Cover Page

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Copyright

A mother to five sons, Fiona McArthur is an Australian midwife who loves to write. Mills & Boon® Medical™ Romance gives Fiona the scope to write about all the wonderful aspects of adventure, romance, medicine and midwifery that she feels so passionate about—as well as an excuse to travel! So now that the boys are older, her husband Ian and youngest son Rory are off with Fiona to meet new people, see new places, and have wonderful adventures. Fiona’s website is at www.fionamcarthur.com

WITH THANKS TO:

Glenn at Heliworks, for his help with helicopters and moments of unusual interest.

To Fiona, the guide at the Bungle Bungles, who shared her knowledge and enthusiasm for an amazing place.

And Annie, for being a natural-born teacher and one of my wonderful Maytone friends.

ANOTHER squat boab tree dropped its leaves as Sophie Sullivan drove past, a sure sign the wet season was nearly over. She sounded her car horn at the frilledneck lizard basking in the middle of the dirt track and he reared on hind legs, spread his neck frill and hissed until he seemed much more than he really was.

Typical male.

At least the craggy red mountains that embraced her were true, she thought, as she drove towards the boulder-strewn river—that range was a dear part of home.

Home: far north Western Australia, the Kimberleys and a place blissfully away from the city and men who shed lies like the boab shed leaves.

Even the dusty Gibb River Road looked attractive until she saw the vehicle parked by the Pentecost and the motionless man beside the sluggish water.

More crocodile fodder. She sighed—travellers caused her no end of concern, especially ones who hovered for long periods at the edge of the crocodile-inhabited rivers.

The tourists parked by the river because of the view to the Cockburn Range across the ochre plains. Locals used the designated parking area at the top of the hill, well away from the water.

She pulled up next to the expensive all-terrain vehicle and wound down her window. ‘You OK, there?’

The man didn’t answer. He must’ve heard her truck. She was ten feet away from him. Careless and rude, she thought and narrowed her eyes. Finally he turned his head and glanced at her dismissively. ‘Fine, thanks.’

He was big—Sophie couldn’t help but notice—bigger than her brother, Smiley, who topped six-two, and this guy was very nicely muscled so he’d be a mouthful for any croc, but he was too close and too stationary in a dangerous spot. It would be a shame to waste the body, she thought dispassionately, and with the new knowledge from Brand-name Brad she could have done without, it would be a waste of the designer jeans and Rolex watch.

Congratulations were in order for her immunity from the male species. A hard-won but valuable lesson.

Sophie bit back another sigh. How did you tell someone to get back in their vehicle when they blatantly ignored you?

‘You’ve seen the warnings?’ She looked at the sign herself, read it under her breath even. ‘Crocodiles Inhabit This Area. Keep Away from the Edge. Do Not Enter the Water.’ But her reading it didn’t make him face her. In fact, no further response to her at all.

Grrr. Spare me from arrogant males. Despite the flags that waved from the man to say go away, she tried one more time. ‘About the crocodiles here?’

‘Yes, thanks.’ Far less cordial and this time he shifted his feet so he faced her. ‘I’m just passing through.’

‘You’ll pass right through a croc,’ she said drily. ‘I lost my darling dog in a spot like this once.’ And still had nightmares about the tragedy her lack of concentration had caused.

Then he looked directly at her. He wasn’t to-die-for handsome, really, but he had those dark, dark lashes and an intense gaze that held her, effortlessly, until he dropped the connection as easily as he’d reeled her in. The trumpet call. Danger, and not from crocodiles. Her skin prickled.

‘I’m sorry to hear about your pet.’ He glanced back at the river before he looked again at her, to assess if she’d be a nuisance by the look of it, and Sophie could feel the warmth of the sun beat in the window, or she hoped that explained the heat.

Best not to become entangled in another look so she concentrated on a small scar on his chin that made him less imposing—more vulnerable, which was a funny thing to think about a stranger, but his mouth…She had a sudden ridiculous urge to see those lips smile.

Sophie searched for the question she’d asked.

He coughed and she looked up in time to see him roll his eyes, obviously used to stunned mullet expressions on passing females, and he didn’t bother to hide the sigh. ‘If I get attacked by a croc because I had to talk to you I’m going to be extremely unhappy.’

Sophie blinked. What the heck was she doing? So much for immunity! She obviously needed a booster shot against this guy, so leaving was a great idea. ‘Right, then. Your funeral.’ For the first time in ten years Sophie crunched the gears as she slipped her vehicle into reverse.

Levi Pearson turned back to contemplate the spot where his father had been taken five months ago. Or had he been pushed and the crocodile only secondary to his demise? He’d find out.

That tiny whiff of suspicion, something only he seemed to have sniffed, was the reason he’d flown up here after the wet season and why he’d asked his stubbornly determined sister not to mention their proper connection to Xanadu. That and the fact the other consultant he worked with had recommended a holiday for the tenth time in the past two years.

As soon as he’d confirmed or dismissed the concept of foul play he’d get her the hell out of downtown nowheresville and back to Sydney. The manager here was more than capable of running Xanadu, and Levi didn’t need another burden, but he’d discovered a motive he couldn’t dismiss.

Lord knew the original owners of the station had enough reason to hate his family if the stories of his father were true.

He took his eye off the bank and risked a glance at the blonde woman’s four-wheel-drive vehicle as it ploughed through the river away from him. Nothing else mattered. Hadn’t for a long while. Definitely not a pair of concerned blue eyes under two stern eyebrows. Above a lush little mouth. He frowned. She’d been an officious little thing but strangely intriguing.

Still, he’d read the population of the Kimberley region was about thirty thousand people in an area slightly bigger than Germany and it was the last place he’d ever settle. So, he should be safe from bumping into her again. He didn’t need the complication of fleeting sexual attraction to a cowgirl.

A stealthy splash to the left of where he stood had his attention firmly back on the water and Levi took a few steps towards the vehicle he’d borrowed from the resort. Probably better not to get eaten and give her the chance to say I told you so.

He could feel the twitch of his lips at the thought, along with surprise at the idea of smiling, something he hadn’t done much of in the past year or two, and climbed back into his vehicle.

