Second Chance At The Ranch

‘It was heartbreaking to watch her try to please them … but she never seemed to be able to. It made me so mad. I’d look at her sometimes and there was such confusion written on her face. I know it certainly affected her confidence.’

‘But being a model must make her pretty confident?’

Juliet raised an eyebrow. ‘Looks can be deceiving. But yes, she’s better these days. She has a couple of very good friends. And she has me.’

‘So, there’s just the two of you?’

‘Yes.’

‘What did you say her name was?’

‘Hero.’

Pete paused. ‘Your parents really liked Shakespeare, didn’t they?’

Juliet laughed. ‘Yes.’

‘So she made it through school with that name?’

‘We went to quite a posh school. Unusual names were par for the course.’

Pete nodded.

Juliet continued, ‘Actually, it’s been useful with her chosen career.’

‘Easy to remember.’

‘Hard to forget a Hero!’ Juliet laughed.

‘So why Australia, apart from the fact it was somewhere sunny? Or was that our sole attraction?’

‘My father was Australian. Hero and I both have dual citizenship. We were born here but left young to be educated in England whilst my parents had various postings all over the world. I’ve not been back so I thought it was about time I spent some time out here myself.’

Pete sat up. Juliet followed and touched his arm.

‘Pete? Are you all right?’

‘Would you consider spending some more time out here?’

‘I don’t really know. I’d planned on staying about a year and then seeing—’

‘I mean out here.’ Pete waved an arm to take in the Websters’ land. ‘I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, being a bit remote like this but …’

Juliet shifted position on the rug. ‘What exactly are you saying?’

‘Juliet, will you marry me?’ He paused, and then made to push away. ‘What was I thinking? I should have done all this properly. You’re not just some—’

‘Yes!’

‘What?’

‘Yes!’ Juliet laughed, catching his hand, and holding it up to her face. ‘I will marry you.’

Pete felt his legs give way and flopped back onto the rug from the kneeling position he’d been in. He landed on his backside, and Juliet grinned, moving across the rug and plopping herself down on his lap.

‘You seem surprised.’

‘I am a bit.’

‘At me saying yes, or the fact that you asked me?’

‘Both. I think.’

Her face clouded a little. ‘Do you want to take it back?’

‘No!’ he said, reaching for her, and pulling her close. ‘God, no!’

‘Then what’s the problem?’

‘I just – you deserve a better proposal than in the middle of a paddock on a lumpy old rug.’

Juliet smiled and raised her eyebrows. ‘Actually, I think it’s pretty much perfect.’

Pete recognised the smile and pulled her closer still.

‘Is that so?’

‘Very much so.’

Pete dipped his head, brushing the warm, soft lips of his fiancée as her fingers began working quickly at the buttons on his shirt.

***

‘Here we are,’ Pete announced as they pulled into the long driveway. A sign told them that they had reached ‘Hill Station’.

Hero peered through the dusty windows of the vehicle and looked around. ‘Where’s the hill?’

‘Sorry?’

‘The sign said “Hill Station”, but there’s no … hill.’ She tailed off, suddenly feeling stupid for voicing the question.

Pete smiled at her in the mirror. ‘You’d be amazed at how many people don’t even notice that.’

‘Really?’ Hero asked.

Pete’s eyes flicked back up to the mirror and in that second, he saw everything he needed to. Under that apparently confident exterior was the girl his fiancée adored. For a split second, he saw through the mask, heard the hint of real pleasure in her voice at his compliment. Pete glanced back again but the childlike glint of delight had gone.

‘The name’s kind of a joke. My parents are Jack and Gillian. When they took over the station, it didn’t have a great reputation so they wanted to change the name, do away with the stigma. One night in the pub, some bright spark said something about Jack and Jill going up the hill, and it kind of stuck.’