Getting Wild

by Sarah Barrie

  “There’s a little boutique I spotted on the way in here that I absolutely have to see,” Hannah enthused.

  “What time is our flight?” Jill asked.

  “One-thirty. We have a good couple of hours before we need to head back. Let’s spend lots of money, ladies.”

  Ella took a deep breath and thought, friends, man-hating parties, jet-skiing, fishing, shopping sprees…what’s next?

  Chapter Fifteen

  Ella dragged her over-packed bags down the hallway. Following a serious morning shopping spree there was significantly more than what she came with, but she’d managed to fit it all in…just. And it had been fun. Hannah and Jill had been great shopping companions, even if she knew at heart they’d orchestrated the whole thing to cheer her up – something she appreciated on a whole other level.

  She spotted Lexi first, chatting away with her usual enthusiasm in Jill’s ear; the others were all gathered closer to the reception desk. She noted there seemed to be some sort of intense, quiet communication going on between Hannah and Ryan, but when they saw her coming they broke apart. Ryan’s expression was amused, Hannah’s wary.

  “Here are the taxis!” Lexi called out.

  “Ok,” Hannah replied. “Lexi, why don’t you, Marco and Gav head off in the first taxi. Jill, Steve, Phil and I will squeeze into the second.”

  “Why are we going by ourselves?” Ella asked Ryan as everyone shuffled around, ready to make a move. “What are you up to?”

  His grin was wide and lazy. “Let’s see this lot off first. Got all your stuff?”

  “As you can see. What aren’t you telling me?”

  “We don’t have to be back in Sydney straight away. I’d like to take you on a detour.” He watched her intently, waited for her reaction.

  A detour? “Ok…”

  His face cleared and she was rewarded with one of those heart-stopping smiles. “Perfect answer. Wave goodbye – and smile, or Hannah will refuse to leave.”

  “Ryan…I’m not going to regret this am I?”

  “No. And would you please just wave. I mean it – look. She’s holding up the taxi. Wave.”

  Ella looked from Ryan to Hannah and blew out a breath. What was he thinking? Self-preservation warred with curiosity. The opportunity to spend some extra time with Ryan before going back to Sydney tipped the scales. She lifted her hand and waved. Hannah waved back, sent Ryan some sort of ‘watch it’ look, and they were off.

  As soon as the last taxi rounded the corner out of sight, Ryan pulled Ella in for a long, steamy kiss. “Good decision. Let’s go.”

  “Go?” Ella followed him to the car park. She was getting nervous.

  Oh, hell.

  The four-wheel drive looked equipped for a mission to Mars. All kinds of paraphernalia – roof racks laden with gear, a winch, some sort of enormous funnel, spotlights, a huge bull bar, multiple aerials…the list grew longer and more frightening with every second she looked. She wasn’t sure she wasn’t experiencing heart palpitations.

  It wasn’t a simple change of heart that made her spin on her heel, it was sheer self-preservation and it took her right back into the guest lounge; right back into reliable civilisation. Head in hands she began to murmur. “No. No, no, no, no, no, no. No.”

  She felt a hand grip her wrist and pull. “Come on.” Ryan didn’t even attempt to hide his amusement, “No mental breakdowns in public. You don’t like scenes remember? Trust me.”

  “This is a fairly inopportune moment to be asking for that.” She stood, but held her ground. No force on earth was getting her out that door.

  “You’ve had months of stressing over the takeover, you’ve taken on a huge new position of your own, you’ve had Reece Bailey in your face and you’re terrified of freezing on camera as soon as you’re out of your comfort zone. You need a break and you need to get over this anti-adventure thing. I’m going to take care of both.”

  She shook her head; her gesture, her expression and her stance, resolute. “No. No way. That…tank out there? That doesn’t say ‘break’ to me. It screams last-resort, special ops, Mission-to-Mars-style suicide mission.”

  “That would be that flair for the dramatic again.” He ran a finger lightly down her cheek, his eyes dancing with amusement. “I’m simply proposing a few days of gentle touring through some beautiful country. There are things I want to show you – things you should see. You’ll love it. Come on.”

