The Midwife and the Millionaire (12 page)

Levi pulled her to him. ‘My turn to warn you.'

His hand was tight around her wrist, painfully so, as he shuffled them both backed towards the tree and Sophie glanced back. ‘Too close,' she said as she shuddered.

‘Time to go, William,' he called over his shoulder, and all Sophie could think about was the way her dog had died and the fact that she'd forgotten her own rules. She was the one who was supposed to know the dangers. When she leant up against the truck her legs trembled and threatened to collapse. They both could have been killed. She shuddered again and he gathered her up and put her on the seat.

They both looked back and the crocodile had stopped in the spot they'd been standing. His thick rep
tilian tail swayed back and forth in frustration. His mate left the water and came to stand beside him.

Smiley whistled as he gathered the belongings and helped Odette move with her baby to the truck. ‘We need to relocate those fellows,' Smiley said. ‘Before they wipe your whole family out.'

‘And yours,' said Levi grimly.

Smiley shook his head. ‘Never seen 'em so nasty. It's not normal.'

‘Spare me from feeling sorry for the crocodile.' Levi stared at the water. ‘Though I wonder if that was planned too? Steve could have been feeding them. Knowing Odette wanted to put a plaque up here.'

‘If they don't catch him we'll never know.'

It was a subdued party that returned to Xanadu. Smiley drove, and the others crammed like sardines, with Odette's baby, into the front. Sophie sat on Levi and his arms held her as if he'd never let her go. Considering the day, Sophie was more than happy with that.

Levi drew her into the resort building with his arm still protectively pulling her against him. Every now and then her mind recapped the morning, dwelling on Levi's close escape. ‘I need to see to your wound before we go.'

He frowned. ‘It's nothing. We'll get Odette settled first and get you a stiff drink.' He signalled to one of the indoor staff.

She was over the crocodile. It was the shooting that knocked her. Levi could have died. ‘Fine. But I'm not leaving until I've had a good look.'

He glanced at her as he waited to be put through to the police. ‘Think about yourself for a change.' She watched him organise Odette, call the police—where he learned Steve had been placed in custody—then break the news to the staff of Steve's involvement.

She should be dressing his wound, not watching him direct the world. ‘Can't you do this later?'

He smiled down at her, and the way even that brief lift of his lips affected her heart was enough to warn her how bad it would be when he'd gone. ‘What will you do when you don't have me to boss around?' he said.

Not what she wanted to dwell on. ‘Be lonely, I guess.' She said it more to herself than to him and she didn't see his arrested expression. ‘I'll find some first-aid gear.' She began to move off and he caught her hand. Like he had that night they first came here, only this time her hand seemed to tangle in his as her fingers clasped his back.

‘Wait. Sophie.' He looked around and ushered her, not resisting for once, through the door and out onto the veranda and down the steps to the rustic bench under the massive boab.

He stared into her face and this time there was nowhere to hide. ‘What did you mean? “Be lonely”?'

Could she do it? Throw it all away or be brave? The fear was there. The risk of pain greater than anything she'd experienced, but today's close shaves had taught her a valuable lesson. She had to take that risk. ‘I'll be lonely without you.' She looked back at
him. That strong jaw, that mouth—the man who'd stormed into her heart when she'd been kicking and screaming the whole way, and he'd achieved it so easily in such a short time. ‘I must have become used to having you around. In a week.' She laughed mirthlessly at her foolishness.

It was too late to deny a recognition on a different level and that something in him called to her the way no other person did. She saw the trappings of wealth she'd said she despised and the bender of truth when she'd promised she'd never listen to another lie. But she'd also seen the man who completed her. Who instinctively knew when she needed support and gave unstintingly.

No one had ever understood her before. That was the crux. Levi got her. Knew where she was coming from almost before she did. ‘Why is that?'

‘Why is what?' he said, and she realised she must have asked out loud.

‘Why do you seem to understand me when others don't?'

His voice softened. ‘If you tried, you could understand me too.' When she looked into his eyes she saw him clearly, as if through a fresh pane of glass, unmarked by what had come in the past.

