The Midwife and the Millionaire

‘We’ve two helicopters at Xanadu,’ Steve said, ‘and never had a problem.’ He smiled kindly at her and she almost felt patted like a small dog. Sophie wondered why she had the urge to wipe the smile off his face. Maybe the poor guy had trained himself to be extra accommodating around his VIP guests, but Sophie found his attentions irritating.

She glanced at Levi but she couldn’t read anything in his face. He was probably used to people fawning over him.

The conversation moved on and Sophie sat back to observe. She watched mostly Levi, despite her attempts not to be drawn to him. He made no blatant attempt to direct the conversation, he just did. While she didn’t like him she had to admit he was smooth. He seemed to know the right thing to bring out the passion in Smiley for the land, and Sophie was surprised by her brother’s apparent liking for their host.

Sophie refused to fall for the same thing and she wasn’t going to lose. Actually, she wanted to go home or at least get out of this room, away from him.

With the meal cleared away, Sophie drifted towards the end of the veranda where the steps led down to the path around the side of the homestead. The stars winked down at her and the further she moved away from the veranda the brighter the sky lights formed into the constellations and patterns she’d grown up with.

The Southern Cross, the Pot, the Milky Way. A wooden bench under a huge boab looked the perfect place to hide. She sank gratefully down on warm wood in the dimness, and the soft breeze rattled the boab leaves over her head as if to soothe her.

Until Levi strode out onto the veranda with his satellite phone and shattered the magic of the night, along with the calm she’d achieved.

Typical city man. They never stopped. No doubt he couldn’t imagine being without a phone at his fingertips, to direct underlings and ensure nobody forgot how important he was, and to order up the next convenience. Or like Brad, to check that his woman was waiting patiently at home, while he dallied somewhere else.

She’d like to see Levi bogged in a bulldust hole with no handy phone. See how resourceful he’d be with nobody but himself to rely on.

Then he saw her, ended the conversation and snapped his phone shut. She leant back into the shadows in a futile move as if he would forget she was there, slightly guilty about her mean thoughts for a man she barely knew, but still bitter by personal experience from the callousness of a man like him.

He paused at the bottom of the steps, and she thought he probably didn’t even want to get his shoes dirty out here. Her nose wrinkled.

Levi hesitated at the bottom step, quite sure Sophie didn’t want company, and reluctant to force his company on her. ‘Coffee is ready if you’d like some.’ He glanced at the grass. ‘Unless you’d prefer it out here?’

She stood and walked towards him with a swish of her blue dress and he felt the rebuke for ruining her peace. She had attitude all right, he thought, but she carried it well. ‘Thank you. Inside will be fine.’

There was no doubt the less she saw of him, the better, and no doubt either that the less he saw of her, the better.

CHAPTER THREE

LEVI stopped as he entered the room for breakfast on the veranda next morning. It seemed he’d interrupted an amusing show.

His sister, with much eye batting and smiles, was trying to convince cowboy William to do the scenic tourist fly in the chopper. Apparently they should fly to the Bungle Bungles, a massive prehistoric range of striped domes at the edge of the Tanami Desert, with a picnic basket, an idea which left a horrified expression on Sophie the orchid’s face. Intriguing situation.

He could see a ride in the helicopter was the last thing Sophie wanted to do, make that second last. If he read her expression right when she glanced at him, the last thing she wanted was to stay behind at Xanadu, alone, with him.

Levi could tell. That was amusing too. Sort of. Though he’d never had someone blatantly avoid his company before.

He sat down next to Sophie at breakfast, maybe too deliberately close, so his thigh touched hers when he turned, and he could actually feel her thrum with awareness. The fresh herby stuff she’d washed her hair with teased his nose and some psycho inside wanted to sniff her head. Now that would go over well as a space invasion.

Even her skin glowed golden in the morning light, like the honey on the crumpet she nibbled at, and reminded him he’d spent more than a few hours in bed last night trying not to remember those lush little hips and lips. He must be having a crisis.

‘Good morning, Sophie.’

