Fiona Lowe - Australian Bachelors - Outback Heroes - Top-Notch Doc, Outback Bride / A Wedding in Warragurra / The Outback Doctor's Surprise Bride

Matt met her brown gaze on a level. She was wearing mascara, which made her long eyelashes even more lustrous. His eyes went to her mouth. This close he could see the tiny sparkles in her lipgloss, making her lips all the more tempting to taste. He watched as the point of her tongue sneaked out to paste a film of moisture on top of the gloss and his insides gave a sudden kick of reaction. It would be so easy to lean forward and—

‘There,’ she said briskly, scrunching up the wrapping of the sticky plaster. ‘I’m all done.’

Matt got to his feet. ‘Thank you, but it was totally unnecessary to go to all that fuss over nothing.’

‘It wasn’t nothing and, besides, I didn’t want you to bleed all over the place. Imagine if Tim and Claire come back to find bloodstains all over their bedroom carpet?’

‘Good point.’

She turned from the basin, where she had been washing her hands. ‘Ready for dinner now?’

‘Sure.’

Kellie led the way to the kitchen where she had an Italian chicken dish simmering. She poured two glasses of wine and handed him one. ‘Thanks for fixing the windows. I really appreciate it. I’m hopeless at household maintenance. I guess it comes from living with six men. They did that sort of stuff while Mum and I got on with the cooking and housework.’

He took the glass with a brief brush of his fingers against hers. ‘Did you resent having to do that?’

She cradled her glass in her hands. ‘Not at first. I took over the cooking when Mum got sick. It was hard once she’d gone to stop doing it. Dad and the boys were devastated. The last thing they needed was a huge shopping list and a week’s menu thrust in their hands.’

Matt thought about how caring she was, how she had put her needs aside for the sake of her father and younger brothers. ‘All the same, it must have been hard, not having a life of your own,’ he said. ‘What about boyfriends and so on? How did you juggle your professional and social life with your family taking up so much of your time?’

Her smooth brow furrowed slightly. ‘It wasn’t easy. I’m nearly thirty years old and I’ve only had one lover. I guess you think that’s pretty pathetic, huh?’

He felt his mouth tip upwards in a rueful smile. ‘I’m hardly one to criticise. I haven’t exactly been out there sowing my wild oats.’

She smiled back at him but he noticed her cheeks were a little pink. ‘I guess I should check on dinner …’

Matt watched as she deftly sorted out plates and garnishes and steamed vegetables as if it was second nature to her. He couldn’t help wondering what she would think of his micro-waved single-serve meals or his two-recipe repertoire of macaroni cheese or savory mince on toast. ‘You obviously enjoy cooking,’ he said into the silence.

‘I love it,’ she said handing him a plate loaded with food.

‘Was your mother a good cook?’ he asked once they were both seated at the small pine table.

‘She was fabulous,’ she said, passing him the pepper grinder. ‘I stood on a step-stool by her side for as long as I can remember. I think she would have loved to have been a chef but she didn’t get the opportunity. She got pregnant with me while she was at college so that put an end to that.’

‘Was she bitter about it?’

She met his gaze across the table. ‘No, of course not. She loved being a mother.’

He looked into the contents of his glass. ‘My mother was the opposite. She also fell pregnant by mistake but it was made very clear to my father and me that it had ruined her life.’

Kellie felt her heart contract. ‘Did she tell you that?’

He forked up some of the casserole. ‘I seem to remember it was a recurrent theme before she finally left.’

‘You must have been so hurt.’

He gave an indifferent shrug. ‘I don’t dwell on it much. It happened and I can’t change it. My father, on the other hand, lets it eat away at him even now. He hasn’t moved on. He talks about nothing else whenever I call him, which isn’t often. He can’t seem to accept that she’s not coming back.’

‘And you don’t think you’re a little bit like him in that regard?’

He frowned as he met the challenge of her gaze. ‘What are you saying?’

She put down her fork and picked up her wineglass. ‘If you can’t see it, I’m not going to hit you over the head with it.’

His frown deepened. ‘I suppose by that you mean Madeleine.’

‘You’re still carrying a photo of her in your wallet,’ Kellie said. ‘You have a shrine built to her in your home. You visit her parents every year on her birthday. If that doesn’t demonstrate how stuck you are then what will?’

‘I can hardly wipe her from my memory as if she never was a part of my life,’ he bit out.

‘No, of course not, but I’m sure she wouldn’t have wanted you to live the way you are doing,’ Kellie argued.

‘You know nothing of how I live my life.’ Or how I’m about to change it, he added silently.

She gave him a wry look. ‘Going on what I’ve seen so far, I think I’ve got a pretty clear idea.’

He put down his knife and fork, his top lip lifting mockingly. ‘So you think you can do something about my sad and sorry situation, do you, Dr Thorne?’

Kellie kept her eyes trained on his. ‘I don’t see anything wrong in you getting out a bit more, having some fun, dating now and again. What harm would it do?’

He leaned back in his chair, still with his mouth tilted. ‘So is this what this is all about?’ He waved his hand over the meal between them. ‘Is this yet another one of your do-good missions to achieve while you’re here?’

Kellie frowned at the veiled insult he had thrown at her. ‘I know you think I’m wasting my time with Angie and Gracie but it’s not just the young mums around here that need help. Julie’s boys do, too. They’re bored and restless, that’s why they’re in trouble all the time. They have low self-esteem and the only way they can get attention is to do something bad. I’ve arranged for them to do something good for a change. They’re coming to help me here on Saturday to clean up the yard a bit. Who knows? It might inspire them to do the same at their house or others in the area.’

Matt looked at the bright sparks of enthusiasm in her eyes and wondered when the last time had been that he had been passionate about anything, truly passionate. For most of his life he had taken a back seat when it had come to eagerness. Every time he had been excited about something he had been let down. He remembered one time, not long after his mother had left, he’d thought he’d seen her coming up the front path. He had dashed downstairs, his heart beating like a bass drum in his chest, only to throw open the door to see it was a complete stranger, selling raffle tickets for a charity. The disappointment had been totally devastating. He hadn’t realised until then how much he had hoped his life would go back to what it had been. But it was never going to go back and it was up to him now to move forward.

‘You think I’m wasting my time, don’t you?’ she asked.

Matt picked up his wineglass and twirled the contents. ‘I think you mean well but you’re likely to get swamped with the endless needs of people you can’t help in any significant way.’

‘I don’t care about the destination as much as the journey,’ she said. ‘I know I haven’t got long here but just the fact that someone is taking the time and making the effort to make a difference in someone’s life is surely a worthwhile enterprise.’

He put his glass down and met her brown eyes. ‘Even if you get hurt in the process?’

‘I’d rather get hurt trying. At least it proves I care, and it could make a difference, maybe in just one life but it’s still worth it.’