Nearly two hours later Sophie swerved around another pothole and the old four-wheel drive bounced off the thousandth corrugation on her way to Jabiru Station Township. They’d grade the road soon now the rain had stopped. She gritted her teeth to stop the jarring. Almost home.

Funnily enough, she wasn’t tired. Hadn’t been since the Pentecost. She didn’t want to think about the man at the river any more. It had been one of those moments in time when you catch another person’s eye and, for a second or two, glances tangle and reverberate, and then you both look away and the moment passes.

Except the moment seemed to last an eternity and she was still waiting for it to pass.

It had been one of those moments. Just a stranger. With great eyes. And a great body. And a great mouth. Even in the firm line, she remembered, his mouth had hinted at a fullness and dangerous curve that made her wonder how he’d got the scar. She hoped some hot-blooded woman had thrown a plate at him. Her lips twitched but she pulled them back into line. He’d looked like everything she didn’t want in a man.

Rude, definitely.

Stupid, obviously. She frowned. He didn’t look stupid; actually, he’d looked fearsomely intelligent. So not stupid, maybe reckless. She didn’t want that either, did she? No way.

Worst of all, he’d had the trappings of her ex. Stinking, selfishly, blatantly wealthy. Like Dr Brad Gale. The liar. She was finished with doctors and liars and people who thought they could buy you. And serve you a prenuptial at the same time.

She was glad to be home, in a place where people said what they meant and didn’t string you along. Where she could be useful to those who needed her, and not as some decorative arm hanging, and definitely not confined to answering only when spoken to.

Sophie did wonder if her poor brother had become used to his bachelor ways while she’d been away. He’d looked surprised when she’d arrived to move back into her own room, even if ‘Shortest engagement in history,’ was all he’d said.

She drove through the tiny Jabiru Station Township—mostly pubs and boarded buildings—to their house, a modest timber residence with bull-nosed verandas on all sides and a tiny dry garden. Neat and comfortable, in the same state of disrepair as they’d inherited it from their parents, who’d inherited it from her father’s parents after Granddad did that bad thing.

A place where Smiley could save every cent for his dream station, like the one his grandfather had been tricked out of in a card game all those years ago. Against a man who’d lied.

Not that Smiley lusted after Xanadu. He’d his own plans for a different station that accounted for his cattle having to be lodged all over the Kimberley while he saved for the land, but it irked Sophie that her own father and now Smiley had to scrimp so hard to make their way in the place they were born.

‘You must’ve loaded the cattle early, because I didn’t see the road train on the way in,’ she said as she rounded the veranda, then stopped. He had someone with him.

Her brother’s drawl seemed more noticeable, which was saying something, as his normal speech defined the word leisurely. ‘Sophie.’ He looked at her, and then indicated the petite dark-haired woman beside him. ‘This is Odette. From Sydney. She’s having a baby, and in the area for a week or so, and wanted to meet a midwife in case she had any problems.’

Sophie held out her hand and shook the young woman’s perfectly manicured fingers. Nice expensive watch. Brad had bought her one just like it. She’d left it in Perth.

Sophie bit back the thought. He’d made her judgemental and that wasn’t like her—or hadn’t been before she’d tripped off to Perth for her midwifery. She needed to get her new prejudice under control. Wealthy tourists kept a lot of people in jobs around here.

‘Nice to meet you, Odette. Welcome to Jabiru Station Township. You been waiting long?’

‘I flew in an hour ago.’ Her coral-coloured lips tilted as she smiled. She had a sweet face, Sophie thought, and well made up, which was interesting as the heat usually melted foundation around here. ‘Guess I should have rung first but I thought the clinic was open.’

Sophie looked across the street to the old homestead that’d been turned into the clinic. ‘I’ve been visiting an Aboriginal community. It’s “women’s health” day. Just takes a few hours to cover the distance around here.’

‘So Smiley was explaining.’ She looked shyly up at Sophie’s brother. Goofily, Smiley actually smiled back, an occurrence that was so rare it had derived his nickname. Sophie felt herself frown. She’d never seen him look like that. Or be much into explaining anything. She’d be lucky to get a dozen words out of him on a normal morning.

‘Odette flew herself in a chopper,’ he said.

Impressive. ‘You’re a pilot? Wow.’ And very pregnant, but she didn’t say it.

Odette shrugged with a smile. ‘I do it for fun. You’re a midwife. Wow.’

Sophie had to laugh. ‘I do that for fun too. My friend, Kate, the other midwife, flies her own plane from Jabiru Homestead.’

Odette exuded good nature and Sophie couldn’t help liking her. ‘So you’re having a baby? And want a check-up? Come across to the clinic. Was there something you were worried about?’

Odette turned and smiled at Sophie’s brother. ‘Thanks, Smiley. I hope I get to see you again.’

He nodded and tipped his hat. The two women crossed the road and Odette looked back. ‘Your brother’s a handsome man.’

Sophie blinked. She’d never thought about it. He was just…Smiley. ‘If he’s not in the house he’s got an Akubra on so I don’t often see his face. I guess I still see skinned knees and freckles.’

‘I didn’t see any of those.’ Odette sounded almost dreamy and Sophie grimaced. City-rich women and Smiley did not mix.

‘Is it your husband’s helicopter?’ Not very subtle.

‘I don’t have a husband.’ Odette was no fool and she met Sophie’s eyes without a flicker. ‘The father of my baby is dead.’

Bummer, for more reasons than one, Sophie thought. Was she being judgemental again? ‘Sorry for being nosy.’

‘That’s OK. Better to get it out in the open anyway. He wasn’t a nice man,’ Odette went on. ‘And the chopper belongs to the resort where I’m staying.’

‘That would be Xanadu, then.’ It wasn’t a question. Xanadu. Now an ultra-high-end resort a hundred kilometres away, as the chopper flew, that catered for a Kimberley adventure in five-star luxury. Private suites, fine wine and cuisine, and escorted tours with private sittings in the hot springs and gorges. They’d turned it into a wilderness park with a few token cattle. Not like in Grandfather’s day. ‘I’ve never known them to lend the chopper before.’