  So straight defiance wasn’t going to sway him, what else? She tried an under-the-eyelashes appeal. “We could just stay right here, I’ll make it worth your while…”

  Ryan cracked up. “You practised that one too, didn’t you? And it certainly packs a decent punch. However… ” He indicated for her to get moving.

  Ella’s expression darkened with annoyance. “I said I don’t do tents – I thought I made that perfectly clear and while I acknowledge the chances of being kidnapped and held for ransom are slim to none, I’m fairly certain I threw in the wild animal clause.”

  “I’ll take care of you. Don’t be such a wuss.”

  “There is no way in hell I’m putting myself in that car.”

  “Ok, but there’s no elevator – this time people are going to see your ass.”

  She supposed she shouldn’t have been surprised when he scooped her up and carried her over his shoulder, right out the front doors of the motel. She hid her face into his shirt, dreaming up creative methods of retribution, until she was deposited unceremoniously at the passenger door to the Land Rover.

  Resigned to the fact that he wasn’t about to take no for an answer, she sent him a half-hearted punch to the shoulder. “Did I mention I’m a firm believer in revenge?”

  Ryan looked blandly from his shoulder to Ella. “You’re right – you were lucky they were drunk.”

  With an insulted ‘huh!’ she struck like she meant it, low in the stomach and this time he doubled over, swore. “Alright! I apologise. Jeez Ella.”

  “Satisfied?”

  “Satisfied you could wrangle a crocodile or bring down a water buffalo, yeah.” He straightened, grasped her chin in his fingers and planted a firm kiss on her lips. “Behave. I’m still bigger than you.” He opened the door and waited for her to climb in, then disappeared. A minute later he reappeared with their bags, loaded them up and moved around to his side, sliding in beside her. “Seatbelt.”

  “I can’t believe I’m letting you kidnap me again.”

  He grinned at her. “You love it.”

  “You’re delusional,” she replied with a smile. “Where are we going?”

  “Just relax and enjoy.”

  “Should I really be concerned about crocodiles and water buffalo?”

  “Here we go,” he groaned. “What is it with you and the animal phobia?”

  “No phobia. I just haven’t had anything much to do with animals.”

  “Seriously? You must have had something as a child? A dog, a cat, a goldfish?”

  “No. So when I got my editor position I bought an apartment – got myself a cat. I was just getting used to it, too. Then all this came up. Now the ‘free to good home’ investment is costing me a significant fortune while it laps it up indefinitely at Pet Heaven Holiday Park.”

  “A cat? What’s its name?”

  “Nemo.”

  He frowned quizzically. “Nemo is a fish.”

  “He was also captain of the Nautilus. And regardless, I wouldn’t have the first clue how a grey and white tabby cat got Nemo because – free to good home – he came with it and I didn’t ask.”

  “You surprise me.”

  Ella pulled a face. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realise it was such a big deal.”

  He grinned, shook his head. “I meant – I thought you would have gone out and bought some rare and exotic, gorgeous cat worth a fortune.”

  “Who says he’s not gorgeous?”

  “You’re showing your soft side again. Why not a dog?”

  “All the research I did told me cats
are independent and don’t need a lot of space or exercise and that a dog would have been too needy.”

  “Fair enough.”

  “Please tell me where we’re going.”

  “East.”

  Ella glared across at him, repeated, “Where are we going?”

  “Wait and see,” he replied, “and don’t grit your teeth.”

  “I don’t do ‘wait and see’. The more you refuse to tell me the bigger I’m building this expedition up in my head and right now it’s pretty enormous; probably enormous enough that when we stop next for petrol – and look, it’s pretty low – I might just get out and refuse to get back in.”

  His eyes twinkled with mischief. “I’ll just put you back in.”

  “You can try. But it’ll hurt.”

  He laughed out loud. “Mary River – to start. And you can try but I’d hate to have to beat you.”

  “Beat me my butt. I’d smash you. Tell me we’re not sleeping in a tent.”

  “Not if you don’t want to. Smash me? Me? I don’t think so, Baby.”