His caring, readiness to learn new things, listen to her point of view. His willingness to be there when the burden became too much, his hand there to pull her up and his arms to comfort. Maybe she did understand him in ways she'd never wanted to understand others. And
finally, with tiny tentative steps, she allowed herself to glimpse what life with Levi could be like. If she allowed herself to trust him.

Was it that easy? ‘Maybe I understand you a little.'

He slipped his good arm around her. ‘Two people, from opposite ends of a huge country, meet and share extraordinary events. We've both changed, shared things—perhaps it's meant to be.'

She shook her head. It was all so confusing. ‘How can it be meant when you live somewhere I could never live?'

He smiled. ‘And vice versa.'

Hopeless case. She'd known it. ‘See.'

‘We will. In time.' He hugged her and stood to help her up. ‘Come on. You need to rest after all this excitement. It's been a big day.' He touched her cheek. ‘But we're not finished with this subject.'

Then she remembered. If she was going to be brave she may as well finish it. ‘And there's something I have to tell you.'

He stopped. ‘Really?' He searched her face, frowned and then slowly he smiled. ‘Do I detect a hint of guilt?'

She blushed and he laughed. His eyes opened wide with amusement. ‘Oh. I hope so. From Miss Trustworthy herself?' She didn't say anything and he pulled her back down on the seat.

She tried to stand again but he kept hold of her hand and she subsided. ‘I'm not rushing this,' he said. ‘This is priceless. Do go on.'

She ducked her chin, suddenly shy, then resolutely raised it. ‘You know when you asked if I knew the original family from Xanadu?'

‘Hmm.'

Why did it feel as if he were watching her face more than listening to her words. ‘Pay attention. I'm feeling bad here.'

He squeezed her shoulders. ‘Good. You look very cute when you're guilty.'

‘I told you I didn't know—' she drew a deep breath ‘—but I do. I lied. It was my grandfather. Oh, and Smiley's grandfather. Our father's father.'

He laughed. ‘You lied to me?'

She looked away. ‘It was such a long story—I didn't want to talk about it then.' How dare he laugh at her.

‘You lied.'

She glared. ‘Not as many times as you did but there is a certain irony.'

‘Brilliantly so.' He tilted his head and he wasn't smiling. ‘But I don't think I can talk to you any more. I'm too hurt that you deceived me.'

She frowned, frozen for a moment in time that she'd offended him deeply, then realised he'd teased her. She glared at him. ‘So under all that moody exterior you're a comedian?'

‘Moody? Never. Work worn.' He kissed her. ‘And you have to admit, you not telling the truth is hilariously funny.'

She glared at him again but he'd moved on mus
ingly. ‘So Sullivan was his name. Your grandfather? You and Smiley are the true owners of Xanadu?'

In another life. ‘No.'

He tilted his head as he worked it out. ‘But my grandfather cheated at cards and documented it. Was, in fact, very proud of scamming your grandfather out of his birthright.'

Her foolish grandfather had lost it though. ‘Nice genes you have, Dr Pearson.'

He winked at her. ‘I'm working on that.'

What was that supposed to mean? ‘Anyway, whatever he wrote, it's not legal.'

‘Another thing we'll discuss later.'

There was that money issue. She wished she could get over it. ‘Are you very well off?'

He didn't smile but she could see the flicker of amusement at her prejudice. ‘Afraid so. Stinking rich. Grandfather tripled the family coffers in his day and I've made some pretty useful investments too.'

‘Oh.' He seemed so different to Brad. ‘You still work hard to help others though. When financially you don't need to do anything?'

‘I need to for me. I'm not proud of my father or grandfather. Never a thought to benefit their fellow man. When my brother died I vowed I'd make him proud of me. Do some good.'

She savoured the way he looked down at her. As if she'd lightened his day just by being there. No one had looked at her like that since her parents had died. ‘You seem so different from when you came.'

‘Am I? Then you've made me so. I've been beating myself up for the past two years and had forgotten how to smile. A certain determined young midwife has made me realise there is more to life than regretting what can't be changed.'

