Live To Tell

by Valerie Parv

  Chapter 13

  Later that day, they were back at camp when Jo pointed to the screen on her laptop. “Look there. See that blurry figure among the bushes above the overhang? How could I have missed seeing him? When I lined up this shot of you, I must have been looking right at him.”

  Blake rested a hand on her shoulder. “You weren’t expecting anyone else to be there. I didn’t spot him or any sign of a vehicle until it was nearly too late, and I’m supposed to be the bush-man.”

  She covered his hand with hers. “We were both distracted.”

  His lips grazed the junction of her neck and shoulder. “Hardly an excuse for almost getting us killed.”

  She shuddered, thinking of his own painful reminder of the encounter with Eddy’s nulla nulla. “You didn’t exactly get away unscathed yourself.”

  Closing his eyes, he rolled his head in a circle, then opened them and looked at her. “Paying him back will be a pleasure, but this photo won’t do it.”

  It was the only shot showing any sign of Eddy. “Why not?”

  Blake’s finger stabbed at the screen. “You and I both know who it is, but the figure is too small and fuzzy for positive identification.”

  “Unless the figure can be enhanced to show more detail.”

  A pause, then, “Cade,” they said at the same moment.

  Des, Judy and Cade were enjoying a beer on the homestead veranda when Blake and Jo drove up. “Told you Blake can smell a cold beer a dozen miles away. I’ll get two more glasses,” Judy said as they climbed the steps to the veranda. Then Judy stopped in her tracks. “What happened to you two?”

  “Long story,” Blake said from behind Jo.

  “You had a fight and Jo won,” Cade suggested unhelpfully.

  His foster father shot him a chilly glare. “The day any of my boys puts marks like those on a woman, I kick his butt to hell and back. I’m not so far gone I can’t do it, either.”

  Wishing she’d worn a long-sleeved shirt to cover her bruises, Jo felt herself flush. “We had a run-in with Eddy Gilgai at Cotton Tree Gorge.”

  Judy let out her breath. “Don’t say another word till I get those beers. I want to hear this.”

  When Blake and Jo were seated on canvas chairs with foaming glasses in front of them, Des leaned forward. “Now tell us what happened?”

  Jo let Blake tell the story. When he reached the part about being clubbed by Eddy, he didn’t spare himself, although it must have embarrassed him to admit to being caught off guard. As if sensing this, even Cade kept his mouth shut.

  He also skipped over what happened after they’d walked out of the hidden valley, she noted. She didn’t really expect Blake to share the details with his family, but she wondered if they could read anything from the heat she felt suffusing her face at what he wasn’t telling them.

  Once or twice, she caught Judy regarding her speculatively, but nothing was said.

  When Blake finished, Des nodded in satisfaction. “We’ve got the bugger. This time, he’s gone too far.”

  “The difficulty will be in proving anything.” Judy looked at the photo Jo had put up on her laptop screen to show them. “Without your say-so, I wouldn’t have recognized Eddy.”

  “Our conclusion, as well,” Blake agreed. “Cade, you’re the photographer. Can you do something to make the figure clearer?”

  The others looked expectantly at Cade. “These days, you can make a photograph show almost anything you like.”

  “That’s not what we meant,” Jo put in. “We both know Eddy was the one who attacked Blake and then came after me. All we want is for the photo to back us up.”

  “This is my fault, isn’t it,” Judy said. “If I hadn’t tried to outsmart Max, he wouldn’t have been hanging about when Andy agreed to move the Jeep for you, and he wouldn’t have sent Eddy after you.”

  Des’s head came up. “What’s this about you and Max?”

  “I meant to tell you, Dad. While you were at the muster camp, Max came around asking me for a date. I thought it would be a good idea to humor him so I can see what he’s up to.”

  “We know what he’s up to. He wants this land,” Des growled. “If this mess is anyone’s fault, it’s mine for borrowing money from his father in the first place.”

