Beneath Outback Skies by Alissa Callen

again. There were plenty of things she needed to do there. Like pay the vet bill with the money Tait had put into their account.
    ‘I really can’t.’
    ‘Why?’
    She blinked. No one ever asked her to justify her actions. She wasn’t starting now. She set off towards the homestead. ‘I have things to do here .’
    Once through the orchard gate she stopped to wait for Tait and Dusty.
    Tait shut the gate behind them. ‘I promise it’ll be a quick trip. No coffee breaks.’
    He rubbed behind Dusty’s ears as the dog sat at his feet. ‘You think Paige should come with me, don’t you?’
    The red heeler’s tail thumped in the dirt. An idea stretched into life.
    ‘Okay. I’ll come, if it’s a two-for-one deal.’
    ‘I’d love to take Connor but he’s already said he wasn’t up to going.’
    ‘It’s not Connor I’m talking about.’ Paige looked down at Dusty pointedly, whogrinned a wide doggy smile up at them.
    Tait’s hand lowered to his side. ‘The dog. You want to take the dog in my car to Glenalla.’
    Paige tried not to smile. ‘Yes, in your very fancy, very fast car. He loves going to town. He enjoys playing with Bella, the librarian’s dog.’
    ‘You’ve done this before?’
    She nodded. ‘It’s simple. He goes. I go.’
    Tait briefly closed his eyes. ‘I must have rocks in my head but you have a deal.’
    ‘Great.’ She gave in to the laughter strumming inside. ‘You won’t regret it.’
    ‘I already do. Please tell me Glenalla has a car-detailing service.’
    Paige shook her head as she walked up the verandah steps. ‘It won’t be that bad. I’ll throw a blanket over your precious back seat. He’ll be a model passenger.’
    ‘What about my precious front seat?’
    She held open the screen door for him. ‘Sorry? Front seat?’
    Instead of striding through the door, he halted. ‘I’ll need a blanket for that as well unless you’re planning on changing your jeans.’
    Earlier she’d debated whether or not her jeans needed a wash. They were only going to get dirty again, so in the end she’d removed them from the washing pile.
    ‘My shirt is clean and my jeans were.’
    ‘In a previous life. But it’s not so much the dirt that will be a problem.’ Laughter threaded his words. ‘If you’re so concerned about what people will say when they see you in town with me, wait until they notice the rip in your jeans.’
    ‘Rip?’ The screen door swung shut with a loud bang as she released it. Both hands flew to the seat of her jeans to find out exactly where the rip was. She’d given up mending every little tear and she barely registered the sound of splitting denim anymore. The onlycriterion for tossing out jeans was if her bottom basically hung out. Her left hand encountered warm, bare flesh. She froze. Like now. Heat flooded her cheeks. All this time when Tait had followed her to the orchard, climbed the steps behind her, he’d never said a word.
    ‘ Now you tell me,’ she hissed.
    Tait held his hands palms up, his bucket hanging from the crook of his arm. ‘What can I say? I thought if it didn’t bother you it wasn’t worth mentioning.’
    She contented herself with her most so-not-impressed scowl and opened the screen door again for Tait to walk through.
    He didn’t. He bowed. ‘Ladies first.’
    Head high, she waltzed through the door. Tait had already seen all there was to see.
     
    Paige went upstairs to change her jeans and to swap her work shirt for a sleeveless, white linen blouse that had once fitted her like a glove. It now hung off her. She tucked the shirt into her jeans and buckled her plaited leather belt, refusing to look in the mirror. At the last minute, she ran her fingers through her hair. She was only making an effort to appear presentable as she had to maintain appearances that the Quinns were surviving the drought. Her extra attention to detail had nothing to do with the infuriating man waiting to take her and Dusty to Glenalla.
    She grabbed her hat