He pointed back behind him and in the harsh glare of the sun she caught the glint from a car’s windscreen. ‘You’re from the station?’
One corner of his mouth hooked up. It wasn’t precisely a smile, but she had a feeling it was meant to be friendly. ‘I’m Cade Hindmarsh.’
Her boss.
He must be about thirty and he was tanned. Really tanned. He had deep lines fanning out from his eyes. Probably from all the habitual squinting into the sun one must do out here. A habit Nicola found herself mimicking already. He tipped his Akubra back from his head and she found herself staring into the bluest pair of eyes she’d ever seen. The sun might’ve faded everything else out here, but it hadn’t faded them.
His gaze was direct. The longer she looked at him, the lighter she started to feel, a burden of weight slipping free from her shoulders and sinking into the dry earth at her feet. He didn’t know her. He’d never met her before in his life. Nobody out here knew her. He wouldn’t think her pitiful, stupid or a failure. Unless she did something to give him reason to.
She had absolutely no intention of letting that happen.
‘Nicola McGillroy,’ she said, recalling her manners and introducing herself. Cool, poised and businesslike, she lectured. That was the impression she wanted to give. And the antithesis of a pitiful doormat.
He strode over and extended his hand. She placed hers inside it and found it so comprehensively grasped it made her eyes widen. He grimaced and loosened his hold. ‘Sorry. I’m always being told not to grip so hard.’
She swallowed. ‘No need to apologise; you didn’t hurt me.’
Cade shook hands the way she’d always thought men should shake hands. The reality, like so many other realities, had disappointed her. Cade didn’t disappoint. His grip was firm, dependable. Strong. Men who shook hands like that didn’t get pushed around. She wanted to learn to shake hands like that.
From beneath the brim of his Akubra those blue eyes twinkled for a moment. Her lips lifted in response, and then with a start she realised her hand was still held in his. She gently detached it.
Her employer tipped his head back and stared at her for several long, pulse-inducing moments. She lifted her chin and met his gaze square-on. She didn’t kid herself that his survey was anything other than what it was—a sizing up … a summing up. For the next two months she would have charge of his two young daughters. She wouldn’t respect any man who merely took her at face value, who went only by her résumé and a telephone interview. Even if that telephone interview had been gruelling.
‘Will I do?’ she finally asked, the suspense sawing on her nerves. She didn’t doubt for one moment that if his answer was no he’d put her back on that plane and send her home to Melbourne.
The thought made her throat dry and her heart falter for a couple of beats before it surged against her ribs again with renewed force. She couldn’t go back to Melbourne. Not yet!
Melbourne … December … with their joint reminders of the wedding she should’ve been planning. She didn’t think she could stand it.
‘Why is this place perfect?’
Perfect? Nicola Ann, you can’t be serious!
Her mother’s voice sounded in her head. Nicola resolutely ignored it. ‘All of this—’ she gestured to the landscape ‘—is so different to what I’m used to, but it’s exactly what I imagined.’
‘And that’s good?’
‘I think so.’ It was very good.
He planted his feet. ‘A lot of people who come out here are running away from something.’
She refused to let her chin drop. ‘Is that why you’re out here?’
Off to one side Jerry snorted, reminding her that she and her employer weren’t alone. ‘Love, generations of the Hindmarshes have been born and bred out here.’
She raised an eyebrow at Cade Hindmarsh. ‘Is that a no, then?’
Those blue eyes twinkled again. ‘That’s a no.’
‘Some people—’ she chose her words carefully ‘—not only want to see what they can of the country, but to experience it as well.’
‘And that’s why you’re here?’
‘I know if you were born and bred out here that you’re familiar with this kind of life and landscape, but being here is an adventure for me.’ It was also a timeout from her real life, a much needed break from Melbourne with all its reminders of her short-sighted stupidity and her cringe-inducing ignorance. She didn’t say that out loud though. He might interpret that as running away.
It will all still be here when you get home, you know, Nicola Ann.
And her mother might be right.
Though, in two months’ time, hopefully she’d have found the strength to face it all again. She hoped that in two months’ time she’d have changed, become a different person—someone stronger, tougher. Someone who didn’t get taken advantage of, lied to or cheated on.
Finally Cade smiled. ‘Welcome to Waminda Downs, Nicola.’
A pent-up breath whooshed out of her. ‘Thank you.’ She grinned. She couldn’t help it. She wanted to high-five someone for having passed Cade’s assessment. Jerry’s chuckle told her that her excitement was visible for all to see.
Cade’s smile broadened into a grin that made her blink and just like that she could practically feel Diane’s elbow in her ribs and her whisper of, Hot, gorgeous hunk at her ear. The thought of her best friend pulled Nicola up short. It made her pull back, compose her features and press her hands together at her waist.
Cade’s eyes narrowed and his grin faded too until it had vanished completely. Something inside her protested at that, but she stamped it out. She was here to change. Not to gush. Not to be eager to approve of everything and everyone she met without considered judgement first. And not to be patted on the head and treated like a child.
She strode around him to seize her suitcase. ‘I’m really looking forward to meeting Ella and Holly.’
Cade remained silent. Nicola bit her tongue to stop from prompting further. She wasn’t here to make friends. She wasn’t here to win approval—not from Cade, not from anyone. She was here to do a job … and to get her head screwed on straight again. She’d do both those things to the best of her ability.
‘Brought that generator you ordered.’
The men unloaded the generator. Beneath his work shirt Cade’s arm muscles bulged. Despite the generator’s bulk and weight, he didn’t so much as break out into a sweat as he carried it to the car. With a wave to Jerry, she set off after him, admiring the broad sweep of his shoulders and the depth of his chest. The man was a veritable Atlas. He stowed the generator into the tray of his ute with ease and then took her suitcase. She told herself the only reason she let him take it was because he’d know how to load the tray to best effect.
It wasn’t because it was too heavy and she had pitiful upper body strength.
Her lip curled. Oh, who was she trying to kid? But getting fit was on her to-do list while she was out here. In two months’ time she’d be tossing that suitcase around as if it weighed nothing at all. The way Cade did.
She found her eyes drawn too easily to him so, setting her teeth, she did what he did—shaded her eyes and watched as the Cessna took off. And then, to stop from staring at him again, she completed a slow three hundred and sixty degree turn to survey the landscape. Finally she shrugged. ‘Okay, it beats me. The land looks flat for as far as the eye can see. At least until that ridge way over there.’ She gestured to her right. ‘But I can’t see a homestead.’