Blake didn’t move. “You’re going the right way to get yourself thrown off this land, Wylie.”
“He doesn’t mean it. It’s the shock of the attack.”
Both men turned hard glares on her, but Jo wasn’t about to back down. This was her show, whether Nigel accepted it or not. She needed this assignment. From her research into Des Logan’s situation, he suffered from a heart complaint and was having trouble keeping Diamond Downs going. The discovery of the ancient rock art on the land had started to bring in tourist dollars, but he also needed the substantial fee her magazine was paying to use the site.
Without quite knowing how she knew, she saw the knowledge reflected in Blake’s gaze. He shifted his attention to her. The ferocity of it sent shafts of heat through her, surprisingly difficult to ignore. “I’ll overlook the personal insults this time.” His tone made it clear there would be no second chance. “I still think this is a damn fool stunt. If you were really surviving, you wouldn’t have so many frills. You have no business coming to the outback for the titillation of a few magazine readers.”
She anchored her palms on her hips. “A moment ago, you mentioned respect. Yet you’re not willing to accord us the same privilege even though those magazine readers you dismiss so readily number in the thousands. And my editor is paying your foster father a lot of money for us to be here, correct?”
“Correct.”
She ignored the grudging tone. It was enough that he accepted her right to be here. “Our inexperience in the outback is the whole point of the exercise—to see how well we cope, also correct?”
He nodded tautly. “True enough.”
“Then I don’t see a problem. This isn’t your land. You might have grown up here, but you live at your crocodile farm, don’t you?”
“While we’re playing twenty questions, I have one for you.”
He was entitled. “Go ahead.”
“Why the hell is this so important to you? Surely there are other subjects you can write about without risking your neck?”
Not subjects her editor was passionate about, she thought. She still wasn’t sure why Karen had been so determined to send her on this assignment. Jo knew why she herself wanted to be here, but Blake didn’t need to know. “I have my reasons,” she said evenly.
Blake jerked his head toward Nigel, standing at Jo’s shoulder, fuming but, for the moment, having the sense to keep quiet. “And your friend here?”
“I’m here because I refused to let her carry out this crazy assignment alone,” he supplied.
So much for keeping quiet. “Our motivations are none of Blake’s business,” she demurred, not wanting to argue with Nigel in front of the crocodile man. “Part of the deal is for Blake to teach us how to survive in the outback, not to interfere.”
The reminder didn’t sit well with Blake, she saw, as his gaze darkened. He must feel strongly loyal to his foster father to have agreed to be part of a scheme he plainly opposed. “There’s not much point in me giving you advice unless you have enough sense to take it.”
The gibe was clearly aimed at Nigel and she felt him bristle at her side. “You can stop worrying, Stirton. I’ve had it up to here with this insane project. When you turned up, I was packing to leave.”
“It didn’t look like that to me.”
Blake’s reminder that Nigel had been kissing her when he’d arrived brought heat surging into her cheeks. “Again, none of your business,” she insisted. “Nigel, I know the attack was a shock, but you can’t mean to throw in the towel? It’s only been three days.” Two, if she didn’t count the orientation day spent with Blake.
“Three days when I’ve been bitten to death by mosquitoes, sunburned gathering materials to build a stupid shelter when there’s a perfectly good tent standing there and had my life threatened by a man-eater that Stirton thinks has more right to live than I do.”
Blake’s mouth thinned. “The crocodile was only defending its territory.”
Was something similar going on between him and Nigel? “Why did you recommend we set up camp here if you knew it was dangerous?” she asked.
“I didn’t know,” he said surprising her. “We’ve had no problems with crocodiles in this area for years. I don’t know why it happened now.”
“So you admit you don’t know everything,” Nigel gibed, ignoring the warning pressure of the hand she placed on his arm.
“I never said I did,” Blake responded mildly, but his hazel eyes flashed fire. “I assume after what’s happened, you’re both leaving?”
She moved a few feet away from Nigel in what she recognized was a symbolic gesture. “You assume wrong. Until the agreed-upon month is up, I’m not going anywhere.”
Nigel flashed her a look of disbelief. Had his packing been an attempt to manipulate her into going with him? “You can’t stay here alone,” he said, reinforcing her suspicion.
Blake settled his hands on his hips. “She can’t stay here at all. This wasn’t part of the deal between Des and the magazine.”
She folded her arms. “As I recall, neither were you, except as technical consultant.”
Blake’s eyes flashed fire. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“You have no authority to throw me out if I choose to remain.”
“Des Logan does, and he will if I recommend it for your safety.”
“For my safety or for your convenience? From the moment I arrived, you’ve made it clear you don’t want me here.”
“Surviving in the outback is not a game.”
She nodded. “It won’t be reported as such. My editor wants me to faithfully record our experiences for our readers.”
“To achieve what, exactly?”
“If even one person is stranded in the outback and applies something they’ve learned from my articles, the series will have served a purpose.”
Nigel pulled the straps of his backpack tight and looked around the camp. “Are you two going to argue the point all day? I have everything of mine. The rest of the gear belongs to the magazine. Can I get a ride to Halls Creek with you, Stirton? I don’t want to leave Jo without a vehicle.”
“You don’t have to leave at all,” she said. “Why not give yourself a little more time before you decide?”
“I have decided. I only agreed because I thought this wouldn’t last more than a couple of days, then you’d see sense and we could get back to civilization.”
Her mouth dropped. “You expected me to fail?”
Blake gave a humorless smile. “Charming.”
Nigel shot him a look of irritation. “Of course not. Damn it, Jo, the only reason I agreed to be part of this is because I care about you. It’s important to you, so it was important to me until I found myself staring death in the face.” He jerked his thumb toward the now-tranquil creek. “We don’t belong in that monster’s territory, and I’m getting out while I still can.”
She shuddered involuntarily, having no comeback. If the same thing had happened to her, would she feel like bailing, too? But it hadn’t and she couldn’t give up now, even though the memory of the crocodile leaping out of the water would haunt her for a long time. “I’m sorry.”
Nigel’s hand rested on his backpack. “Me, too. Look, I’ll stay if you agree to my condition.”
Her hopes rose but with them, a quiver of uncertainty as she guessed what he was about to say. “Nigel, don’t.