BEFORE

Chapter 10

JACK

I'd managed to avoid Jess for five days.

And it looked like the feeling was entirely mutual.

She hadn't ventured near my shack again and whenever she was around the homestead I made sure I had urgent kitchen duties.

I couldn't be alone with her.

We'd spoken a grand total of three times: during introductions, at my shack when she'd seen me naked and in the herb garden. Each and every time I'd wanted to make the uptight princess lose control.

What was it about her air of untouchability that made me want to touch her real bad?

That wouldn't be such a great idea so I'd been a chicken-shit and avoided her instead. The crazy part? Even though we'd only sparred twice, I actually missed it.

I liked that she had a wicked tongue beneath that cool exterior. I'd love to discover exactly how wicked her tongue could be.

"Am I disturbing you?" Reid stepped onto the back verandah, looking every inch a smooth politician in his beige chinos, blue button down shirt and spotless brown boots. It was like the Yank had searched 'classic outback gear' on the Net and bought an outfit to suit the occasion.

He wasn't a bad bloke and we'd made small talk a few times, but being near a guy so put together made me feel like a failure.

"No, I'm taking a breather," I said, jerking a thumb at the small cooler near the kitchen door. "Help yourself to a drink."

"I'm fine, thanks." He sat next to me on the dusty top step and braced his elbows on his knees. "How long have you worked here?"

"About four months."

"It's an amazing country." Reid's gaze swept the panorama before us. The red dusty road, the paddocks, the mountains in the distance. "I envy you."

That'd be a first. Not many blokes of his caliber would envy a drifter cook with no ties to anyone or any place.

"From what I hear, LA would be a buzz compared to this place."

He nodded. "LA's great, but I grew up in a small town about an hour out of Vegas and I kind of miss the landscape." He pointed to the heat shimmering across the horizon. "See that? When I was a kid I used to think that magic happened at the end of the earth."

"And now?"

"Now I have to work my ass off to make anything happen let alone magic, I know it's a crock of shit."

I laughed, surprised by his candor. "Tell me about it. You don't get anywhere without working your arse off."

He grinned. "I love how you Aussies say arse for ass."

"And I love how you Yanks say cookie for biscuit, jelly for jam, and drop scone for pikelet."

"Touché." Reid cocked his thumb and forefinger and fired at me. "That's another thing I like. Your bluntness." He pointed at my slouching against a wooden post. "You're all so laid back."

Bet Reid wouldn't say that if he knew how frigging tense I was because of his sister.

"It's the heat," I said. "Hard to muster up the energy to do much of anything at the end of a long day."

Unless Jess came by my shack at dusk again...then I'd be raring to go.

"Know the feeling," Reid muttered, sounding less than impressed. "I put in long hours at the campaign office. Not much time for anything after that."