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“It isn’t a suggestion.”
She gave vent to a sigh of frustration. “I can hardly throw you off your family’s land, but you’d better not get in my way. I’m the one supposed to be learning to survive out here.”
“You’ll learn all right. I don’t intend to make things easy for you.”
If anything, he was going to make her task more difficult, she thought, and not only when it came to outback survival. He attracted her far more than she wanted him to. After her experience with Nigel she didn’t plan on getting hot and bothered over any other man for some time to come.
Aware that hot and bothered barely covered the way her blood pressure soared every time Blake came near her, she looked from one man to the other. Talk about a rock and a hard place. Nigel’s face was set in an expression that she knew only too well—it meant he wouldn’t change his mind. And Blake didn’t strike her as the type to back down, either. What was it about the outback that turned men into Neanderthals? “Seems like I don’t have a choice,” she demurred.
“None at all if you want to stay. So you’d better get your things together.”
“Why, if I’m not going anywhere?”
“Until Andy and I find out why that croc attacked, you’re not staying here alone. I have to meet my brother at the airport, so we can drop Wylie off at the same time. Then I’ll come back with you and make sure everything’s secure here.”
“Sounds reasonable,” she conceded.
His expression didn’t alter. “I’m glad you approve.” His tone said he didn’t care one way or the other.
Before she could think of a suitable response, Andy Wandarra emerged from the bushes. “I found fresh tracks along the river bank. This was buried not far from the tracks. I disturbed a wild pig digging it up.” He held up a handful of bloody entrails.
The rancid smell assaulted her senses and she recoiled. “I thought you said crocodiles drag their food into the water?”
Andy threw the mess into the creek where it sank leaving only bubbles. “They do. Whoever made the tracks must have dropped it.”
Nigel swore colorfully. “I assume that wasn’t the remains of the intruder’s lunch.”
“More like the crocodile’s. If someone has been feeding the croc from the landing, it would explain the attack.”
Nigel moved closer to her side. “The only person we know who wants us out of here is you, Stirton.”
“He wouldn’t,” she protested, appalled at the suggestion.
Nigel made a slashing motion. “How can you be sure? You don’t know him, yet you’re prepared to put your life in his hands. I only hope you know what you’re doing.”
“She’ll be safe with me, because I intend to get to the bottom of this,” Blake vowed. He turned to Jo. “Did you see or hear anything around the time the crocodile attacked?”
“I caught a glimpse of a man hanging around in the bushes.”
Blake nodded. “Did you see what he looked like?”
“Like Andy,” she said. “When the two of you arrived I thought he was the same man, but the other man was younger and his skin was a darker color.”
Andy and Blake traded looks. “Eddy Gilgai?” Andy said.
Blake nodded. “If it’s Eddy, that means Max Horvath is involved in this.”
“They’re employees of your father’s, I suppose,” Nigel said.
Blake gave him a withering look. “Max Horvath is a neighbor who has designs on Diamond Downs. Max hired Eddy after Des sacked him for misconduct.”
She didn’t try to hide her confusion. “How would feeding a crocodile help your neighbor get his hands on your father’s land?”
“Crocs don’t have much in the way of brains but they’re creatures of habit. You can train them to expect food at the same place and time. If Eddy taught this one to come in close to the landing, he could have had only one motive. He hoped to send you packing.”
“Fine with me,” Nigel said. “For you, too, if you have any sense, Jo.”
He was probably right, but instinct wouldn’t let her turn her back on what was shaping up to be quite a story. She couldn’t wait to learn more about the neighborhood feud from Blake and his family.
“Don’t power up your laptop yet,” Blake said, as if sensing her interest. “This doesn’t concern you.”
“If it’s meant to scare me away from Diamond Downs, it does.”
“We’re only guessing that was the explanation for the attack. Wylie could simply have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“But your theory fits the facts as you know them,” she said. “It also explains some of the disturbances I’ve heard around the river since we set up camp here.”
Blake’s interest sharpened. “You didn’t mention any disturbances.”
“I don’t know what’s normal for the outback. For all I know, the sounds in the bushes could have been dingoes or one of those wild pigs.”
“Or someone setting me up to be eaten by a crocodile,” Nigel added. “Why the devil didn’t you say something sooner, Jo?”
“I’m sorry I didn’t, but it doesn’t help now. It’s more important to find out if your Max Horvath is behind this, and stop him before somebody gets hurt.”
Blake shook his head. “Don’t you get it? That someone could be you. I’m putting both of you on the next plane back to Perth.”
She and Nigel spoke at the same moment.
“Good idea.”
“The hell you are.”
