Page 16 of Cinderella and the Outback Billionaire

‘Five...hundred?’

‘But you don’t have to worry about them. Judah’s station hands run herd on them.’

Still no mention of Reid or whether he would be present. Last she’d heard, he’d been released from hospital and was living in Sydney.

‘You can sleep in my room with me, there’s two single beds,’ Gert continued. She’d had the use of that room for near on thirty years and had no qualms about treating it as her own. ‘And you can give me a hand with the Sunday breakfast barbecue. Reid and his old boarding-school mates usually tackle that one, but not this year.’

‘Oh, is he not coming?’ See an opening and take it, guileless as you please.

‘He’ll be there, he just won’t be helping out the way he usually does. But it’s easy enough to do. Steak, sausages, bacon, eggs, onion, bread rolls, lettuce, tomato and a few different types of sauce. Hangover food. Breakfast is very popular.’

‘I’ll bet.’ Ari risked another question. ‘And how is Reid after his accident?’ The Blake family had kept news of his recovery so hush-hush. It drove her nuts.

‘Better than he was. It was touch and go for a while.’

‘I didn’t know that.’

Gert tucked half a dozen packs of cleaning wipes into the nearest container, alongside four litres of bathroom disinfectant concentrate. ‘So, do you want the work or not? I’m getting old waiting for your answer.’

Gert was already old. She’d been doing the Devil’s Kiss, Jeddah Creek, and Cooper’s Crossing station houses cleaning run for thirty years. She spent two to three days on each farm, with a day’s driving in between each. She would then return home for a long weekend break before loading up the van and looping around again. Gert and her van full of refrigerated foodstuffs and cleaning equipment and mail were as much a part of the Outback landscape as the cattle stations themselves.

‘I’ll even stop so you can collect plants along the way,’ Gert coaxed.

‘I’ll believe that when it happens.’ Gert drove as if the devil were riding her tail and rarely stopped for anything or anyone.

‘Still waiting.’ Gert smiled and the sternness bled out of her, leaving warmth in its wake. ‘Don’t make me start tapping my foot.’

‘All right, all right, I’ll come.’ Ari could observe Reid Blake from afar as he mingled with the stars. And even if they did cross paths, he probably wouldn’t speak. And what was the chance of him recognising her voice from their time in the tent, given he’d spent most of that time drifting in and out of consciousness? No, she had nothing to worry about on that score.

She could see for herself how he was getting on, lay new memories over more disturbing ones and then put him out of her mind altogether.

Maybe then she wouldn’t be so obsessed with remembering every little thing about him. Fantasising. Measuring every other man she met against him and finding them wanting.

Not touchy-feely enough. Not interesting enough.

Not vulnerable enough to seek out an honest connection, her brutally honest conscience suggested.

Face it, Ari. You liked being in a position of power over Reid Blake. It made you bolder and him more receptive.

Which he wouldn’t be now he was well again. He’d probably want nothing to do with her even if he did recognise her. The man in the tent probably didn’t even exist.

Probably a good thing. That way she might stop pining for him.

‘What’s the pay rate?’

‘As my trusty assistant? How about we ask for twenty-five dollars an hour from the time you get there until the time you leave, including when you’re asleep?’

‘Are you serious? That’s a six-hundred-dollar day.’ Before tax. And with her ute at the mechanic’s and needing a new radiator, she could use all the cash she could get. ‘How many days will we be there?’

That there was Gert’s gotcha smile. ‘Three.’

CHAPTER FIVE

‘YOU DO IT,’ said Judah, as if his word were law. And, okay, maybe Judah was the oldest and this was his home and Reid was a mere guest here these days, but come on.

Reid had turned thirty last year. He’d been a billionaire in his own right since his mid-twenties, on account of his relentless quest to make solar-powered commercial plane travel possible. And he had absolutely no trouble whatsoever questioning his big brother’s authority. Even if they had just entered the library, where several centuries of Blake family history lay gathering dust at every opportunity. He crossed to the unlit fireplace to lean against the mantelpiece, unwilling to show how much his leg ached this early in the evening.

Judah would only worry more than he already did.

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