  “You couldn’t have known Clive would have an accident and Max would inherit your mortgage along with his place,” Blake insisted. “Maybe Judy is doing the right thing, keeping an eye on him.”

  His sister looked surprised, then pleased. “I thought you were against me having anything to do with him.”

  “Don’t get me wrong, I hate the thought of that snake being anywhere near you. But yesterday, he showed he’ll stop at nothing to get what he wants.”

  Des shook his head. “Shouldn’t this be a matter for the police?”

  Blake nodded. “I intend to give them a full report of what happened at the gorge, but they can’t do much without proof. I didn’t get a good look at who hit me, so it’s Jo’s word against Eddy’s.”

  Cade traced a pattern in the condensation on his glass. “You can bet he’ll have half a dozen witnesses swearing he was nowhere near Diamond Downs yesterday.”

  “Max must need those diamonds really bad,” Des said.

  “He does,” Judy agreed. “After Jo and Blake left us at the airstrip, he stuck around while I was servicing the Cessna. I think he expected more of a payoff, but he was out of luck. I made sure I was too greasy and dirty for him to think of getting up close and personal.”

  “He mentioned a meeting with his banker,” Blake remembered.

  Judy sipped her beer. “At the airstrip, I got the impression he’s in a lot of money trouble. Jamal left him a string of debts from when he was stalking Shara, but there’s more. It seems Max invested heavily in some dodgy dot-com companies using his inheritance as security.”

  Blake whistled. “So unless he gets more capital from somewhere, he could lose the lot. Serve the bastard right.”

  “It isn’t that simple. If he goes under with the mortgage over Diamond Downs still outstanding…” she didn’t finish.

  “There’s another solution,” Des said into the silence that followed. “I sell up, pay him out and use what’s left to start over. I didn’t take you boys into the family to rescue me from my problems.”

  “Too bad,” Blake and Cade said at the same time.

  “You’re being rescued anyway,” Judy said in a tone brooking no argument.

  Des matched her for annoyance. “How, precisely? If you think I’ll let my daughter get involved with Max Horvath to get me off the hook, you’ve got another think coming.”

  Judy gave a theatrical shudder. “I’ve no intention of getting involved, as you put it. I only want to find out how close he is to finding great-grandpa’s mine.”

  Blake rubbed the back of his neck. “I’d say very close. Jo and I have the bruises to prove it.”

  “And these.” Jo took a twist of paper out of her shirt pocket and spilled the contents into her hand. “I found them in the streambed in the hidden valley Blake told you about.”

  Des touched a forefinger to the pinpoints of crystal. “If they’re real, you could be on to something. Andy’s people regard Cotton Tree Gorge as a sacred place. According to them it’s haunted.”

  “Could they mean by the spirit of Great-grandpa Logan?” Cade speculated. “Wouldn’t that be something?”

  Judy got up and refilled the beer glasses. Blake covered his glass with his hand. “Got to drive back to camp tonight.”

  His foster sister frowned. “After what you’ve been through, I thought a soft bed and a hot shower would have more appeal.”

  “I can’t deny it appeals. But a deal’s a deal.”

  “My deal,” Jo amended. “You’ve already done more than I had a right to expect.”

  His level gaze swept over her. The meaning might escape the others, but she felt his eyes on her as if they were his hands, caressing and arousing, evoking the same heated sens
ations as if he were making love to her all over again. How was she to think of anything else when he could make her whole body vibrate with a look?

  “I’m coming back to camp with you,” he said. “I don’t like to leave anything half finished.”

  Judy looked from Blake to Jo, her eyes alight with interest. “Is there something else you two want to tell us?”

  Blake assumed a look of innocence. “Not a thing, why?”

  Judy held her hands up. “Just curious.”

  “I hope you’ll take care,” Des warned. He seemed oblivious to the undercurrents between Blake and Judy. “Now Max and Eddy have resorted to violence, you might not be safe at that camp.”

  “He won’t get by me a second time,” Blake vowed. “If either of them tries anything, I’ll be ready.”

