“Wait.” He was still studying her closely. He reached for her hand. “Before I take over Mick wants me to do a job for him.”

Bree nodded and glanced at the beer she’d put back on the barrel. Her stomach was grumbling from lack of food and her throat was parched.

He gave her hand a squeeze. “It’s in Marla.”

“Marla! As in the dot on the map nearly to the Northern Territory border?”

“It’s a nine-hour drive.”

“You’ve checked?”

“Of course. Mick owes the guy at the servo a favour. His mechanic wants to take some extended leave and he needs a replacement. Mick had promised to help him out but he’s not up to it any more. His shoulder has had it. He said if I went he’d make the deal sweeter for me to take over his business.”

“How long will you be there?” Bree was practical. He’d be gone a while but he’d be coming back.

“Six months.”

“Six months!”

“The offer Mick’s making me is a valuable one. I wouldn’t be in a position to take over his business for years otherwise but—”

“I guess it’s not that long.” Bree tried to hide her disappointment in the face of his enthusiasm.

“Here’s the thing.” He took her other hand in his and for a brief moment she thought he was going to get down on one knee. She was never one for the mushy love stories both her sisters wept over so she was surprised to feel her heart skip.

“I wondered if…I hope you might come with me.”

“To Marla?” She let out a sigh, not sure if she was relieved or sorry he hadn’t said something else. “What about the farm?”

“You were only saying the other day how you think your dad would be better off with someone who wasn’t his daughter working for him.”

“What would I do in Marla?”

“There’s waitressing work at the servo.”

She opened her mouth but he pressed his fingers to her lips. “It’s only short term and you said you waitressed when you were at uni.”

Bree had worked in a cafe for two years part-time while she’d been a student. “It’s not the waitressing. I can’t just up and leave the property. We’ve got tailing coming up and—”

“The farm will be here when you get back. This is a chance for us. We can live together. See how compatible we really are.”

“In Marla?”

“Won’t be anywhere else to go.” His eyes crinkled and he gave her that look, the one that made her toes curl inside her boots. “We’d have to make our own fun.”

“I don’t know, Owen. I’ll have to think about it.”