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www.millsandboon.co.uk
Table of Contents
Cover Page
Title Page
About the Author
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Copyright
A mother to five sons, Fiona McArthur is an Australian midwife who loves to write. Mills & Boon® Medical™ Romance gives Fiona the scope to write about all the wonderful aspects of adventure, romance, medicine and midwifery that she feels so passionate about—as well as an excuse to travel! So now that the boys are older, her husband Ian and youngest son Rory are off with Fiona to meet new people, see new places, and have wonderful adventures. Fiona’s website is at www.fionamcarthur.com
WITH THANKS TO:
Glenn at Heliworks, for his help with helicopters and moments of unusual interest.
To Fiona, the guide at the Bungle Bungles, who shared her knowledge and enthusiasm for an amazing place.
And Annie, for being a natural-born teacher and one of my wonderful Maytone friends.
CHAPTER ONE
ANOTHER squat boab tree dropped its leaves as Sophie Sullivan drove past, a sure sign the wet season was nearly over. She sounded her car horn at the frilledneck lizard basking in the middle of the dirt track and he reared on hind legs, spread his neck frill and hissed until he seemed much more than he really was.
Typical male.
At least the craggy red mountains that embraced her were true, she thought, as she drove towards the boulder-strewn river—that range was a dear part of home.
Home: far north Western Australia, the Kimberleys and a place blissfully away from the city and men who shed lies like the boab shed leaves.
Even the dusty Gibb River Road looked attractive until she saw the vehicle parked by the Pentecost and the motionless man beside the sluggish water.
More crocodile fodder. She sighed—travellers caused her no end of concern, especially ones who hovered for long periods at the edge of the crocodile-inhabited rivers.
The tourists parked by the river because of the view to the Cockburn Range across the ochre plains. Locals used the designated parking area at the top of the hill, well away from the water.
She pulled up next to the expensive all-terrain vehicle and wound down her window. ‘You OK, there?’
The man didn’t answer. He must’ve heard her truck. She was ten feet away from him. Careless and rude, she thought and narrowed her eyes. Finally he turned his head and glanced at her dismissively. ‘Fine, thanks.’
He was big—Sophie couldn’t help but notice—bigger than her brother, Smiley, who topped six-two, and this guy was very nicely muscled so he’d be a mouthful for any croc, but he was too close and too stationary in a dangerous spot. It would be a shame to waste the body, she thought dispassionately, and with the new knowledge from Brand-name Brad she could have done without, it would be a waste of the designer jeans and Rolex watch.
Congratulations were in order for her immunity from the male species. A hard-won but valuable lesson.
Sophie bit back another sigh. How did you tell someone to get back in their vehicle when they blatantly ignored you?
‘You’ve seen the warnings?’ She looked at the sign herself, read it under her breath even. ‘Crocodiles Inhabit This Area. Keep Away from the Edge. Do Not Enter the Water.’ But her reading it didn’t make him face her. In fact, no further response to her at all.
Grrr. Spare me from arrogant males. Despite the flags that waved from the man to say go away, she tried one more time. ‘About the crocodiles here?’
‘Yes, thanks.’ Far less cordial and this time he shifted his feet so he faced her. ‘I’m just passing through.’
‘You’ll pass right through a croc,’ she said drily. ‘I lost my darling dog in a spot like this once.’ And still had nightmares about the tragedy her lack of concentration had caused.
Then he looked directly at her. He wasn’t to-die-for handsome, really, but he had those dark, dark lashes and an intense gaze that held her, effortlessly, until he dropped the connection as easily as he’d reeled her in. The trumpet call. Danger, and not from crocodiles. Her skin prickled.
‘I’m sorry to hear about your pet.’ He glanced back at the river before he looked again at her, to assess if she’d be a nuisance by the look of it, and Sophie could feel the warmth of the sun beat in the window, or she hoped that explained the heat.
Best not to become entangled in another look so she concentrated on a small scar on his chin that made him less imposing—more vulnerable, which was a funny thing to think about a stranger, but his mouth…She had a sudden ridiculous urge to see those lips smile.
Sophie searched for the question she’d asked.