Odette shrugged. ‘I just asked the manager.’ She looked across at Sophie. ‘I could take you and Smiley up for a fly if you want.’

‘Thanks, but maybe another time. Should you be flying when you’re pregnant?’

‘You sound like my brother.’

Now why did she suddenly think of the man at the river? ‘Don’t suppose he’s a big bloke, scar on his chin, not into smiling.’ The one who was ‘just passing through.’

‘You’ve met Levi?’

‘Levi?’ It seemed he was another person who was happy to bend the truth. As opposed to the straightforward people from around here who didn’t lie. ‘Yep. Guess I have. He was at the Pentecost River crossing.’ Sophie didn’t say a little too close to the water because she didn’t want to worry Odette. She shrugged. ‘I warned him about the crocodiles.’

Odette pursed her lips for a moment, then visibly pushed away whatever had caused the look. ‘He knows about the crocodiles. But thank you. Levi is a good guy, just forgotten how to have fun.’

And too attractive, and Sophie needed to talk about something new because she had the feeling anything else she learnt about him wouldn’t help her forget.

‘So when’s your baby due, Odette?’

‘A month.’

Sophie fought to keep her jaw from dropping but she had another look. Surely too small. Maybe Odette had it all tucked away. ‘I’d say your brother was right and you shouldn’t be flying. Where’s your mother?’

‘She died when I was a kid.’ Oops, Sophie thought. Another foot-in-mouth question.

Luckily Odette didn’t seem worried. ‘Levi brought me up. Our father ran off with another woman when I was young. That’s why Levi’s serious. He’s been the man of the house for a lot of years.’

Too much information. Not hearing this. ‘OK.’ Sophie pushed open the door and they went into the small exam room. ‘How about I check your blood pressure, feel your tummy and have a listen to your baby’s heart rate? If it’s OK with you I’ll photocopy your antenatal card. Then if you have any worries I can talk you through most of it on the phone.’

Odette grinned. ‘This is like booking into a spare hospital.’

Sophie smiled back. ‘Except we don’t deliver babies here, only the unexpected ones.’ She gestured to the chair beside her desk. ‘Have a seat.’

Odette settled herself and held out her arm. ‘That’s OK. We’ll probably be back in Sydney in a few days anyway.’

Maybe that justifies as passing through and he didn’t technically lie. Though what the heck was he doing bringing someone this pregnant away from home?

Sophie wrapped the cuff around Odette’s arm and pumped it up, then let it down. She unhooked the stethoscope from her ears and smiled. ‘Blood pressure’s perfect. One ten on sixty.’ She indicated the footstool beside the examination table. ‘If you can climb up there we’ll see where this baby of yours is hiding.’

Odette chuckled. ‘Everyone says I’m small but I was only five pounds when I was born. The ultrasound said it’s a boy.’

Sophie draped a thin sheet over the lower half of Odette’s body and Odette lifted her shirt. ‘A boy. Wow. Nice tummy.’ Sophie was serious. Odette’s abdomen curved up in a perfect small hill, brown and smooth, and the baby shifted a body part into a small point as Sophie laughed. ‘He’s waving.’

Odette slid her hand over the point and the baby subsided as if trained. ‘My baby’s no sloth. Moves heaps, especially at night.’

‘Women tend to feel their babies at night because they’re not busy like they are in the daytime. They say the baby already has a rhythm so if he’s awake a lot at night you might be in for some sleep deprivation.’

‘I don’t mind.’ Odette smiled dreamily. ‘I can’t wait.’

I hope you do, Sophie thought, as she measured the mound of Odette’s belly and, taking into account the petite mother, the measurements confirmed Odette’s estimated due date.

She slid the hand-held Doppler over the area she’d palpated as the baby’s shoulder and the sound of the baby’s heart rate filled the room. They both listened and their eyes met in mutual acknowledgement of the wonder of childbearing. ‘There you go,’ Sophie said, as she turned off the Doppler. ‘One hundred and forty beats a minute and just as perfect as his mother.’

She helped Odette sit up. ‘Everything looks great.’

‘Thanks, Sophie. I feel better just talking to you.’ Odette climbed down and smoothed her clothes. ‘How much do I owe you?’

Sophie shook her head. ‘I didn’t do anything. Free service. Anyone can walk in and get the same.’

‘You and Smiley should come over to Xanadu on the weekend and have dinner with my brother and me. Our treat. As a thank-you for this.’ She gestured to the examination couch. ‘I could come and get you in the chopper. Or Levi could.’

Lord, no. And she thought they were going in a day or two? It was only Monday. She walked her to the door. ‘Thanks, Odette, but the weather’s still too unsettled for me to fly—I’m a chicken in the air—and I don’t know what Smiley’s planned. I’ve only just moved back from Perth.’

‘Sure. I’ll ring later in the week.’ Odette stopped and turned back with a new idea. ‘If you’re not keen on flying, you could stay overnight and drive back the next day. In fact, that sounds more fun anyway.’

Sophie felt she was being directed by a small determined whirly wind, like the one that was lifting leaves outside her window and the one inside her chest when she thought of staying anywhere near Odette’s brother. ‘I’ll mention it to Smiley.’ Not.

Odette pulled a gold compact from her bag, flicked open the mirror and touched up her lipstick. Not something Sophie did regularly out here in the bush and the thought made her smile to herself.

Odette snapped shut the compact. ‘What’s your brother’s real name?’

Sophie had to think for a moment. ‘William.’

Odette nodded as if she liked it. ‘I think I’ll call him William.’

‘It’s been a while since anybody has.’ Now where was this going? Nowhere, she hoped. ‘He may not even remember it.’

‘Even more reason to,’ Odette said cryptically.

That afternoon, Levi poured his sister a chilled juice and himself a cold beer before he moved to look over the veranda at the gorge below. Then her words sank in. He turned back to her. ‘You what?’

‘I invited William and Sophie to stay over for a night on the weekend. The midwife and her brother. To have dinner and drive home the next day.’

