work, Riley Jackson. We have a date with a swim this evening. So let’s get on with it.’
‘Yes, ma’am.’
She had courage.
All day as he worked Riley kept turning Jenna’s situation over in his mind. It was none of his business, but he couldn’t make his head ignore it. The tilt of her chin, her defiance where other women would have wept, and her capacity for sheer hard work-they combined to make this slip of a girl stand apart.
As she’d stood apart all her life, he conceded, and he found himself growing angry on her behalf.
She didn’t seem angry or bitter, though. It seemed Jenna had no wish to punish those who’d made her childhood miserable or who’d put her into this mess.
Riley wanted them punished, though. The more he thought about it, the angrier he grew.
Where the hell was her father? What was this Brian creep doing inheriting money that could make Jenna’s life easier?
Riley thumped another weatherboard home with so much force the one above loosened and fell. He wanted to swear, but Karli was sitting in the shade not two yards away, ready to absorb any new and interesting word he might let drop.
A child like this would be such a responsibility, he thought, yet Jenna had taken her on without a thought as to how it could affect her future.
This was nothing to do with him. Butt out of what doesn’t concern you, he told himself for the hundredth time. Get this place patched up and get out of here. Get the girl back to England before you go mad. Before you end up where you were before you learned sense.
They worked on, stopping only briefly for lunch. Karli snoozed for a while with her rock, but Riley and Jenna didn’t rest. It was as if they were driving each other.
Finally, as the sun lost the worst of its heat even Riley had to admit he was exhausted.
‘Okay, Karli,’ he told his right-hand man. ‘It’s swim time.’ He walked over to Jenna’s side of the house and called. She stuck her head out of the one functional bedroom window and raised an enquiring eyebrow.
‘Enough,’ he ordered. ‘I’m beat.’
‘Wimp,’ she teased.
Riley stared at her for a long moment. Did she have any idea how beautiful she looked?
Beautiful? How could she be described as beautiful? Covered in dust, her head tied up in rags and framed by a crooked window surround…
Yes, she was beautiful. There was no denying it. Jenna Svenson was lovely.
Hell!
‘If you want a swim we have to stop now,’ he said and his voice was rougher than he’d intended. ‘Anyway, I worked for two hours before you even woke up this morning.’
‘More fool you. Come inside and see what I’ve done.’
He did and was suitably impressed. It was great. It was nearly clean.
‘There’s a red line around the walls,’ Riley told her. ‘Is this English fashion? Beige to head height and red above?’
‘It’s as high as I can scrub,’ Jenna said with dignity. ‘If you want higher scrubbing, you need to find a higher slave.’
‘Hmm.’ Riley appeared to check Jenna’s diminutive figure-and Jenna flushed under his scrutiny. ‘Maybe you’re right,’ he agreed thoughtfully. ‘I do seem to have structural problems with this model.’ He managed a twisted grin. ‘I wonder how much you’d bring as a trade-in. You’re more a sports coupe when I need something like a Ford Bronco.’
Mistake. At Jenna’s side was her bucket of water, red with dust. She swooped like lightning, retrieved the rag she’d been using and threw it straight at him. He fielded it like an expert, but water sloshed across his dust- streaked face.
He wiped his eyes with a sleeve-then stood, rag in hand. Considering.
Jenna backed.
‘Don’t you dare.’
Riley looked again down at his hand, and then across to the dusty figure in front of him. He drew back his hand. Jenna backed some more…
He couldn’t do it. He wanted to, but there was a challenge lurking in her lovely eyes that had him retreating.
‘Okay, Miss Svenson,’ he said softly. Battles were dangerous territory. Battles with Jenna… Yeah, really dangerous. ‘I’ll let you off the hook just this once.’ He paused for a moment, then tossed the cloth back into the bucket. ‘There’s a spare ladder in the Land Rover.’
‘For tomorrow?’
‘For tomorrow,’ he said firmly. ‘We’ve done more than enough for today. If you have a bathing costume get it on fast. I’ll meet you at the Land Rover in two minutes.’
He walked out and left her to it, and only Riley knew just how close a call it had been. Because, instead of hurling sopping rags at the girl before him, it had been the hardest thing he’d ever done in his life to walk away. When all he’d wanted-all his body had screamed at him to do-was to walk over and gather Jenna Svenson to his heart.
The dam was three miles over bumpy track north of the house. The only sign of it as they approached was a decrepit windmill, moving lazily in the hot north wind. It was so late the sun had lost most of its heat, but even so it was hot enough to make a swim seem the most desirable thing in the world. Jenna sat beside Riley in his open Land Rover and her tongue was practically hanging out at the thought.
Same with Karli.
‘We’re going swimming. We’re going swimming,’ Karli chortled and her enthusiasm was appreciated by all of them. It eased the awkward silence-the tension that seemed to be building by the moment.
‘How come you have a truck here?’ Jenna asked, more to break the silence than anything.
‘It came with the farm. I spent the first day here getting it back into working order,’ he told her.
‘So you have a better truck at Munyering?’
‘Of course.’
Munyering. What was it like?
What was this man like?
Then they arrived and the questions stopped dead as Jenna gazed out in bewilderment.
This was certainly no luxury swimming pool. Here at last were the cattle Riley had talked about. The beasts stood in a forlorn-looking ring on the edge of the muddy water. There were a hundred or so head of cattle by the look of it-and that was just about all they were. Heads. Skin and bone and not much else. Jenna had never seen such pathetic-looking animals in her life.
‘Riley, they’re…’ Jenna fell silent, aghast. She looked out at the sad-looking animals and her heart lurched within her. Surely these beasts couldn’t live here?
Karli had stilled beside her and she knew the child shared her horror.
‘I know.’ Riley glanced over at Jenna and his look told her he understood what she was feeling. ‘They look terrible, and these are dreadful conditions for cattle. But they won’t be here much longer.’
‘What do you mean? You don’t mean…they’re dying?’
‘They were.’ Riley pulled up beside the dam. The cows nearest the truck made a desultory move away-but not too far. It was as if the herd as a whole had simply run out of energy. ‘Believe it or not, Jenna, these cattle are on the road to recovery.’
‘I don’t believe it.’
‘Believe it,’ Riley said and his voice was suddenly grim. His face tightened. ‘I don’t want you thinking I caused this. I’ve only just bought this place. The man who owned it deserves to be shot. He walked off the place, abandoning it with a couple of thousand head of cattle still dependent on him for maintaining their water supply. He went bankrupt-he couldn’t afford the fees to transport his cattle to market, so he just left them to rot. When I heard