‘What couldn't be changed?' She needed to know. Needed to see what had formed this man she'd grown to love. To try, if she could, to help him. ‘What hurt you? Tell me.'

‘The loss of one of my patients. I blamed myself.'

‘She died in an operation?'

‘No, Miss Impatient. She didn't die in an operation. None of my patients have died in their operations.'

‘Sorr-ry.' He wrinkled his brow at her and she realised she'd been distracted by his rebuke. But he was still smiling at her. Then his smile departed and she could see the sadness.

‘The day we confirmed there was nothing I could do to restore her sight she stepped in front of a truck.'

Sophie drew a sharp breath. Of course that would affect him. ‘Like your brother. That was probably an accident too, you know,' she said earnestly. She saw the pain he still held and she squeezed his hand and her heart lifted when he squeezed back. She was glad to offer even that tiny comfort.

‘It was no accident.' He went on. ‘It hit home and I blamed myself.' He shrugged. ‘Maybe there'd been something I could have tried. Should I have encouraged more strongly her hope for the future of tech
nology?' He shook his head over a tragedy that could never be rectified. ‘It's too late for her but I've doubled my workload. Tried to help more people until even my colleagues were telling me to take a break.'

She understood the concept of never doing enough. Had run herself ragged since returning to the Kimberleys but for a different reason. ‘You can't help the whole world.'

‘When my father died suddenly, things in his will puzzled me. I'd thought he hated me, but I regretted I'd never tried to sway him towards a more fulfilling life. Grown up enough to talk to him, perhaps?'

Sophie squeezed the hand holding hers. ‘People die unexpectedly and we regret what we didn't say. We all do.'

‘I know I do,' he said, and gave her a thank-you-for-understanding smile, and she felt her heart expand with his pain.

One thing she didn't understand. ‘But your father died five months ago. Why so long before you came here?'

He shrugged. ‘I had to clear the backlog of cases I'd promised. And wait for the wet season to finish.' His gaze brushed over her and the glow in his eyes when he did so made her blush. ‘I wish I'd come earlier.'

Imagine that. She'd have been in Perth and missed knowing him. Even if he broke her heart now she could never regret that she met him. Had grown from know
ing him in ways she'd never believe. ‘Then lucky you didn't because I wouldn't have been here.'

He smiled down at her. ‘Fate.'

‘Serendipitous.' She snuggled under his arm, reluctant for this camaraderie to end. She'd learnt so much that helped her understand.

‘Sophie.' He spoke into her hair.

She sighed. Soaking the moment in, in case it was the last time. ‘What?'

‘Look at me.'

He lifted his arm and she sat back and turned to face him. Her eyes met his and what she saw in them made the breath jam in her throat.

He lifted her hand and kissed her wrist. ‘I see in you all the good things I wanted to find in myself. Things I find precious and uplifting and make me want to be a better man.'

She shook her head. She hadn't done anything.

Then he took both her hands in his and squeezed her fingers. ‘I've come to know you—and love you.' Her breath caught in her throat but he went on. ‘I can't imagine going home without you. I can't imagine anywhere without you.'

She searched his face, not believing his words, but unable to stop the sudden gallop in her chest. He couldn't love her.

She looked again and this time became a little less unconvinced as she saw the confirmation in his eyes. ‘What are you saying?'

He smiled down at her. Like he really did love her? She hugged that impossible thought tightly as hope began to build. ‘Will you marry me? Be my partner for life?' He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed her palm, then folded her fingers over his salute. ‘Can you love me back?'

She reached up and stroked his face. Those strong lines of cheek and jaw with the first regrowth of dark whiskers bristly beneath her fingers. How had she found him? Been so fortunate? Her eyes stung and she chewed her lip, suddenly too frightened to say the words out loud. She took a deep breath and then she did.

‘I already love you. Too much. Apparently since the waterhole on our trek. The moment you reached down to lift me. And then you kissed me and nothing was the same again.' She remembered the instant. ‘I was so frightened you'd hurt me again I wasn't game to let the feeling out. And now you've exposed me.' Her eyes filled with happy tears. ‘So, yes, please. I'll be your wife.'