Kate Hoffmann - Brody

“You only just got here,” her father said.

“And now I have to go,” Payton replied, picking up her bag. “I love you both. And don’t worry, I know exactly what I’m doing.”

She walked to the doorway of the bar, then turned and waved at her stunned parents. It was enough for them to see that she was healthy and happy. They’d get over her broken engagement and their disappointment that Sam wouldn’t be a part of the family. And they’d find a way to explain the embarrassment of the wedding. And maybe someday they would meet Brody and understand why she loved him.

As much as she wanted to feel regret while walking away from them, Payton couldn’t. She was returning to the man she loved, to a land she was learning to love and to a life that would be built on love. She wasn’t frightened or nervous or anything but blissfully happy.

She checked the signs at the end of the concourse and headed toward the Qantas desk. If she hurried, she could hop the 7:10 flight to Australia, a full day before her scheduled return. Then, in about thirty hours, she’d be back in Brody’s life-and in his arms-for good.

“DAVEY, GRAB ME that spanner.” Brody crawled halfway down the windmill and waited as the kid searched the ground at his feet. “Next to my saddlebags.”

He picked up a tool. “This one?”

“No, the big one.”

Davey finally found the tool, then climbed up the ladder and handed it to Brody. They’d been working together all day, greasing and adjusting the six windmills close to the station. Tomorrow they’d catch the ones on the outlying pastures, traveling by ATV rather than horse.

Brody had decided to return to the station after just one day alone in Fremantle. The apartment seemed so empty without Payton there and he found himself spending every waking minute thinking about her. He could rehab his knee as easily on the station as he could in Fremantle, and he’d have work to occupy his mind the rest of the day. Station work was difficult and exhausting-and exactly what he needed.

He wasn’t sure when Payton would return. She’d promised to call once everything had been settled, but he expected she’d spend at least a week or two in the States before she left again. He’d decided to go on as if she wasn’t going to return. Then, everything after that-if there was anything-would be like a gift.

Brody climbed back up to the top of the windmill, the spanner tucked into his jacket pocket and the grease gun still clutched in his hand. As he went through the maintenance routine, he heard the sound of a plane overhead and glanced up to see Teague coming in from the east.

He hadn’t seen Teague at all since his return and Callum had ridden out an hour after Gemma had left a day ago, heading into the outback with his horse, his pack and his rifle. He’d left Skip in charge of preparations for the mustering, a sure sign that he was upset. Now that Teague was back, Brody would get some answers. He had tried not to dwell on his brothers’ love lives. Thinking about their happiness only made his life seem emptier.

“What is he doing?” Davey asked.

Brody glanced over his shoulder to see Teague circling the plane. “I don’t know.” He watched as Teague made a wide sweep around the windmill, wiggling his wings before he headed toward the airstrip.

Brody finished his work, then carefully surveyed the landscape from his perch high above the ground. He used to love this view when he was a kid. He always thought if he just looked hard enough, he could see the real world in the distance. Now he took some comfort in the fact that he was isolated from that world.

If things didn’t work out the way he’d planned, then he’d return to the station for good and make his life here in Queensland. He’d always have a place with his brothers and there was some comfort in that.

“Are we done?” Davey called.

“Yeah,” Brody replied. “Pack it up. It’s getting late. We should start back if we want to make it by dinner.”

Davey gathered the tools, then strapped the pouch to his horse. By the time Brody joined him, Davey was mounted and ready to ride. There was no keeping him from a meal. Davey kicked his horse into a gallop, but Brody decided to take a slower pace.

“Come on,” Davey shouted over his shoulder, pulling his horse up to wait.

“Go ahead,” Brody called. “I want to enjoy the ride.”

“Suit yourself. But Mary’s got pork chops tonight. If you don’t sit down on time, the rest of the boys will eat all the potatoes.”

He waved Davey off and watched as the kid took off in a cloud of dust. Brody wasn’t anxious to get back to the dinner table. Since he’d returned, he’d been grabbing a plate and eating by himself, too preoccupied to socialize. Mary and the jackaroos had given him a wide berth and he’d been grateful for it.

As he rode toward the house, he noticed the Fraser shack in the distance. His mind wandered back to the night he’d spent there with Payton. Everything had been so new with them then, so exciting. Only a few weeks had passed since, but it seemed like a lifetime.

He wondered what Payton was doing, trying to calculate the time difference between New York and Queensland. There was almost a twelve-hour difference, so it was the middle of the night there. Was she sleeping alone or had Sam convinced her to return to his bed?

