She balled her fists and hit him without force as she pressed her head against his chest. ‘How dare you come into my life and turn everything upside down.’

‘What do you mean?’

The tears overflowed, making damp tracks on her cheek, but she was smiling. ‘You stupid man. Don’t you understand? I may have—I may have begun to allow myself to have feelings for you that I should have never …’

Relief flooded Caleb and he sagged at the knees, before straightening to take her in his arms.

He shook his head and smiled and she lowered her eyes. ‘Now you’re laughing at me. Is it not enough that I have just made a complete fool of myself without you compounding my idiocy?’

‘Adelaide.’ He held her close and kissed the top of her head. ‘I’m not laughing at you.’

‘I made a mistake once,’ she mumbled into his waistcoat.

He stroked the back of her head. ‘Mistake?’

‘Poor choice of words. Forget it.’

He brushed the tears from her eyes with his thumb and smiled. ‘Let us agree that whatever we have in our pasts, that is where it remains. It can’t hurt us now.’ He stepped back and took her hand, pressing the fingertips to his lips. ‘Miss Adelaide, would you consider it presumptuous of me to ask your consent to pay calls?’

She laughed, a high, clear sound that echoed around the gully. ‘Why, Doctor Hunt, it would be most presumptuous.’

In a calculated parody of a Southern drawl, he gave an exaggerated bow and said, ‘It is my dearest desire that we become better acquainted.’

She cupped his cheek with her hand, running her thumb along his jaw. ‘I think, Caleb Hunt, that I would like it very much if you were to call on me. This has happened so fast, I need time to get to know you.’ She cast a glance in Danny’s direction. ‘For Danny to get to know you. He likes you and you’re good for him.’

He studied her, trying to look past the defences that had sprung up again. Someone in her past had hurt her and hurt her badly.

‘I think, Adelaide, we both need time.’ He looked around at the pleasant gully. ‘This was not what I imagined when I landed at Williamstown.’ His eyes returned to her. ‘You are not what I imagined.’

‘But we have time, don’t we?’ she asked, a plaintive note in her voice. ‘You’re not planning to leave Maiden’s Creek again?’

He shook his head. ‘I’m stuck here. I want to get this place working. Given the parlous state of my finances, we have all the time in the world, Adelaide.’

He pulled her in to him and they kissed again, a long, slow, lingering kiss.