  “I don’t want to. As far as I’m concerned, anyone that would bunk down in a smelly little tent when they could stay in proper accommodation must be just a little bit unstable.”

  “I’m just going to say I’ll forgive you for that because you don’t know what you’re talking about. Yet.”

  “As for the rest, yes I could and in case you’ve forgotten, the name’s Ella. How long are you planning on keeping me in Mary River?”

  “A day or two. How would you do it?”

  “Do it? Oh for heaven’s sake it doesn’t matter.”

  “Yes it does.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it makes for interesting conversation. If you want to change the topic, fine. Tell me more about your family.”

  “I’d probably take you out at the knees.”

  “Ok, so no to the family. Want to hear about mine?”

  Ella sighed, sat back in her seat. “Why not?”

  He was the youngest of four brothers, she learnt, and his love of adventure was born out of doing crazy stunts in competition for his parents’ attention. He had multiple pets, his parents still lived together in the family home in Tasmania and all his brothers had respectable occupations, a wife and at least two children. There was more, much more, but as much as she both envied him his family upbringing and enjoyed his stories, she found her attention drifting to the scenery around her.

  “What is this place?”

  “Humpty Doo.”

  “Is there a story behind the big boxing crocodile?” she asked as they drove past the statue on the roadside.

  “Not really, other than as you know, every state has a big something.”

  As they travelled through mango plantations, bushland and floodplains, Ella relaxed and enjoyed the ride. They turned off the highway at some point but she didn’t think much of it until the car slowed and pulled into a driveway. “Oh, look – another big crocodile. And this one’s standing on its tail.”

  “It’s jumping.”

  “Why didn’t I think of that?” She looked around. There wasn’t much to see except a river, a nice touristy-looking building and a few cars scattered around. “What are we doing here?”

  “Cruise.”

  “Oh, how lovely.” Then she saw the sign. She turned on him, eyes wide and back ramrod straight. “I don’t think so! This is one of those places where you go out in a very unstable-looking vessel and some idiot dangles meat in front of a demented prehistoric animal, actually baiting it into leaping out of the water at us, isn’t it?”

  “Dramatic.” Ryan was already out and opening her door. “And the boat’s not the least bit unstable. Out, Your Highness.”

  “So we’re back to that are we?” she asked, her nerves raking across her skin, her heart rate accelerating.

  He studied her face, frowned. “You’re seriously freaked out by this.” The frown turned to a grin. “Come on, where’s that famous composure of yours?”

  “Composure? I have no idea…I lost it somewhere between sleeping with you and attacking Reece Bailey, I think,” She sounded so genuinely helpless he laughed. Ella gave him one of her bland stares. “Laugh away Edwards, but, you’ll be sorry when you come back minus an arm…” Ryan just took her hand and began towing her along behind him. “That’s if you come back. Meanwhile, I’ll just enjoy the view from here. I can be helpful and get started on your obituary. I’m quite a good writer you know. It would give me something to do. By all means, go talk to that guy over there that looks like he’s had a bit too much sun, way too much alcohol and nowhere near enough education and put your life in his hands. I admire bravery, even in the face of stupidity because, well, survival of the fittest, but it’s just not for me. I-”

  “Ella – who are you? You sound like a raving lunatic.”

  “There’s a reason I said I don’t do these things.”

  “And that guy over there? He’s not our tour operator. I don’t know who the poor bastard is but I reckon he heard you. Keep your voice down.”

  She studied the man and shook her head. “I think we’re ok, because his expression hasn’t changed at all. Maybe it’s all the hair in his ears and eww – his nose and still – he hasn’t moved. Could he be dead?”

  “Just enjoying the view ma’am,” the man in question called out with a wave.

  Ella bit back a shriek.

  “You see? He heard you.”

  “Yes but, I’d argue you don’t look like that by accident. And if you do that on purpose then you have to expect – I’m just going to go back and wait in the car,” she finished weakly, turning to do just that.

  Ryan tugged on her hand and dragged her back around. “Do I need to pick you up again?”

  “There are crocodiles in that river, Ryan. Crocodiles.”

