“You won’t be on your own,” Blake intervened. He actually sounded pleased that she hadn’t accepted Nigel’s offer. Was that because he hoped it would get rid of her sooner? She couldn’t imagine that his interest was in the least personal. “I may not be able to insist that you leave, but I can stick around and make sure you get through this in one piece,” he said.
“Even if I don’t want your protection?”
“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,