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

and plopped her rump on his shoe just as the redhead came over the ridge.
    ‘Lucy!’
    ‘She’s right here,’ Dan said, waving.
    ‘Oh.’ Charlotte stopped, her chest and shoulders heaving beneath her baggy sweatshirt.
    ‘You okay?’
    She flipped the lid of a plastic water bottle and drank. ‘Fine. A bit hot.’
    ‘Nearly summer. You’re going to need a hat sooner than later.’ He was repeating himself and he doubted she’d listen, but he didn’t want her to burn. She was used to the English climate, not the Aussie one and even in the Snowies the sun could be unkind.
    She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and slapped the bottle’s mouthpiece down. ‘You’re not wearing one.’ She ran a hand through her hair. It was darkened, like treacle, and a little frazzled looking. Exhaustion came off her in waves.
    ‘You okay?’ he asked again.
    ‘I’m just getting back into exercise. It’s been a while.’ She sat on a rock and peered at Lucy, still sitting on Dan’s foot. ‘Lucy,’ she said. ‘Come here, girl. Want some water?’ She squeezed water from her drink bottle into a cupped hand. ‘Come on.’
    Dan nudged the dog by lifting his foot slightly. She took the hint, walked across to her mistress, lapped at the water and trotted back to sit on Dan’s foot.
    Dan shoved her off gently, and walked over to Charlotte. He sat on the boulder next to her and leaned forwards, elbows on knees. He took a deep, easy breath, and caught the scent of her. Since when had exhaustion come bottled in a fruity orange perfume? ‘So,’ he said casually, ‘what type of running do you do? Just jogging?’
    She straightened. ‘I told you, I’m only jogging because I haven’t exercised for a few months.’
    ‘So what are you into when you’re in shape? Marathons?’
    She cast a sideways glance. ‘Are you suggesting I’m not in shape?’
    Dan splayed his hands. ‘Hey, I’m just making conversation.’
    She pulled her knees together. ‘Sorry. That was a bit defensive of me.’
    An apology? Man; that mellowed the tone of the conversation. Which was just as well because he intended to delve deeper into her interest in Ethan and what her plans for the B&B were.
    ‘It’s lovely up here,’ she said.
    He scanned the horizon, the pull of contentment in his chest as familiar and necessary to him as breathing. ‘You’ll see the summer wildflowers soon. I don’t run this field from December to January, too many flowers to squash underfoot.’
    ‘Are they pretty?’
    He looked at her. Her eyes were silky green and her skin smooth although flushed. He nodded. ‘Cover the whole hillside.’ He raised an arm and swept it across the vista in front of them. The hillside rolling down to the town, the crops of boulders, the narrow bush tracks, the creeks and the main road in the distance. ‘When they’re in full bloom this hill looks like some watercolour painting of the olden days.’
    ‘Who owns that house over there?’ She pointed to their left.
    Dan smiled. ‘Kate and Jamie Knight.’ The high, slanted rooftop of the town’s stonemason and his fashion designer wife steepled from the grey-green of the treetops to poke at the wispy cirrus clouds above.
    ‘Kate is best friends with Sammy Granger,’ Dan told her. ‘They know each other from way back. Used to work together. Both fashion artists, although Sammy is more landscape than fancy clothes these days and Kate has an online dress shop, or whatever you call it.’
    ‘A fashion business online? Good idea.’ She paused, frowned a little. ‘I haven’t met either Kate or …’
    ‘Jamie Knight. Local stonemason. He built Ethan’s new veterinary surgery on Burra Burra Lane.’ Dan paused after mentioning Ethan’s name. ‘Kate and Jamie are away at the moment. In Sydney.’
    ‘Working?’
    ‘No. They’re adopting a child. They’re finalising whatever it is they have to finalise.’
    ‘Wow. Do they have children of their own too?’
    Dan shook his head.