He coughed and she looked up in time to see him roll his eyes, obviously used to stunned mullet expressions on passing females, and he didn’t bother to hide the sigh. ‘If I get attacked by a croc because I had to talk to you I’m going to be extremely unhappy.’
Sophie blinked. What the heck was she doing? So much for immunity! She obviously needed a booster shot against this guy, so leaving was a great idea. ‘Right, then. Your funeral.’ For the first time in ten years Sophie crunched the gears as she slipped her vehicle into reverse.
Levi Pearson turned back to contemplate the spot where his father had been taken five months ago. Or had he been pushed and the crocodile only secondary to his demise? He’d find out.
That tiny whiff of suspicion, something only he seemed to have sniffed, was the reason he’d flown up here after the wet season and why he’d asked his stubbornly determined sister not to mention their proper connection to Xanadu. That and the fact the other consultant he worked with had recommended a holiday for the tenth time in the past two years.
As soon as he’d confirmed or dismissed the concept of foul play he’d get her the hell out of downtown nowheresville and back to Sydney. The manager here was more than capable of running Xanadu, and Levi didn’t need another burden, but he’d discovered a motive he couldn’t dismiss.
Lord knew the original owners of the station had enough reason to hate his family if the stories of his father were true.
He took his eye off the bank and risked a glance at the blonde woman’s four-wheel-drive vehicle as it ploughed through the river away from him. Nothing else mattered. Hadn’t for a long while. Definitely not a pair of concerned blue eyes under two stern eyebrows. Above a lush little mouth. He frowned. She’d been an officious little thing but strangely intriguing.
Still, he’d read the population of the Kimberley region was about thirty thousand people in an area slightly bigger than Germany and it was the last place he’d ever settle. So, he should be safe from bumping into her again. He didn’t need the complication of fleeting sexual attraction to a cowgirl.
A stealthy splash to the left of where he stood had his attention firmly back on the water and Levi took a few steps towards the vehicle he’d borrowed from the resort. Probably better not to get eaten and give her the chance to say I told you so.
He could feel the twitch of his lips at the thought, along with surprise at the idea of smiling, something he hadn’t done much of in the past year or two, and climbed back into his vehicle.
Nearly two hours later Sophie swerved around another pothole and the old four-wheel drive bounced off the thousandth corrugation on her way to Jabiru Station Township. They’d grade the road soon now the rain had stopped. She gritted her teeth to stop the jarring. Almost home.
Funnily enough, she wasn’t tired. Hadn’t been since the Pentecost. She didn’t want to think about the man at the river any more. It had been one of those moments in time when you catch another person’s eye and, for a second or two, glances tangle and reverberate, and then you both look away and the moment passes.
Except the moment seemed to last an eternity and she was still waiting for it to pass.
It had been one of those moments. Just a stranger. With great eyes. And a great body. And a great mouth. Even in the firm line, she remembered, his mouth had hinted at a fullness and dangerous curve that made her wonder how he’d got the scar. She hoped some hot-blooded woman had thrown a plate at him. Her lips twitched but she pulled them back into line. He’d looked like everything she didn’t want in a man.
Rude, definitely.
Stupid, obviously. She frowned. He didn’t look stupid; actually, he’d looked fearsomely intelligent. So not stupid, maybe reckless. She didn’t want that either, did she? No way.
Worst of all, he’d had the trappings of her ex. Stinking, selfishly, blatantly wealthy. Like Dr Brad Gale. The liar. She was finished with doctors and liars and people who thought they could buy you. And serve you a prenuptial at the same time.
She was glad to be home, in a place where people said what they meant and didn’t string you along. Where she could be useful to those who needed her, and not as some decorative arm hanging, and definitely not confined to answering only when spoken to.
Sophie did wonder if her poor brother had become used to his bachelor ways while she’d been away. He’d looked surprised when she’d arrived to move back into her own room, even if ‘Shortest engagement in history,’ was all he’d said.
She drove through the tiny Jabiru Station Township—mostly pubs and boarded buildings—to their house, a modest timber residence with bull-nosed verandas on all sides and a tiny dry garden. Neat and comfortable, in the same state of disrepair as they’d inherited it from their parents, who’d inherited it from her father’s parents after Granddad did that bad thing.