  “And I’ll do what I can to find out what Max’s plans are. Maybe we can put two and two together and get four before he does,” Judy said.

  Blake finished his beer and stood up. “You’re the one who should take care. If Horvath finds out what you’re up to, we might not be around to help.”

  “You’re not around every time I put the Cessna down on a rough-and-ready airstrip in the middle of nowhere,” she reminded him. “I can look after myself.”

  Blake gave her a rueful look. “That’s what I thought right before Eddy king-hit me.”

  All business suddenly, Judy got to her feet. “Better let me take a look.”

  He ducked away from her hands. “Don’t fuss. The swelling’s already going down.”

  But she persisted and pulled in a disapproving breath at what she saw when she turned back his collar. “You’re lucky you’re not seeing stars.”

  “I was at the time, but I didn’t lose consciousness. At least, not entirely.”

  His sister swung on Jo. “Did he?”

  “I was too far away. All I saw was Blake lying on the ground,” she said with scrupulous frankness, then met the searing look he gave her with one of her own.

  “That does it. You’re spending tonight here,” Judy said.

  Blake gave Jo a now-see-what-you’ve-done look, but she couldn’t bring herself to object. She’d also seen the livid mark when Judy pulled back his collar, and she was horrified that she’d let him make love to her in such a state. How could she have been so selfish? That the feeling had been very, very mutual hardly excused her lack of consideration.

  “This time, I have to agree with Judy,” she said, not much liking the idea of sleeping in the open tonight with Eddy Gilgai on the rampage.

  “I’d also feel a lot happier if you stayed the night,” Des said. “Not because you need mollycoddling. I’ve never done that with any of you. But I’m a sick old man. You should humor me.”

  “So now you’re sick and old, are you? That didn’t occur to you yesterday when you went to the muster camp with the stockmen,” Blake said, sounding aggrieved, as well he might be with his whole family ganging up on him. His expression accused Jo of taking their side against him.

  “Yes, well that was yesterday. The experience took a lot out of me.”

  Blake huffed out a breath. “All right, already. We’ll stay here tonight.”

  Des got up and clapped him on the shoulder. “Sensible man. I’m going to lie down for a while before dinner. See you all later.” And he stomped off into the house.

  “For a sick old man, he has a knack of getting his own way,” Blake said as he sat back down. “Since I’m not driving, I may as well have that second beer.”

  “You didn’t say anything to Judy about us, did you?” Blake asked as he showed her to the bedroom wing of the house after dinner.

  Jo hadn’t been aware there was an us, except physically, but the word sent an unexpected frisson of pleasure through her. “No, why?”

  “Just a hunch.” He threw open a door and she found herself in a spacious, high-ceilinged bedroom with a double bed at the center. A door stood open onto an adjoining bedroom. “The other room is mine. Judy gave you this one.”

  Looking from one room to the other, Jo felt herself flush. “Oh.”

  He stroked her hair. “That doesn’t sound like an objection.”

  How could she object, when every minute having dinner and making small talk with his family had been agony? She had wanted to touch him and had to settle for trading glances when no one else was watching. “I didn’t object when we shared a cave and a riverbank. This is a lot more civilized,” she said.

  He closed the door into the corridor behind them and then took her into his arms. “Not everything here is civilized.”

  She shivered but with anticipation. “Now I know why you didn’t protest too much about staying the night.”

  His lips skimmed over her brow. “There are compensations.”

  She already had a good idea of what they were, but allowed him to show her, slowly and with consummate skill.

  “Do you think Judy will be surprised when she finds that one of the rooms and none of the night clothes she put out for us has been used?” Jo asked much later as she lay in Blake’s arms.

  He kissed her deeply, his fingers splaying over her stomach in a gesture both familiar and so arousing she could hardly stand it. “I think anything else would have disappointed her.”

  “You have a remarkable family.”

  He nuzzled her ear with his tongue. “When they’re your family by choice, it makes a huge difference.”

