Page 47 of Cinderella and the Outback Billionaire

‘I am. Hey, you want to go rock climbing at Kangaroo Point this afternoon?’ The cliffs were a local climbing spot with great views of the city. ‘We should celebrate the good news.’

Judah halted in the process of ditching his tie and unbuttoning the top few buttons on his pristine business shirt. ‘You’re climbing again?’

‘Yeah.’ Reid tried to inject a little confidence into his reply. This would be his first attempt, but Judah didn’t need to know that.

‘Are you cleared to do that? What did the eye doctor say?’

‘Yeah, he’s really pleased with my progress. Everything’s on the up.’

Judah shot him a sharp glance. ‘And the headaches?’

‘All part of the process.’ Not lies, exactly. More like spin. He’d been cleared for moderate exercise. They sent beginners up Kangaroo Point all the time, no former climbing experience required—and Reid’s climbing skills were well beyond that. His leg was getting stronger all the time and his dislocated shoulder had been an easy fix. As for his eyes...tunnel vision could only help him focus on the cliff face in front of his nose. Reid wanted this challenge. He needed it.

‘Who are you climbing with?’

‘Jules.’ Professional climbing instructor and indoor-climbing champion. ‘She won’t mind if you turn up.’ Reid paid her enough not to mind, and Judah had climbed before, even if he hadn’t taken to it the way Reid had.

Judah made a face. ‘I can fit a climb in tomorrow morning. I still have a meeting with the EPA to get through this afternoon.’

‘No drama. You do you, I’ll do me.’ Reid wasn’t about to admit that Judah’s presence had been a bright spot in a week full of medical appointments and increasingly bleak health news.

Reid needed a win. One tiny boost to help him feel functional again and worth something. ‘It’ll be fine.’

Ari didn’t know if Reid had somehow set a satellite to hover over her location. She didn’t know if satellites could do that, but not once in the past two months had Ari or any of her team lost phone or Internet connection.

Her team. She’d put together a core group of people who wanted to keep working for her and her next project was to landscape a visitors’ centre for a small town with a big grant geared towards it becoming a tourist gateway to channel country. After that, she’d locked in a job on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast for a local celebrity. Five acres of hinterland scrub to tame and Ari was there for it. And maybe it was the generous pay or the travel or the way people had clicked, but her trade crew were there for it too.

End of day meant getting online and checking out the weather report and whatever was trending by way of news. Ari usually did it while throwing together something to eat, but today her appetite was skewered by the headline on her phone.

‘Billionaire Tycoon Takes Another Fall.’

There were two photos to go with the headline—one was of a group of people gathered at the top of a cliff. The other picture was an old headshot of Reid in a tux.

He’d fallen off a cliff? No, a climbing accident. No. According to a spectator there’d been no dramatic fall. He’d been nearing the top of the climb and had seemed to pass out. His climbing partner and others had been on hand to help and eventually he’d finished the climb and been bundled into a waiting ambulance.

According to the reporter, he was in a stable condition.

The rest of the article was fairy floss about his numerous accomplishments, his ex-con billionaire brother, and his sister-in-law the world-class photographer.

Ari’s hands shook as she dialled the number Reid had given her, but her call went to an answering machine and she didn’t leave a message. She phoned Bridie next, and when the other woman answered, Ari could barely find the words.

‘Hi.’ Her voice shook, she sounded rough. ‘It’s Ari. I—’ She didn’t have any right to query. ‘I saw the news.’

‘You want to know about Reid?’

‘Yes, please.’

‘We’re at the Princess Alexandria hospital. He’s undergoing tests. He seems fine. He’s beyond cranky—at the world and everyone in it—but fine.’

‘What happened?’

‘Hey, feel free to try and get medical information out of a grown man who doesn’t want to talk about it. No, go ahead. I dare you.’ Bridie sounded at the end of her wits.

‘That bad?’

‘Judah’s on a tear because he’s worried out of his mind. Reid’s telling us to go away because he’s fine but he can’t sign his name on a hospital form because as far as I can tell he can barely see the lines.’

‘I—’ Would he want her there? With all that was going on? He’d never talked much about his injuries or his recovery. Beyond that first evening at the lodge when she’d lain down with him and he’d slept for a couple of hours, he’d acted as if he had no medical issues at all beyond some fuzzy or tunnel vision every now and again—he never had come clean on what he could and couldn’t see. He’d never admitted to another headache. ‘Can you tell him I called?’

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