She repeated the headshake. “I dropped my phone in the toilet when I was texting Dylan to find out where he was. It’s officially dead.”
Hunter bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. The poor woman was having a rough day.
“Is there somewhere more private we can hide out?” she asked. “Until I figure out what I’m supposed to do now.”
Hunter pointed down the corridor. “I guess we could sit in the chopper.”
“Chopper?”
He grasped the handles on both her suitcases and began dragging them as he walked toward the runway. He was pleased when Annie followed rather than run in the opposite direction.
“Dylan and I came to the airport in a helicopter.”
Annie gave him a funny look. “You have a thing against cars?”
“You have any idea how big Australia is? We live damn near in the middle of it, love. We could either fly the chopper to the airport in four or five hours or drive to Sydney in just under a dozen. I can’t afford to be away from work for so long, so it was a pretty easy decision. I flew Dylan here early this morning and intend to fly home later today.”
“This can’t be happening,” Annie muttered behind him. “How could this all get so fucked up?”
Hunter picked up the bags and carried them down the stairs to the tarmac, where his chopper sat waiting.
A flight mechanic approached. “You’ve got a full tank, Mr. Sullivan, and I gave everything a quick inspection. It’s ready to roll. Just radio the air traffic control room when you’re ready for takeoff.”
“Thanks, mate. Will do.”
Hunter threw her luggage in the back. Annie paused when he opened the passenger door of the helicopter for her. “Who flies this?”
“I do.”
“Jesus. Are you serious?”
Hunter suppressed a grin. Her American accent was cute. “Yes, Annie. I’m a fully qualified helicopter pilot. Not that you need to worry. We’re just hiding out in here, right?”
Annie bit her lip as she looked up at the propellers nervously. Rather than reply, she tried to climb into the passenger seat. The devil prodded him forward and he gave her a boost, using her arse for leverage. It was firm, tight. It took all this strength not to give it a good squeeze.
She startled when he placed his hands on her rear end, but accepted the momentum he provided to claim her seat. “Thanks.” Her slightly narrowed eyes and sardonic tone almost made him laugh.
“My pleasure.” He crossed in front of the chopper and took his place behind the controls. “So I guess we need to figure out how you ended up here when Dylan said he was going there.”
“He didn’t say he was going to New York. We were chatting on IM and he said something like ‘put your money where your mouth is’. Then he said Qantas, Sydney Airport, November twentieth, and gave me a time. I booked the flight, even though the arrival time he listed was a bit off, but I figured that’s because airlines are constantly changing their schedules.”
Hunter frowned. “I was there when he sent that stupid—Ahem.” He cleared his throat uncomfortably. “I saw him send you the flight details—his flight details—in an email about an hour after that. He forwarded you the information from the airline.”
Annie looked around the helicopter and he wondered what she was thinking. “I never got that email.”
“Well, he sent it.” Hunter didn’t want to mention that satellite reception on Farpoint Creek was sketchy at best. There was a very good chance Dylan’s email was still bouncing around somewhere in space.
Annie sighed. “I swear to you I never got it. I just said ‘challenge accepted’ or ‘game on’ or something in our chat.”
He nodded. “Yeah, Dylan took that to mean you were excited about his visit. Bloody dickhead.”
“But I meant I was coming here. I thought he’d invited me to Australia.”
“Well, I don’t mean to criticize, love, but what woman accepts an invitation to visit a bloke she’s never met in a foreign country and only gives herself four days to prepare? Didn’t your family and friends try to talk you out of this?”
Annie’s shoulders straightened and he could see she was pissed off. “I know Dylan.”
He rolled his eyes. “A few emails and IMs and—”
“We’ve been corresponding for months. Plus we’ve Skyped and talked on the phone and exchanged pictures. I feel like I do know him.”
“And I suppose from that kiss you gave me back in the terminal, you didn’t intend for this to be just a friendly visit.”
