Seven-Day Love Story

She stiffened immediately, and Ollie pushed up onto his feet.

Todd broke in quickly ‘Or … we could talk about something else. Where did you grow up? That’s not a Queensland accent I hear.’

Jayne let out a big breath, and Ollie’s tail sank back towards the ground. ‘Hardly. I’m from Pennsylvania originally.’

‘Welcome to Australia.’

‘I’ve been here a couple of years, but thank you.’ She laughed.

Ollie looked up at her, as if surprised by the unfamiliar sound. Todd took the opportunity to slide his hand down and gently rest it on the dog’s black head. Ollie forgot to flinch. ‘Keep talking,’ he said quietly, and then slowly closed his fingers into a rub.

Jayne drew in a breath. This was the closest Ollie had been to another person since she’d found him skulking, half-starved, down near her back dam. ‘I moved here two years ago. I was looking for somewhere different to where I’m from.’

Blue eyes met hers. ‘Different?’

Safer. Further. ‘Somewhere new.’

Todd was fully squatting now, and Ollie glared at him guardedly. But he was prepared to tolerate it as long as the gentle rubbing continued. It did, and Jayne found herself transfixed by the sight of those strong fingers pushing through Ollie’s black fur.

‘This must be quite different to home,’ he said.

‘Not so much. Jim Thorpe is a small community in the valley of a mountain forest. This all feels quite familiar. The trees are different. But still beautiful.’ She smiled down at Ollie and added her gentle strokes to Todd’s.

‘You miss it?’

She lifted her eyes back to his but couldn’t hold his gaze. She glanced out at the towering forest circling her sanctuary. And then it hit her. She was making conversation. And her chest wasn’t imploding. ‘I miss parts of it. But everyone grows up, moves on.’

‘You didn’t want to stay close to your family?’

Oh, how she had—and her mother had cried and cried on hearing how far from home her only daughter was moving. But Jayne loved them too much to expose them to any further risk. Not that she’d told them about any of it.

‘We stay close. We talk via the internet. We e-mail.’

Ollie shifted, and Jayne cupped his ridged silken skull and stroked him reassuringly. Then warm, strong fingers accidentally tangled with hers. A heat-burst surged up to her palm and she only just managed to suppress a yelp as she leaped back, sending Ollie scampering for cover.

Her eyes flew to Todd’s. His were carefully schooled.

‘Sorry.’ The pointless apology tumbled off her lips.

Todd tipped his head to the side and stared at her—a burning, inscrutable regard—and shrugged. ‘It’s a start.’

Ollie. He was talking about Ollie.

‘I should get back to this enclosure,’ he said casually, as though the burst of static energy had been purely one-sided. Of course it had. He looked entirely unaffected.

She cleared her throat. ‘Yes. I should get back to work, too.’

Uh-huh. As if that was going to happen while her heart was racing and while she had something so delightfully ornamental to look at through the window. Jayne ducked her head and turned back for the house.

Oliver trotted happily after her, oblivious to the awkward human moment he’d just caused.

CHAPTER THREE

Sunday

JAYNE studied Todd through a crack in the drawn curtains of the back windows, unable to tear her gaze away from his broad shoulders and his patient, methodical construction methods. Now he was perched on a drum in her yard, oblivious to her surveillance, sharing his ham sandwich with an adoring Ollie.

Even the most mistrustful dog on the planet had a melting point, it seemed—approximately the same temperature that ham was cured at.

A man who dogs loved couldn’t be all bad, right? Her four-legged friends might be easily bought, but—given their damaged backgrounds—they were even more attuned to survival than she was, and all four would have kept their distance from someone with ulterior motives, she was sure.

Or was she just looking for excuses to like him?

Todd Blackwood was not like the men she’d used to know. Every part of him screamed higher education, yet he could whack together a holding pen as if he’d been doing it all his life. His casual discussion hinted at city origins but he was hanging around a small village digging up handyman work as though he were a drifter.

It should have made her more suspicious, but it didn’t. After all, people could draw all kinds of conclusions about Jayne Morrow—J.C. Moro to her gazillions of adoring fans. A top-of-the-list novelist, living a simple life in the Australian forest; what would people make of that? She had no doubt that people back home were reading things into her absence, making up what they didn’t know.

Prima donna. Marketing gimmick.

Only her agent and a small team of investigating officers assigned to her case knew the real story. She had a genuine excuse, maybe Todd did too? She definitely got the feeling there was a story to tell. There was one way to find out. Jayne’s heart kicked up a notch. It wasn’t unreasonable to ask a few questions of the man she was employing.

Right?

Nervous steps carried her out to the far end of her yard, where four dogs welcomed her with licks and welcome dances. Her heart hammered a protest. She silenced the frightened voice that urged her to go back inside.

This was the road to normal.

Todd looked up as she approached, then pushed himself politely to his feet. ‘Back to work time?’

Jayne frowned. ‘No. You’ve earned your breaks—take them.’ She examined the beginnings of the yards that would make such a difference to her injured animals. She might not yet have a wealth of rehabilitation skills, but she could at least accommodate the animals professionally and appropriately while they healed. ‘It’s looking great. Thank you.’

Todd nodded and sank back onto the half-drum, leaning forward, his tanned forearms resting on his thighs and strong fingers hanging loose between relaxed legs. It was a poster image for non-threatening body language, and it immediately took the edge off Jayne’s tension levels. Todd snagged up a soda can from the ground and took a long swig.

‘Can I ask you a question?’ No one would believe from her hesitant tone that she made her living communicating.

Todd took another swallow. ‘Shoot.’

‘What are you doing in Banjo’s Ridge? I assume you don’t live here?’

‘Why do you assume that?’

‘Your accent is different to the locals’. It’s Australian but … different.’

‘I’m from Western Australia originally.’

Five thousand kilometres away. ‘What brings you here?’

Blue eyes blinked slowly back at her. ‘The mountain lifestyle. The pace. It’s very tranquil here.’