‘Here, let me help you with that,’ he said gruffly when she opened the boot of her hire car and dragged out an overstuffed backpack. ‘Is this all you’ve got?’
She wrinkled her nose at him. ‘You expected seven suitcases, didn’t you?’
‘Probably.’ His mouth twisted wryly. ‘I thought you might have even brought your feather-down quilt as well.’
Maxi chuckled. He’d always taken the mick. She’d finally got immune to it after being tetchy at first. ‘I’ve brought everything I’ll need and this thing has a thousand pockets.’
‘Hmm. Is that it, then?’
‘That’s it,’ she confirmed. ‘I have all my really important stuff in here.’ She tapped the large leather satchel she’d swung over her shoulder. ‘Oh—who’s this, then?’ she laughed as a black Staffordshire terrier tore from the region of the back yard to wait inside the gate, thumping his tail on the cement path.
Jake opened the gate. ‘Get down, boy.’ He shooed the dog away with a nudge of his knee. ‘This is Chalky. He came with the practice so I’m stuck with him.’
Maxi bent and fondled the Staffy’s blunt head. ‘Chalky? Oh, I see.’ She gusted a laugh. ‘Upside-down logic—Chalky because he’s black.’
‘I didn’t name him so don’t blame me.’ With the dog glued hopefully to his side, Jake led her up onto the verandah and produced a key to the front door.
‘Do you take him for walks?’ she asked, as Chalky followed them inside, his claws clipping across the polished floor.
Jake snorted. ‘Of course I don’t take him for walks. ‘He’s got a huge back yard to run in. And when would I get the time?’
‘I suppose… It’s a nice house,’ Maxi changed tack, her gaze flying over the simple furnishings.
‘It comes with the job. You’d better have this room,’ he said abruptly. ‘It has its own en suite bathroom.’
‘Oh, lovely.’ She lifted a hand to tug off her cap and shake out her tangle of hair. ‘I’d kill for a bath.’
‘No baths.’ Jake went into the bedroom and dumped her backpack on the end table. ‘Three-minute showers are all that’s allowed.’
‘Oh, of course.’ She frowned a bit. ‘I imagine it’s imperative to use the least amount of water as possible.’
‘You’re going to hate it,’ He said flatly.
‘Don’t go making assumptions on my behalf, Jacob,’ she responded sharply. ‘Now, do you have spare linen? I’ll need to make up the bed.’
Jake’s eyes glazed over and he took a deep, very deep breath. This was never going to work. ‘Sheets and towels in the built-in cupboard in the hallway. Help yourself. Marie Olsen is employed by the hospital to come in once a week and keep the place clean and aired so you should find everything else is OK.’
‘Fine, thanks. Um, you mentioned a hospital.’ Maxi’s curiosity was piqued. ‘What’s the bed capacity?’
‘These days, ten,’ he replied, a slight edge to his voice almost as though he thought it was none of her business. ‘Four are designated nursing-home beds. We’re funded differently for those.’
‘The same the world over, then. Doctors being slaves to management number-crunchers wherever they work.’
Jake gave a noncommittal grunt and glanced at his watch. ‘Speaking of the hospital, I have to make a quick round. Couple of patients to check.’
Maxi’s eyes brightened. ‘I need to stretch my legs,’ she said. ‘Give me a minute to freshen up and I’ll come with you.’
Jake sensed he was never going to win here so he’d better just go with the flow. Or go nuts. ‘Whatever makes you happy.’ Shaking his head, he turned and left her to it.
Maxi spritzed water on her face and then ran a brush through her hair. It needed cutting and shaping again, she thought ruefully, disentangling a couple of strands until her brush ran smoothly.
She looked in the mirror, feeling an expectant throb in her veins as she twisted her hair up into a presentable knot. She’d found him again. Now, somehow, some way she had to make him want to reclaim all they’d had.
Impossible as it appeared on the surface, she had to get Jake to tap into his feelings again. Realise that what they’d shared together in England they could have again here on the other side of the world—his world in the Australian outback. She had her fingers firmly crossed as she left her bedroom and went to find him.
His efforts at hospitality left a bit to be desired, Jake thought thinly as he poured fruit juice into two tall glasses. She was probably dying from thirst after being on the road for most of the day and he hadn’t even offered her a drink of water. His mouth clamped.
He still found it unbelievable she was here. Under his roof. The time they’d spent in England suddenly seemed pitched into sharp focus. And he knew now that meeting her had changed the whole course of his life. And it hadn’t just been the intimate moments they’d shared, although they had been magic. No, it had been the way she’d made him feel, the way she’d made him laugh. In fact, it had been the whole damn package that was Maxi. His Maxi?
Well, she had been. For a while.
Suddenly, he felt as though his heart had been squeezed with terrible force and hung out to dry.
CHAPTER TWO
RETURNING the jug to the fridge, he swung back just as Maxi popped her head in and then joined him at the breakfast bar.
‘Cheers.’ She lifted her glass, tilting her head in that alert, bird-like way he remembered. ‘Who do you need to see?’
‘One of our seniors who was admitted with heatstroke earlier today and a third-time mum. Delivered twenty-four hours ago.’
Maxi looked surprised. ‘I’ve been doing a bit of homework about Australian rural medicine. From what I’ve been reading, most bush doctors decline to take midwifery cases. Because of the litigation tangle if things go wrong,’ she elaborated. ‘I mean, you’re so far from specialised help.’
‘We operate on a slightly different premise here.’ Jake lifted his glass and downed half his drink. ‘One of our nurses, Sonia Townsend, is a midwife. If the pregnancy looks straightforward, we like to deliver women here. Otherwise it’s a huge disruption for the family if the mum has to travel ahead of time and hang about for the birth at Croyden. That’s our closest regional hospital and it’s over two hundred Ks away.’
Maxi thought that through. ‘So, what else do you do?’
Jake sent her a wary look. ‘Medically?’
‘Of course.’
‘Let’s just say a broad-based training has helped me out more times than I care to recall. But there’s also an internet hook-up for rural doctors where we can consult with a specialist if we get desperate.’
Maxi slowly drained her glass and then placed it carefully back on the countertop. ‘It’s a different world out here, isn’t it?’
He gave a hard laugh. ‘You noticed?’ Without giving her time to answer, he swept the glasses off the bench and into the sink. ‘Let’s go and do this round,’ he said briskly. ‘And then I might buy you tea at the pub.’
‘Tea?’ Maxi took off after him as he strode to the front door. ‘As in cucumber sandwiches?’
‘More likely steak and chips.’
She sent him a speculative look, wondering if she was being sent up. ‘So, you actually mean you’ll buy me