“You can throw me off Diamond Downs, but you can’t make me leave the Kimberley until I’m ready,” she asserted.
Blake’s expression conceded reluctant defeat. “Then you’re better off where I can keep an eye on you. If you carry on with your assignment as if we don’t suspect anything, Horvath might get cocky and give himself away.”
“And both of you could wind up dead.”
“We won’t. Blake knows what he’s doing.” At least she hoped he did.
Blake picked up Nigel’s pack. “We’ll take your car back to town. Andy, you take the jeep and see if you can find any more signs. We’ll meet back at the homestead later.”
The other man grinned. “Tom will be dying of curiosity by then.”
“Tom’s my brother and Andy’s honorary clan brother,” Blake elaborated. “His engagement party’s tonight.”
He must be the ranger who was marrying the princess, she assumed. Quite a family. “Do I get to meet him?”
Blake pushed his Akubra hat back on his head. “According to Des, under your editor’s rules, you’re only supposed to come to the homestead in a life-and-death emergency. I guess a crocodile attack qualifies. If you happen to be there for the party, it can’t be helped. Until we know more, I don’t want you staying out here on your own.”
Nigel shifted impatiently and she nodded, feeling the familiar surge of excitement that told her she was on to a big story. Far bigger than Karen, her editor, had guessed when she dreamed up this assignment. “You’re on.”
Chapter 2
Are you crazy? Blake asked himself as he drove to Halls Creek. Nigel sat stony-faced in the back seat clutching his pack. Jo was in front beside Blake, staring thoughtfully out the window. Blake couldn’t force Jo to leave, but what could she do if he dumped her in town and refused to return her to Diamond Downs? Once he knew the facts, Des would back Blake’s position. So why didn’t he?
Because from the moment she’d turned up at his croc farm expecting him to teach her how to survive in the bush, she’d caught his attention. What red-blooded man wouldn’t be attracted to someone who moved as enticingly as she did? Neither athlete nor vamp. More like a woman with a mission. She had a compact, curvy shape that raised Blake’s temperature on sight, and her unusual blue-green eyes reminded him of the semiprecious gem New Zealanders called greenstone. The last few days in the open air had kissed her milky skin with roses. His fingers itched to release her streaky blond hair from its ponytail for the pleasure of watching the breeze catch the strands.
Her refusal to be scared away by the crocodile had earned his grudging admiration, although he believed her confidence was misplaced. She didn’t belong in the outback. The whole idea of a survival-type scenario was bull. But he couldn’t deny that his foster father needed the fee her magazine was paying. Some money was coming in from visitor interest in the recently discovered rock art on the land, but there was a long way to go before tourism replaced the dwindling income from raising cattle.
Blake, his foster brothers and Des’s daughter Judy helped as much as they could, but she was a bush pilot with people depending on her. Tom had responsibilities as the shire ranger. And Blake had the croc farm to run. None of them could give Diamond Downs as much money, time and attention as it needed. Yet Des wouldn’t consider selling up. The land was in his blood and he wanted to leave it for Judy and her kids, and theirs after that.
The other fly in the ointment was Max Horvath’s greed.
What a piece of work he was. He’d been an unpleasant child, taunting Blake and his brothers about their lack of pedigree. Max had been thirteen when his parents’ marriage ended and his mother took him to live in the city. He’d come back for vacations and had developed a huge crush on Judy. Too soft-hearted to reject him out of hand, Judy had gone on occasional dates with Max, only breaking off the relationship when Max became serious. Now Blake wondered if her rejection of Max’s marriage proposal had sown the seeds for this dangerous feud.
Unbeknownst to the boys, Des Logan had borrowed heavily from Clive Horvath, Max’s father and Des’s best friend, to keep the station going. After Clive was killed suddenly in a riding accident, Max had inherited their place and the mortgage Clive had intended to tear up. His son wasn’t so forgiving. Since taking over, Max had been pressuring Des to repay the debt or forfeit Diamond Downs to him.
Blake thought he knew which option Max preferred. According to family folklore, Des’s grandfather had found a fabulously rich diamond mine on his land. The location had been lost when he vanished without a trace. The belief that Des’s ancestor’s spirit guarded the site had kept the indigenous people from revealing what they knew about the mine’s location. As boys, Blake and his siblings had tried without success to find the mine, eventually giving up and deciding there was no substance to the legend.
Max wasn’t so easily convinced and had made no secret of wanting to find the mine. First, he had to claim ownership of Diamond Downs, and that wasn’t going to happen while Blake had breath in his body to prevent it.
He steered the car into the airport parking lot, cut the engine and swiveled toward Nigel. “Your stop, Wylie.”
The other man ignored him and looked at Jo. “Last chance to change your mind.”