  She squirmed, on fire again more quickly than she would have believed possible. Blake had that effect on her. And she had the same effect on him, she saw, as he leaned over her, his mouth and hands telegraphing how he wanted to deal with the situation.

  The part of her mind still functioning marveled at the effortless way he carried her along on a tidal wave of sensation. No not carried, she thought—she was an eager voyager. With her fear of closeness quickly becoming a memory, she felt like a starving person given access to all the food she desired.

  They feasted on each other.

  As soon as he awoke next morning, Blake sensed that he was alone in the bed. Hearing the tapping of Jo’s computer keyboard, he relaxed. She’d gone into the other bedroom to work, leaving the connecting door open between them. He saw her fingers still and her gaze wander to the window. Then she bent her head and typed furiously, her delicious mouth curving in satisfaction.

  He went to her and gathered her hair into his hand so he could kiss the back of her neck. “Do the words flow better when you’re naked?”

  She arched her back and took in his state of undress. “Uniform of the day. Besides, no clothes means fewer distractions.”

  “Speak for yourself.” He skimmed a finger down her spine. “It’s past eight. Judy must have decided we needed to sleep in. Do you have to work?”

  “I wanted to get the hidden gorge story written while it’s fresh.”

  “And then?”

  “I’ll send it to Karen. She’s always in the office early. Then I’m all yours.”

  She already was, only she hadn’t fully accepted it yet, he thought. He let her hair slide through his fingers, then padded to the unused bed. Stretching out on top, he linked his hands behind his head, enjoying watching her as she dispatched her work into cyberspace. His old student’s desk had never been occupied so entrancingly, he decided. Her back was half turned to him, straight and lean, her flank taut, her skin creamy but for the blemishes from her fall. He’d kissed them better last night, but from the look of them, a repeat therapy wouldn’t go astray.

  Waiting for the nanoseconds to tick by until then was murder.

  “Done.” She closed the computer and sat back, improving his view with every lithe move. He swung his legs off the bed and then cursed as her cell phone rang. He’d have ignored it, but she was more conscientious than he was. With a regretful smile, she palmed the phone.

  “Karen,” she mouthed, turning her lips down in a grimace.

  A man only had so much patience. He encircled Jo with his arms and pushed t
he phone aside so he could kiss her ear. She choked back a laugh. “I couldn’t hear you, Karen. Something got into my ear.”

  Sure did—his tongue, he thought. If he kept it up, she’d have to end the call. If she didn’t, he wouldn’t be able to keep it up.

  Instead, she switched the phone to her other ear, although goose bumps rose nicely on her skin as he drew patterns on her stomach with his fingertips. Frantically, she arched her eyebrows at him. “Yes, he’s around somewhere. And no, he still doesn’t want to be interviewed.” She squirmed away from his exploring hands. “Oh, Lord. No, nothing’s the matter. He told me where his surname came from, but we were talking off the record.” There was a pause while Karen said something he couldn’t hear. “I guess he didn’t like being a Baracchi. From all accounts, they weren’t any great bargain as foster parents,” Jo replied.

  As if it had never existed, Blake’s passion vanished, replaced by white-hot anger so explosive he could hardly contain it. Moving as stiffly as a robot, he withdrew his hands and clamped them around the chair back. He held back from snatching the phone and demanding to know what the devil Karen Prentiss was playing at, but it took a supreme effort of will.

  There had to be an explanation for what he’d just heard.

  He could think of only one.

  “Blake, what is it?”

  Blinded and deafened by anger, he hadn’t heard Jo end the call. Now he came back to her as if from a vast distance. “I want to know what that was all about.”

  She looked bewildered, then resolute. “There’s no need for you to get angry. I reminded Karen you don’t want to be interviewed. I can be every bit as persistent as she can.”

  Ice frosted his words. “I’ll bet you can. You two make a good team, don’t you?”

  “I wouldn’t call us a team, exactly.”

  He steeled himself to ignore her obvious bewilderment. “But you are working together?”