A place where Smiley could save every cent for his dream station, like the one his grandfather had been tricked out of in a card game all those years ago. Against a man who’d lied.
Not that Smiley lusted after Xanadu. He’d his own plans for a different station that accounted for his cattle having to be lodged all over the Kimberley while he saved for the land, but it irked Sophie that her own father and now Smiley had to scrimp so hard to make their way in the place they were born.
‘You must’ve loaded the cattle early, because I didn’t see the road train on the way in,’ she said as she rounded the veranda, then stopped. He had someone with him.
Her brother’s drawl seemed more noticeable, which was saying something, as his normal speech defined the word leisurely. ‘Sophie.’ He looked at her, and then indicated the petite dark-haired woman beside him. ‘This is Odette. From Sydney. She’s having a baby, and in the area for a week or so, and wanted to meet a midwife in case she had any problems.’
Sophie held out her hand and shook the young woman’s perfectly manicured fingers. Nice expensive watch. Brad had bought her one just like it. She’d left it in Perth.
Sophie bit back the thought. He’d made her judgemental and that wasn’t like her—or hadn’t been before she’d tripped off to Perth for her midwifery. She needed to get her new prejudice under control. Wealthy tourists kept a lot of people in jobs around here.
‘Nice to meet you, Odette. Welcome to Jabiru Station Township. You been waiting long?’
‘I flew in an hour ago.’ Her coral-coloured lips tilted as she smiled. She had a sweet face, Sophie thought, and well made up, which was interesting as the heat usually melted foundation around here. ‘Guess I should have rung first but I thought the clinic was open.’
Sophie looked across the street to the old homestead that’d been turned into the clinic. ‘I’ve been visiting an Aboriginal community. It’s “women’s health” day. Just takes a few hours to cover the distance around here.’
‘So Smiley was explaining.’ She looked shyly up at Sophie’s brother. Goofily, Smiley actually smiled back, an occurrence that was so rare it had derived his nickname. Sophie felt herself frown. She’d never seen him look like that. Or be much into explaining anything. She’d be lucky to get a dozen words out of him on a normal morning.
‘Odette flew herself in a chopper,’ he said.
Impressive. ‘You’re a pilot? Wow.’ And very pregnant, but she didn’t say it.
Odette shrugged with a smile. ‘I do it for fun. You’re a midwife. Wow.’
Sophie had to laugh. ‘I do that for fun too. My friend, Kate, the other midwife, flies her own plane from Jabiru Homestead.’
Odette exuded good nature and Sophie couldn’t help liking her. ‘So you’re having a baby? And want a check-up? Come across to the clinic. Was there something you were worried about?’
Odette turned and smiled at Sophie’s brother. ‘Thanks, Smiley. I hope I get to see you again.’
He nodded and tipped his hat. The two women crossed the road and Odette looked back. ‘Your brother’s a handsome man.’
Sophie blinked. She’d never thought about it. He was just…Smiley. ‘If he’s not in the house he’s got an Akubra on so I don’t often see his face. I guess I still see skinned knees and freckles.’
‘I didn’t see any of those.’ Odette sounded almost dreamy and Sophie grimaced. City-rich women and Smiley did not mix.
‘Is it your husband’s helicopter?’ Not very subtle.
‘I don’t have a husband.’ Odette was no fool and she met Sophie’s eyes without a flicker. ‘The father of my baby is dead.’
Bummer, for more reasons than one, Sophie thought. Was she being judgemental again? ‘Sorry for being nosy.’
‘That’s OK. Better to get it out in the open anyway. He wasn’t a nice man,’ Odette went on. ‘And the chopper belongs to the resort where I’m staying.’
‘That would be Xanadu, then.’ It wasn’t a question. Xanadu. Now an ultra-high-end resort a hundred kilometres away, as the chopper flew, that catered for a Kimberley adventure in five-star luxury. Private suites, fine wine and cuisine, and escorted tours with private sittings in the hot springs and gorges. They’d turned it into a wilderness park with a few token cattle. Not like in Grandfather’s day. ‘I’ve never known them to lend the chopper before.’
Odette shrugged. ‘I just asked the manager.’ She looked across at Sophie. ‘I could take you and Smiley up for a fly if you want.’