She bit her lip again. Hunter wished he didn’t find the gesture so cute. “That’s none of your business.”
He let her off the hook. Her blush answered his question just fine. “What’s the deal with the paparazzi? You an actress or something?”
“Dylan didn’t tell you about my family?”
Hunter shook his head. “Nope. Dylan didn’t share much about you at all. Showed me a photo of you a few weeks ago. Besides that and the fact you don’t read your emails carefully, I don’t know a thing about you.” Hunter didn’t mention the soul mate comment.
“I’m a journalist. I work for a magazine in New York.”
“Didn’t realize journalists were so popular in the States.”
She flashed him a dirty look. “It’s not my job that interests the press, it’s my name. I’m Annie Prince.”
He shook his head. “I’m still not following you.”
“Prince Incorporated?”
Hunter recognized that name even less. “Nope. Haven’t got a bloody clue what you’re talking about.”
“I guess Monet was right. She said there had to be somewhere on the planet where I could live incognito. Go Australia.” She raised one fist in a cheer for his country.
“I don’t know who this Monet is, but that’s not exactly true. You’re in Sydney and there are cameramen following you.”
She blew out a long, frustrated breath. “Yeah. My family owns and operates a huge conglomeration of newspapers, magazines, hotels and other properties. Our net worth is in the billions. For some insane reason, this makes us interesting to people. Not to mention the fact my dad is a bit of a glory hound, constantly doing stuff to draw attention to himself. My two sisters have followed in his footsteps and now star on the most inane, idiotic reality series ever to air on television. And I suppose everyone expects me to be the same, to want the same spotlight cast on my life.”
“But you don’t?”
“God no. Did you see me pose for photos? Your ranch in the middle of the desert actually sounds like paradise.”
Hunter scoffed. “I think you’re the first woman, besides my mother, to ever feel that way. And it’s not a ranch. It’s a station.”
Annie ignored his correction. Maybe she was used to it. He’d heard Dylan tell her a time or two when he’d accidentally eavesdropped on their chats. She let out a wobbly sigh. “What the hell am I going to do now?”
Hunter studied her desolate face and was sorry Dylan hadn’t invited her for a visit. The idea of Annie spending a week or two on their family’s cattle station was very appealing.
Then he recalled Dylan’s comment. She could be my soul mate. He couldn’t poach on his brother’s girl.
“Seems to me your answer’s simple. Go back inside and catch the next flight out of Sydney. Chances are it won’t leave until tomorrow, so you could book a hotel in the city and take in a couple of the sights. No reason the trip has to be a total waste. You’ll only be a day or so behind Dylan. Once you get back, the two of you can take New York by storm. No harm, no foul.”
Annie didn’t respond for several moments. Finally she released another sigh, this one less wobbly. “I can’t go back to New York right away.”
Hunter frowned. “Why not? If you’re worried about those wankers with the cameras, I can talk to security, get you an escort.”
She shook her head. “It’s not that. I’m here for work as well. On an assignment for the magazine. It was the only
way I could miss two weeks of work. I haven’t been there long enough to build up any real vacation time.”
“What’s your assignment?”
“I’m writing a four-part series about life on a cattle station. And I’m supposed to interview a real live Aussie cowboy.”
She looked at him hopefully—and he knew he was in trouble.
“I’m a stockman, Annie. We’re called stockmen over here, or grazier, if we’re being more formal. Which we’re not.”
“Oh. Okay. Then I need to shadow a stockman.”
“Me?”
She lifted one shoulder as if to ask why not. “I’d intended to interview Dylan, but he’s not here and likely won’t be for a while. The first piece is due in three days and once I start, I sort of need to stick with the same cow…er, stockman.”
She really expected him to take her back to the cattle station? Let her follow him around for two weeks watching him work? How was he supposed to keep his hands off her if she was under his roof and his bloody brother was half a world away?
Dylan better get his arse back Down Under, and quick.
