Read Online Outback Affair: An Affair Novel (Entangled Indulgence) by Annie Seaton - Free Book Online Page A

problem. We’ll stay well back from the water, and besides, I don’t have a tent.”
    “What, we sleep out in the open? No way.”
    “No, I’ll sleep in my swag in the boat and you and Bowser can have the back of the truck.”
    “What? With all that the smelly fish stuff?”
    “I unloaded that when we stopped at Wally’s and put the canvas canopy on the back of the truck. It might still smell a bit, but it’ll keep the mozzies off you.”
    “The what?”
    “The mosquitoes. Don’t you have them in the States?”
    “Of course we do, it was your accent that threw me.”
    “Anyway, make sure you cover up with Bushmans. There’s some in—”
    “The glove compartment,” she finished off his sentence with a laugh.
    At least she had a sense of humor.
    He idled the truck to a stop about seventy-five meters from the water beneath a stand of melaleuca trees, their ghostly white bark bright in the mid-morning sunshine. The water was low and flowing slowly where a narrow U-shaped bay came off the main arm of the river. Fringed by white sand and overhanging trees, it was one of his favorite stops on the road to his resort. It would have been a good stop for the night, but he wanted to cover more of the road before he called it quits for the day in case it began to rain.
    Reaching behind the seat, he passed a long-sleeved khaki shirt to Jess.
    “Put that on, it will protect you from the sun and the insects.”
    While he kept digging behind the seat for a pair of socks, Jess took it off him and wrinkled her nose.
    “Sorry, it’s a spare fishing shirt,” he said. “Pretty hard to get away from the smell of fish when you’re around my truck.” After a minute, he held up a pair of black work socks and grinned at her. “Success. Put these on under your sandals.” He opened his door and pointed to Bowser. “Stay there, boy.”
    The dog stopped, and ran back across the seat to Jess.
    “No way. I’m not putting your socks on.” She threw them back over the seat and opened the door.
    “Whatever, but don’t come crying to get me to take the prickles out of your feet.”
    Walking around to the other side of the truck, he reached up to help her to climb down. She waved his hand away, jumped down onto the river sand, and stood there buttoning up the shirt while he cut a piece of string and passed it to her. She looked at it for a moment before she shrugged and tipped her head forward, gathering her hair in one hand and looping the string around it before tying it off.
    “We’ll stay here about half an hour. I’ve got some crab traps in the river I can check now, seeing we’ve come this way. Then we’ll have a cuppa.” He pointed to the stand of trees on the right. “There’s a nice natural restroom over there. Just watch out for brown snakes.”
    “What about the crocodiles when you check the traps?”
    “That’s okay. When you come back from the ‘restroom’, I’ll back the trailer down and drop the boat off. Do you want to come out in the boat and help me?”
    “God, no. I’ll wait in the truck.”
    Alex shrugged. “Offer’s there if you change your mind.”
    …
    Five minutes later, Jess stood and grinned as she adjusted her clothes. She tiptoed over to the area shielded by the thick trees and managed to avoid prickles and snakes. It was possible Alex might be exaggerating the dangers and trying to scare her. This restroom experience out in the open under the trees would be a story to tell in the office when she got home. For a New Yorker used to her creature comforts, she’d already learned a lot of new things in her experiences during the last twenty-four hours. Now that they were into the journey, her confidence had kicked back, despite being in the middle of nowhere with a total stranger with no company except for crocodiles, brown snakes, and mosquitoes.
    And birds.
    She looked up in appreciation as a flock of something black with bright red slashes in their tail feathers squawked overhead and