Princes of the Outback Bundle Read Online Free

planes.
    “You don’t have to do this,” he’d said, suddenly struck by the extent of her fear.
    “I want to,” she said, gritting her teeth. “Now stop wasting time. Get this thing off the ground before I lose my courage…and/or my breakfast!”
    For a second he’d closed his hand over her white-knuckled grip on the seat, and once airborne he’d tried to distract her with a running commentary on the landmarks. Maybe it helped a little.
    Their hairy landing at the accident site hadn’t.
    Nic slapped a hand against the Cessna’s fuselage. Considering the lack of a formed strip, he’d done a decent enough job putting them down. But they’d hit a couple of deep ruts in the road—much the same as the tourists in their vehicle—and he wasn’t taking the plane up again until she’d been thoroughly checked out.
    Now he had to break that news to Olivia.
    “Please don’t tell me I have to get back into that thing,” she said as soon as he was within hearing distance. “Not yet.”
    “Okay. I won’t. And you don’t.”
    Exhaling long and loud with relief, she turned to look at him. Thank God she’d gotten some color back in her face. But deep in her eyes he could see the remnant strain, from both the flight and the chaos they found at the accident site.
    Later they would talk about that…and other things. Like why she’d let him kiss her earlier and why she’d kissed him back. In his mind, that changed everything. But for now—
    “Are you up for a walk?”
    Her eyes narrowed a fraction. “Where to?”
    “Boolah stock camp.” Nic tilted his head toward the south. “It’s a few miles thataway.”
    Her gaze shifted in the direction he indicated. “What‘s there?”
    “Well, I haven’t been there in ten years but I’m hoping there’s water and supplies from the last muster.”
    “Supplies as in food?”
    “Yup.”
    Breakfast had been a long time ago and they’d missed lunch. He could tell by the look on her face that Liv liked the idea of lunch. And that she was putting together the rest of the story.
    “Did that landing damage the plane?” she asked.
    “Maybe. Maybe not. But I’m not risking taking her up on a maybe call.”
    Something sharpened in her gaze, an emotion, an agreement, then was gone. She moistened her lips. “Are you telling me we’re stranded out here?”
    “Only until someone comes looking for us.”
    He didn’t tell her that a search party wouldn’t leave until the morning. Or that he’d radioed Kameruka from the grounded plane and made sure of that.

Chapter Nine
    Considering the alternatives—getting back in that devil-monster-with-wings or sitting on a rock in the middle of nowhere until they were rescued—Olivia didn’t mind the long walk. For the first mile or two she appreciated the slow pace and Nic’s silence. Both helped unwind the knots of tension that had twisted tighter and tighter over the past few hours.
    When he did talk, it wasn’t about the accident or their postponed we-have-to-talk talk. It was snippets about growing up here at Kameruka Downs with his brother Carlo and sister Angie and the three Carlisle brothers. Light, amusing stuff that kept her from dwelling on dark, unamusing thoughts.
    She walked. She even managed an occasional smile, and degree by degree, mile by mile, she found herself relaxing. Perhaps, it would be all right. Perhaps, given all that had happened since, he would let the kiss slide. Perhaps, he wouldn’t press her to explain the unexplainable.
     
    The hut, she soon discovered, came with primitive plumbing, shelter and storage for the stockmen’s supplies, and that was the whole caboodle. Since those supplies included food, she didn’t complain too much.
    After they wolfed down a very basic, very late lunch, Nic dragged two bedrolls out from the hut. Olivia frowned. “What are those?”
    “You’ve never seen a swag before, city gal?”
    Frowning, she watched him unroll the first to reveal a thin foam mattress