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“I haven’t done anything wrong,” Brody said, holding up his hands in mock surrender.
“I’ve been wanting to speak with you,” Angus said. He motioned Brody toward police headquarters and Brody jogged across the street, joining him on the porch. “Why have you been dodging my calls?”
“I’m sorry,” Brody said. “I was just planning to go over to the Spotted Dog and pay Buddy for that mirror I broke last weekend.”
“I’m not worried about Buddy’s damn mirror. I’m on the organizing committee for Bachelors and Spinsters and we’re going to hold an auction this year. You’re the only celebrity we’ve got in Bilbarra besides Hayley Fraser and I don’t think we can convince her to participate. You’d fetch a pretty penny. All the proceeds go to the library book fund. And you don’t have to sleep with anyone, just have dinner together.”
Though every unmarried person within a two-hundred-mile radius looked forward to the annual Bilbarra “ball,” Brody and his brothers suddenly had three very good reasons not to attend—Payton, Gemma and Hayley. “I heard Hayley was back on Wallaroo Station,” Brody mentioned, hoping for some additional news.
Angus looked surprised. “Really.” He appeared to weigh his options for a moment, then shook his head. “Naw. She’s a big telly star. She’s probably got a whole building full of people telling her what she can and can’t do.”
“I think I’m going to have to pass,” Brody said.
“Hey, there is something else.” Angus braced his arm on the porch post. “There’s a private detective hanging about.”
“Looking for me?”
Angus chuckled. “One would think that might be a good bet. But he’s looking for that lady you bailed out of my jail. Payton Harwell. What did you do with her after you bailed her out?”
Brody considered his answer for a long moment. He could trust Angus, but the man was an officer of the law. If Payton was a fugitive, Angus might not have a choice in taking sides. Brody shrugged. “I gave her some money and sent her on her way. She said she was headed back to Brisbane. That’s the last I saw of her.”
Angus frowned. “There’s a reward for information. Ten thousand American.”
“What did she do?”
“He wouldn’t say. You could ask him yourself. He was looking to have a bit of lunch, so I pointed him toward the coffeeshop. He may still be there.”
“Thanks,” Brody said, starting off down the street.
Hell, this was all he needed. He was lucky he hadn’t brought Payton to town with him. He’d been concerned about her flying to Brisbane with Teague, but she seemed almost anxious to get off the station and spend time shopping with Gemma. The testosterone-heavy atmosphere on the station did require time away occasionally.
If she was running from something—or someone—then who could say when she’d just up and disappear again? Maybe she planned to use the trip to Brisbane to make her escape. He shook his head. She’d promised to say goodbye before she left. He’d have to take her at her word.
The bell above the door of the coffeeshop jingled as he stepped inside. “Hey there, Shelly!” Brody slid onto one of the stools at the counter and picked up a menu.
Shelly Farris wiped her hands on a towel and strolled over to him. “Brody Quinn. What brings you into town on a weekday?”
Brody set the menu down and watched as she poured him a cup. “I’m picking up a few parts for Callum. I thought I’d check up on you. See if you made any of my favorite meat pies today.”
“We have steak mince, steak and mushroom, and a few of our breakfast pies left.”
“I’ll have a steak mince,” Brody said. “Make them takeaway.” He closed the menu and glanced over his shoulder. There was only one other customer in the place. “Tourist?” he asked, nodding in the man’s direction.
Shelly shook her head. “No. Private investigator. Looking for that girl who stiffed me on the bill last week. The bill you paid. I don’t think you did society any favors there.”
“Why? What did he tell you?”
“Nothing. Only that he’s offering a reward for information. I couldn’t give him more than what I just told you. Do you know where she is?”
Brody shook his head. “No, how would I? I was just doing a good deed.”
Shelly disappeared into the kitchen to get his order while Brody sipped his coffee. If he wanted to know more about Payton Harwell, all he had to do was ask. But by asking, he might create undue suspicion. Still, idle curiosity wasn’t out of the ordinary.
He slipped off the stool and wandered over to the booth where the middle-aged man sat, a half-eaten Lamington on his plate. “Don’t like the dessert?” Brody asked.
The man glanced up from the study of his mobile phone. “What?” He looked at his plate and smiled. “No. It was great. Can I get my check?”
“I don’t work here,” Brody said.
“Oh, sorry.”
