Page 14 of Return of the Outback Billionaire

‘That didn’t include your school friends. This is your home too.’ Clearly, they had some work to do when it came to communicating wants and needs.

Reid slung food and coffee in front of him and Judah pulled up a stool and tucked in, still silently marvelling at the taste of good food. Not to mention he now had unlimited access to all kinds of kitchen utensils that could so easily be shaped into shivs. Not that he needed to shape anything into a shiv, given that a row of kitchen knives was right there behind his brother, stuck to a magnetic strip on the wall.

His brother followed Judah’s gaze. ‘You keep looking at them. Why?’

Probably not a good idea to mention that he was counting them. Again. And that he counted them every time he walked into the room to make sure they were all still there.

‘They can go in a drawer if you like.’

‘Then I’d have to open the drawer to count them and that’d be worse.’

Reid had his mouth open and his fork loaded but everything stopped at Judah’s gravelly confession.

‘I see,’ he offered quietly, and then slowly filled his mouth with food.

Judah tried to see any trace of his freckle-faced eleven-year-old brother in the quiet eighteen-year-old stranger sitting across from him and could find none. Reid was whipcord lean, tanned and a recent haircut had gone some way towards taming his thick, wavy brown hair. His blue eyes were still as bright as Judah remembered, except laughter had been replaced by a wariness usually reserved for freshwater crocs.

‘I expect it’ll take a while for you to adapt,’ his little brother said carefully. ‘I had some calls from a social worker before you got out. She gave me a bit of a rundown on what to expect.’

‘What did she tell you?’

‘Are you feeling angry, frustrated and depressed yet?’

‘Not yet.’

‘Good start.’ Reid nodded encouragingly, and for some reason Judah wanted to laugh. ‘Anything changed so much you barely recognise it?’

‘Apart from you? No.’

‘Do you feel overwhelmed?’

Last night didn’t count. ‘No.’

‘Any negative influences I should know about?’

‘I had a run-in with a horsefly yesterday and won. I’ll try not to hang around them too often.’

‘Good luck with that out here. Any addictions?’

‘Not yet. And I doubt I’m going to become addicted to your breakfast conversation.’

‘Har har. I’m checking in with you like they told me to. Guess you pass the test.’ Reid nodded his approval. ‘You want to come flying with me today? I can show you the new access road and set of yards we put in up near Pepper Tree Ridge.’

‘You could.’

‘We could pick Bridie up on the way. She likes it up there.’

Why wouldn’t Reid and Bridie get together every now and then and have formed a friendship born of common ground and neighbourliness? Why did he scowl at the thought of it? ‘I’d rather we didn’t include Bridie. Not today.’

‘Trouble in engagement land already?’

‘No.’ How much should he confess? But the thought of looking like a weakling idiot in front of his brother didn’t sit well with him. He was the older brother, dammit. ‘But it’s not exactly a traditional engagement and I like a bit of distance.’

‘I’ll say,’ muttered Reid and narrowed his gaze. ‘Do you blame her?’

‘For what?’

‘For getting kidnapped and you having to sully your soul and kill a man in order to get her back?’ Reid had a frown on his face.

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