He’d strangle her. ‘Did I mention we didn’t want to draw attention until I find out if anyone around here hated our father enough to push him into that river?’

Odette crossed her arms and lent them over her large tummy. ‘Hated him more than you?’

Levi shook his head. ‘I didn’t hate him. I didn’t respect him. That’s all.’

He fully intended to sign the ownership he’d unexpectedly inherited back over to his sister, another baffling development his estranged father had left for him, when they’d all expected Odette to benefit by the resort automatically.

Odette rolled her eyes. ‘Because you’ve just found out he’s had another son to another woman. Humph.’ She returned to topic. ‘Besides, they wouldn’t know anything about Father’s accident. Sophie’s only just moved back from Perth and William is—’ she paused and her mouth curved ‘—just William. He hasn’t a mean bone in his body.’

He flung his hand out towards the view. ‘We don’t know that. Your new best friends. You’ve met them, what, once?’

‘You’ve met her too.’ Odette sat forward as he frowned.

He’d done his part. He’d avoided meeting anyone. Not likely. ‘When?’

‘She said she’d met you by the river—’ Odette didn’t quite poke out her tongue but he knew that look ‘—this afternoon.’ A winning point.

The little honey in the car? The last person he needed to be exposed to, as she seemed lodged like an annoying bindii from the grass in his memory bank. ‘Blonde ponytail? Nice, um, features?’

Odette coughed and he couldn’t help the curve of his own lips. He really didn’t have socialising on his agenda on this trip. He needed to go home; he’d already been away past his expectations, and his theatre list would be a mile long.

His sister would be the death of him. He sighed. Too late now. ‘So why can’t we fly them in and out? That way they don’t have to stay.’

Odette shrugged. ‘Sophie doesn’t fancy the chopper.’

Chicken, eh? Good. Though she hadn’t seemed a shrinking violet. ‘Maybe she wouldn’t mind so much if the pilot didn’t look like she was going to break her waters any moment?’

Odette flapped her hand at him. ‘You’re too used to your own way. Let me worry about me.’

‘I DON’T know how you talked me into this.’ Sophie glared at her brother.

Smiley kept his eyes on the road. ‘You’ve been twitchy all week.’

‘And you’ve been moonstruck like a big old cow.’

Smiley turned to look at her briefly but didn’t say anything.

It was disappointing. A bit of a spat might have taken her mind off the nerves that were building ridiculously at the thought of meeting the brooding rich man again. She was even avoiding his name in her thoughts. How ridiculous.

Unable to get a rise out of Smiley she turned to watch the scenery flash by. The overhanging escarpment of the Cockburn ranges in the distance ran along the right side of the vehicle and the stumpy gums and dry grass covered the plains to the left before they soared into more ochre-red cliffs that tinged purple as the sun set.

Sophie knew the darkening gorges hid pockets of tangled rainforest and deep cold pools like the dread she could feel at meeting him again.

But the stands of thick and thin trees made her smile. She’d missed the pot bellies of the grey-trunked boabs the most while she’d been in Perth.

‘Why don’t you like Odette?’ Smiley was stewing. Something in his voice warned her not to be flippant.

‘Who wouldn’t like Odette?’ she said carefully. ‘She seems lovely. I just don’t want you hurt when she flies back to Sydney.’

Smiley frowned at the road ahead and Sophie winced at his displeasure. Now that was something she’d very rarely encountered and she didn’t like it. ‘I’m sorry, Smiley. I have no right to judge your friends. I think Odette’s great. I just can’t see her as an outback girl and I can’t see you in the city. But it’s none of my business.’

‘Thank you.’ His voice was dry and the two words were a statement. Thanking her for agreeing it was none of her business.

Oops. She really had upset her brother and that was something she’d never consciously do. Since her parents had died she’d become used to bossing Smiley around, giving her opinion, and he’d never seemed to mind.

Obviously she’d crossed the line with Odette. She’d just have to button her lip and trust Smiley’s instincts.

It would’ve been easier if she’d sent him to Xanadu on his own though. She had the feeling her trepidation for Smiley was tied up in the trepidation she held for herself with Odette’s mysterious brother.

Smiley turned off the main dirt road onto the red dust of the track through the scrub. They splashed through several watercourses and wound through the ochre-coloured hills until they turned into the Private Property, No Entry sign that hid the homestead.

‘Welcoming,’ she mumbled, and Smiley glanced at her.

‘You’ve met the brother?’

‘Briefly.’ She could be just as taciturn. She didn’t expand her explanation and Smiley didn’t ask again. Then the homestead came into view.

Xanadu Homestead was a long low building, and she’d been too young to remember visiting in her grandparents’ day. Apparently now it had been divided up into luxury suites, if what Sophie had heard was right, perched on the edge of the escarpment above the river that flowed beneath it.

The main building faced into the sunset which glowed deep red as it faded. Nice place to holiday if you had the platinum or even a black credit card, but not when you were eight months pregnant. Why would Odette and her brother come here now?

At least the thought gave her something else to concentrate on as they drew up at the house. She wondered what the other guests would think of outsiders being invited to invade their sanctuary. What month was this? April. The resort would only just have opened for the season anyway.

Odette swayed onto the main entrance portico in a muslin caftan that must have cost a bomb, and Sophie wondered how she could still be graceful when she was supposed to be awkward in the last month of pregnancy. Sophie glanced at Smiley and judging by his face he’d just seen the Holy Grail.

Sophie sighed and felt for the handle to climb out of the truck when her door moved away from her grasp.

‘Welcome to Xanadu.’ Levi held out his hand and Sophie wasn’t sure if he wanted to shake hers or help her from the vehicle. Where’d he come from? She’d been hoping to see him from a distance and get her face straight.

She resisted the urge to snap her hand back to her side and forced herself to let him take her fingers. Initially cool, the strength in his fingers surprised her, but not as much as the feeling of insidious connection, a frisson of ridiculous warmth that passed between them and echoed the impact of his eyes. There was something she’d deny with her last breath.

