Of course he and Ava wouldn’t have worked. He was no cowboy sitting on a fence in the centre of Australia chewing … what had Poddy said the cows chewed out here? Mulga. He wouldn’t be chewing mulga grass as he ran a station. And she’d never be happy in Sydney, away from the people she cared about, both her family and the women who needed her advocacy up and down the road from here to Katherine. He’d seen firsthand her passion for the women of the communities and remote midwifery. Stella had that right.

They lived in different worlds, had different agendas, so he had no faith at all that it could have possibly worked, despite the undeniable sexual attraction he didn’t have to remember to acknowledge.

When it all boiled down to it, Roslyn and he had been from the same world and they had definitely struggled.

The sound of a car screeching into the emergency-department driveway pushed his butt out of the chair. Yes. Thank you. A welcome distraction.

Zac grabbed hygienic gloves and beat the rest of the staff to the front, where he was halted by a distraught man at the ambulance entrance.

The tall, blond bloke threw open his door and hurried to the rear of the car. ‘Thank God! Zac.’

Zac shot a quick look at his face and recognised a much thinner and more haggard Jock. ‘Hana’s in labour. She’s thirty-three weeks – too early.’

‘Got it.’ Zac turned to the nurse behind him. ‘Leave the wheelchair for me. Get maternity down here.’

Zac shelved Jock’s appearance for another time as he concentrated on the young woman in the rear seat of the car. He opened the door and leaned his hand on the seat next to her. ‘Hello there, Hana. You scored me. Okay if I help until the midwives arrive?’

The young woman turned huge, frightened eyes towards him and then drew a shaky breath to calm herself. ‘Zac.’ She blinked. Then she said firmly, ‘I think the baby is coming, Zac.’

Zac glanced behind him. ‘The nurse has gone to ring maternity. Let’s get you out and into this wheelchair.’ He offered Hana his arm. ‘You’re doing fine. Tell me what you’re feeling now.’

Hana drew another shuddering breath and swallowed. ‘I think there’s something hanging out down there and I don’t know whether to push or what.’

Zac had the strangest feeling that he was being divinely tested, and the urge to foster calmness felt stronger than anything. ‘Well, we’ll find out very soon, but could I have a quick look in case I have to catch a little someone?’ He met Hana’s eyes and smiled, and Hana lifted her bottom and pulled her trousers down to her knees in a no-nonsense movement. ‘Of … course.’ She panted and gestured her permission with a wave. ‘Go … ahead.’