AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER THREE
DALE LET HIS gaze leave the road for a second, checking out Daisy’s profile as she stared fixedly through the windshield. Was she avoiding his gaze? Something about her words didn’t ring true. And why had she snapped at him like a rabid dog when he asked why he hadn’t seen her around before? It’d been an innocent enough question. It was almost as if she was hiding something. When you lived in the country, you needed to know your neighbors because you often relied on them, especially in times of trouble. There was an implicit trust between neighbors; between all country people. Which was why vehicles and houses were left unlocked.
But it was also why one of their ATVs had gone missing.
He gave a small shrug and returned his attention to the dirt road, which was becoming more treacherous by the minute. This rain wasn’t letting up. Which didn’t bode well for Daisy getting across that creek anytime soon. The rain had brought out hundreds of those pesky cane toads and they were throwing themselves at his car tires. Oh well, a few more dead cane toads were never a bad thing.
The turnoff to the station appeared, and Dale pulled the truck to a halt. The worst thing about living on a luxury cattle station was that no matter how luxurious you made it, you nevertheless had to open the gates by hand. And this was no ordinary gate; it towered twice as high as the 4WD, and it was made of ornately curved wrought iron. He jumped out of the truck, jogged to the gate, unlatched it, and was back in the car in twenty seconds. Long enough to become soaked all over again, however.
“I could’ve done that for you,” Daisy said, as he drove through the opening.
“It’s all good, I’m still wet from before.” He smiled and jumped out to close the gate again. When he returned, he said, “We use cattle grids on most of the rest of the property to keep the cows in their respective paddocks. Mum thought it’d look better, having some impressive monstrosity of a gate for the guests to arrive through.”
Daisy laughed at that. The first time she’d really let go of her smile since he found her in the creek. It was a nice laugh; she had a deep voice for a woman, husky with a smoky edge to it.
The drive to the lodge took less than five minutes. Dale could just make out the shadow of the escarpment through the heavy rain, hovering high above the clearing where the resort nestled. His mother wouldn’t be happy that he’d brought home a stray. The resort was at full capacity this week. But they’d find a bed for her somewhere. Daisy could probably stay in the staff quarters, there was a spare room, since Paula had left at the beginning of season. Now, Alek would be happy with that. The Polish man was renowned for appreciating the ladies, even if most of them turned him down.
Daisy sat up straighter as the trees opened up to reveal the lodge and all of its out buildings. Admittedly, it was a washed-out, smudged version of the true thing, seeing it through the driving rain, but Dale knew Daisy would be impressed. Everyone who saw the place couldn’t fail to be impacted in some way. The billabong was the first thing to come into view. On a calm day, the billabong was a scene of tranquility. As large as a football oval and festooned with water lilies, lush, green growth surrounded it on three sides. The fourth side was a long, grassy slope, leading up to a huge wooden deck with an infinity pool and plenty of deck chairs and gazebos scattered around, right out the front of the main lodge.
“Wow, it’s gorgeous,” Daisy exclaimed, eyes bright.
He felt an absurd stab of pride, and he let out a breath. For some reason, he’d wanted Daisy to be impressed. Which was silly; she was a stranger he’d rescued from a flood, nothing more. It was the first feeling of connection he’d had to the station since he’d returned from Stargazer. Along with that connection came the realization that he should be proud. He’d had a hand in the original design of the place, in helping to build a lot of those huts and the main lodge. His mum and Steve took most of the credit, sure. But he’d poured the majority of his time into helping this station become what it was today—foregoing the chance to attend university so that he could stay on and help.
He watched her out of the corner of his eye as he drove past the set of eight individual huts strung out around the western edge of the billabong. Her head swiveled in every direction, as if she couldn’t take it all in at once.
The road skirted the huts and then wound around to the rear of the main lodge. It was a bespoke building that his mum designed, made from locally sourced timber, with soaring windows that let you take in the stunning scenery from almost every spot inside the building. He bypassed the main rear parking lot, and stopped as close to the kitchen door as he could.
