‘Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?’ he said, reminding himself why he was here. He was enjoying flirting with Cate Buchanan, and why the hell not? He’d been suppressing his feelings for Sterling for too long.

‘I don’t, provided you do something for me.’

‘You’re brokering a deal?’ Flowers asked, not sure if she was serious.

The corners of her eyes crinkled. ‘Now you’re here, I may as well put you to good use.’

‘Doing what?’

‘Carrying a bag of wood down here. There are still two in the car, and there’s only an hour of daylight left.’

Bloody hell, she strikes a hard bargain. He hadn’t counted on this, but if it got her talking . . . ‘All right. I need to catch my breath though. This is harder than it looks.’

‘Much harder than hiking.’

‘I just figured that out.’

She rolled her eyes. ‘You’d better come in then, but leave those snowshoes outside.’

Flowers undid the bindings then stepped into the warm interior. A hurricane lamp cast a bright glow from where it stood on a cupboard near the sink, while two sets of double bunks lined the walls. A fire burned in a bush-rock fireplace down the far end of the room, and the bookcase beside it was stacked with wood. Two camp chairs were arranged in front of the fire while a large tree stump served as a coffee table.

‘When was this built?’ Flowers asked, looking at the wooden floorboards.

‘It was built by one of my ancestors in the 1920s. It’s been damaged by fire a couple of times, but we’ve rebuilt it using the original materials where possible.’

‘It’s amazing.’

‘Thank you. Our family have looked after it for a long time.’

‘What kind of timber is that?’ Flowers asked, gazing up at the beams.

‘Alpine Ash. The original bark roof was replaced with iron at some point.’

‘It makes you wonder about the people who’ve passed through, doesn’t it? And why it was built on this particular spot,’ he said.

‘I can tell you why. My ancestors owned one of the original snow leases up here. The road wasn’t here then, just tracks made by First Nations people.’

Flowers frowned. ‘What are snow leases?’

Cate picked up a fire iron and prodded a log, sending sparks into the fireplace. ‘Leases the government granted so graziers could bring their herds up to the high country in summer, where the temperatures were cooler. This hut was built as a shelter for the stockmen.’

‘They would have needed it,’ said Flowers, moving to warm his hands in front of the fire.