The House at the Bottom of the Hill Read Online Free PDF Page B

there’s anything we can help you with, just call.’
    She was blinking too fast, as though the sun had blinded her. ‘Thank you.’
    Jesus. She was batting her eyelashes at Ethan the way Mrs Tam did at Dan.
    Dan stepped forwards, took the sack of dog biscuits from Ethan and held it out to her. She hadn’t batted her auburn lashes at him but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t hold true to his offer of assistance. ‘Hold it in both hands if you won’t let me carry it for you.’
    She seemed to sink into herself, the skin on her face paler than a vanilla milkshake. Her eyes narrowed with a muddled look, as though she’d got herself tangled in something bigger than she could cope with. A bolt of tenderness hit him in the chest. The same kind of sensation he got when he looked at Sammy walking along with her baby bump. Or when little Lochie looked up at him with his soulful gaze.
    ‘You’re going to need a hat, Charlotte,’ he said softly, keeping her perplexed gaze locked in his. ‘You’ll burn in the sun.’ And what could be worse than seeing that beautiful skin marred?
    She reached for the sack.
    ‘Why don’t you let me carry it for you?’
    She all but grabbed it from his hands. ‘No, thanks. I’m fine.’
    Stubborn, alright. ‘Okay, well hold it flat or you’re going to wrench your arms out of their sockets.’
    ‘I will. Lucy.’ She looked behind her. ‘ Lucy .’
    ‘She’s right there,’ Dan said, pointing at the walkway where the dog sat at Charlotte’s feet.
    ‘Oh, yes.’ It looked like she could hardly catch her breath. ‘Okay, well. Bye.’ She nodded at Ethan, flicking another look at him as she moved off. She didn’t look at Dan.
    ‘Watch your step at the end of the walkway,’ Dan said.
    ‘I will.’
    ‘So we’ll make a coffee date for another time?’ he called.
    She glanced over her shoulder. ‘Yes. Lovely.’
    Lovely? Where’d that come from? She wasn’t thinking straight. She’d called him smarmy, refused his friendly offer of coffee and started bickering with him. And all that had stopped the moment Ethan turned up.
    ‘What were you pestering her for?’ Ethan asked.
    ‘I wasn’t pestering. I asked if she wanted a coffee but she wasn’t in the mood.’
    ‘Yeah, right.’ Ethan laughed. ‘ Let me carry your bag ,’ he mimicked. ‘ Buy a hat, little Charlotte . Watch your step, sweetheart . Don’t strain your precious arms .’
    Dan frowned. ‘Give me a break. She doesn’t need anyone watching her back, she’s got a two-foot-long copper pipe soldered to her spine.’ Or so Dan had thought. Now he’d met her he got the impression there was a lot more going on inside her head and that perhaps her straightened spine was armour against … something.
    Ethan cocked an eyebrow.
    Dan sighed. ‘I was just trying to behave a little friendly like, and it didn’t work.’
    ‘Looked to me like you were planning on becoming her special friend.’
    ‘No chance.’ Whatever Charlotte’s bemusement was about, Dan didn’t want anyone thinking he had some obsession with her just because she’d fluttered her eyelashes at Ethan and not him.
    He peered at Charlotte’s retreating back, her hair afloat around her rigid shoulders, billowing like the fringe on a silk shawl.
    ‘Look at your mother,’ his father used to say when he watched Dan’s mother walk around the house, or the garden. ‘Whips my breath away.’ Dan’s breath had been whipped from him too. He’d had nine years of love from his parents and not a second more. They’d died and he’d lost the chance to grow up sheltered by that love, living in a male-dominated world with his grandfather after that. Life hadn’t allowed for a lot of emotional to-ing and fro-ing, unless his team lost on home turf or the muffler fell off the ute while doing a hundred and twenty down the freeway.
    He’d been almost captivated by the sound of Charlotte’s laughter, and when her smile reached her eyes, a pang of pure pleasure had