CHAPTER SEVEN

      ‘SO, TELL me,’ said Gray after he’d heard Holly’s full report on his kids’ first day in their new school, ‘is our Outback as bad as you expected?’ He was smiling but Holly thought she detected tension in his eyes, as if her answer really mattered.

      ‘I wasn’t expecting it to be bad,’ she said.

      ‘Not even after Chelsea’s warnings?’

      She shook her head. ‘I’m not like Chelsea,’ she told him bluntly. ‘Chelsea was a city girl through and through—city girl lifestyle, city girl career, city girl clothes. Not that I need to tell you that.’

      They were sitting at one end of the kitchen table eating their heated-up meals. The puppet play had been a great success and Gray had joined in with gusto. Now, Janet had retired to her cottage and the children were in bed, so Holly and Gray were alone in the big silent house.

      Gray had showered and changed into a fresh white shirt that made the tanned skin at his throat even darker. His hair was damp and he’d shaved, and Holly could see a small scar on his jaw she’d never noticed before. She told herself this was an everyday, average evening meal and it made no sense that she felt all fluttery every time their gazes met across the table.

      ‘Don’t you think of yourself as a city girl?’ Gray asked her.

      She shook her head. ‘You know what they say. You can take the girl out of the farm, but you can’t take the farm out of the girl.’

      He smiled. ‘So what kind of farm did you grow up on?’

      ‘A dairy.’

      ‘Really?’ His eyebrows lifted with surprise. ‘Dairies are hard work.’

      Holly laughed. ‘And your kind of farming is easy?’

      ‘Piece of cake,’ he said with a sparkle in his blue eyes that sent her hormones rattling. ‘Except for when I’m driving a truck through floodwaters.’

      ‘Or wrestling with crocodiles.’

      ‘Yeah, or wrangling wild bulls.’

      They shared another smile. Holly, trying to ignore another flutter, asked quickly, ‘So how big is Jabiru Creek Station?’

      ‘Close on a million acres.’

      ‘Wow.’ She stared at him. ‘I’m sure there are countries in Europe that are smaller than that.’

      Gray shrugged. ‘A few, I believe.’

      ‘But Janet told me you run this place all by yourself. She said you’ve been in charge here for almost ten years.’

      ‘I have, more or less, but I couldn’t have done it without the help of Ted. He’s my manager and he keeps the books and looks after the paperwork. I couldn’t have managed without Janet, either. She and Ted are a great backup team.’

      ‘But you don’t have any other family here?’

      ‘No.’ Gray concentrated on spearing a bean with his fork. ‘As you know, my mother’s in Sydney. She and my dad split up when I was a nipper. Later, my dad’s health went downhill, so he moved to Cairns to be closer to doctors. But he’s okay, as long as he has regular check-ups.’

      Gray lifted his gaze. ‘Tell me about your farm. Do your parents still run it?’

      ‘Sure—with my eldest brother’s help. He and his family live with my parents.’

      ‘Your eldest brother?’ Now Gray looked amused. ‘So how many brothers do you have?’

      ‘Three. All of them are older.’

      Smiling, he pushed his empty plate aside and leaned back in his chair in a way that somehow made his shoulders look huge. ‘So you’re the only girl and the baby of the family.’

      ‘Yes.’ Holly couldn’t help returning his smile. ‘I know, I know. I must be a spoiled princess.’

      ‘I can’t see any signs of spoiling,’ he said, letting his gaze run over her.

      To her surprise, a happy kind of buzz started inside her, something she hadn’t felt in a very long time. ‘You haven’t mentioned any brothers or sisters,’ she prompted. ‘Are you an only child?’

      ‘Yeah. But I can’t claim to have been spoiled.’

      ‘No,’ she agreed quietly, remembering his mother’s cool reception at the airport.

      Setting her knife and fork neatly together, she said, ‘Actually, my brothers are my stepbrothers.’

      ‘Really?’ Gray was too well mannered to ply her with awkward questions, but she could tell he was curious. She decided she wanted to tell him.

      ‘I’ve never met my real father, you see. He took off when I was a baby, so my mom was a single mom, a hairdresser, and until I was five we lived in town. Just the two of us in a little flat above her hairdressing salon. Then one day this nice guy came into her salon with three young sons who needed haircuts.’

      She smiled. ‘Turned out he was a lonely widower, a dairy farmer. He and my mom hit it off and, when they married, we became a family.’

      To Holly’s surprise, Gray frowned. ‘And you’ve all lived happily ever after?’

      ‘We have indeed.’ Sending him a deliberately light-hearted smile, she added, ‘So you know the moral of that story, don’t you?’

      ‘Do I?’

      ‘Sure. Next time you’re in town, you have to keep an eye out for a friendly but lonely hairdresser.’

      It was supposed to be a joke, but she could see it had fallen flatter than Kansas.

      ‘I’m not looking for a second wife,’ Gray said grimly.

      Okay. Point noted.

      Holly had been thinking of her stepdad and how happy he was with her mom, how happy they both were—but perhaps she’d been insensitive. She hoped she hadn’t sounded as if she was pushing Gray to find a replacement mother for his kids.

      It was clear she’d upset him. Gathering up their plates, she carried them to the sink, mad with herself for spoiling a perfectly pleasant conversation. For a moment there, Gray had looked as if he wanted to pack her bags and put her on the next mail plane out of Jabiru.

      Knowing a change of subject was needed, she asked, ‘While I’m up, would you like a cuppa?’

      ‘Thank you.’ Already, he was sounding more conciliatory. ‘I’ll stack the dishwasher.’

      She tried to ignore the view of him from behind as he bent over to load their plates. How could ordinary old blue jeans be so attention-grabbing?

      ‘By the way,’ she said casually as her gaze flickered to his low-slung jeans, then away. Then back again. ‘I meant to thank you for letting us use your study as a schoolroom.’

      ‘No worries.’ Gray finished with the dishwasher and leaned casually against