His voice vibrated in his chest under her cheek. ‘You could say “grazie for coming, Lorenzo”.’

She made an exasperated noise in her throat. ‘Don’t push your luck.’

He laughed, stepped back and let her go. ‘Come, cara. Let us walk along this dusty Australian track. Share your thoughts from the last few days while you show me these little houses your mother has so cleverly designed.’

She glanced once back at the homestead, considered taking the sat phone, and decided against it. If anyone was worried, they could ask her mother. As for herself, she was already feeling better. She took his strong hand in hers and it felt so good, she didn’t give a damn if anyone saw them. Everyone else seemed to think her attraction to Lorenzo was a great idea, so why was she fighting it? And how could she not be attracted to him when he made her feel like the desirable woman she’d thought she’d lost?

Chapter Thirty-eight

Ava

By the end of the fifth day, Ava’s strain of having Zac here, but not here, felt like the weight of a big Brahman bull tied across her shoulders.

Zac was still polite, unintentionally endearing, and interested in all the things he’d been interested in when they’d first begun to discuss each other’s lives in Alice. But the loss of her lover had broken Ava’s heart, and sitting next to him on the verandah now, watching the lowering sun cast shadows along the ridge, made her eyes sting.

‘So, Dreamtime stories tonight over at the community?’ Zac asked into the silence between them.

She couldn’t do it. Couldn’t sit in the dark with Zac and imagine what it should have been like if he had remembered what lay between them. Her reserve of strength for today was gone. ‘Poddy’s offered to take you. Something’s cropped up that I need to do tonight.’ I need to get rid of this depressing headache, she thought.

Zac had turned to cast a searching look in her direction and she was relieved to see Hana’s brother walking towards them. ‘Here he comes now.’

They both turned towards the approaching stockman. Poddy epitomised the glory of the Maori with his big, dark eyes in his big-boned face and swirling tattooed sleeves on his muscular arms and legs. Like a haka-roaring footballer, Poddy seemed larger than life, but his soul was gentle, and after the death of their parents, his protective love for his sister had carried him across the Tasman Sea to share her life in Australia, where he’d slipped with remarkable ease into the role of foreman for Jock.

Poddy had taken Ava aside today and shared his concern about Jock. They’d agreed he’d take Zac to the stories tonight and discuss Hana’s worries. Ava would ask Zac if he thought they should speed up the referral for help.