Beneath Outback Skies Read Online Free PDF Page B

wouldn’t last more than an hour in the paddocks. Well, that’s if he ever woke up. Her hand lifted again just as the door creaked open.
    Backlit by the bedroom light, Tait’s bare shoulders filled the doorway. ‘Paige? What’s wrong?’
    Words shrivelled on her tongue. She didn’t know what held her silent. The golden-toned flesh above a pair of blue cotton boxers or the concern thickening his sleepy voice.
    ‘Nothing. It’s time to wake up.’
    ‘Wake up?’
    ‘Yes. We can’t leave all your shiny new work gear in the cupboard, now can we?’
    His left hand rubbed his chest in hypnotic circles as if confirming this moment was real and not some bad dream. Her eyes followed the movement of his hand. The muscle distribution in livestock might be her area of expertise but even she could appreciate the perfection of Tait’s torso. She refocused on his face.
    ‘Wakey, wakey,’ she said as she waved steaming coffee under his nose, ‘there are animals to feed, dams to check.’
    Tait took hold of the mug. His palms cupped the sides like she’d just given him the keys to a custom-made sports car. She found herself smiling. Give Tait a coffee and he was putty in her hands. The day might prove to be not such a disaster after all.
    ‘There’s a refill downstairs as well as breakfast. If you can tear yourself away from the coffee pot, I’ll meet you at the ute in ten minutes.’
    The echo of Tait’s groan followed her down the stairs. She reached the back verandah and breathed in the crisp air. This was her favourite time of day. She cast a quick glance towards the eastern horizon. Soon the first tentative rays would herd away the cool darkness and grow in strength until by lunchtime she’d be battling the midday heat as well as Tait’s iron will.
    She bent to pick up Dusty’s metal dog bowl. Why did Tait insist on helping her? For someone who’d paid top dollar for solitude, he went out of his way to seek her company. She’d guarantee it wasn’t for her witty conversation or her feminine charms. Careful not to waste a drop, she filled the bowl with water from the tap beside her and set it on the floorboards. If she’d been in a rock band her ripped jeans would be fashionable but out here her wardrobe was only an ever-present reminder of how desperate things had become.
    She straightened to rub at her stiff back. An unfamiliar restlessness tugged within her. She’d never cared before about what she wore. It was too late to start now. Tait wouldbe used to women draped in haute couture, not dust, and who smelled of perfume, not diesel. She stepped off the verandah onto the hard ground. There could be no way Tait had attached himself to her like a burr to a saddle blanket because he wanted her company. That elusive, discordant note in his voice when he’d brushed off her enquiry of how he’d found out about Banora Downs continued to plague her. She settled her hat more firmly onto her head. Something else had to be going on.
     
    Tait shifted in a vain attempt to get comfortable on the lumpy ute passenger seat. His gluteus maximus wouldn’t be thanking him any time soon.
    Paige slid into the front seat beside him. Beneath her hat her thick ponytail swung across her shoulders. The smell of dust was briefly overlaid by the scent of her apple shampoo. The ute engine grumbled into life. He stared out into the dim, grey light. What an hour to be awake. The birds hadn’t even stopped snoring. But if Paige was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, he would be too. Well, maybe after another two cups of coffee.
    She sent the ute hurtling down a narrow track. He steadied the new Akubra that was in danger of bouncing off his knees.
    ‘Guess the ride isn’t quite what you’re used to?’ she said.
    He answered with a grunt. Caffeine still hadn’t quite reached the control centre of his brain. He grabbed at the door arm rest as the ute barrelled through a ditch. In another life Paige had to have been a rally car driver. A