Driving Her Crazy - By Amy Andrews Page 0,19

the female interpretation of fine? He shook his head. ‘I don’t suppose you have a clue how very much I don’t care about the word fine? You do know that there’s a whole heap of bad things happening out there in the world, right?’ he growled.

‘Really?’ she snapped, tired of his paternalistic carry-on. ‘I hadn’t noticed, being a journalist and all.’

Kent glared, feeling exasperation rising in his throat threatening to choke him. Why couldn’t women just take a compliment in the spirit it was intended?

‘All I’m trying to say,’ he said, swallowing hard against the lump, trying to get the conversation back on track, ‘is you really need to eat better. You could get sick.’

Sadie wasn’t prepared for such a left-field comment. For a man who obviously thought her figure concerns didn’t rate compared to bigger global issues—which of course they didn’t—his apparent concern for her was unexpected.

And he did look concerned. It softened the beautiful harshness of his mouth and her mind went blank for a moment as she tried to remember why she was so het up.

She sighed as her brain came back on line. ‘Look, I’m fine. I promise. It’s just...complicated, okay? And it’s really none of your business. So can we please drop it?’

She did not want to get into this with a man as accomplished as Kent. How could he possibly understand what was personally at stake for her over seeing Leo again? How much she had to prove.

Kent held her gaze, the appeal luminous in her large grey eyes. Her back the hell off polite considering their recent exchange.

Complicated he understood.

And she was right, it wasn’t his business. And what did he care if some crazy chick in well-to-do Australia chose to forgo food that millions of women would lay down their lives for just so they could feed their children for a few more days?

‘Sure,’ he agreed, pulling the metal covering off his cooked breakfast as he inhaled the rich aroma of meat and onions. Sadie Bliss was a transient connection in his life. If she chose to starve, then so be it. He sure as hell wasn’t.

He’d been in too many places where food was scarce to not appreciate the bounty in front of him.

He picked up his fork and tucked in.

Sadie resolutely tried to ignore Kent annihilating his coronary-bypass plate with gusto. But it smelled so damn good it was hard to concentrate on anything else. Add to that his naked chest and it was a regular double feature. She tried to follow the news programme but what was going on in her peripheral vision was much more interesting.

After a while, though, she became aware of something else. Kent, eating with one hand, gently massaging his injured ankle with the other. He seemed engrossed alternately in his meal and the television so she didn’t think he was even aware he was doing it.

She slid surreptitious looks his way. The ankle looked pretty smashed up and the top of his foot had a chunk missing, a smooth shiny piece of bright pink skin lay over top as if it had been grafted. He looked her way and caught her watching.

She held his gaze. ‘Does it hurt?’ she asked.

Kent frowned for a moment, wondering what she was talking about, then realised he was rubbing his ankle. He’d overdone it slightly with the run and it was suffering a little this morning.

Normally he would have told her to mind her business but her simple enquiry caught him off guard. Too often people asked him what had happened, pried and pushed for all the gory details.

But not Sadie Bliss.

She’d simply asked him if it hurt.

He looked down at the foot he’d come so close to losing on several occasions, his fingers massaging the ridged scar tissue, the dips and planes of the deformed joint. ‘It aches sometimes.’ He shrugged. ‘It’s just habit really.’

Sadie nodded. Weren’t they all just creatures of habit?

FOUR

‘So, where to today?’ Sadie asked as she vaulted up into the passenger seat an hour later.

The roads, now they were hitting the outback proper, tended to be long stretches of straight with very few curves or bends so she figured she was safe to take the passenger seat again.

‘Mt Isa,’ Kent said as he pulled out of the hotel car park. ‘It’s about thirteen hours. That’ll leave only a nine-ish-hour drive tomorrow to Borroloola.’

Sadie nodded. ‘I’ll give Leo a ring from the hotel tonight and let him know to expect us.’

Kent quirked an eyebrow.