“Let’s take your boxes in, first. We’ll find a spot for them somewhere.”
“Great, thank you.” She jumped out of the passenger seat and crawled in the back seat to snag her backpack and one of the boxes. Which left him holding the door open and looking at her nicely shaped rear end wriggling around as she tried to juggle the box. He took a step backward and only just managed to divert his gaze in time as she stepped down onto the sodden, red earth. It wouldn’t do to get caught ogling the rescued woman’s butt. Even if it was one of the nicest he’d seen in a while. And those long, bronze legs. They were about damn near perfect.
He leaned in and grabbed the other box, then led the way as they ran the few steps to the door, and he held it open as she dashed through. He followed her in, and nearly slammed straight into the back of her when she stopped, mouth open, staring.
“Holy hell,” she breathed. “I thought you said this was a kitchen?”
He stopped and looked around. The air conditioning was the first thing he noticed, cool air flowing past his face, wiping away the perspiration from the humidity outside.
“Yeah, well, Skylar is pretty particular when it comes to her food prep areas.” Now he thought about it, the place was somewhat intimidating, with all the stainless-steel countertops, state-of-the-art appliances, and sharp-edged efficiency. It was a first-class chef’s kitchen, and it showed. But then, the food Skylar prepared was also first class, and she kept even the fussiest of guests satisfied, so his mum was more than happy to spend the extra money to bring the kitchen up to Skylar’s standards.
A petite woman, hair tied up in a severe bun, appeared through the door to the hallway.
“Hey, bro,” she called.
“Hey, sis.” Even as he spoke, he lifted his nose, trying to see if he could discover the wonderful aroma of freshly baked scones. And there it was. That slightly sweet, warm, buttery smell. Fantastic, she’d made the pumpkin scones after all.
“Meet Daisy.” He gestured belatedly to the woman standing beside him.
“Hi, Daisy,” Skylar said, not hiding the question in her tone. “I’m Skylar, chef at this joint. And his sister.” Her gaze flicked to the boxes they were carrying and their bedraggled appearance, then her blue eyes fixed on him, one eyebrow raised.
“Nice to meet you.” Daisy nodded her head politely, but perhaps struck dumb by the size of place, said nothing more.
“Her car got stuck in the creek,” Dale said hurriedly, heading his sister off at the pass, because he could already see her forming the wrong idea as to what was going on here. “I brought her here to wait out the storm, because she has nowhere else to go.”
“Fair enough,” Skylar replied, but the eyebrow remained raised, and he could read all sorts of unasked questions hovering behind her smile. “Welcome to Stormcloud. I’m guessing you need to store that food somewhere.” She pointed to a large, steel door in the far corner. “There’s plenty of space in the big cool room, drop them in there.”
Daisy shot Dale an astonished look that said you have a big cool room? but she didn’t voice her disbelief. He led the way, opening the door and finding a shelf at the back that’d fit both of her boxes of food. It was mainly fresh, healthy produce, he noted. Fruit and veg, cheese, bread, and packets of meat at the bottom. Enough to feed two people for a few weeks, at least. Those boxes told him a lot about her. That she definitely wasn’t used to living out here in far north Queensland. There was no tinned food, no dried staples, such as flour or sugar, or even pasta. All the basic foods that people who lived a long way from a supermarket were used to surviving on. All the foods you relied on when the electricity was out, or the roads were impassable for weeks, sometimes months, at a time.
“Daniella’s not happy.” Skylar called to him as he shut the door to the cool room behind him. She always called their mother by her first name, had done so ever since they were teenagers. To this day, Dale couldn’t figure out why. To him their mother was always just Mum. “We’re flat out trying to find things for the guests to do in all this rain. Some of them are getting restless. She’s got Alek all in a tizzy about organizing a games night.” She leaned against the steel countertop, checking a timer on the shelf above.
