Page 5 of The Science of Attraction

“Good. Now, take this with you.” She handed him a covered plate of muffins and glanced up at the skylight as the rain eased to a gentle patter. “Better get going while you have a chance. Come back around five and we’ll have a drink before dinner and get to know each other. You can tell us what you have planned for Paddy. Jules has his own studio flat at the back of the house, but he’ll eat with us tonight, won’t you Jules?”

“Apparently, I am.” I grabbed the keys from the table and gestured for Liam to follow. “Come on, before it starts pissing down again.”

Liam let me pass and I caught a whiff of something spicy and citrusy that I had no clue about other than I liked it. We walked in silence back along the covered veranda to the front door until I was sure we couldn’t be heard, and at the bottom of the steps, I paused and turned to face him.

“I apologise for Dad’s less-than-warm welcome back there. At the rate he’s been pissing people off this last week, there’ll be no shortage of offers to help you bury the body if you need it. That includes me, by the way.”

Liam snorted and gave my shoulder a brief squeeze, the unexpected touch shooting warmth through my body. “Thanks, but honestly, it’s fine. It’s not my first rodeo. I couldn’t begin to tell you all the names I’ve been called, or things I’ve had thrown at me, or how many times I’ve been fired and then rehired. I don’t take on the easy cases. They don’t need me. A little client grumpiness comes with the territory as your dad and I are learning about each other’s boundaries. That said, you should know that I won’t tolerate any personal attacks fromanybody,client or otherwise. I made that clear with your mother when we spoke. This is my business, and the respect has to go both ways. I have a long waiting list of people whowantto work with me. Besides, I’m too old for that shit.”

“You’ll get no argument from me on that,” I agreed. “And I’ll back you one hundred percent if it’s needed. But while we’re on the subject of warnings, my father can be an abrasive, unenlightened arsehole on a lot of issues.” I tapped the rainbow band around Liam’s wrist. He might simply be an ally, but I had a feeling.

“You can just ask, you know.” And there was that killer smile again. “I won’t be offended. Your mother already warned me that your father might not like my gay arse in charge of his rehab.”

I blinked. “She did? Wow. Okay then. I’m sorry, but I wasn’t sure how to ask without looking like a total dick. I didn’t want you going in unprepared.”

Liam tilted his head and studied me. “I’m pretty sure that you looking like a dick isn’t even remotely within the realm of possibility.” He shot me a wink. “But thanks for the warning. Now, lead on. It’s finally stopped raining and I’m dying to see my home for the next little while. Never stayed on a sheep farm before.” He made his way down the steps, leaving me standing like an idiot watching him go.

Had he just flirted with me?

“Station,” I corrected, hurrying after him.

Liam shot me a confused glance.

“It’s a station, not a farm,” I explained, my feet crunching on the wet gravel as we skirted what had to be Liam’s car—an older model four-door Mercedes. “It’s rule number one for not pissing off my dad and most of the Mackenzie leaseholders with a single word.”

Liam looked askance. “Oops. Thanks for the heads-up.”

“Nice car.” I indicated the old Merc.

He followed my gaze and smiled. “Yeah. It was my mum’s. She died a few years ago, but there are days I swear I can still smell her perfume or hear her giving me a bollocking.”

I shot him a look. “Good memories?”

He nodded. “Mostly. She had her faults like all parents.”

I snorted. “Yeah, tell me about it.”

He laughed, a warm, rich sound that circled in the damp air. “The car was actually making a few noises on the drive up. Is there a good mechanic around these parts?”

“Lyle Covington in Oakwood. He services all the fancy brands. Tell him I sent you.”

I led Liam past the pump and machinery sheds and then down the drive until we came to a grass track on the right, leading to a small cottage tucked away at the far end of my mother’s vegetable plot.

Liam looked around the fallow garden and shook his head. “Wow, you guys really do supersize everything.”

I chuckled. “Big gardens are a staple in these parts. Saves a lot of trips into town. And don’t even ask about preserving. What you saw in the kitchen barely scratches the surface.”

He grinned, and those warm hazel eyes heated my skin. “I didn’t realise people still did that kind of thing in such quantities.”

I raised a brow. “Don’t tell my mother that.”

Liam laughed and stepped up onto the covered deck that ran along the front of the house, its two Adirondack chairs positioned to make the most of the spectacular view. He turned, rested that lean body of his against the veranda upright, and gave a lengthy, contented sigh. “Wow, Jules. Just fucking wow. I should be paying you guys for the privilege of waking up to this every day.”

I followed Liam’s gaze and tried to see my home through his eyes. I might’ve lived here all my life, but it never got old. The view from the little cottage all the way down the U-shaped glacial valley to where the crystal blue waters of Lake Tekapo lay somewhere in the distance was one of my all-time favourites. The station’s river flats quickly rolled up on both sides into steep slopes, craggy cliffs, and jagged alpine peaks, peppered by treacherous scree and deep ravines. Tiny pockets of snow snuggled in the shadows of the tussock mounds and thorny matagouri which carpeted the lower altitudes, but they wouldn’t last long. And in the still air, heavy with the promise of more rain, the tumbling waters of the swollen Macaulay River thundered through the land like a heartbeat.

Tough country for a tough breed—sheep and shepherd alike.

Merino country.

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