AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He was an enticing package.
Although, it was a package she should be ignoring. She was in no position to even look at a man sideways. Technically, she was on the run from the law, consorting with a wanted man. She was supposed to be keeping a low profile. Which she would still be doing, if she’d just listened to the damn weather report instead of heading into town to do River’s bidding.
And there was Troy to consider. Although, these two months apart from him had cemented in her mind that she was happier without him. Even when she eventually went back to Perth, there would be no future with Troy. He was too lost in his own world of self-entitlement. They were on separate paths. She didn’t love Troy anymore, and if she was truthful, she hadn’t loved him for a while now.
A part of her wished she’d never run into Dale Williams last night. It’d be so much easier if she were safely back at the outstation with River, never having met him. Because this could get complicated, if she let it. She saw the way Dale looked at her. Saw how he’d pulled away suddenly last night when their fingers touched as she handed him his phone.
She turned around so she could no longer see Dale, who was now helping Joanna, by gently taking her rod so he could untangle the line. So she could no longer see those long, tanned fingers as they deftly unwound the line. And no longer see his muscular forearms flex as he drew the rod backward and forward through the air. Strong forearms, that could easily wrap around her waist, pull her up into that hardened chest so she could reach his lips and…
Sheesh.She needed to get her hormones under control. Think about something else, Daisy. She needed to stop that hot, raw feeling rising through her belly as she watched Joanna touch Dale deliberately, flirtatiously on the arm. She was not jealous.
River. Their trouble with the law. Their strife with The Black Kings. They were more than enough to keep her occupied. Her mother had no further news to give her last night when she’d called. She’d kept the call short and to the point. Told Evana that she and River were safe and asked if there’d been any further inquiries from the cops. Had there been any more media coverage, or more questions? Daisy breathed a sigh of relief when Evana told her that things seemed to have died down over the past month. There’d been no more mention of anything on the news about the dead man. Which didn’t mean the cops weren’t still working on the case behind the scenes, but at least people’s attention had been diverted. She didn’t mention anything about her current predicament; that would merely send her mother into a spiral of panic. Nor did she mention Steve might’ve recognized her. It could well have been a case of mistaken identity.
There was a sharp tug on the fishing line. Daisy snapped her attention back to the present.
A fish. There was a fish on her line. It tugged again, harder, almost pulling the rod out of her hands. She gave a little squeal of delight as she leaned backward against the weight of the fish. She knew nothing about barramundi, but this felt like a big one.
Taking a step backward, Daisy braced her legs and planted the butt of the rod into her hip to give her better purchase.
“Have you got one?” Dale called, lifting his head from where he was tying on a new lure to Joanna’s line.
“Yes,” she squeaked. She dared not look away from the commotion in the billabong, and the large, thrashing fish leaping out of the water, churning it up in a frantic bid for freedom.
Dale was almost at her side when the line went slack, the tumult in the water stopping suddenly. Daisy stared at the now calm billabong. The fish was gone.
“Oh, no!” Her loud exclamation was full of disappointment. “Did I do something wrong?”
“It happens,” he replied with a shrug. “They’re a canny fish. They don’t want to be caught.”
“Damn,” she muttered. She’d been so sure she was taking fresh barramundi home to the lodge for Skylar to cook for dinner. Skylar said she had the perfect recipe for it. Daisy had had a quick chat with Skylar in the kitchen this morning, after she offered to help with the cleaning up. She was really impressed at the way Skylar was so determined to use native bush foods in her all her cooking. But Skylar had bemoaned the fact it was often hard to source some of the less familiar ones. She’d been researching how to grow some of the local native shrubs, like the ones that produced the wattleseeds, and even the ones from farther afield, in her own special garden. But her time was so limited, Skylar had eventually given up on the idea. It made Daisy wonder, and she decided she might do her own research on the topic, if she ever got back to her own computer.
Dale’s two-way radio crackled to life. He carried it in a holster strapped around his back and over his shoulder. He’d told her it was common for station hands to wear them like this out on a muster, and it was also a requirement that they took one whenever they were out with the guests.
“Mamma Bear to Yogi, are you there?” Daisy could hear Daniella’s crackly voice over the radio.
He leaned his mouth toward the radio and pushed the button. “Yogi here, what’s up?”
“Get all the guests up to the lodge. Pronto.”
“Ah…okay, we’ll just—”
“No. Get back here now, Dale. This is an emergency.”
Dale’s lips thinned. “On our way, Mamma Bear.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” Daisy commented, winding her line in furiously.
“No, it doesn’t,” was all Dale said in reply. Then he painted on a bright smile for the other guests. “Sorry, folks, something has come up and we need to go up to the lodge.”
There were cries of “no” and “I haven’t caught one yet” but Dale cheerfully ignored them, chivvying everyone good naturedly to get moving. “We can return this afternoon,” he promised. “The fish won’t go anywhere.”
Daisy wondered quietly to herself what could have upset Daniella so considerably. The woman sounded clearly rattled on the radio, not that Dale had admitted it.
It took them five minutes to get the rods reeled in and then they followed Dale, single file, around the edge of the billabong. Daisy was glad for her waders, as they passed through a few big puddles and the rest of the ground was filled with sticky, red mud. Daisy cast a sideways glance at Joanna’s once-pristine boots and gave a little smirk when she saw they were looking a lot worse for wear. Joanna and another woman—Daisy thought her name was Patricia, she was here with her daughter—asked endless questions as to what was going on. Why did they have to return so suddenly? Dale merely shook his head and said he was as in the dark as they all were. It was a somber party that finally dumped their waders in a pile by the front door and paraded into the main living area, where Daniella and Steve were waiting for them.
“Take a seat everyone.” Daniella waved everyone toward the tables, including Dale when he tried to approach the bar where she and Steve were waiting. “The rest of the guests will be here shortly. Then we’ll bring you some refreshments.” Some of the other guests had opted to stay at the lodge this morning, hanging out by the amazing infinity pool on one of the comfy lounge chairs, or taking an impromptu cooking class with Skylar, who was showing them how to bake her famous pumpkin and wattleseed scones.
Dale pulled out a chair next to hers and sat down slowly, his frown getting deeper by the second. They waited in silence as more guests arrived, filling the seats at the table.
