She’d never met a man who was quite so devastatingly, so uncompromisingly…
Male.
Daniel Renton was masculinity distilled. And, to be honest, he was just a little dangerous-looking. So tense and guarded. Suspicious, almost. Fine shivers scampered down Lily’s spine. Why would he look at her that way—as if she was a threat to him, as if he had something to hide?
Good grief, was she crazy to be jumping into a vehicle with a stranger? She’d been so desperate to get fuel she’d grabbed the chance, but had she been a tad reckless? Perhaps she should leap out of this truck right now and take her chances back out on the road.
Or was she overreacting? Perhaps Daniel’s wariness was the natural reserve of a man who lived in the remote Outback.
She wrapped her arms over her bare midriff, but it wasn’t her exposed middle he was looking at. He seemed preoccupied with her face, but she couldn’t think why. Hers was a very ordinary face—a little too round, inclined to freckle, with eyes a nondescript shade. Seconds earlier he’d been looking at her hair—almost as if he’d never seen long, wavy hair before. Again, there was nothing remarkable about her hair. A very ordinary colour. Sandy—neither blonde nor brown.
Daniel lifted his hand and Lily jumped. For one breathless moment she thought he was actually going to touch her hair, and she felt a flash of fear. And then she felt something else that startled her, deep in the pit of her stomach—a shiver of shameless interest. What would it be like to be touched by this man?
But then he seemed to come to his senses, and his hand slammed back onto the steering wheel.
Lily let out her breath, and the muscles in Daniel’s throat moved as if he was having difficulty swallowing.
Frowning fiercely, he jerked his gaze to the front. He seemed suddenly unhappy, and Lily felt unhappy too. None of this would have happened if she’d stopped for petrol in that last little town she’d so gaily flashed through a couple of hours ago. At the time she’d been singing ‘Hit the Road, Jack’ at the top of her voice. Now she cringed to think she’d been so naive, so foolishly confident that there would be more little towns, more places to fill up with petrol long before she reached Gidgee Springs.
Her thoughts flew to Fern, her mother. I’m sorry, Mum. I’ve stuffed up.
She grimaced when she remembered the pain in Fern’s eyes as she’d waved her off this morning, smiling bravely. She would do anything to keep her mother out of a wheelchair, which was why she was on this journey. Her plan was to meet Audrey Halliday, her father’s widow—the woman Marcus Halliday had married after he’d abandoned Fern—and to shamelessly beg Audrey for money for the operation Fern needed.
But now Lily’s mission of mercy was in jeopardy. Totally. Unless this strange and taciturn man was prepared to help her.
While she was lost in her anxious thoughts, Daniel started the ute suddenly, and it lurched down the rough bush track at such a reckless speed that Lily had no time to fasten her seatbelt.
Toppling sideways, she fell against his hard shoulder. She tried to support herself, and her hand landed on his thigh, her splayed fingers gripping the denim of his jeans.
Beneath the thin and faded fabric, still damp from his recent swim, iron-hard muscles bunched at her touch.
‘Sorry,’ she squeaked, snatching her hand away.
He growled something incomprehensible and Lily didn’t respond. Her heart was pounding unmercifully and, with more dignity than was necessary, she eased herself back into her seat and pulled the seatbelt across her and into place. Daniel drove more slowly, keeping his eyes on the narrow track. And Lily decided she had no choice but to trust him.
Their journey was rough going. Long grass grew between the wheel ruts, scraping the underbelly of the ute, and she recognised overgrown weeds—lantana bushes and Chinee apple—running wild along the edges, almost taking over the track in places.
As Daniel swerved to dodge another huge clump of lantana, she said, ‘This property is wonderfully wild.’
‘It hasn’t always been like this.’ He muttered this defensively. ‘I—I’ve been away.’
‘Travelling?’
He shrugged and continued to stare straight ahead through the windscreen. ‘Not really. Just—just working somewhere else.’
‘So have I,’ she said brightly. ‘I’ve been working in Sri Lanka.’
He sent a quick sideways glance her way.
‘It was an amazing experience,’ she said. ‘I loved it. I spent twelve months doing voluntary work in a village on the coast.’
She looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to comment, or to tell her what he’d been doing, but he kept staring morosely ahead.
‘When I came back,’ she went on, needing to fill the uncomfortable silence, ‘I couldn’t settle into my old life in Sydney. The party-party-party scene just didn’t cut it for me any more, so I went back to Sugar Bay to stay with my mother.’
‘Sugar Bay? That’s where all the hippies squatted years ago, isn’t it?’
‘Yes,’ she said, but she sensed an underlying cynicism in Daniel’s question, so she didn’t elaborate. She certainly didn’t want to tell him what had happened when she’d gone home—her devastating discovery that her mother was almost completely crippled and in dire need of surgery.
Fern had kept silent for too long. She hadn’t wanted to tell Lily how badly her condition had deteriorated, had worried that Lily would come hurrying back from Sri Lanka too soon. Dear, silly woman.
The worst of it was that Fern had no health insurance and no money for the necessary operation, and the public hospital waiting list was up to two years long. Lily, unfortunately, had no money either, because she’d poured almost all her savings into the Sri Lankan village.
Fern had no choice but to wait in the long queue for the public health system, but by then she would be bedridden. She needed the operation now, which was why Lily felt compelled to face up to the woman who’d inherited every cent of her father’s considerable wealth.
Lily sighed again. She could never think of Marcus Halliday without feeling the sharp, painful stab of his personal rejection. She’d carried the scar since she was five years old. Too long.
Daniel drove on in silence, and Lily realised the track was curving back towards the mountain range, which meant he was taking her further and further away from the road and into the wilderness. She felt uneasy again. Where was he taking her? Where was his house?
She had no idea if he lived with a family or alone. Good grief. Her imagination kicked in, throwing up dreadful possibilities. How on earth could she escape if Daniel was dangerous? If only there had been someone at home when she’d tried to telephone Audrey. Where was Audrey? She should have been expecting her call.
On the edge of full fledged panic, Lily squeaked, ‘How far are we going?’
‘Almost there,’ Daniel muttered, and the track forked suddenly. He took a turn to the right, the track broke out of the scrub and two long, sun-drenched paddocks stretched before them. At the far end of the paddocks, against a majestic backdrop of heavily forested green mountains, a white homestead with a faded red ripple-iron roof and deep verandas sprawled in the sunshine like a sleepy dog.
Lily was buoyed on a wave of instant relief.
Tall, ancient palm trees surrounded the homestead, making it look cool, despite the shimmering noonday heat. To the right of the house, tumbledown machinery sheds were shaded by an enormous spreading cassia tree covered in massive, romantic pink blossoms.
‘Is that your house?’
He grunted yes.
‘It’s lovely.’
She meant it. Daniel’s house might not be grand or manicured, but there was something very appealing about it. She loved the way its long red roof reached protectively over the deep, shady verandas, and the way the green mountains stood on guard behind it. The circle of palms and the lovely pink cassia tree added a touch of romance. Undeniable charm. It was a setting an artist might feel an urge to paint.
Again she thought of her father. Marcus Halliday had made his fame and fortune bringing scenes like this to life on canvas.
Her lips pulled into a wry smile. Was it because of Marcus or in spite of him that the sight of Daniel’s home tugged at her heartstrings? Whatever the reason, she felt charmed by the house and surprised, after her many misgivings, that she felt instantly at home.
‘You must have been very happy to come back from your travels to such a lovely place,’ she said.
Dark colour stained Daniel’s cheekbones, and he cleared his throat. ‘The house might look good from a distance, but it’s run-down like the rest of the property.’
‘So you’ve been away for quite some time?’
He didn’t reply. Obviously he had no intention of telling her anything about himself, but she wished he would. She’d feel so much more at ease if he was more outgoing. But, then again, why should he bother? It wasn’t as if they were starting a friendship. Soon he would be dropping her into Gidgee Springs and they would never see each other again.
‘The herd’s been away on agistment.’
She realised that Daniel’s focus was somewhere else entirely. He was studying the cattle in the paddock to his right.
