Read The House at the Bottom of the Hill for Free Online

ricocheted in his chest. All eyes, cheekbones and pointy little chin, impish—light and wonder, as though the child she’d been still danced inside her, yet somehow was only allowed out for special occasions.
    Too reminiscent of everything in his own childhood. All the love stuff he’d missed out on. He turned to the door. ‘I told you, she’s not my type.’

Three
    D an turned a slow circle on the upper level of Kookaburra’s, taking in the crumbling plaster and hundred-year-old cladding that hung in tatters from the now mostly fallen partitions of the seven original bedrooms. No need for bedrooms in a hotel that didn’t get any customers after the First World War. The rafters above him groaned and the wind whistled through the frames of the seven neat windows looking out onto a balcony running the entire top level of the hotel.
    Dan was a qualified draughtsman and knew enough about buying, renovating and selling-on properties to produce his own reality television show. Turning properties around was how he’d made his money, although granted, this renovation would be the biggest of his life. He’d applied for and received an extension to the original development approval licence. One of the reasons he’d bought the place was because the development proposal had already gone through the shire and had been accepted. What he hadn’t counted on was the townspeople’s reservations about the actual build. He’d learned, quickly, that they’d only agreed to the changes because they hadn’t thought for a moment that the previous owner would get the hotel up and running, but he’d been a home-grown and well-liked man, so the committee had humoured him.
    Then he’d moved overseas and Dan had turned up. Sparks had flown as everyone fretted about what the new guy was going to do. They didn’t want change. They were scared of it so Dan had decided he didn’t need to do anything fast and had been content to mosey around for a few years, settling in and finding his feet. And anyway, there weren’t as many tourists passing through back then and Dan had learned the virtue of patience in Swallow’s Fall as he waited for the right moment to announce his plans.
    As owner-builder he had to abide by certain rules, given the size of the development. Which meant he’d have to hire professionals to undertake the plumbing and wiring and most of the re-build. Which meant he needed somewhere for them to stay.
    He wandered to one of the windows and rubbed at the grime. Swallow’s Fall had enough historic attractions to show off. The pioneer cemetery with white bunting along the fence line. The Town Hall, and its noticeboard with renovation updates and a thermometer chart tracking the dollar donations—the jackpot still a decade off by Dan’s reckoning. The stock feeders’ with its oversized neighing plastic horse out the front. Morelly’s hardware store got a look in too, usually by the men, the women trotting their kids inside Cuddly Bear Toy Shop two doors down—when it was open. The craft centre just out of town made some profit, showcasing the skills and wares of the locals.
    He looked over at the B&B. Red was out early this morning, the dog at her heels in the front garden. She was dressed for exercise, Lycra running shorts and a big grey sweatshirt. No hat. She did a few waist twists and took off at a jog, heading for the hill on the eastern side of town. Lucy bounded ahead of her.
    Dan stepped back from the window. She was good-looking, yeah, and there was sweetness within her, but there could only be one explanation for how she’d reacted to Ethan: she had to be attracted to his friend. His married friend.
    Dan turned, jogged down the stairs and crossed the bar, his deck shoes squeaking on the polished floorboards. ‘Josh, I’m going for a run.’ He headed behind the counter to his room at the back of the bar.
    Josh paused at the dishwasher, a glass cloth in his hand. ‘Didn’t you go first thing this