Otherwise, this was not going to end well.
Chapter 2
“You should have told me you were afraid of flying, love. This isn’t a short flight.”
Annie slowly lifted her eyelids and forced herself to take a steadying breath. Her eyes had been pressed firmly closed for at least half an hour. She wasn’t used to being able to see so much while in the air. Typically she opted for an aisle seat on airplanes, careful to keep her eyes glued to the back of the seat in front of her. That way she could pretend she was on the ground instead of thousands of feet above. Between that and the drowsiness caused by the Dramamine she’d taken, she’d managed to remain somewhat calm during the long flight to Oz.
Unfortunately, the large windows in the helicopter didn’t afford her the luxury of forgetting where she was.
“I was afraid you’d make fun of me.”
From her peripheral vision, she could see him staring at her. She wanted to yell at him to keep his eyes on the road or the air or whatever.
“I don’t find other people’s fears funny. I hate snakes. Hate them. Dylan used to catch ’em and stick ’em in my bed all the time when we were kids. Do you think that’s funny?”
She shook her head. “No, but maybe that’s because I’m afraid of them too.”
He shook his head and snorted. “So who’s the arsehole who’s been giving you shit about your flying issues? Want me to beat him up?”
“It’s more like three arrrs-holes,” she mimicked. “Though I don’t suppose I should use that word when speaking of my dad and sisters.”
Hunter’s scowl grew. “Your family makes fun of you because you’re afraid of flying?”
“Maybe that’s the wrong expression. They just seem to find humor in my fear of flying because our father owns a private jet, and he would prefer to take it to the grocery store rather than drive if given the choice. My entire family is made up of jetsetters. And then you have me. The daughter who’s a bit out of place. Odd guy out. As always.”
He continued to look at her closely. “You don’t seem that odd to me. Although given the fact you’re lost in Oz at the moment, I’d agree with the misplaced part.”
“Would you mind watching where you’re going? I really can’t concentrate on what you’re saying when you’re looking at me instead of out there.” She waved her hand toward the front window, pointing at the sky before them.
Hunter chuckled. “Sorry, love. Didn’t mean to scare you.”
She sucked in another ragged breath, relieved when he faced forward once more.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”
Hunter fiddled with a button near the controls. “Is that what that was? Snapping? Hell, love, spend a few days with my mum and you’ll learn how to really give a man a piece of your mind.”
Dylan had mentioned they lived on Farpoint Creek with their mother. Now Annie found herself a new thing to worry about. What if Mrs. Sullivan didn’t like her? Obviously the family wasn’t expecting company for two weeks. Not only was she imposing on Dylan’s brother, she was inflicting herself on his mother as well.
Hunter distracted her when he asked, “Why were you on a Qantas flight if your dad owns a jet? Wouldn’t he let you borrow it?”
They were getting into slightly more personal territory. Annie had lived most of her life on guard, holding her cards close to her chest, not giving too many people a peek. Monet knew most of her issues regarding her family and she’d also confided a few things to Dylan. She’d stressed her desire that he not tell anyone about the secrets she’d divulged and, given Hunter’s obliviousness regarding her life, she’d been right to trust Dylan. He hadn’t betrayed her, not even to his own family.
“I try not to take advantage of my father’s wealth.” While that statement was the truth, it was also a lie in terms of this trip. She hadn’t used the jet because she hadn’t told her family she was leaving the country.
“Sort of cutting off your nose to spite your face, wouldn’t you say? If my dad had billions, I think I’d find it hard not to indulge every once in a while.”
Annie rolled her eyes. “I’m not saying I’m not totally spoiled. I grew up with the proverbial silver spoon in my mouth. I went to the best private schools in the States. Spent my summers on yachts and vacationing in some of the most beautiful places in the world. All my clothes had designer labels dangling from them and my primary mode of transportation was a limousine.”
“I’m struggling to find a problem in all that, love.”
