William would be back in Melbourne now. She looked at her watch. No. William would be in the sky.
She glanced out of the window at the stars beyond. Nothing and nothing and nothing.
And…something. A tiny light, growing brighter.
It was a small plane, she thought, low in the east. Some private charter, going places now the restrictions were lifted. Good for them.
The light was getting brighter. Brighter still. And the sound…
Not a plane, then. A helicopter.
Closer still. Low and fast.
Who…?
And then she thought…
This was stupid. She was imagining things. Maybe there’d been an accident somewhere close and this was an air transfer. That’d be it.
But it was over their land now. Hovering. Lights were beaming down.
It’d panic the cows.
But, even as she thought it, she realised it wasn’t hovering over the cow pastures. The paddock underneath was at the eastern extremity of the property, where the hay had been slashed only yesterday.
Whoever was in the chopper knew the paddock was bare. Knew the paddock was safe.
It’d be… It’d be…
She daren’t think who it’d be.
It wouldn’t be William.
But the chopper was on her land.
The dogs had heard. Killer was at the kitchen door, his head to one side, listening.
‘I’ll take you with me,’ she told him, and then as the rest of the pack appeared, she nodded. ‘Okay, maybe I do need protection. Let’s all go and investigate.’
He stood in the paddock and he thought, whoa, it’s a long way to the house. He knew he couldn’t scare the cows; he knew this paddock would be a safe place to land, but still…
‘Where’s a limousine when you need it?’ The pilot was enjoying himself. Yes, he’d been pulled away from his family Christmas, but he’d had his Christmas dinner and the bonus he’d been promised made him very happy indeed. ‘Maybe I could take you over the house and lower you on a rope,’ he told him, grinning, and William thought, where’s the respect? He’d made the mistake of chatting to Steve about his family, and look where it got him.
And then he saw Letty’s wagon bumping across the paddocks and he stopped thinking about Steve-he stopped thinking of anything but Meg.
Was it Meg? The car came to a halt, the driver’s door opened, but, before he could see who it was five dogs tumbled out, enveloping him in a sea of canine ecstasy.
He’d been at the farm for three days. By the dogs’ reaction, they were his lifelong friends and he’d been gone for years.
He kind of liked it. But still… Hopefully, Meg was behind them. He managed to shove the dogs aside. The pack descended on Steve, who backed into his cockpit. The dogs jumped right up after him. Hopefully, the machine was hard to start, otherwise they risked flight by dog. Whatever, William was too busy looking at Meg to do anything about it.
For she was here.
She was wearing…pyjamas? Pink silk with tiny stars and moons all over. Silver stars. His sense of unreality deepened. Her hair was messed as if she’d been asleep. She looked rumpled and sexy and so fabulous he wanted to scoop her into his arms right then and there.
Think of something to say, Stupid, he told himself but he was having trouble. Tonight had made sense to him at the planning stage. Now he was having trouble getting started.
‘You had to bring the dogs,’ he managed, as a muffled grunt emerged from the cockpit.
‘Anyone could be landing in our hay paddock. On the chance that you could be enemy alien cow poachers…’
‘You came wearing pyjamas?’
‘I have a loaded bazooka under these pyjamas.’
He eyed the pyjamas. They were silky and clinging and…
No. Don’t think of what might or might not be under those pyjamas. Definitely not a bazooka.
What to say? He gazed at Meg, at her adorably confused face, at her wonderful stars and moons, at her dishevelled hair. This was Meg, the woman he loved with all his heart, and he knew he had to go forward.
When had he figured this out? Just then, he thought. He’d known he had to come. He’d planned to come. But now, looking at her, he knew for sure.
All those corny movies he’d watched as a lonely child…they were right. Throw your hat into the ring. Jump.
‘I had to come back for you,’ he said simply, his gaze not leaving her face.
‘I said I couldn’t come with you,’ she whispered, sounding awed.
‘You don’t need to come. I didn’t come back to fetch you. I came back to be with you.’
‘P…pardon?’
‘I came back because I love you,’ he said, strongly now, more sure. ‘I came back because when it came down to it I couldn’t leave.’
‘You love me?’ She said it wonderingly, and he knew the alien thing was still in her mind. She said it as if his words were some sort of fantasy that had no connection to reality.
It was up to him to make her see this was real. That this was true.
‘I do love you.’ It was as serious as any wedding vow. He took a step towards her but she held up her hands as if to ward him off. As if she was afraid.
Behind him, Steve was still surrounded by dogs. He couldn’t be holding five collars, yet the dogs were all still. It was as if they sensed how important this was.
Was this important to a chopper pilot? To dogs?
Why not? It was the whole world to him.
‘Meg, I need to know,’ he said roughly, because he couldn’t bear to wait a moment longer. ‘When you talked about loving… Did you mean it? That you could love me?’
‘I might,’ she whispered, and his world settled. Things were falling into place that he’d never realised were out of kilter until now. That he’d known this woman for three long years and not loved her… How could he have been so blind?
How could he waste another moment? It was killing him not to take her into his arms but he knew he shouldn’t.
As if falling in love in three days, hiring a helicopter in the middle of the night, telling her he wanted her right now, wasn’t rushing things.
So say it. Lay the whole plan on the line.
‘I can move here,’ he said and Meg’s face froze.
‘Here?’
‘It’s not impossible.’
‘I think I need to sit.’
‘Can I hold you up?’
‘Not until I figure what you’re talking about.’
‘My plans.’
‘I like plans,’ she said faintly. ‘Okay, talk.’
So he talked. ‘I’ll explain fast,’ he said, and it had to be fast because if he didn’t hold her soon he’d go up in
