Reddish-blond stubble glinted in the sun streaming through the windshield as Hamish’s jaw clenched. ‘In lawyer speak, maybe. In my family, there’s only one word for it. And I don’t lie.’
‘Oh, come on, not ever?’
‘Never.’
‘Every adult obfuscates. And I’m sure by your definition, that would be lying.’
‘I don’t lie,’ he repeated.
Even with her addition of a clarifying clause, she’d lost him. But then, she didn’t require too many brains with her brawn. Kain had been proof of that. ‘Okay,’ she said asher car came into sight on the side of the dirt road. ‘You can pick me up from the function, that way you won’t be lying about having been there with me.’
‘Merely obfuscating the facts?’
If Hamish’s gaze hadn’t been on the road, he’d have caught her mouth hanging open.
‘The way I see it,’ he said as he pulled alongside her car, ‘principles aren’t principles if you get to choose when they apply.’
She smiled slowly: there was more to this guy than met the eye. She fished her car fob from the tiny pocket stitched into her waistband. Her car indicators flashed.
‘You locked it?’ Hamish sounded surprised.
‘We didn’t all get to grow up in a fairytale, you know.’
She expected a flippant reply, but Hamish looked serious. ‘I get it. Growing up with your mum … like she was. That would have been hard.’
She looked down at her dusty runners. ‘It had its moments. But …’ She didn’t like the unfamiliar emotion that tightened her chest. ‘At least I still have her. Which reminds me, I’m sorry for what I said the other day. You know, about your mum’s scrambled eggs.’ She sounded like an idiot.
Hamish climbed out of the car. ‘Reckon that’s the first time I’ve heard you tongue-tied.’
At least he didn’t dwell on the sombre moment, milking it for more emotion than she was willing to invest. No one needed to know that she’d always felt an outsider, the only kid whose grandmother had to come to parents’ day, the only kid who couldn’t host sleepovers because her mother wasn’t capable of caring for one child, never mind a gaggle of preteens. Even back then, she’d masked the ache with a pretended disinterest in people, focusing her energies on academia, the one place that rewarded effort without demanding vulnerability.
‘Considering anyone’s feelings isn’t really part of the job.’
‘And you’re all about the job, right?’
‘Usually.’ She’d be leading the witness if she was in court. But it was rare that she got to flirt—and even more rare that she felt the desire to do so.
‘So now you’re conflicted.’ Hamish leaned back against her car. His smile came slow and suggestive, and she found herself waiting for it almost breathlessly. ‘And conflicted is interesting.’
She hiked an eyebrow. ‘Of course I’m interesting.’
He chuckled. ‘You believe in blurting out whatever you think, don’t you?’
‘On the contrary, I weigh every word. Anything I say isverydeliberate.’ She did believe in manifesting, although whether she had become who she wasbecause ofordespiteher obstacles was somewhat murky.
‘Is that so?’ Hamish took a step closer as she stood framed in the open door of the car. His voice lowered. ‘You find being outspoken gets you exactly what you want?’
She twisted her wrist so he couldn’t see the pulse rate display on her tracker. He was so close she could feel the heat rising from his skin. This slow dance of pretending they weren’t about to cross a line was delicious, dangerous, tantalising. ‘Generally,’ she said, her tone cool. Controlled.
He gave a nod, fingers brushing her cheek as he tucked an errant strand of hair back behind her ear. Then he stepped back. ‘Well, send me a text if you decide that what you want is a chaperone on Saturday.’
20
Hamish
He’d checked his phone so many times, the battery was almost cactus. Again.
‘Why didn’t you take her up on the offer to meet in the city?’ Lachlan asked as he reattached the windmill buckets. They’d been putting off the job for months, but with summer approaching, they’d need to rely on the bore water to fill the stock troughs. ‘Sounds like it was going to be the ultimate no-strings-attached kind of deal. Right up your alley.’