When the man made a move to leave, Brody sat down on the opposite side of the booth. “I hear you’re looking for someone.”
“Yes. Yes, I am.” He reached into a leather folder and pulled out a photo, then set it down in front of Brody. “Do you know her?”
Brody nodded. “I do. We were incarcerated together.”
His eyebrow shot up. “I knew she spent some time in the local jail, but I didn’t know you were with her when she was arrested.”
“I wasn’t,” Brody said. “We just happened to be confined at the same time. I paid her fine and settled her accounts. Why are you looking for her?”
“It’s a private matter,” he said. “Do you know where she is?”
“Did she break the law?”
“As I said, it’s a private matter. But there is a reward for information leading to her location, if you know something.”
“I bailed her out and then dropped her on the road out of town. I think she said she was going to make her way down to Sydney,” Brody lied. “I told her she could probably catch a ride on one of the road trains that pass through.”
“Road trains?”
“It’s a semitruck that pulls a string of trailers. They pass through Bilbarra occasionally, hauling feed and building supplies.” He leaned back and stretched his arms out to rest on the edge of the bench. “She could be anywhere by now.”
“Yes, well, thank you,” the man said. “That’s the most I’ve found to go on. She didn’t say anything about where she might be staying or whether she met up with any friends?”
Brody pretended to ponder the question for a moment, then shook his head. “Nope. She just wanted to get out of town.”
The investigator threw a wad of cash onto the table, then held out his hand. “Your lunch is on me,” he said. “Thanks for the information.”
“No worries,” Brody said. “I hope you find her.” He watched as the man walked out the front door then went back to his spot at the counter. When Shelly returned with his meat pies, he pointed to the empty booth. “He’s buying me lunch.”
“Well, there’s a clever boy. What did you tell him?”
Brody scooped up the pies wrapped in paper, and took a big bite out of one of them. “Not much,” he said as he chewed. “But I got a free lunch out of it.” He headed toward the door.
“Where are you going?” Shelly asked, disappointment tingeing her tone. “I just rang my husband to stop by. Arnie’s got himself mixed up in some silly football scheme with the boys over at the Spotted Dog and he needs advice on his footy picks. He’s been losing twenty dollars a week to those fools.”
“I’m out of the game,” Brody said, pointing to his knee. “I’m trying my best to forget footy.”
“You were one of the best, Brody Quinn,” Shelly called.
As Brody strode down the street, he inhaled the two meat pies. He was tempted to stop by the Spotted Dog for a beer to wash them down, then realized he’d been banished from the place until further notice. Instead, he decided to stop at the local library. A quick Internet search might turn up a few clues on Payton and her past…and maybe even outline her crimes.
The public library was attached to the small school in Bilbarra. Though nearly all of the children who lived on cattle and sheep stations took their classes by computer, those who lived within a short drive of Bilbarra attended a regular school. Some of the advanced classes were still taught online, but there were two teachers that guided the thirty or forty students through their studies, and the town librarian to see to their literary needs.
When he walked into the library, a trio of young boys gathered at a large table. One of the boys recognized him immediately and quickly informed his friends. The librarian, Mrs. Willey, looked up at the commotion, then smiled. “See there,” she said. “Everyone uses the library, even football legends.”
Brody grinned. “She’s right, you know. The library is one of my favorite spots in all the world. Read more books!” He stopped at the counter. “There,” he muttered. “I’ve done my duty as a role model, ma’am. Now, I was wondering if I could use a computer with Internet access.”
“Certainly,” Mrs. Willey said. “Use any one of those three along the wall. But I’ll have you know, accessing adult material is prohibited and will result in the suspension of your privileges.”
He caught her teasing smile and chuckled. “There’ll be none of that,” he said. “I’m here to look up some recipes.”
He sat down and keyed in his favorite search engine then typed Payton’s first and last name. Brody paused before he hit Enter, wondering what he’d find. Maybe it would be something he didn’t like, something he’d rather not know. And shouldn’t he wait for Payton to tell him about her past? Real relationships were supposed to be about trust.
He had to know all the facts before he could protect her, Brody rationalized. If she was in trouble, he’d do everything in his power to help her. “So I have to know,” he said as he hit the keys.
