Page 19 of Cinderella and the Outback Billionaire

‘Three cups of black coffee is not a three-course breakfast,’ Gert countered. She knew him too well.

‘Even so, I’ve picked up my calorie intake, on doctor’s orders, and I’m feeling stronger for it.’ He’d been incredibly lucky to survive at all.

‘How’s your eyesight?’

‘Good as gold.’ No one wanted to hear about the fuzzy vision in one eye and the tunnel vision in the other. The constant headaches. His dodgy balance. His chances of ever piloting a helicopter again were slim, even by his optimistic reckoning. Without bionic eyes.

As he was a man of unlimited resources, bionic eye research was now a priority for Reid Enterprises’ newly created Medical Division.

‘I met up with Ari in the library just now. I didn’t recognise her, though, until she told me who she was.’

Let Gert make of that what she would. Could be his eyesight. Could be that he hadn’t seen her in years.

‘Did she find that cat?’

‘You mean Fluffy-Wuffy?’ He was never going to pass up the chance to say that name aloud, just to see his brother wince. ‘She found him. Fluffy-Wuffy is on his way back to jail.’

‘She’s a good girl, Ari. The first in our family to study for a diploma, and it’s not because learning comes easily to her—it’s because she never gives up.’

‘An admirable trait.’ The acquisition of Ari information was going to be easier than he thought. ‘What’s she studying?’

‘Some kind of land-care course. Landscape gardening. Horticulture too, which will be good for her. She’s not one for staying indoors.’

It fitted. Everything about her fitted his mystery rescuer from the tent. ‘I remember that about her.’

‘She sits her last two exams in a couple of weeks and then there’s a job waiting for her in Cairns.’

‘Doing what?’

‘She’ll be a nursery worker in a big native plant nursery and landscaping business.’

‘Does it have a career pathway for her?’

‘Ask her,’ said Gert as Ari swept into the room and stopped abruptly at the sight of him.

‘Ask me what?’

‘How wedded you are to your new job,’ he said smoothly. ‘Gert’s been bragging about your studies.’ Did Ari look a little paler than before? He couldn’t trust his eyes. ‘And it reminded me I’ve been meaning to advertise for a landscaper to extend the outdoor areas around the eco lodges. There’s fifteen of them scattered throughout Jeddah Creek and Cooper’s Crossing, mainly in groups of twos and threes.’ His information was solid. Factual. But he was making up the job on the spot.

‘I’m not set up to be an independent contractor just yet,’ she said awkwardly as she reached for a tea towel and picked up a handful of wet silverware from the counter. Family crest and all.

‘Is being your own boss a long-term goal?’ he asked next.

She nodded warily.

‘She wants to have a big Outback plant nursery one day and breed rare native plants. Tell him, Ari,’ Gert urged. ‘You talked about it enough on the way here.’

‘Yeah, Ari. Spill.’

If anything, she grew even paler. ‘It was just talk.’

It was her. It had to be her. His eyes couldn’t confirm it, but his body seemed to yearn for the comfort of her touch. She was his mystery woman, his guardian angel. He’d been looking for her for months. Visiting her over and over again in his dreams and now here she was, pretending none of it had ever happened. Her reticence made him want to push and tear and, above all, touch. Why had she never come forward? He needed to know. He needed to fix this.

‘So, you’re a rare plant collector? How does that work?’

Her eyes flashed with a mixture of fear and defiance. She knew he was onto her.

Did she really think he was going to do anything but thank her? Reward her for her bravery? He wouldn’t be here if she hadn’t found him and kept him safe until the medics arrived.

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