‘Morning.’ Her answer was accompanied by a darting look that came and went as she shrank her shoulders to avoid contact.

He had to bite back a smile. Becoming a habit those smiles. Very strange. ‘Did you sleep well?’

‘Fine, thanks.’ Another flick of her eyes and he relented and shifted his chair a few inches away to give her some space. Her delightful shoulders actually sank with relief and he wondered why he was playing with her. He wasn’t normally pushy.

‘Did you sleep?’ It seemed she could talk easier too.

Now how reluctantly had she asked that? He bit his lip. ‘No, not really. The symphony of the night seemed especially loud.’

She raised those stern brows of hers. ‘Kept awake by nature? Poor you. Well, it is a wilderness park.’ She tossed her head. ‘Sure beats the heck out of traffic noise.’

Maybe she didn’t need sympathy. She could stand up for herself. So they ate their meal in silence as Odette continued to flirt with William.

Levi rubbed his chin as they all stood to leave because, funnily enough, her lack of enthusiasm for the flight made his skin itch.

‘Odette?’ he said, and his sister turned back.

‘Look after Sophie. Remember, she’s not comfortable, so no stunts.’

Odette raised her eyebrows at him and saluted. ‘Yes, sir.’

Sophie sent him a semi-grateful look over her shoulder as she dragged her feet to follow the other two to the helipad.

Levi frowned to himself as he went the other way. He needed to concentrate on the paperwork he had to get through before they returned to Sydney, but the ridiculously blue Kimberley sky outside the window invited sacrifice. Odette was too pregnant to be pilot. And Sophie looked unhappy.

Unhappy was too mild a word. Sophie didn’t know how she’d agreed to this.

Now Steve, the resort manager, had shooed Odette away from pre-flight checks. ‘I can’t let a pregnant lady do that,’ he said with that tilted smile that prickled right up Sophie’s nose. There was something about him that reminded her of someone but she couldn’t connect the impression.

She’d never had much to do with the people from Xanadu and apparently he’d been here for a few years and very close to the late owner. She wished he’d mind his own business though.

To make matters worse, just before take-off, Levi appeared and decreed he’d pilot instead of Odette. Suddenly Sophie could have stayed behind. Talk about bad luck.

Everyone was looking out for Odette. Which was a good thing, but Sophie wondered if it was too late to look out for herself. Now the new seating arrangements meant she’d be up front next to Levi. This kept getting better and better. Not.

The front helicopter seat was as bad as she’d imagined. She shrank back into the stiff leather, semi-frozen, not quite believing she’d agreed to this, when Levi reached in from the outside to click her belt into place. His hands pulled the belt firmly across her and snapped it shut. Talk about space invasion. This whole expedition was crazy and way out of her comfort zone. How the heck had she found herself next to him in a doorless chopper with only the seat belt between her and certain death?

And on that note, surely there should have been more seat belts or harnesses or something? One belt didn’t seem enough.

Odette and Smiley chatted happily, ensconced in the rear out of sight and out of earshot. Once they got going, she thought bitterly, they’d be safe in their own little world.

Levi climbed in and she squashed herself back against the seat. He pointed to the bulky headphones hooked on the central support in front of her, and indicated she put them on.

‘Can you hear me?’ His metallic voice made her jump, and she looked across at him and glared. He nodded and she nodded facetiously back. He frowned, then went on. ‘It’s automatically switched to receive, so for you to be heard by everyone else just press this button to speak.’

He withdrew his attention from her and glanced in the back. ‘You guys all buckled up?’

Odette’s voice crackled. ‘Roger.’

Levi glanced around the deserted helipad and began the pre-flight sequence. ‘All clear,’ he said to no one in particular and started the rotors.

The next few minutes Sophie missed as her eyes were tightly shut. The distant noise through the headphones grew louder and she felt the shudder from the flimsy craft right through the backs of her knees, then the first sideways swish of movement through the air and then back the other way.

She opened one eye. It was too hard not to look. They swayed a little from side to side as they edged higher and she could see the downdraught from the rotors beating the bushes below.