“Payton Harwell,” he read. “Over one thousand hits?” Brody clicked on the first one and found her name mentioned as the winner of a horse show. But right below that was a startling headline: Payton Harwell to Wed Heir to Whitman Fortune.
He clicked on the article and an instant later, a photo of Payton and her fiancé appeared. He scanned through the text beneath it and stopped at the wedding date. “The couple will be married on the island of Fiji in late April with close friends and relatives in attendance. the bride will wear a gown by designer Sophia Carone.”
Late April? If Payton had been married in late April and he’d met her the first of June, then her marriage hadn’t lasted more than a month. “Oh, shit,” Brody muttered. Had he been having a naughty on a nightly basis with a married woman?
There weren’t many rules in Brody’s book when it came to sex, but not bedding another man’s wife was one of them. After witnessing the problems in his parents’ marriage, he’d vowed never to be involved in breaking up a family. Besides, there had always been plenty of single women willing to jump into bed with him, he’d had no need to do it with the married sort.
He leaned back in his chair and studied the photo. They looked happy, their arms wrapped around each other, smiling for the photographer. Worse, they looked as if they belonged together, living in some fancy mansion in New York with servants to tend to their every need.
Well, at least she wasn’t a criminal, Brody mused. She was simply a runaway wife. He paused. Or maybe a runaway bride. There was no proof that she’d ever gone through with the wedding. Maybe she’d arrived in Fiji and decided marriage just wasn’t for her.
“Is there anything I can help you with?”
Brody quickly clicked back to the search engine, then glanced over his shoulder at Mrs. Willey. “No. Nothing. Just catching up on a few of my old friends.” He stood, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “Thanks. I’m in a bit of a hurry right now, but I’ll stop by soon and pick up some books.”
“You do that,” she said with a wide smile. “Be sure to come on a school day if you can. I’m sure the students would love to talk to you.”
Brody strode out the front door of the library into the midday sun. He headed back to the Land Rover, parked near the coffeeshop. He’d have to decide just how to discuss his discovery with Payton. Though his rule regarding married women still stood, it seemed rather pointless to avoid sex now that that horse was already out of the barn.
Hell, the only way to avoid wanting her was to leave Queensland altogether. He could no more control his desire for Payton Harwell than he could stop breathing.
THE PLANE TOUCHED DOWN as the afternoon sun hovered near the western horizon. Payton peered out the window, catching sight of one of the station’s utes, the name she’d learned to call the pick-up trucks that nearly everyone drove. She saw Callum leaning against the truck as the plane taxied to the near end of the runway, but Brody was nowhere to be seen.
When Teague had turned off the single engine, Callum approached and opened the door. He helped Payton out, grabbing shopping bags as she jumped lightly from the plane. He then turned back to wrap his hands around Gemma’s waist. Payton watched as their gazes met and he gave her a quick kiss.
Though Gemma hadn’t said anything about her relationship with the eldest Quinn, it was clear to everyone that something was going on. Callum didn’t smile much, but he always seemed to be smiling when Gemma was present.
Callum helped Teague secure the plane before all four of them hopped into the truck and headed toward the house. Payton had hoped to find Brody standing on the porch or lounging on her bunk, but she was disappointed.
“He took off about a half hour ago,” Callum said. “On horseback, toward the west. I’m sure he’ll be back soon.”
Payton forced a smile. She’d been looking forward to seeing Brody all day. She’d bought a sexy new swimsuit for the hot tub and some lacy underwear that she was certain he’d appreciate. Her nails and toes looked perfect and her hair smelled like fruit. In short, she was almost irresistible.
She set her bags inside the door of the bunkhouse then turned and jogged down the front steps. “I’m going to ride out and meet him,” she said.
“It’s getting dark,” Callum warned.
“Don’t worry, I won’t go far. I can see the lights of the station from pretty far away.”
She ran to the stables and found a gentle mount, then quickly saddled the horse. She tied a bedroll on the back in case she and Brody decided to make a stop at the swimming hole again. Then, after swinging her leg over the saddle, she steered the horse out of the stable and into the waning light.
Though she’d ridden to the pond with Brody the other night, this was the first time she’d been on a horse alone since her fall nine years before. “Like riding a bike,” she said, settling into the rhythm.
She urged the horse into a relaxed gallop, letting the wind whip her hair into a riot of curls. It was still easy to see where she was going, the last rays of the sun shining on the red dirt of the outback.
