Page 37 of Road to Rosalee

‘Earth to Melody …’

‘Oh, sorry.’ She drew in a breath. ‘Three sounds good to me.’

All of them pulled a chair up at the table and tucked into their lunch. Once again, the men couldn’t be grateful enough for her efforts, which were minimal compared to the café – just went to show how simple deeds were met with such gratitude in the outback. And there was a lot to be said about that. The thought that she only had three more weeks with these men, and especially Zai, made her heart squeeze awfully tight. Just how was she meant to say goodbye?

* * *

Unable to sit still, Melody found herself pacing the homestead in her bra and undies while waiting for the load of washing she’d hung out an hour ago to finish drying on the Hills hoist – the shirt she wanted to wear needed a few more minutes fluttering in the breeze. Counting down the minutes to Zai arriving – she had half an hour to go before she got to gaze at his handsome face again – she considered running down the hallway to grab a sarong to wrap around her so she could retrieve her clothes from the line a little more discreetly, but then couldn’t be bothered traipsing all that way. The men were out yonder again, at one of the farthest paddocks, so she was safe. Nobody was about to catch her in her underwear. Just to make sure, she peered out the back door to where Zai usually left his boots by the back door of his cottage. None to be seen and not a movement in sight. The coast was clear. It was now or never.

Feeling a little risqué, she pitched herself out the flyscreen door before she changed her mind, dashed across the back verandah on her tippy toes – why, she hadn’t a clue, but it just fitted with her little escapade – and down the steps. Albeit dust-filled, the gusty breeze alleviated some of the heat of the mid-afternoon sun as she made her mad dash to the clothesline. Just as she reached it, a sudden gush whipped the Hills hoist into a spin. Cursing beneath her breath, she chased after her T-shirt to put the brakes on the runaway line. From behind her, there was a resounding slam. Horrified, she turned to see the back timber door shut. She raced over only to find it jammed. Crap. What in the hell was she supposed to do now? It had been a good idea at the time; now she felt like a right idiot. Good lord, she didn’t even have matching underwear on and to make matters worse, it was her fundi undies – her old cotton favourites with polka dots. She needed to get back inside, fast. Plucking the canvas floor mat from the back door, she tugged it around it herself as best she could. Then, in total stealth mode, she edged around the side of the homestead, praying she’d make it to the front door without anyone spotting her. With every man at work, surely she had good odds.

From beneath sleepy eyelids, Harold watched her sneaking sideways from where he lay sprawled out on the verandah. He tipped his head ever so slightly, as if trying to figure out what the heck she was up to. ‘Oh, don’t you start, mister,’ she said to him in passing.

With only a gutsy sprint across the front lawn to go, a quickly approaching four-wheeler had her glancing down the dusty track while hiding behind a bougainvillea.

She swallowed down one cuss word, then another, as she watched Zai pull to a sliding stop, climb off, and stride down the garden path. What in the heck was she supposed to do now? To make matters worse, she inhaled a mouthful of dust hovering in wake from the motorbike and suddenly needed to cough. Covering her mouth, she tried to contain the urge, but she could only hold it back for a few seconds before spluttering, her eyes watering.

Spotting her as he climbed the front steps two at a time, Zai paused mid-step, met her horrified gaze, stifled a grin, and then tipped his hat. ‘Should I even ask?’

‘Probably not.’ Embarrassed as hell, she tugged the floor mat in tighter, only succeeding in giving herself way more cleavage than should be naturally possible.

Clearing his throat, and with his smirk widening to his usual charismatic grin, Zai rested his forearms on the verandah railing. ‘You know what, I have to say, I like your style.’ Mirroring her gesture, he tipped his head to the side a little, as if rationalising the situation. ‘Are floor mats a fashion trend in Sydney?’

‘Ha, you’re a funny bugger, Zai Wellstone,’ she huffed.

‘Are you going to stay there all day, Miss Melody?’

‘No, of course not.’ She sheepishly came out from behind the shrub and awkwardly manoeuvred up the stairs. ‘I went to grab the clothes off the line, but the wind slammed the back door shut,’ she said as he opened the flyscreen door for her.

‘Happens to the best of us.’ He stepped in behind her, his soft chuckle eliciting one from her too.

‘The things I go and get myself into.’ She rolled her eyes and turned to him, finding her gaze only inches from the soft rise and fall of his wide berth of a chest.

Wishing she could close the distance, Melody instead took a step backwards. Zai met her eyes, held her to the spot. She sucked in a breath, then another. The energy between was swiftly electrified. Clutching the top of the mat with one hand, she pointed down the hall with the other. ‘I’m just going to pop some clothes on.’

‘Yeah, that might be a good idea.’ Zai’s lips curled into an even more enticing smile. ‘Because I don’t reckon it’d be comfortable on the back of horse with that thing on.’ He gestured back to the door with his thumb. ‘I’m just going to pop back home and grab a couple of things. Will you be ready in twenty?’

‘Yup, sure will be.’

‘Right then, I’ll be back in a mo with your chariot.’

‘Okey-dokey, I’ll be ready and waiting.’

They stared at each other for another few lengthy moments.

‘I’ll leave you to it, then.’ He regarded her with a devilish grin, before disappearing out the door.

Dressing in record time, Melody was ready and waiting when Zai slowed to a stop at the front gate atop Sao. A gorgeous honey-coloured palomino trotted in alongside him, her reins held loosely in his big strong hands. Rising from the top step, she quickly made her way down to meet him beneath the shade of an old gum. She tingled from head to toe in his presence, insisting to herself that any woman standing in her Daisy Duke cowgirl boots would have had butterflies dancing in their belly too.

Shading her eyes, she looked up and into his smiling face, the dimples she so liked upon his cheeks veiled by the shadow of his wide-brimmed hat.

‘Howdy partner, can I ride you?’ Her attempt at honky-tonk twang was ridiculous, as was her ability to get dreadful foot-in-mouth – talk about her brain short-circuiting, and all because of what he did to her. ‘With you, I meant. Wow, that wasn’t how I meant it to come out.’ Laughing at herself, she also like the way it drew a hearty chuckle from this charming hunk of man.

‘Well, howdy there yourself, ma’am. And yes, you can ride with me.’ Zai’s twang was far better, and downright sexy. ‘Anytime.’ He even went and tipped his hat like they did in all the cowboy movies her mother had so loved to watch with a warm bowl of buttery popcorn between them.

Holy cow. This man knew how to work a woman’s libido. ‘Hi Sao.’ She cast a glance at the muscular stockhorse between Zai’s strong thighs, and then to the gelding’s pretty sidekick. ‘So who’s this magnificent creature?’

Zai appeared chuffed that she’d noticed just how gorgeous the unfamiliar horse was. ‘Melody, I’d like you to meet the newest recruit to Rosalee Station, Toffee.’ He dismounted, touching down right beside her, then gently turned the horse towards Melody. ‘And Toffee, this here is Melody. She’s going to be your comrade today, so make sure you treat her real nice, okay.’ He gave the horse a gentle caress on the muzzle.