Intense eyes blazed into hers as his mind worked with that concept. He had a lot to lose if she betrayed him. Kate fought the tremor that fluttered up her spine and forced her body to remember that this was the man that stood between her and her project. Possibly between the seals and their survival.
There could be no flutters. And if she had to hold her breath then it would be awaiting the outcome of his decision, not waiting to see if he trusted her.
‘Room and lab space in return for some farming advice. Confidential.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘If you think it’s necessary.’
‘It’s necessary.’ His eyes grew serious. ‘You specialise in seal vomit, I specialise in human nature.’
‘Interesting analogy.’ Kate took a deep breath. ‘But you have yourself a deal. On one condition.’ His left eye twitched and its brow lifted. Did no-one challenge him in his world? ‘The AC-DC stays below eighty decibels.’
In the split second before he remembered who he was and who he was with, Grant gifted her with the most spectacular of smiles. She saw more perfect, pearly teeth in that brief moment than she’d seen the whole time she’d known him. A throaty chuckle escaped, and his green eyes creased and reached out and whomped Kate clean in the solar plexus. She couldn’t even suck in a shallow breath, let alone a deep one.
Just when she’d wondered if he couldn’t do more than twist those serious lips.
But as quickly as the smile came it died, and Grant dropped his head so that the sparkling eyes were lost in the shadow cast by his akubra hat. Kate felt the temperature drop around them. As if to punish himself—or maybe her—for the smile, he gravely thrust out his hand toward her and barked a curt, ‘Deal.’
Goose bumps prickled all over her skin as she slid her chilled hand into his furnace-warm, Goliath one. It swallowed hers completely and Kate had a moment of unease; the image aptly represented their parts in this situation.
He might tolerate her presence, he might humour her research, he might even help her in ways that didn’t hinder him. But ultimately Grant McMurtrie held all the power here.
For now.
Her mind went to the nearly finished report for the Conservation Commission, sitting in the back seat of her ute. She straightened her spine and closed her fingers defiantly tighter on his. ‘I’ll move in tonight.’
CHAPTER FIVE
‘YOU do realise you smell appalling?’ Grant scrunched his nose.
Her grin was way too sexy to be good for him. After only a few days, Kate’s presence felt as ingrained in the house as his father’s tobacco.
‘Occupational hazard. The smellier we are, the better the seals like us.’
His nostrils flared. ‘Then they must be ready to adopt you as one of their own today.’
The grin burbled over into a full laugh and those dimples flashed enticingly beneath a layer of dirt and muck. His gut kicked over, and not from the smell. That was happening way too often. He swallowed past the tight ball.
‘We had a good day today, got a heap done. Enough that I can spend all of tomorrow setting up the lab.’
An overflowing carful of her gear had been dropped off by two of her team earlier in the day. It sat intriguingly on the verandah now. As though realising that sharing her joy about having made good progress was not entirely appropriate, two frown lines formed between her brows. The dimples flattened out.
‘I’ll go take a shower and leave my work clothes in the lab,’ she said. ‘Hopefully that’ll keep it contained.’
The lab formerly known as the garage.
He’d thought about making it a store room, but then realised he wouldn’t be able to go in and out of there for stuff, so he’d left it empty. Better a science lab than empty as a tomb—although, the latter was more appropriate. Would Kate freak out if she knew? Part of him thought no—she was a scientist and used to much more grisly things than that—but part of him remembered that she’d been fond of Leo.
‘How often did you see my father?’ he asked a little later, when she was back to smelling like a clean, natural woman. She was trucking things from the verandah around to the double-doors of the garage. He lumped one of the bigger boxes as he followed her.
Kate paused and thought about it. ‘Maybe three times a week?’
For two years. That was a lot—compared to him. Yet she could still whack on the pressure when she had to. ‘Must have been tough while he was against your project.’
Kate smiled, and he realised how much he waited for those peek-a-boo dimples to show up. How he lightened just for seeing them.
‘He was no picnic even after he came round.’
I’ll bet. ‘Came round?’
‘Reconciled himself,’ Kate corrected.
Grant’s feet locked up at the roll-door to the garage. No way he was going a step further into that space. ‘To giving up his land?’
Kate dropped her box and straightened, frowning. ‘To giving up his dogged stance. I think he was just being belligerent out of habit toward the end there.’
Grant snorted. ‘He always was contrary.’
She thought about that. ‘No, I think he was lonely. Dragging out the negotiations gave him regular contact.’
Pain sliced unexpectedly low in his gut. He shot up straight.
‘I’m sorry,’ Kate rushed to make good. ‘That’s none of my business.’
‘My father didn’t really do lonely, Kate,’ he said, lowering his voice, critically aware of their location. Leo McMurtrie had liked nothing better than to be alone with his thoughts when Grant was a boy, sitting out high on a bluff somewhere. Leaving his son to find his own amusement.
‘I know he filled his spare time with committees and doing odd jobs for friends,’ she said. ‘But I think you can be busy and still lonely.’
‘Speaking from experience, Kate?’ Her eyes rounded and darkened with pain, then flicked away carefully. Grant gave himself the fastest of inner lectures.
She rushed on. ‘Just as some people can be bored but think they’re content.’
Was that a dig at him? No, she couldn’t know … ‘Bored is not a phrase I associate with Dad, either.’
‘No.’ Did that gentle smile mean she forgave him his snappy response? ‘No shortage of tasks when you’re running a farm single-handed.’
Grant winced. Everywhere he turned there were reminders of the future that his father had wanted for him. He should have been here with his dad, running the farm. Maybe then he could have headed Kate’s research off before it had even started. Maybe then there would have been no question of the surety of their property. Maybe then his dad would still be alive.
And maybe he’d be arguing loudly with an impossible man right now instead of talking quietly with a woman who was intriguing the hell out of him.
They added two more loads of gear to the pile at the roller-door. Grant knew the moment was coming when he’d need to press the remote and open it. There was nothing in there now but dust and storage boxes. But still his pulse began to hammer.
Kate turned to him. ‘Could I ask …?’
His heart squeezed painfully. No, don’t ask. Don’t make me say no.
She nodded towards the garage. ‘Just some of the bigger pieces?’
An icy sweat broke out along his spine. He called on every boardroom tactic in his arsenal to keep