LITMIR.BIZ

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that had been dumped beside the couch. A brown leather jacket was draped over a duffel bag and a motorbike helmet sat on the floor beside a pair of sturdy boots, the boots that had been stomping down the passage. There was a thick layer of reddish-brown dust covering everything.

      She ducked through the kitchen and into the dining area, where she stood on the far side of the table, putting some distance between them. Despite the fact that he looked like something created by Michelangelo and appeared to be related to the owner of the house, she wasn’t prepared to take his word for it just yet. Until she’d decided he wasn’t a serial killer she wasn’t taking any chances.

      He stood up and turned to face her. His chest was now covered by his black T-shirt—that was a pity—and he had two small bottles of beer in his hand.

      ‘Beer?’ he asked as he raised his hand.

      Luci shook her head.

      He put one bottle back in the fridge, closed the door and then twisted the top off the other bottle and took a swig. He watched her as she watched him but he didn’t seem as nervous as her. Not nearly.

      He stepped over to the table, pulled out a chair and sat down. He pushed the chair back and stretched his legs out. He was tall. His legs were long. He was fiddling with the beer bottle and she couldn’t help but notice that his fingers were long and slender too.

      He lifted his eyes up to meet her gaze. ‘So, sleeping beauty, do you have a name?’

      ‘Luci.’

      ‘Luci,’ he repeated, stretching out the two syllables, and the way the ‘u’ rolled off his tongue did funny things to her insides.

      ‘So where’s my big brother? And why are you in my bed?’

      Luci swallowed nervously. His bed? Of course, his room, his bed. That warmth in her belly spread lower now, threatening to melt her already wobbly legs just a little bit more.

      ‘I didn’t know it was your bed. I didn’t know anyone else lived here.’

      Callum hadn’t said anything but she’d never actually spoken to Callum. Not that she was about to divulge that bit of information. That would just come across as odd. Her dad’s practice manager had organised the whole house-swap thing. Luci had exchanged emails with Callum and had been intending on meeting to swap keys but he had messaged her to say his plans had changed. He’d left Sydney a day earlier than they had discussed so he’d left a key under a flowerpot for her, but she was certain he hadn’t mentioned a brother. Not at any stage.

      So what did this mean for her house-sitting plans? Would Seb ask her to leave? Would Callum?

      ‘So where is he?’ Seb wanted to know. ‘Should I be checking the rest of the house? You haven’t done away with him, have you? Did he treat you badly and you’ve sneaked in here to have your revenge?’

      Luci laughed and wondered about the type of women Seb associated with if that was the direction his thoughts took him. ‘He’s in Vickers Hill.’

      ‘Ah, Vickers Hill. You mentioned it before. Where is that exactly?’ Seb arched his right eyebrow again and Luci found herself wondering if he could also do that with the left one. The idea distracted her and she almost forgot his question.

      ‘In South Australia. In the Clare Valley,’ she explained as she stepped into the kitchen. She needed to put some distance between them. To give herself something to do, she switched the kettle on, taking a mug and a green tea bag from the cupboard.

      Seb took another pull of his beer. ‘What is he doing there?’

      ‘He’s gone to work in a general practice. It’s part of his studies.’ She didn’t mention that he was working with her father. If Callum wanted his brother to know what he was up to, he could tell him the finer details. But Seb not knowing Callum’s movements only led to more questions. Where had Seb been? Why didn’t he know what was happening? His room certainly didn’t look inhabited. It had looked exactly like a guest room, which was what Luci had expected. There had been no sign of his presence other than a few clothes in the wardrobe, which she had assumed was the overflow from Callum’s room. But perhaps those clothes belonged to Seb.

      ‘So, if Cal’s in Vickers Hill, what are you doing here?’

      ‘We’ve done a house swap,’ she replied as she poured boiled water into her mug.

      ‘A house swap?’ he repeated. ‘How long are you staying?’

      ‘Eight weeks. Until Christmas.’ Please, don’t ask me to leave tonight, she thought. She was half-resigned to the fact that her plans were about to change but she really didn’t want to pack her bags and find somewhere else to stay in the middle of the night. This was her first trip to Sydney. ‘If that’s all right,’ she added, pleading desperately. She had no idea where she’d go if he asked her to leave. Back to Bondi, she supposed, but the prospect of doing that at this late hour was not at all appealing.

      Seb shrugged. ‘It’s Cal’s house, whatever plans you’ve made with him stick. I just crash here when I’m in town. I called it my room but, I guess, technically it’s not.’

      Luci wondered where he’d been. Where he’d come from. But she was too tired to think about that now.

      ‘I’ll stay in Callum’s room,’ he added.

      ‘Thank you.’ She threw her tea bag in the bin and picked up her mug. ‘I guess I’ll see you in the morning, then.’

      She took her tea and retreated. Seb looked interesting and she was certainly intrigued. He was giving her more questions than answers and she needed, wanted, to find out more, but it would have to wait. She had to get some sleep.

      But sleep eluded her. She tossed and turned and wondered about Seb. Maybe she should have just stayed up and got all the answers tonight. Instead she lay in bed and made up stories in her head, filling in all the blank spaces about the handsome stranger with imagined details.

      It wasn’t often she got to meet a stranger. And a gorgeous, fascinating one to boot. In Vickers Hill everyone knew everyone else and their business. Meeting someone new was quite thrilling compared to what she was used to. Excitement bubbled in her chest. A whole new world of possibilities might open up to her.

      She smiled to herself as she rolled over.

      Things had just become interesting.

       CHAPTER TWO

      SEB PUT HIS empty beer bottle down on the kitchen table and stared out at the dark ocean through the branches of the eucalyptus. He could hear the waves lapping on the shore and could see the lights of the yachts rising and falling on the water. He’d missed the sound of the ocean but he wasn’t thinking about the water or the boats or the lights now. He was thinking about the woman he’d found in his bed. The absolutely stunning, and very naked, woman.

      It had been a surprise, to put it mildly. He detested surprises normally—experience had taught him that they were generally unpleasant—but he couldn’t complain about this one. He’d found women in his bed unexpectedly before but he couldn’t recall any of them being quite as attractive as Luci.

      He closed his eyes but his mind was restless and he couldn’t settle. He should be exhausted. He’d had a long and dusty eight-hour ride from Deniliquin and he’d been looking forward to a shower, something to eat and then bed. In that order. That had been his plan until he’d discovered Luci in his bed. His plan had been delightfully disrupted by a gorgeous naked woman.

      He wasn’t sure that he really understood why she was here. Or why Cal wasn’t. He hadn’t spoken to his brother for several weeks. They didn’t have that sort of relationship. Seb wasn’t even in the habit of calling ahead to let Callum know he would be in town. They were close but unless there was a reason for a call neither of them picked up the phone. And when they did their conversations were brief, borne out

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