‘I only got this lot back last week.’ Slowing the ute, he steered with one hand and leaned an elbow out of the window. He frowned as he fixed his attention on one particular cow with a noticeably swollen abdomen and udder. She was standing apart from the herd and looked rather uncomfortable, with her back arched and her tail raised. He brought the ute to a standstill, and Lily looked at the animal with sudden fascination.
‘I need to quickly check that heifer.’
‘Is she pregnant?’
‘She’s in labour. I’ve been keeping an eye on her this morning.’ His thoughtful frown deepened. ‘Usually there’s no need to intervene, but she’s young and this is her first calf.’
Without another word, he shoved the door open and strode to the fence, pushed the top strand of the barbed wire down with one hand, and swung his long legs easily over it.
Watching him, Lily let a sigh of relief drift from her lips. Surely a man who cared about a cow in labour couldn’t be dangerous? She decided she might be safe with him after all, and her mouth twitched into a smile. How nice it would be if Daniel was as trustworthy as he was hot-looking.
He returned quite quickly.
‘I think she’s OK,’ he said as he restarted the motor. ‘But it’s a bit hard to tell—the early stages are dragging on a bit.’
The truck rattled along the last part of the track leading up to the house. As Daniel turned off the motor, he said, ‘I’m afraid it’ll have to be bread and cheese for lunch.’
‘Oh, I don’t expect you to feed me.’
He frowned. ‘Why not? Have you already eaten?’
‘No.’
He gave an impatient shake of his head. ‘Then come on. I’m going to eat, and you may as well have something. It won’t be anything flash, of course.’
‘Thank you.’ Lily offered Daniel her warmest smile. But perhaps it was a mistake, because he seemed to freeze, and he stared back at her with such a fierce look that she felt her smile fade.
Three or four seconds passed, and then he said less gruffly, ‘I can’t treat you like a trespasser.’
Without warning, he smiled.
And, oh, what a difference it made.
Lily wanted to stare and stare.
CHAPTER TWO
THEY crossed the stretch of grass to the house and Lily saw that Daniel was right. The homestead certainly showed signs of neglect.
The long front veranda was unswept and littered with leaves. Dirty pieces of straw and old, yellowed newspapers were piled in corners. The white weatherboard walls were coated with grimy cobwebs and the windows were smeared with dust. Dried mud nests made by hornets clustered around the dark green windowsills, and long strings of grey cobwebs hung from the deep eaves.
Daniel sent Lily a grimly cautious glance. ‘I did warn you. This is no showplace up close.’
She waved away his apology. ‘I’ve seen it all before.’
He almost smiled again as he pushed the screen door open. ‘At least the kitchen’s habitable.’
And indeed it was.
It was large and clean, old-fashioned and homely, with a scrubbed pine table dominating the centre of the room and a big, open-shelved pine dresser on the opposite wall, filled with happy-looking blue and yellow china.
Actually, it was almost too neat. Where, Lily wondered, was the usual kitchen clutter? The feeding bowls for pets? The ubiquitous calendar on the wall with significant dates circled or scrawled over? And where were the old notes or receipts stuck to the fridge by funky magnets?
Of course, if Daniel had been away for some time, he wouldn’t have had the chance to acquire pets or to gather much clutter.
‘Do you live alone?’
‘Yes.’
Was it her imagination, or had she seen a flash of pain in his face?
He turned quickly to the sink, squirted some lemon detergent and washed his hands. Over his shoulder, he nodded to a door. ‘Bathroom’s through there if you’d like a wash.’
‘Thanks.’
The bathroom was plain but clean—with fluffy lime-green towels and a cheery sunflower stuck in a green wine bottle and set on the windowsill. From her experience of bachelors, the flower was an unexpected touch. Lily stared at it, wondering…
As she stepped back into the hallway she noticed that the doors to all other rooms, except one—Daniel’s bedroom, she guessed—were firmly shut. Thick trails of grey dust drifted from beneath the closed doors.
Obviously he’d fixed up just enough space for his immediate needs.
She couldn’t help feeling curious about him, about where he had been and whether he had a family—a girlfriend—even a wife somewhere. Why had this house and his large property been allowed to get so run down while he was away? Ironbark Station would be worth a stack of money if it was a fully functioning cattle station.