‘Thanks, but maybe another time. Should you be flying when you’re pregnant?’
‘You sound like my brother.’
Now why did she suddenly think of the man at the river? ‘Don’t suppose he’s a big bloke, scar on his chin, not into smiling.’ The one who was ‘just passing through.’
‘You’ve met Levi?’
‘Levi?’ It seemed he was another person who was happy to bend the truth. As opposed to the straightforward people from around here who didn’t lie. ‘Yep. Guess I have. He was at the Pentecost River crossing.’ Sophie didn’t say a little too close to the water because she didn’t want to worry Odette. She shrugged. ‘I warned him about the crocodiles.’
Odette pursed her lips for a moment, then visibly pushed away whatever had caused the look. ‘He knows about the crocodiles. But thank you. Levi is a good guy, just forgotten how to have fun.’
And too attractive, and Sophie needed to talk about something new because she had the feeling anything else she learnt about him wouldn’t help her forget.
‘So when’s your baby due, Odette?’
‘A month.’
Sophie fought to keep her jaw from dropping but she had another look. Surely too small. Maybe Odette had it all tucked away. ‘I’d say your brother was right and you shouldn’t be flying. Where’s your mother?’
‘She died when I was a kid.’ Oops, Sophie thought. Another foot-in-mouth question.
Luckily Odette didn’t seem worried. ‘Levi brought me up. Our father ran off with another woman when I was young. That’s why Levi’s serious. He’s been the man of the house for a lot of years.’
Too much information. Not hearing this. ‘OK.’ Sophie pushed open the door and they went into the small exam room. ‘How about I check your blood pressure, feel your tummy and have a listen to your baby’s heart rate? If it’s OK with you I’ll photocopy your antenatal card. Then if you have any worries I can talk you through most of it on the phone.’
Odette grinned. ‘This is like booking into a spare hospital.’
Sophie smiled back. ‘Except we don’t deliver babies here, only the unexpected ones.’ She gestured to the chair beside her desk. ‘Have a seat.’
Odette settled herself and held out her arm. ‘That’s OK. We’ll probably be back in Sydney in a few days anyway.’
Maybe that justifies as passing through and he didn’t technically lie. Though what the heck was he doing bringing someone this pregnant away from home?
Sophie wrapped the cuff around Odette’s arm and pumped it up, then let it down. She unhooked the stethoscope from her ears and smiled. ‘Blood pressure’s perfect. One ten on sixty.’ She indicated the footstool beside the examination table. ‘If you can climb up there we’ll see where this baby of yours is hiding.’
Odette chuckled. ‘Everyone says I’m small but I was only five pounds when I was born. The ultrasound said it’s a boy.’
Sophie draped a thin sheet over the lower half of Odette’s body and Odette lifted her shirt. ‘A boy. Wow. Nice tummy.’ Sophie was serious. Odette’s abdomen curved up in a perfect small hill, brown and smooth, and the baby shifted a body part into a small point as Sophie laughed. ‘He’s waving.’
Odette slid her hand over the point and the baby subsided as if trained. ‘My baby’s no sloth. Moves heaps, especially at night.’
‘Women tend to feel their babies at night because they’re not busy like they are in the daytime. They say the baby already has a rhythm so if he’s awake a lot at night you might be in for some sleep deprivation.’
‘I don’t mind.’ Odette smiled dreamily. ‘I can’t wait.’
I hope you do, Sophie thought, as she measured the mound of Odette’s belly and, taking into account the petite mother, the measurements confirmed Odette’s estimated due date.
She slid the hand-held Doppler over the area she’d palpated as the baby’s shoulder and the sound of the baby’s heart rate filled the room. They both listened and their eyes met in mutual acknowledgement of the wonder of childbearing. ‘There you go,’ Sophie said, as she turned off the Doppler. ‘One hundred and forty beats a minute and just as perfect as his mother.’
She helped Odette sit up. ‘Everything looks great.’
‘Thanks, Sophie. I feel better just talking to you.’ Odette climbed down and smoothed her clothes. ‘How much do I owe you?’
Sophie shook her head. ‘I didn’t do anything. Free service. Anyone can walk in and get the same.’