No. She hadn’t felt a thing. So why rub her hand surreptitiously behind her back? And why did he look down at her with one enigmatic eyebrow raised as if he’d been surprised as well?

Then Odette was dancing around the car like an elegant puppy as she looked adoringly up at Smiley, and Levi left her to shake Smiley’s hand.

‘It’s so good to see you, William.’ Odette flashed a smile at Sophie before she looked back at Smiley and captured his hand. Odette tugged his fingers to make him follow her. ‘This is my brother, Levi,’ she said dismissively. ‘Now, come and see the place.’

‘William’ looked back at Sophie, who managed a tiny smiling shrug that said she’d be fine.

‘My sister can be impetuous,’ Levi said grimly.

‘My brother can’t.’ She watched Smiley leap up the stairs after Odette. ‘Or I didn’t think he could.’

Levi lifted one eyebrow sardonically. ‘Welcome to Xanadu. I’ll send someone for the bags when we get inside.’

Sophie glanced in the back of the truck. ‘Actually, we’re used to carrying our own.’

He inclined his head. ‘But I’d be offended. Please come in.’

The bags weren’t worth standing out here with him so she turned resolutely towards the entrance. He went on. ‘The resort’s not technically opened for the season and we have the run of the place.’

‘Well, that’s very nice.’ But she couldn’t help thinking, How the heck did you do that? They must know the owners extremely well or have unlimited funds. Best not go there. ‘When does it open?’

He glanced at the sky. ‘Depends on the weather and the state of the roads, though apparently next week, if all continues well.’

She slanted a look across at him. ‘I guess you and Odette will be gone by then.’

Another enigmatic brow rose. ‘Trying to get rid of us?’

They crossed the gravel drive to the stairs and she paused. ‘You did say you were passing through. A week ago,’ she said calmly.

‘I lied.’ Straightfaced, no remorse.

Sophie blinked. She’d known he was dangerous. Like sniffying the briny scent before a storm. Her instincts had been right. He was trouble. She started walking again, faster now, but he kept pace. ‘People don’t tend to do that up here.’ Liar like Brad.

His eyes narrowed as if he sensed some history there. ‘Necessity can make liars out of us all.’

She could feel her lip curl. ‘So some people say.’

He looked across at her and no doubt he could see her distaste. She hoped so. ‘Had a bad experience with a man, have you?’

‘I think I’ll look for my brother.’ She turned away but before she could take a step he caught her hand again and she pulled up short to look back at him with raised eyebrows, actually astounded that he would invade her intimate space.

Maybe he didn’t know that people from the bush—used to wide-open spaces and few people—didn’t do space invasion well. Smiley tended to wave at people rather than shake their hands. Not like those from the city, who were used to people brushing up against them in elevators and on city streets.

He let go. This time she didn’t hide that she rubbed her hand.

‘I apologise, Sophie.’ To give him his due he looked as confused as she felt. ‘We seem to have got off on the wrong foot. Twice.’ Those deadly lips of his were as devastating in an almost smile as she’d imagined. Damn him.

‘Now why do we rub each other the wrong way, do you think?’

No way was Sophie going there. She looked him up and down. Coolly, she hoped. ‘I’m not interested in rubbing anyone at all.’

His almost smile, which she decided was forced anyway, departed and he nodded. ‘Let’s go in, then.’ He gestured with his hand for her to precede him, but he didn’t touch her. And she didn’t thank him for the courtesy because she could feel his eyes on her back uncomfortably the whole way up the steps. And he was still in her space.

Levi watched her attempt to walk sedately ahead of him; they both knew something had happened. He wanted to come up beside her and put his hand on the small of her back—lay claim, in fact—and he crunched his fingers into his palm to stop from reaching out. She’d invaded his head with the tiny bit he’d seen the other day but in full-blown glory she took his breath away.

Her dress was simple and blue but smoothed the slender line of her back and hips as she swayed in front of him and her legs were bare and brown and long enough to dream about. This was crazy. She smoked, just by walking in front of him.

It felt as if a wire from one of the fences dragged him along in her wake, and there was a tautness he could see in her shoulders that said she wasn’t comfortable either.

He didn’t know what it was. Apart from totally impractical and heinously inconvenient…but then again the travel agent had quoted the Kimberleys as a destination of adventure. Suddenly he was thinking of a side tour of a different sort.

He ushered her, with great restraint and no contact, through to the veranda where they all shared the sunset, or at least her brother and his sister shared it; he and Sophie separately observed. Maybe not even that because he wasn’t looking at hills bathed in purple.

He’d always had a thing about women with long necks and hers flowed like an orchid to her throat. He’d bet her skin felt as soft as a petal. He shifted his scrutiny away from temptation and looked higher. He couldn’t see her eyes from where he stood but he knew they were blue. Like her dress. High cheekbones, snubby nose that should have just been snubby but turned out deliciously cute, and those lips. He reefed his eyes away and took a long swallow of his beer. Who was he and what had happened to the normal, sane, overworked man who’d arrived last week?

Shame it wasn’t prehistoric times because dragging her off to his cave looked mighty appealing to him at this moment. And no one had appealed for a while. He’d better find something to stay focused on, something apart from how to get her into bed.

‘Odette tells me you’re a midwife,’ he said, and now he could see her eyes. Her pupils were big and dark and he’d read somewhere that was a sign of arousal. He hoped so ‘cause he was sure his eyes would be all pupil to his lashes.

She ran her finger around the rim of her glass and even that tiny movement made him swallow. ‘And community nurse, and anything else that needs medical attention,’ she said.

He almost wished he was sick. ‘Sounds diverse. It must be a heavy workload.’ He watched her face light up.

‘I enjoy it,’ she said. ‘Love it, in fact. Now it has the added dimension of meeting people like Odette who’d benefit from access to a midwife.’

Passion for her job. Bless her. He used to have that. Now he didn’t even want to talk about work. ‘Odette said you’ve just returned from Perth.’

He felt the cold breeze and even her pupils constricted until her eyes were light blue again. She jutted her chin and he regretted the question. Obviously bad choice of conversation and a major setback. Probably a good thing.

