Down Outback Roads Read Online Free PDF Page B

Braye’s fault it makes him hyperactive instead of sleepy. A cup of salty tea was the least of her worries after I’d finished with her.’
    Ewan unclenched the fist he’d made at the memory of returning home from the Damn the Drought charity ball to find Darby asleep on the floor of his room and Braye having locked himself in the pantry.
    Tish again stood. ‘Thanks for thinking of me, but I can’t go. I can’t leave the boys.’
    Ewan stood too, his dinner also unfinished. The prospect of being near Kree had quashed his hunger. He’d volunteer to look after the boys himself but then Tish and Travis would twig that he’d noticed more about Kree than her hair colour. He couldn’t have either his best mate or sister-in-law be privy to the effect Kree had on him.
    ‘Yes, you can. Pru Knight would love to babysit them. She’s working at home to save money for university. She’s just down the road and has known them all their lives. The boys adore her. They’ll be fine.’
    He collected both dinner plates and headed towards the sink. The way Tish pursed her lips suggested she was wavering.
    ‘I’m sure it won’t be a late night and Kree would appreciate having another woman for company. After all, having dinner with two rural romeos could be rather overwhelming.’
    Tish’s giggle told him he’d won. But as he scraped their leftover dinners into a container to give to Whiskey andMidget later, the tension between his shoulder blades told him his victory was a hollow one.
    It wasn’t only Tish who’d soon be spending an intimate and cosy evening with Kree.

C HAPTER F OUR
    Tish wiped the granite bench beside the sink with slow, deliberate movements. Outside, Whiskey barked at a possum in the jacaranda tree, while inside the hum of the electric kettle filled the kitchen. Ewan had helped her wash the dishes and then headed to the library where she hoped he now slept on his leather recliner. She’d noticed the telltale black smudges beneath his eyes and heard the dawn creak of the floorboards as he’d padded along the hallway. She knew him well enough to know when he wasn’t sleeping. She could also tell when he was … blushing. She stopped wiping the bench. Not that she’d ever seen him blush, but when he’d talked about the American girl, definite colour had seeped across his cheekbones.
    Tish glanced towards the door Ewan had recently disappeared through. He was one of the most decent and honourable men she knew and needed someone in his life besides her and the boys. Despite what he believed, he deserved to find happiness. He had to let go of the past and forgive himself. But he appeared oblivious to the fluttering of feminine eyelashes and immune to push-up bras and fake-tanned cleavage.
    Sighing, she carefully lifted the sterilised bottles she’d prepared for her poppy-seed dressing, before wiping the bench below. She replaced the bottles and stared at their hourglass shapes. She mightn’t cook very well but she could create. And create she had. Her unique dressing, which only required measuring, had fast gained local notoriety. Amanda Butler had requested five bottles for friends and had offered to pay.
    Tish rinsed out the dishcloth and draped it over the side of the washing-up rack. It might just be five bottles today but it could be ten tomorrow. Fergus had only ever drawn an income from the farm and when he’d died there had been, no nest egg in their bank account. He also hadn’t completed the paperwork for the life insurance she’d asked him to organise when she’d fallen pregnant. Somehow she needed to raise some money to help Ewan run the farm. She chewed the edge of a nail. She could ask her parents, but from experience she knew not a cent would be distributed unless there were conditions attached. And those conditions were always the same – come home.
    She reached for the coffee canister and spooned instant coffee into two mugs. The pressure her mother exerted on her to return to the