‘You can take your weight on it now, but it will only get better if you rest it. Watch the sunset from your room and pop your feet up on the outdoor table. It’s a beautiful afternoon.’

Yes it was, she thought as she helped the woman to the door. And Zac would be here soon. She gazed through the window at the dark sapphire of the sky. The colours seemed deeper, the birdsong louder, everything brighter and crisper, despite the warning that they might be in for a dust storm later. But not before Zac touched down.

By two pm, she knew Zac’s plane would have landed. She pictured his big frame on the bus from the airport to Yulara, but she kept her head down as she carefully cleaned the gravel from another scraped leg.

By the time it was done, her stomach jittered with tiny twitches of excitement and her mouth kept smiling at the clock as if she had a new friend in the ticking hands. For the last three days in her staff accommodation, in the back of her mind, she’d been planning Zac’s introduction to Uluru, the park, the base walk, the cultural centre, Denise and her husband. All the places to watch the sun rise and set. And other things …

She needed to calm down. Anyone would think she’d fallen in love with a guy she’d known for a week. Had she been that foolish?

Her mind skittered back to Zac. He’d jumped on her suggestion to book a rock-view room at the Yulara resort, so they could step out onto their own verandah in dawn’s light and know exactly where they were. It was impossible to miss what stood on the horizon from that vantage point, and she wanted him to see it too.

Surely he’d drop in here as soon as he’d unpacked. They only had tonight and tomorrow and then he’d go back to work and she’d go on to her family’s station.

The clinic door opened and suddenly he was there, watching her, hand still on the doorhandle as if frozen by the sight of her, checking her out with a warmth in his eyes that made her skin heat and her delight bounce in her chest.

‘Hello,’ he said, his voice deep and familiar like a much-loved song. The door closed behind him and the room felt as though it had shrunk to the size of a telephone box.