‘Yes. It’s great to be home.’ Such a cold voice, so different than when she’d spoken of work.

She put her glass down and turned to his sister. ‘The view is wonderful, Odette.’ Sophie pretended to be absorbed and tried to fade Levi into the background. She didn’t want to think about Perth and the fool she’d made of herself there. Though it served as a reminder not to be foolish here. Just because externally Odette’s brother was hard to ignore, internally he’d be the same as Brad. He’d already shown his arrogant, untruthful side. Rich, callous, oblivious to hurting others. And she’d promised she’d never become that vulnerable again.

She just wished he’d stop studying her. She could feel him watching. Could feel the brush of his analytical study as if she were some strange species he hadn’t figured out yet and it made her want to think of some witty, slash-cutting thing to make him back off. But of course she couldn’t think of something. No doubt tonight in bed it would be there on her tongue.

Well, he could look, but she refused to squirm. He’d be used to city women falling all over him but he’d come to the wrong place for that. Here a woman wanted a man with more to his repertoire than looking good.

‘So what do you do, Levi?’ Apart from watching me. Not that she was interested.

‘I have a business in Sydney.’

City slicker. She’d bet it wasn’t a physical job because his hands looked too clean. She wasn’t going to comment, even mentally, on his obvious fitness.

He raised his eyebrows. ‘You have a very expressive face. By the curl of your lip I’m surprised you think I do anything?’

‘Perhaps.’ She abandoned the subject. If he didn’t want to tell her, then that was fine. The less she knew about him, the better. She turned her shoulder further away from him.

‘My sister tells me you don’t like helicopters much.’

Politeness meant she had to turn back. No doubt he would see her reluctance and maybe then he’d leave her alone. ‘Nothing personal to helicopters, I don’t like to fly.’

He shifted his body so she was lined up with him again. ‘Shame, then. A pilot’s licence would be useful with the distances they have out here.’

Like Kate and her plane. She’d never feel comfortable enough to do that. ‘My friend flies. I’ll do without.’

He acknowledged her aversion with a flick of his hand. ‘It’s a different world, immediate, stunning, and even I admit this country is spectacular from the air.’

She felt her hackles rise and she sipped her drink before she answered to damp down her desire to demand he appreciate her home. ‘The Kimberleys are spectacular from the ground as well.’

He put his glass down. ‘I’ve offended you again.’

‘The bush is not for everyone.’ She shrugged, thankfully.

‘And you’re happy about that?’

It seemed she couldn’t cause him offence. ‘There are advantages.’ Well, at least they were conversing in a fairly normal way, and then a waiter appeared and it was time for dinner.

Levi gestured her ahead of him and Sophie pulled up short at the candlelit veranda; a glass ceiling showcased the glorious starlit sky above a table that glowed with white linen and silver cutlery. ‘Amazing room.’

‘Very civilised,’ Levi agreed, as if he were still surprised by it. Even that offended her, as if they couldn’t put on a good show up here in the bush.

She took her seat and, much to Sophie’s amazement, dinner proved a delightful affair. They were joined by the resort manager, Steve, a handsome young man—more Odette’s age than Levi’s—who said and did all the right things and was very anxious to ensure that Odette was safely seated or served, as if she were an invalid. Baby phobia, Sophie guessed, but he left Sophie with a feeling of awkwardness she couldn’t explain.

The rapport between Levi and Odette showed genuine affection. Reluctantly Sophie admitted she liked that—family was important—so he had some redeeming features which she didn’t really want to see. And Levi devoted himself to being a wonderful host. Then again, her ex, Brad, had been a great host too.

Odette remained animated and ‘William’ held his own end of the conversation up for a change. Sophie had to shut her mouth when she would normally have answered for her brother until finally she subsided in awe at his previously hidden ability to socialise. He could have come on his own after all. Great!

Until the talk turned to helicopters and the suggestion of a joint expedition the next day. This she couldn’t keep silent on. ‘I hope you don’t expect me to go along. Helicopters fall out of the sky.’

Levi sat back in his chair and smiled at her. ‘No, they don’t.’

Loosened up by the delightful Margaret River Shiraz, Sophie pointed her finger at him. ‘I want to know what happens when the engine stops in a helicopter.’

Her comment came in a lull and stilled the other conversations, and Levi tilted his head at her. ‘They glide. Autorotation. Instead of the air being pulled in from the top by the engine, the rotors turn the other way and pull the air in from underneath as you descend. Gives you fairly good forward and downward control. Like a winged aeroplane, just not as far.’

She didn’t believe him. ‘How far?’

‘Enough to get passengers on the ground without hurting them.’ He held her gaze, daring her to disbelieve him.

Sounded too simple. ‘Then you can take off again?’

He rubbed his chin. ‘Maybe not always without hurting the chopper.’ He seemed sure of his facts.

Sophie digested that.

‘We’ve two helicopters at Xanadu,’ Steve said, ‘and never had a problem.’ He smiled kindly at her and she almost felt patted like a small dog. Sophie wondered why she had the urge to wipe the smile off his face. Maybe the poor guy had trained himself to be extra accommodating around his VIP guests, but Sophie found his attentions irritating.

She glanced at Levi but she couldn’t read anything in his face. He was probably used to people fawning over him.

The conversation moved on and Sophie sat back to observe. She watched mostly Levi, despite her attempts not to be drawn to him. He made no blatant attempt to direct the conversation, he just did. While she didn’t like him she had to admit he was smooth. He seemed to know the right thing to bring out the passion in Smiley for the land, and Sophie was surprised by her brother’s apparent liking for their host.

Sophie refused to fall for the same thing and she wasn’t going to lose. Actually, she wanted to go home or at least get out of this room, away from him.

With the meal cleared away, Sophie drifted towards the end of the veranda where the steps led down to the path around the side of the homestead. The stars winked down at her and the further she moved away from the veranda the brighter the sky lights formed into the constellations and patterns she’d grown up with.

The Southern Cross, the Pot, the Milky Way. A wooden bench under a huge boab looked the perfect place to hide. She sank gratefully down on warm wood in the dimness, and the soft breeze rattled the boab leaves over her head as if to soothe her.