She leaned her head against the headrest. “All of that comes with a cost. The paparazzi trail me everywhere—practically night and day—thinking my life is lived for their entertainment. They tend to be cruel on bad hair days or if I wear something they deem to be in poor taste. I can’t go to the grocery store without makeup or they start rumors that I’m sick or suffering from depression or a broken heart or something stupid like that. Usually the truth is I was too lazy to shower and get all dolled up just to run out for a lousy gallon of milk.”
“Yeah, that would get old quick.”
Annie remembered how Hunter had gone into protector mode at the airport. He’d kept a cool head and gotten them away from the growing pack of rabid cameramen. “You were really great back there, by the way. I don’t think I said thank you for getting me away from those damn flashing lights. I hate cameras almost as much as flying.”
Hunter gave her a crooked grin. “No worries.”
He was easy to talk to, like his brother. She wasn’t sure what the difference was between the Sullivan men and all the other guys she’d ever dated, but there was definitely something that set them apart. Maybe it was that they didn’t look at her and see dollar signs. More than that, they both seemed genuinely interested in her as a person. It was unique and very, very attractive.
She closed her eyes once more, but not out of fear as much as an attempt to relax. It has been a long journey and they still had a ways to go. She felt like she’d been in the air for days.
They continued chatting for a while. The helicopter was warm and the sound of the propellers created a soothing rhythm in the small space and, before she knew it, Annie found herself telling Hunter things she’d never told anyone, not even Monet or Dylan. She spoke of her childhood friends, summer camp and raucous college parties.
“Uni girl, eh? Dylan and I sort of skipped that part in our education and went straight to work on the station.”
“That’s a shame. You missed some awesome fraternity parties.”
He shook his head. “You’ve obviously never gotten drunk by the campfire with a bunch of rowdy jackaroos after long weeks of mustering.”
“Our lives seem to be as different as sardines and caviar. I remember the night I graduated magna cum laude at college—”
“Magner cum who?” he interjected.
Annie giggled softly. “I g
raduated with honors. Top of the class. Like how I managed to work that into the conversation?” she joked.
Hunter gave her a solemn nod, those his eyes twinkled with mirth. “Very smooth. Only took you about an hour. Congrats on being a smart arse.”
She narrowed her eyes, pretending to be insulted, though she suspected her grin was giving away how much fun she was having. “Anyway, to recognize my undisputable brilliance, my father threw a way-over-the-top party to celebrate. There were hundreds of people in attendance, most of them I didn’t even know. We were in the giant ballroom of a grand hotel Dad had recently purchased. He pulled me aside, said he had a gift for me. He handed me a contract that said The New York Bulletin was mine.”
Hunter frowned and she was reminded they really did live in two different worlds. “Bulletin?”
“It’s a major newspaper in the city. My dad owns it.”
“Don’t you mean you own it?”
She shook her head. “I turned it down. A light went on in my head that night. I’d worked my ass off all through high school and college, earning good grades because I wanted to make him proud of me. I chose journalism because that was my dad’s major. He’d started his career as a reporter at the Bulletin, working his way up through the ranks until he was the owner of that and at least twenty other media—newspapers, magazines, publishing houses, cable channels. From there he branched out into real estate—rentals, office buildings, hotels.”
Hunter took off his hat and tossed it on the backseat. He ran his hand through his light brown hair. Now that she studied him, she could see slight differences between him and his brother. Hunter’s hair looked a wee bit longer than Dylan’s and even though he was laughing with her, there was a seriousness around his eyes that she’d never noticed in his more easygoing brother.
His jaw was covered with stubble that indicated he hadn’t bothered to shave before leaving the house this morning, but she suspected that wasn’t normal. Dylan liked to joke about Hunter’s fastidious morning routine, which apparently always included shaving. She ached to reach out and rub her hand along the rough shadow. Every time he smiled at her, it framed some of the sexiest dimples she’d ever seen.
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