Page 41 of Cinderella and the Outback Billionaire

‘Bridie didn’t notice.’

‘You keep telling yourself that, precious. She’s lovely, and she cares about you, and believe me she noticed. She asked me to persuade you to stay a week.’

‘What did you say?’

‘Told her she was dreaming if she thought I could get you to do anything you didn’t want to do. But I’m not against the idea of you being here for a while. I’ll still have to work—my client deserves something extraordinary and I’m determined to give it to him, and I’ll probably put you to work on that too, but my evenings are free. Afternoons too, if I make an early start. Of course, there’s no lap pool or health-spa facilities, but I have thoughts on turning an old water trough into an outdoor bath, so there’s that. I think an outdoor shower after a hard day’s work would be another welcome water addition. It’s dusty out there.’

‘Exactly how soon do you expect this outdoor bathing area to appear?’

‘Well, my client needs to approve the concept and after that it depends how much money he’s got to throw at the proposal, y’know? There are budget versions that any stockman from around here would appreciate.’

‘And the water? Where’s that coming from?’

‘The boss’s last landscape designer put a gorgeous greywater filtering system in place but didn’t understand the soil out here. I can make it work. Am I putting you to sleep?’

Maybe she could read his face after all. ‘Almost.’

‘Sleep. I’ll be around when you wake up.’

‘Last time I did that I ended up in a hospital bed two thousand kilometres away. Without you.’

‘Well, you will choose the best surgeons.’

She made him laugh and his head ached because of it. ‘How’s your shoulder?’

‘You’re going to have to sit up, put one of your feet in my armpit, and pull on my arm.’

‘Let’s do it.’ Before he lost the will to move. He got into position—he’d done this before—and within moments it was done with barely a whimper on his part.

Ari didn’t whimper at all, just sighed when he eased back down beside her and took her hand.

‘Have you taken pain tablets yet?’ she asked.

‘Half an hour ago.’

‘Do you need more?’

‘Can’t.’ He was under strict directions to take them only as directed. Maybe he had been pushing his body a little too hard in an attempt to camouflage weakness. Maybe now was a good time to stop.

‘I’ll get you a cold pack from my cabin.’

‘Are you trying to heal me again, with whatever you have lying around?’

‘Hey, whatever works.’ He could feel her getting up but he didn’t open his eyes. ‘Back in five.’

‘Five minutes, you say?’

She squeezed his hand. ‘I promise.’

CHAPTER ELEVEN

REID WAS FAST asleep when Ari returned. She put the cold pack and a glass of water on his bedside table and left him to his healing.

Returning to work, Ari picked up where she’d left off, planting cuttings into circular hollows in the ground, lined with fallen leaves and a thin layer of clay soil she’d found a few hundred kilometres east. Busy work, but she’d never felt more confident about her choice of career and the possibilities in front of her.

Reid was here, and while this was very much his world, it was hers too.

He found her as the sun hit the horizon, sending hot streaks across the sky. He took a long look at her plant nursery pits, and then looked at her and said, ‘Okay, I’m a believer in the outdoor bathing idea. You’re covered in mud.’

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