Until Levi strode out onto the veranda with his satellite phone and shattered the magic of the night, along with the calm she’d achieved.

Typical city man. They never stopped. No doubt he couldn’t imagine being without a phone at his fingertips, to direct underlings and ensure nobody forgot how important he was, and to order up the next convenience. Or like Brad, to check that his woman was waiting patiently at home, while he dallied somewhere else.

She’d like to see Levi bogged in a bulldust hole with no handy phone. See how resourceful he’d be with nobody but himself to rely on.

Then he saw her, ended the conversation and snapped his phone shut. She leant back into the shadows in a futile move as if he would forget she was there, slightly guilty about her mean thoughts for a man she barely knew, but still bitter by personal experience from the callousness of a man like him.

He paused at the bottom of the steps, and she thought he probably didn’t even want to get his shoes dirty out here. Her nose wrinkled.

Levi hesitated at the bottom step, quite sure Sophie didn’t want company, and reluctant to force his company on her. ‘Coffee is ready if you’d like some.’ He glanced at the grass. ‘Unless you’d prefer it out here?’

She stood and walked towards him with a swish of her blue dress and he felt the rebuke for ruining her peace. She had attitude all right, he thought, but she carried it well. ‘Thank you. Inside will be fine.’

There was no doubt the less she saw of him, the better, and no doubt either that the less he saw of her, the better.

LEVI stopped as he entered the room for breakfast on the veranda next morning. It seemed he’d interrupted an amusing show.

His sister, with much eye batting and smiles, was trying to convince cowboy William to do the scenic tourist fly in the chopper. Apparently they should fly to the Bungle Bungles, a massive prehistoric range of striped domes at the edge of the Tanami Desert, with a picnic basket, an idea which left a horrified expression on Sophie the orchid’s face. Intriguing situation.

He could see a ride in the helicopter was the last thing Sophie wanted to do, make that second last. If he read her expression right when she glanced at him, the last thing she wanted was to stay behind at Xanadu, alone, with him.

Levi could tell. That was amusing too. Sort of. Though he’d never had someone blatantly avoid his company before.

He sat down next to Sophie at breakfast, maybe too deliberately close, so his thigh touched hers when he turned, and he could actually feel her thrum with awareness. The fresh herby stuff she’d washed her hair with teased his nose and some psycho inside wanted to sniff her head. Now that would go over well as a space invasion.

Even her skin glowed golden in the morning light, like the honey on the crumpet she nibbled at, and reminded him he’d spent more than a few hours in bed last night trying not to remember those lush little hips and lips. He must be having a crisis.

‘Good morning, Sophie.’

‘Morning.’ Her answer was accompanied by a darting look that came and went as she shrank her shoulders to avoid contact.

He had to bite back a smile. Becoming a habit those smiles. Very strange. ‘Did you sleep well?’

‘Fine, thanks.’ Another flick of her eyes and he relented and shifted his chair a few inches away to give her some space. Her delightful shoulders actually sank with relief and he wondered why he was playing with her. He wasn’t normally pushy.

‘Did you sleep?’ It seemed she could talk easier too.

Now how reluctantly had she asked that? He bit his lip. ‘No, not really. The symphony of the night seemed especially loud.’

She raised those stern brows of hers. ‘Kept awake by nature? Poor you. Well, it is a wilderness park.’ She tossed her head. ‘Sure beats the heck out of traffic noise.’

Maybe she didn’t need sympathy. She could stand up for herself. So they ate their meal in silence as Odette continued to flirt with William.

Levi rubbed his chin as they all stood to leave because, funnily enough, her lack of enthusiasm for the flight made his skin itch.

‘Odette?’ he said, and his sister turned back.

‘Look after Sophie. Remember, she’s not comfortable, so no stunts.’

Odette raised her eyebrows at him and saluted. ‘Yes, sir.’

Sophie sent him a semi-grateful look over her shoulder as she dragged her feet to follow the other two to the helipad.

Levi frowned to himself as he went the other way. He needed to concentrate on the paperwork he had to get through before they returned to Sydney, but the ridiculously blue Kimberley sky outside the window invited sacrifice. Odette was too pregnant to be pilot. And Sophie looked unhappy.

Unhappy was too mild a word. Sophie didn’t know how she’d agreed to this.

Now Steve, the resort manager, had shooed Odette away from pre-flight checks. ‘I can’t let a pregnant lady do that,’ he said with that tilted smile that prickled right up Sophie’s nose. There was something about him that reminded her of someone but she couldn’t connect the impression.

She’d never had much to do with the people from Xanadu and apparently he’d been here for a few years and very close to the late owner. She wished he’d mind his own business though.

To make matters worse, just before take-off, Levi appeared and decreed he’d pilot instead of Odette. Suddenly Sophie could have stayed behind. Talk about bad luck.

Everyone was looking out for Odette. Which was a good thing, but Sophie wondered if it was too late to look out for herself. Now the new seating arrangements meant she’d be up front next to Levi. This kept getting better and better. Not.

The front helicopter seat was as bad as she’d imagined. She shrank back into the stiff leather, semi-frozen, not quite believing she’d agreed to this, when Levi reached in from the outside to click her belt into place. His hands pulled the belt firmly across her and snapped it shut. Talk about space invasion. This whole expedition was crazy and way out of her comfort zone. How the heck had she found herself next to him in a doorless chopper with only the seat belt between her and certain death?

And on that note, surely there should have been more seat belts or harnesses or something? One belt didn’t seem enough.

Odette and Smiley chatted happily, ensconced in the rear out of sight and out of earshot. Once they got going, she thought bitterly, they’d be safe in their own little world.

Levi climbed in and she squashed herself back against the seat. He pointed to the bulky headphones hooked on the central support in front of her, and indicated she put them on.

‘Can you hear me?’ His metallic voice made her jump, and she looked across at him and glared. He nodded and she nodded facetiously back. He frowned, then went on. ‘It’s automatically switched to receive, so for you to be heard by everyone else just press this button to speak.’