Against his better judgment, Blake decided to do the gentlemanly thing. “I’ll give you two a few minutes to say your farewells.”
He stepped out of the car and closed the door. He tried not to listen but overheard when Jo’s voice rose in protest. Evidently she was still resisting Wylie’s entreaties to return to Perth with him. After a couple of minutes, the other man slammed out of the car and headed for the terminal without a backward glance. Jo got out more slowly, her gaze troubled.
Blake couldn’t help himself. “Is the love affair still on?”
“I’m not in love with Nigel, not that it’s any concern of yours.”
Blake was surprised by the sunburst of satisfaction blooming through him. If she’d been his woman, nothing could have made him walk away. He resisted the childish urge to yell “and stay out” after Wylie, instead switching his focus back to Jo.
As his gaze collided with hers, he felt a slam of sexual awareness unlike anything he’d experienced in a long time. His breath whooshed out and he felt his knees flex, if not exactly buckle. Suddenly, working with her didn’t seem like such a bright idea. He might not have liked Wylie, but at least he’d served as a buffer zone between them.
Now there was only the two of them and a lot of time alone in the bush ahead.
“What now?” she asked, sounding strained.
He shrugged off the urge to hold her and soothe away some of the strain. “Now we meet Cade’s flight.”
“Cade Thatcher, your youngest foster brother,” she supplied.
His brows winged upward. “You’ve done your homework.”
“A good journalist does,” she said. “And despite what you think of me, I am a good journalist.”
“I never said you weren’t. Only that you’re a novice in the outback. From what I’ve read of your articles, they’re well researched and written.”
She hadn’t expected the endorsement, he saw from the surprised look she gave him. The pleasure lighting her gaze sparked an answering surge in him. He was really going to have to watch himself around her.
Between the scars he carried from his past love life, and his foster father’s troubles, Blake didn’t need any more complications in his life right now. That certainty sharpened his tone as he said, “Let’s get inside out of the heat.”
Heat was on Jo’s mind, too, but not in the way Blake meant, she decided as they approached the terminal. Through the glass, she saw Nigel standing at the check-in desk. He saw her but he didn’t react. His parting words had convinced her he accepted it was over between them. Shouldn’t she feel upset instead of relieved, as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders?
Later would do to examine that, she decided as a tall, raven-haired man spotted Blake and strode out of the terminal to meet them. He was almost rail-thin and moved with the unconscious grace of a man at home in his body, as he gave Blake a back-thumping greeting. “About time you got here.”
“Jo Francis, meet my no-manners foster brother, Cade Thatcher.”
Cade’s smile broadened. “Jo Francis? You’re a writer with Australian Scene Weekly, aren’t you?”
She nodded, finally placing him. “And you’re the wildlife photographer.”
“I was.”
He didn’t say what he was doing now, and she didn’t feel she could ask at first meeting. Blake grabbed the other man’s well-worn leather bag. “Car’s this way.”
In the parking lot, Cade regarded the vehicle with interest. “What happened to your Jeep?”
Blake put Cade’s bag into the back seat, then held the front passenger door for Jo. “This is Jo’s rental car. Andy’s using the Jeep. Jo’s staying on Diamond Downs on a writing assignment for the next month.”
Cade climbed into the back. “Are you coming to Tom’s wake tonight, Jo?”
“I thought it was an engagement party.” Then she caught on and smiled. “Looks like it.”
Cade nodded. “The more, the merrier. I haven’t met the bride yet, but I hear she’s beautiful and royal to boot. She should soon straighten Tom out.” Then he grew serious. “How’s Des?”
Blake steered the car onto the highway. “Not good. He’s moved up the waiting list for a transplant but the way things are at home, he’s not keen on having the operation even if a donor heart becomes available.”
Cade rested his forearms on the seat back between her and Blake. “Can’t say I blame him. He values his independence.”
A trait he’d passed on to his foster sons and natural daughter, she’d already noticed. She couldn’t imagine Blake willingly depending on anyone. “Is Max Horvath the reason Des doesn’t want to be away from Diamond Downs?”
Cade’s fingers drummed a tattoo on the seat back. “You’ve heard about him?”
She nodded and Blake said, “We think Max put Eddy Gilgai up to feeding a big croc to lure it closer to Jo’s camp. Earlier today, it attacked the man she was with.”
“Is he okay?”
“He wasn’t harmed, but he’s on his way back to Perth right now.”
A taut smile ghosted over Cade’s features. “Do you plan on following him?”
“I’m staying,” she said, her tone daring either man to argue. “My assignment is to report on what it’s like to survive in the outback, not to turn tail at the first sign of danger.”