  “I certainly hope so,” said a voice from behind them, “Otherwise there’s going to be a lot of disappointed tourists here today. Hi Ry, how you doing?”

  “Jake.” Ryan acknowledged with warm familiarity. “How’s it going?”

  Ella looked the older man up and down. He was wearing khaki shorts and blue thongs, with a printed business tee shirt that suggested perhaps he was the person in charge. His long, plaited grey hair was neat as a pin and his smile was wide and friendly.

  “Good, real good.”

  “Jake this is Ella. Ella, Jake’s an old friend.”

  Jake nodded. “We’ve had some pretty decent adventures. A pleasure to meet you, Ella.”

  “And you.”

  “You two up for a boat ride? We’re heading out in five.”

  “Respectfully, not a chance – thank you,” Ella replied firmly.

  “She can just sit her pretty little self down over here and keep me company!” The strange man in the chair called out.

  “Is he safe?” Ella asked Jake.

  “That’s just Old Ted,” Jake replied. “He’s harmless.”

  Ella debated that silently in her head. She looked repeatedly from ‘Old Ted’ to the boat and making a considerably difficult decision, took a step towards Ted.

  “Oh no you don’t.” Ryan gave her a firm push toward Jake. “Thanks anyway,” he added for Ted.

  “Come with me, Ella,” Jake suggested, “we’ll get you a good seat.”

  Unable to wipe the stupid grin from his face, Ryan watched Ella glance nervously back toward him as she was led off by Jake. “Who wouldn’t be in love with her,” he muttered and with a shake of his head, he followed.

  The river was beautiful. Ella concentrated on that and did her best not to think too much about what was living in it as the boat pulled out and headed down a long winding stretch of water. She listened to Jake because he was informative and highly entertaining.

  “How are you going?” Ryan asked, noting the death-grip she’d had on the edge of her seat since sitting in the boat; she hadn’t relaxed in the slightest.

  “The river’s stunning. Why are we stopping?�
�

  “Croc.”

  Ella debated climbing into his lap but decided it was just too humiliating. Still, she wiggled a bit closer and looked around nervously. “Promise me if the boat capsizes, you’ll let it eat you first.”

  “You have my word.”

  A pair of teenage boys sitting behind them giggled then gasped in awe. Ella followed their gaze to where Jake was dangling what might have once been a chicken on the end of a line. “Here we…”

  Before Ryan finished his sentence an enormous crocodile emerged powerfully from the water and rocketed up at the dangling meal. She watched in part horror, part wonder as it repeated the move several times before snagging its lunch. Everyone in the boat was cheering and talking excitedly.

  “Ella, Baby?”

  “Yes?”

  “Get off.”

  “What? Oh.”

  Ryan shrugged amicably. “You’re more than welcome to leap into my arms whenever you feel like it. But right now you’re blocking the view of the kids behind me.”

  “Oh,” she turned to address the boys, “sorry.”

  She somehow managed to sit through three more similar occurrences before the boat pulled back into the dock. After thanking everyone for coming and answering a few questions, Jake caught up to Ella and Ryan.

  “So Ry, where are you headed?”

  “Mary River, Kakadu, might head down the highway a bit, a lot. Not sure yet.”

  Jake glanced at Ella, sent Ryan a speculative look.

  Ryan grinned. “She’ll be fine.”

  Ella wasn’t sure what he meant by ‘head down the highway a bit’, but now she was concerned – deeply concerned at the ‘are you sure’ look Jake had sent Ryan. Not only would she not put anything past Ryan Edwards, but also she had enough pride to object to being considered a cowardly, useless female. She may not like adventuring, she may not like wild animals, but, damn it, she was a full-grown, self-proficient, capable human being.

  Irritated, she squared her shoulders and glared haughtily at Jake. “I’ll be fine.”

  Jake nodded and smiled broadly. “Course you will. Ryan’ll take care of ya.”

  “And I’m getting sick of being laughed at,” she grated. “You might be Crocodile Dundee version two, buddy, but let’s put you in charge of a world-class magazine for a day or two and see how far dangling a dead chicken will get you.”