‘It was … nice.’
‘Ouch,’ he said, giving an exaggerated wince. ‘Nice? That’s what every bloke wants to hear.’
‘It was better than nice, and you know it,’ she said, almost reluctantly.
‘So you’ve realised too?’
‘Realised what?’ she asked, turning to him with a small frown.
‘That whatever was there five years ago is still there,’ he said, holding her gaze steadily.
Kenzie swallowed nervously. There was no point lying. The fact he was admitting the exact thing she’d been thinking was almost a relief.
She nodded, and saw his face crinkle a little around his eyes, and a sexy half-grin touch his lips. It was her kryptonite. Those two tiny actions could spark a tsunami of lust inside her without any effort at all.
‘I was thinking maybe you and Poppy would like a bit of a tour around the place?’ he asked. ‘Peggy suggested packing a picnic for the three of us.’
‘That sounds great,’ Kenzie said, finding her voice again.
‘Mummy!’ Poppy calling her impatiently was like a bucket of cold water over her head. ‘Come and look!’
‘I’ll leave you to your fairy hunt. I’ll meet you both back at the house later,’ Ewan said.
While the moment had been broken, her thoughts continued to run wild with possibilities of what had just passed between them. Was she ready to jump into some crazy, unexpected thing with Ewan Campbell again?It wasbarelyeven a thing last time, her inner voice pointed out. Which was true. And yet, she’d never forgotten it. If Kenzie hadn’t left before Ewan woke up that next morning, would something have comeof it? She’d have most likely found out hewasn’tactually a backpacker heading home to Scotland. She might have even found out his last name or, heaven forbid, they might have made arrangements to see each other again. Was it completely crazy to think they could possibly pick things up where they’d ended before?
They were two very different people now, and he seemed to have no idea what his immediate plans even were. It didn’t seem a great time to be starting a new relationship. And there was the distance thing, if he decided to stay here.
Kenzie sighed. There were way too many uncertainties swirling about in her head right now. This was only supposed to be a quick visit as a peace offering and show of good faith. Any other ties hadn’t been on the table at the time she’d agreed to bring Poppy down here to meet his family.
Now, she suddenly had more things to consider.
After a lovely morning spent searching the gardens for the elusive fairies, Vera reluctantly had to go to a meeting in town, and left Kenzie and Poppy to play in the house yard. Poppy chattered away, telling Kenzie all about the things Vera and she had planned to do over the next few days. The list seemed exhausting, but she loved that Ewan’s mother had been so welcoming to them both and seemed besotted by Poppy. That alone had been worth all the stress.
‘Who wants to go on a picnic and see some cows?’ Ewan asked, coming outside.
‘Me!’ Poppy called, scrambling off the swing mid-flight.
‘Be—’ Kenzie called out, but Poppy was already running across the yard to Ewan, ‘—careful,’ she finished lamely.
‘Come on, Mum,’ Poppy called.
‘Yeah, Mum. Hurry up,’ Ewan said, flashing her one of those grins that made her forget she was an organised, professional businesswoman.
Once the enormous picnic basket was placed in the back, they climbed into his ute and headed down the road. They followed the main dirt road for a little while, passing huge open fields of crops. In the distance, she could see tractors and other enormous machinery working and the paddocks stretching onwards, seemingly to the horizon.
‘There’s just so much land,’ she said, looking out her window.
‘Yeah, it’s different country out here, I guess. Wide open spaces.’
‘And you worked all this … before?’ she asked.
‘I was mainly on the cattle side of things, but occasionally, when it was busy. Bad weather coming in, bushfires threatening, any kind of natural or man-made disaster, it’s all hands on deck. You name it, we’ve most likely dealt with it,’ he said.
‘You looked so at home when you were doing cattle work with Jack the other day. Now I can see why,’ she said, looking out the window.
‘It’s like riding a bike, I guess,’ he said.
‘I can only ride my bike with training wheels,’ Poppy piped up from the back seat.