Brody cursed beneath his breath, brushing the image from his mind. He wanted to believe that thoughts of him filled her mind, that she missed what they had together, that she ached for him the way he ached for her. Sleep hadn’t come easily since she’d gone.

He fixed his gaze on the horizon and let the horse navigate. It felt good to think about her, to rewind every encounter and enjoy them all over again. They’d been wonderful together, both in and out of bed. He closed his eyes and tipped his face up, the sun warm on his back, exhaustion setting in.

Maybe he’d sleep tonight, he mused. Perhaps his bed wouldn’t seem so cold and empty. It had to happen sooner or later. The loneliness would fade and he’d get his life back-pitiful as it was.

When he opened his eyes again, he noticed a rider approaching from the direction of the homestead. He squinted to see in the late-afternoon light, trying to make out who it was. Slowly, he realized it was a woman. Hayley?

Suddenly, the rider pulled to a stop and jumped off the horse. Brody’s breath caught in his chest. He blinked hard, wondering if he was imagining her, like a mirage in the middle of the desert. He kicked his horse into a trot and covered the distance between them.

As he approached, she pulled off her stockman’s hat and her curly hair fell down around her shoulders. Brody smiled. If this was a dream, then he planned to enjoy it.

He reined in his horse before he reached her, then slid down to stand beside it. For a long time, they stood facing each other, neither one of them moving. And then, at the very same moment, they covered the distance between them in just a few seconds.

Payton launched herself into his arms and he picked her up and spun her around. She felt real, warm and soft, the scent of her hair filling his head. “Is it really you?”

“I think so,” Payton said. “I can’t have changed that much in four days.”

He set her down and stepped back to look into her eyes. “You’re more beautiful, I think. Is that possible?” Brody took her face in his hands and kissed her, his tongue delving into her mouth and savoring her taste. “Did you even go home?”

Payton nodded. “I did. I saw Sam and my parents and I turned around and came back. When I got to New York, I realized it was the last place in the world I wanted to be. You shouldn’t have made me leave, but I’m glad I put that part of my life to rest.”

“I won’t do that again,” Brody said. “God, I missed you. How did you get here?”

“Teague picked me up. When I got to Fremantle and you weren’t there, I figured you might have come back to the station. I flew to Brisbane and then called Teague and he came to get me. I thought it might be nice to surprise you.”

“Nice,” he said. “I like nice now. Coming back to me is definitely nice.”

“I may have to leave again if they don’t extend my visa. But maybe, we can go to New York for a visit.”

“Or for that football tryout. I’m going to give that a go. And if it doesn’t work out, I have some other interesting prospects.”

She pushed up onto her toes and kissed him softly. “I don’t care what you do or where we live. I don’t ever want to be away from you again. I-I think I might love you.”

Brody chuckled softly. For now, he was happy with a vague statement of love. He could wait for her feelings to grow stronger. “I think I might love you, too. A lot.”

He grabbed her hand, then pulled it to his lips. “So, what are we going to do with ourselves?”

“Mary’s making dinner. We could eat and then go for a swim.”

“Aren’t you tired? You’ve been on a plane for the better part of four days.”

“About seventy hours,” she said. “I’ve taken off and landed sixteen times.”

“Then I definitely think you need to get to bed. Right now. For your own health. And mine.” He glanced over his shoulder. “We could head over to the shack and spend the night there.”

“But we’re not lost. And that would be trespassing.”

Brody smoothed his thumb over her lower lip. “This all started with a life of crime. I think we can live dangerously.”

Payton threw her arms around his neck. “Forget about nice. I’m really starting to enjoy dangerous.”

He wrapped his hands around her waist and set her back on her horse, then remounted. As they rode toward the sunset, Brody wondered at how his life had changed so much in such a short time. There were no answers to his questions, and maybe there never would be. But Payton was here, with him, from half a world away.

This hadn’t been his dream, but it was now. And it was better than any dream he could have ever imagined for himself.

Kate Hoffmann has been writing for Harlequin Books for fifteen years and has published nearly sixty books, including Harlequin Temptation novels, Harlequin Blaze books, novellas and even the occasional historical. When she isn’t writing, she is involved in various musical and theatrical activities in her small Wisconsin community. She enjoys sleeping late, drinking coffee and eating bonbons. She lives with her two cats, Tally and Chloe, and her computer, which shall remain nameless.