‘You and Smiley should come over to Xanadu on the weekend and have dinner with my brother and me. Our treat. As a thank-you for this.’ She gestured to the examination couch. ‘I could come and get you in the chopper. Or Levi could.’
Lord, no. And she thought they were going in a day or two? It was only Monday. She walked her to the door. ‘Thanks, Odette, but the weather’s still too unsettled for me to fly—I’m a chicken in the air—and I don’t know what Smiley’s planned. I’ve only just moved back from Perth.’
‘Sure. I’ll ring later in the week.’ Odette stopped and turned back with a new idea. ‘If you’re not keen on flying, you could stay overnight and drive back the next day. In fact, that sounds more fun anyway.’
Sophie felt she was being directed by a small determined whirly wind, like the one that was lifting leaves outside her window and the one inside her chest when she thought of staying anywhere near Odette’s brother. ‘I’ll mention it to Smiley.’ Not.
Odette pulled a gold compact from her bag, flicked open the mirror and touched up her lipstick. Not something Sophie did regularly out here in the bush and the thought made her smile to herself.
Odette snapped shut the compact. ‘What’s your brother’s real name?’
Sophie had to think for a moment. ‘William.’
Odette nodded as if she liked it. ‘I think I’ll call him William.’
‘It’s been a while since anybody has.’ Now where was this going? Nowhere, she hoped. ‘He may not even remember it.’
‘Even more reason to,’ Odette said cryptically.
That afternoon, Levi poured his sister a chilled juice and himself a cold beer before he moved to look over the veranda at the gorge below. Then her words sank in. He turned back to her. ‘You what?’
‘I invited William and Sophie to stay over for a night on the weekend. The midwife and her brother. To have dinner and drive home the next day.’
He’d strangle her. ‘Did I mention we didn’t want to draw attention until I find out if anyone around here hated our father enough to push him into that river?’
Odette crossed her arms and lent them over her large tummy. ‘Hated him more than you?’
Levi shook his head. ‘I didn’t hate him. I didn’t respect him. That’s all.’
He fully intended to sign the ownership he’d unexpectedly inherited back over to his sister, another baffling development his estranged father had left for him, when they’d all expected Odette to benefit by the resort automatically.
Odette rolled her eyes. ‘Because you’ve just found out he’s had another son to another woman. Humph.’ She returned to topic. ‘Besides, they wouldn’t know anything about Father’s accident. Sophie’s only just moved back from Perth and William is—’ she paused and her mouth curved ‘—just William. He hasn’t a mean bone in his body.’
He flung his hand out towards the view. ‘We don’t know that. Your new best friends. You’ve met them, what, once?’
‘You’ve met her too.’ Odette sat forward as he frowned.
He’d done his part. He’d avoided meeting anyone. Not likely. ‘When?’
‘She said she’d met you by the river—’ Odette didn’t quite poke out her tongue but he knew that look ‘—this afternoon.’ A winning point.
The little honey in the car? The last person he needed to be exposed to, as she seemed lodged like an annoying bindii from the grass in his memory bank. ‘Blonde ponytail? Nice, um, features?’
Odette coughed and he couldn’t help the curve of his own lips. He really didn’t have socialising on his agenda on this trip. He needed to go home; he’d already been away past his expectations, and his theatre list would be a mile long.
His sister would be the death of him. He sighed. Too late now. ‘So why can’t we fly them in and out? That way they don’t have to stay.’
Odette shrugged. ‘Sophie doesn’t fancy the chopper.’
Chicken, eh? Good. Though she hadn’t seemed a shrinking violet. ‘Maybe she wouldn’t mind so much if the pilot didn’t look like she was going to break her waters any moment?’
Odette flapped her hand at him. ‘You’re too used to your own way. Let me worry about me.’
CHAPTER TWO
Five days later
‘I DON’T know how you talked me into this.’ Sophie glared at her brother.
Smiley kept his eyes on the road. ‘You’ve been twitchy all week.’
‘And you’ve been moonstruck like a big old cow.’
Smiley turned to look at her briefly but didn’t say anything.
It was disappointing. A bit of a spat might have taken her mind off the nerves that were building ridiculously at the thought of meeting the brooding rich man again. She was even avoiding his name in her thoughts. How ridiculous.