As she rode, her thoughts wandered to Brody, to spending the evening alone with him. Brisbane had been so busy and exciting that she’d wished he’d been there to share it with her. Maybe next weekend they could go together, as he’d suggested. They could spend some time at the beach or find a comfy hotel room and revel in absolute privacy.
As the sun dropped lower, the air became chilly and Payton drew her horse to a stop. She scanned the landscape for Brody, but it was difficult to see. Tugging gently on the reins, she turned the horse around. Her breath caught in her throat. She couldn’t see the station anymore.
Rubbing her eyes, she squinted into the distance, searching for the lights that would guide her back. Slowly, she realized she’d ridden too far, lost in her thoughts and unaware of the passing time. Everything looked the same. Starting off in the direction she’d come from, Payton kicked the horse into a gallop again. But a moment later, the horse stumbled in an unseen gully and she found herself thrown forward.
Payton hit the ground with a hard thud, knocking the wind out of her. Groaning, she lay back in the dirt and took a quick inventory. Her limbs were still intact, no broken bones, just wounded pride. Levering to her feet, she brushed the dirt off her jeans and remounted, but as soon as she spurred the horse forward, she could feel the animal favor its right foreleg.
Sliding off again, she bent down and ran her hands over his leg. “What happened?” she cooed. There was no swelling and no broken bones. She’s seen enough stumbles in her show-jumping career to suspect that it was probably just a bruise. Though riding was possible, there was no need to put the horse under any more stress. She mentally calculated the distance and figured she probably had at least an hour’s walk.
Payton stared up at the stars, trying to remember what she’d seen in the night sky. The last traces of the day were visible on the horizon, so she grasped the reins and began to walk the opposite way, east, toward the station.
The outback looked deceptively flat, yet as she walked, she realized that a gentle rise could easily hide things in the distance. She tried to keep moving in a straight line, finding a cluster of stars to keep over her right shoulder. But it was difficult to maintain her bearings in the dark. In the end, she decided to give her horse its head. He knew how to get home better than she did.
But, to her surprise, the horse didn’t lead her back to the station. Instead, she found herself standing at a low iron gate. She hadn’t come through any fence on her way out, but the horse seemed to know what it was doing. “Do I trust the horse or do I trust myself?”
In the end, she opened the gate and led the horse through. A few seconds later, she noticed the outline of a small building, just barely visible in the growing moonlight. Obviously, the horse had been to the spot in the recent past. “What is this?”
The front door was unlocked, but she could see nothing in the black interior. Closing her eyes, she felt around with her hands, stumbling over what felt like beds along the walls. She wandered back to the porch, then noticed a lantern hanging beside the door and a tin box of matches nailed below it.
The match flared and she lit the lantern, then walked back into the small shack. It was obvious it was some kind of remote bunkhouse, though it seemed to be awfully close to Kerry Creek to be of much use. She found a couple more lanterns and, after lighting them, took the first one out onto the porch to serve as a sign that she was there.
Someone would come looking for her sooner or later. And if they didn’t come tonight, she’d simply wait until the morning and then head toward the sunrise. Payton walked over to her horse and took off his saddle, dropping it onto the front steps of the shack.
She folded the saddle blanket and threw it on top. Then she carefully tethered the horse to a hitching rail in front of the cabin before stepping inside.
The interior of the cabin was cozy and almost as comfortable as the bunkhouse, though a bit dustier. From what she could tell, the place had been used recently. There was a stack of firewood next to the cast-iron stove and canned food in the small cupboard above the dry sink. She picked through the assortment and found a can of nuts.
A shelf of paperback novels, mostly mysteries, caught Payton’s attention and she chose one and sat down at the small wooden table. Though it was hard to read in the flickering light, she managed to finish a few pages before her eyes grew tired. With a frustrated sigh, she laid her head down on the table and closed her eyes.
She wasn’t sure whether she’d fallen asleep or not, but a loud crash brought her upright. She saw a shadow in the doorway and screamed. But a moment later, Brody stepped into the light.
He crossed the room in a few long strides, grabbed her arms and yanked her into his embrace. “What the hell were you thinking?” he muttered. “I got back to the station and they said you’d left on horseback.”
“I was just going to ride out to meet you and then my horse came up lame. I thought he’d lead me back to the stable, but he came here.”
