Page 30 of Jillaroo from Jacaranda

Oh crap.

‘Looks like I caught you at a bad time.’ Ty glanced towards her half-eaten breakfast. ‘It’ll be going cold as we speak.’

She took a few moments to find her voice beneath the wild beating of her heart. ‘Oh no, it’s all good.’ She flashed him a bright smile. ‘What’s up?’

‘I’m going to give the horses their weekly treats, and seeing as you’re a horsey kind of gal, I thought I’d pop in and see if you wanted to ride along with me for a couple of hours?’

With nothing on her agenda for the rest of the day, she jumped at the opportunity to spend some time in the company of this awesome human being, surrounded by horses. ‘I’d actually love that.’

‘Excellent.’ He gently placed Wizard back to the floor. ‘I’ll be back in about twenty to pick you up, is that enough time to eat and be ready?’

‘Uh-huh, heaps.’ She walked him to the door. ‘Catch you soon.’

‘Yes, you will.’ Grabbing his Akubra from where it was upended on the outdoor settee, he tugged it on.

Admiring his wide shoulders, slim hips, carved butt cheeks and a knock-her-socks-off confident gait, she couldn’t help but watch him saunter away. Hell, most other women would do the same thing. He paused at the garden gate to look back at her, his lips twitching at the corners when he realised that she was still watching him. Feeling like a deer in headlights, she quickly waved him off and disappeared back inside, sure as hell her face had turned a bright shade of red. He was so damn fetching, but this crush she had on him was simply that; a crush, nothing more.

When Ty pulled up out front exactly twenty-two minutes later, she was waiting.

Hay bales were stacked high on the back of his LandCruiser, barely held in place by baling wire. ‘Righto, Jonesy. Are you ready to get your hands dirty?’

‘Ha! I thought I was just along for the ride,’ she teased as she slid into the passenger seat.

He grinned playfully. ‘I fooled you then, didn’t I?’

‘Not in the slightest.’ She laughed. ‘Of course I want to get my hands dirty. I wouldn’t have it any other way.’

‘You’re my kind of woman, Jonesy.’ Putting the gearstick in first, Ty turned around and headed towards the bottom paddocks.

His compliment making her feel all warm and fuzzy, Rose remained silent. Folding her legs up, she forcibly turned her attention out the window. She relished how he’d just given her a nickname – their relationship as good mates was progressing. The defining word being mates. She reminded herself of this over and over until they reached their first stop at a paddock with two palominos.

‘Wow, they’re beautiful,’ she said as she stepped out.

‘Aren’t they ever.’ Ty hoisted himself up and onto the tray.

‘Both of them are my sister’s.’

‘Your sister’s?’ Brows furrowed, she took his outstretched hand and climbed up with him.

‘Yup.’ Undoing the twine, he rolled one of the bales forward, onto the edge of the tray and went to grab another. ‘Leah.’

Rose helped him with the second one. ‘I didn’t know you had a sister.’

‘She went to Bali a couple of years ago to work with orphaned children.’ Picking the bales up as though they were light as a feather, he tossed both over the fence to the two eagerly awaiting horses. ‘It was only meant to be for a couple of months, but she loved it so much, she never came back.’

‘So, you haven’t seen her for a few years?’

‘Nope. Other than a phone call once a month to let me know she’s still alive, I don’t really hear from her much.’ Brushing his hands onto his jeans, he shrugged as though it was no big deal. ‘And she refuses to own a mobile phone, so I can’t call her.’

‘That must be hard, not seeing her for so long and not being able to contact her either.’

‘Yes and no. She’s always been a bit of a loner. I know she’ll contact me if she needs me, and she knows I’d be there for her in a flash, too, as she would be for me.’ He jumped down. ‘Wait here if you like. I’m only driving twenty metres or so, to the next paddock.’

‘Okay.’ She sat and rested her back up against the hay, enjoying the breeze on her face as Ty got them to their next pit stop, this time at a paddock with three horse – two stunning bays and one very prancy Appaloosa.

In one effortless leap, he joined her up on the tray again.

Rose helped him manoeuvre three bales to the edge. ‘So, whose babies are these?’