He withdrew his attention from her and glanced in the back. ‘You guys all buckled up?’

Odette’s voice crackled. ‘Roger.’

Levi glanced around the deserted helipad and began the pre-flight sequence. ‘All clear,’ he said to no one in particular and started the rotors.

The next few minutes Sophie missed as her eyes were tightly shut. The distant noise through the headphones grew louder and she felt the shudder from the flimsy craft right through the backs of her knees, then the first sideways swish of movement through the air and then back the other way.

She opened one eye. It was too hard not to look. They swayed a little from side to side as they edged higher and she could see the downdraught from the rotors beating the bushes below.

Then she could see the river at the bottom of the gorge, the roof of the homestead, the tops of the trees, and it was all a little intriguing, though she still pushed herself deep into her seat. She tried to relax her shoulders but the fear she’d fall out kept her rigid in the chair.

They climbed higher, and despite the lack of doors, she was protected from the wind by the bubble of the front windshield, and actually it didn’t feel too bad.

She opened the other eye. There was a Perspex floor in front of her feet. What sort of sick person designed a helicopter with a see-through floor? If she’d had eyes in the bottom of her soles she’d be able to look through the Perspex to the ground.

Basically she was standing on a thin edge above certain death. Her eyes closed at the vertigo of that thought, then opened again to risk a glance towards Levi as he concentrated on the dials at the front of the cockpit. What was he looking at? Was everything OK? She studied the instrument panel herself for something familiar. Maybe she’d even find a reassuring needle. Shame the guy wasn’t more into smiling but at least he was taking the danger of the situation seriously.

Knots—they were doing eighty knots, and that was faster than miles per hour, so fairly fast. Fuel—there were seventy gallons of fuel; tank was full anyway. Guess that meant if they crashed she’d die in a ball of flame.

She looked away. Maybe don’t read the dials. They’d climbed higher while she’d been contemplating the manner of their deaths, and she could look down on the escarpment now.

This was pretty amazing. And when she looked back, carefully, towards the homestead and the serpentine river, it made her appreciate how remote the properties were out here.

She’d flown on jets from Perth to Kununurra but they’d been much higher and she’d never really noticed individual stations, though mostly because she’d chosen the aisle seat and not the window.

‘We’ll fly up and over the waterfall on the property.’ Levi’s voice crackled through the headphones. ‘Odette likes that and then over to Lake Argyle. We’ll pass over a couple of stations William asked to see, then in over the Bungles and back out over the Kimberley diamond mine and home.’

He was telling her this because…? Her stomach sank. She pushed the button to speak. ‘Sounds like a long flight. Do we land anywhere?’

His teeth flashed. He couldn’t possibly be concentrating enough on his job if he could smile about it, she thought sourly. ‘Anywhere you want,’ he said.

She resisted saying, Here, but not by much, and just nodded and turned away to glance at her watch. They’d be home in a few hours. She hoped.

Actually, the next hour passed fairly quickly. The waterfall looked surreal from above with sparkling drops at the side of the main body of water shimmering on the breeze to the gorge below.

Lake Argyle loomed indigo blue and stretched for ever, apparently seven times the size of Sydney Harbour, so that must be why it seemed to take seven times longer than she expected to cross.

When they flew over the isolation of the two cattle stations, Smiley asked Levi to circle again, so he could point out how they corralled their cattle using the land formations to form a natural bottleneck and arena. These were the stations Smiley had his eye on.

Sophie tried to concentrate on the implications of a station with no contact with the world for at least four months during the wet season, but all she could feel were the g-forces pulling her towards the open doorway. Her whole body seemed to be straining against the seat belt as they circled, and she had this horrible feeling that maybe Levi hadn’t fastened her buckle properly and she’d just pop out of it into spiralling space.

Now that was a dilemma. She hadn’t checked the belt herself but if she touched it now she might press the eject button.

Come on. Their aircraft was circling thousands of feet above the hard earth and Smiley was going on about the logistical difficulties of cattle to market.

It was no good. ‘Can we land soon?’ Sophie’s voice cut across Smiley’s, squeaky with distress, and she felt Levi glance at her.

The helicopter levelled out. ‘Bungles in fifteen minutes, you right with that?’ Levi’s voice was still tinny, but the strange thing was the lack of humour, just genuine understanding and concern in his voice and the reassurance she gained from that. His hand came across and rested on her upper arm as if to transfer calmness. From a man she didn’t trust it shouldn’t have helped that much. But it did. Like a lifeline.

Funny how she’d never felt that mixture of empathy and support from Brad’s touch and she’d been engaged to him.

Inexplicably steadied, she nodded, and allowed herself to sag more into the seat and close her eyes. Think calm thoughts. Take deep breaths. Everything will be fine.

That was when the engine spluttered, coughed and died. Her eyes flew open. Slow motion from that moment on.

Suddenly there was no background noise except the wind and the rotors turning without an engine. She watched in horror as Levi kept his hands glued to the controls, correcting the cabin’s inclination to yaw. Levi’s voice travelled down the tunnel of her frozen mind. ‘Have to land fast.’ His voice was much louder without the sound of the engine, then she couldn’t hear him at all because he’d switched the radio from the cabin to transmit the distress call. But she could watch his lips move, grimly, as he enunciated their position.

Unwilling to stare frozenly out of the Perspex beneath her feet she kept her eyes on Levi.

Glide. Helicopters can glide like planes but not as far. She remembered him saying that. She believed him. But he did lie. Had he lied then too? Surely not about this?

They weren’t falling like a stone at the moment, still going forward, but the altimeter was unwinding like a top, much, much faster than it had wound up. Then she remembered that Odette and Smiley were in the back but she couldn’t turn her neck to look. They’d all die. Odette’s baby too? No. They had to survive. That thought steadied her. She was the midwife. The only medical person. They’d need her. Odette’s baby needed her. She’d better survive in one piece.

She stared at Levi, who looked as if his face was hewn from the same stone as the escarpment they hurtled towards as he wrestled with the controls. No panic, just fierce, implacable determination to win. Thank God he’d decided to be the pilot. Even now he inspired confidence.

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