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you’ve made me feel much better.’
    ‘Good.’ He raised his hand and his fingers stroked the side of her face, slowly, gently. ‘Don’t worry so much, Cassie. Life has a habit of working out.’
    The touch of his fingers made her cheek tingle and sent a quiver through her body. Cassie put her hand to her cheek briefly as her heart leapt. Startled at her reaction, she took a deep breath and forced her mind back to their conversation.
    ‘I…I know we’ll pull through this.’ She swallowed. ‘But I worry about the future. There’ll be other droughts. If only there’s something else we could do that didn’t rely so much on the weather. I’ve been trying to think of some way to diversify, but…I’m not sure…’
    Mark looked surprised as he sat back and regarded her.
    ‘That’s a very forward thinking approach.’ He paused, seeming to turn it over in his mind. ‘I must say I agree with you, I have the same thoughts myself. Perhaps we can talk about it sometime. But now,’ he became cheerful again, ‘if you feel up to it, perhaps you could show me some more of Yallandoo.’
    ‘Of course,’ Cassie smiled. ‘Do you want to go into the rainforest? There’s a track a bit further up.’
    ‘Yes, I’d like that very much.’
    They urged their horses forward and soon turned onto a narrow path that led them into a cool, dim world. Trees arched above them, forming the roof of a green cathedral, their leafy limbs lifted in homage to the sky. With just room for two people to ride side by side, they let the horses pick their way along the track, avoiding the rocks and gnarled roots that poked out of the ground, and stepping with sure feet over fallen tree trunks.
    Even in here, signs of the dry weather were visible in the brown, curling edges to the less hardy plants. A few small green shoots pushed their way bravely through the leaf litter on the forest floor, but mostly the undergrowth was parched. Every living thing waited for the rain.
    Creek beds with stony bottoms, some dry now, meandered alongside the path. Many trees, some with large buttresses at their bases, were clothed in green lichens. Bird’s nest ferns clung to trunks or high branches. Vines hung everywhere and ferns grew in profusion. Light filtered through the canopy high above. The midday stillness was disturbed only by the rustle of the dry leaf litter underfoot and the occasional fluting call of a bowerbird.
    ‘It’s so dry now,’ Cassie told Mark. ‘Normally this would all be damp and those little creeks would have water running through them. And there’d be heaps of those little ferns and things growing through the leaf litter.’
    ‘I think it’s still wonderful.’
    ‘I’ve always loved it, but it’s at its best in the wet.’
    They were deep in the forest when suddenly, without warning, a snake slithered out from beneath a log lying by the path as Tango passed. It raised its head and hissed before darting into the surrounding bushes. Cassie’s horse reared. Mark’s horse pranced, tossed its head and snorted, then stood its ground.
    ‘Whoa, steady girl, steady.’ Mark grabbed the bridle of the plunging horse. Cassie lost her balance in the sudden lunge. Struggling to retain her seat, she slid sideways and would have fallen had Mark not moved closer and slipped his arm around her to hold her as Tango slowly settled.
    ‘Are you all right?’ he asked anxiously.
    ‘Yes. I’m all right,’ Cassie replied, her breath coming in gasps as her heart raced with shock. She looked up at him and saw a protective concern in his eyes.
    He was disconcertingly close as his arm remained tightly around her. ‘Are you sure? You’ve had a bad fright.’ His breath lightly touched her face as his eyes searched hers.
    ‘I…I think so.’ Her heart thudded even more as he encircled her with both arms and she felt the strength and warmth of his body against her. She dropped her eyes, afraid they might reveal her inner turmoil.
    Mark sat quite