The Australians' Brides: The Runaway and the Cattleman. Lilian Darcy

fluent at all. She’d said she didn’t want to talk about it, that she couldn’t talk about it, but that she was having some problems.

      Then there had been total silence for several days. He’d even sent her a “Jacinda, are you okay?” message, which he’d regretted a split second after hitting Send.

      Next thing, her phone call.

      From Sydney.

      Shaky voice, tense attempts at humor, nothing but stark honesty when she came to the point. “Would Carly and I be able to come stay with you for a little while? I can’t think of anywhere else to go. Everything’s a mess.”

      “Sheesh, Jacinda! What’s the problem?”

      “I—I can’t talk about it yet. But I promise it’s not because I’m, like, wanted for homicide in eleven jurisdictions, if that helps.”

      “It sets a person’s mind at rest, yeah.”

      “Callan, I’m sorry to be doing this. I can’t stay with Lucy. And I can’t—You are the only person I know who feels … your ranch is the only place that feels safe, so far away. Just until I catch my breath? Just until then, Callan. I—I do know it’s a huge thing to ask.”

      How could he have said no?

      Even if, right at this moment, he wished she hadn’t asked.

      The plane had come to a halt in its usual spot less than fifty meters from his four-wheel-drive. A private outback airstrip didn’t need a terminal building, or even a sealed blacktop runway. The dust thrown up by the aircraft was still hanging in the air like a tea-and-milk-colored curtain. It drifted slowly to the east as the plane’s door opened and its steps folded down.

      Rob, the pilot, helped Jacinda out and then reached for Carly. The little girl took her mother’s hand, while Rob went to get their bags from the back storage hatch where they were stowed. He brought out a mailbag, too, Callan noticed. It looked bulkier than usual. It had looked bulkier than usual for the past two months, so maybe “usual” was due for a new definition.

      The bulky mailbag weighed on him. Rob was holding it up, grinning. He knew the story by now.

      More letters to answer. More women Callan didn’t really want to meet.

      Something squeezed tight inside him as he watched the woman and the little girl walk toward him. Carly looked neat and pretty and a little overwhelmed at finding herself in a place like this, so totally different from Sydney and L.A. Her mother moved awkwardly, her body appearing stiff in contrast to the unruly dark hair that whipped and undulated like fast-flowing stream water in the breeze.

      Callan lifted his hand in greeting, but Jacinda didn’t even say hello, just, “I’m sorry,” the moment she reached him. It could have been I’m sorry, I think I’m about to get sick, because her face was stark-white and she could hardly move her dry lips, but he knew she was apologizing for a whole lot more than that.

      He had to struggle to get his priorities worked out. Her nausea came top of the list right now.

      “Take some deep breaths. Walk around.” He grabbed a plastic bottle of ice water from the four-wheel-drive and unscrewed the cap, wishing he’d brought a tin mug or something. Little Carly would probably like a drink, also, although she didn’t look anywhere near as ill as her mother.

      Jacinda took the bottle and managed a few sips, then nodded. Yes, the water helped.

      “You don’t have to apologize for anything,” he told her. “And you definitely don’t have to talk.”

      “Carly?” She gave the water bottle to her daughter, even though Callan could see how much she still needed it for herself.

      While Carly drank, Jacinda sucked and blew some careful air. Her gray eyes began to look less panic-stricken and her color was coming back. Callan tried to remember his impression of her the night they’d met, and again the next day when he’d made that impulsive visit to her friend’s place with flowers and a child’s gift.

      She’d lost weight, he thought. She looked thin, now, rather than willowy. She wasn’t wearing makeup, but then she probably didn’t need it when she wasn’t pale green. Those eyes were so big and those lashes so dark, and her mouth was already the kind of shape that some women tried to paint in place without reference to their natural lip line.

      He tried to decide whether she was beautiful … attractive … pretty. Each of those words meant something slightly different, but he couldn’t make up his mind if any of them fit.

      Striking, maybe. That was the word for how she looked.

      He felt as if he’d been struck.

      By lightning.

      By a sideways wall of wind.

      By a blow to the head.

      He hadn’t expected to feel so protective toward her, nor so helpless himself. Suddenly, he was more aware of his own masculinity than he had been in … hell … how long? Years?

      He felt that if he were clumsy with her, in words or actions or assumptions, he might break her like a dried-out twig. He also sensed that she could just as easily break him, without her even knowing it, without her even understanding her power or his vulnerability.

      Well, gee, that all made sense!

      “Tell me when you’re ready for the drive,” he said, his voice too gruff in its pitch.

      Rob had brought three suitcases, an overnight bag and that bulky mailbag over to the four-wheel-drive. “You want these …?” In the back, his gesture finished the question.

      Callan nodded at him and he opened the vehicle’s rear door and lifted them inside, exaggerating his effort with the mailbag to suggest that it was almost too heavy to lift, full of all those women’s letters. Callan couldn’t help grinning, even though he shook his head at the man’s antics. They knew each other the way outback people often did: five minutes of contact a handful of times a month could feel like real friendship.

      “The drive?” Jacinda said, meanwhile. “Where? How far?”

      “To the homestead. It’s about five clicks.” She wouldn’t understand the Australian slang, and she probably didn’t measure her distances in kilometers, anyhow. “Three miles or so,” he translated for her.

      “Right.” She looked relieved.

      “But it’s bumpy. We’ll wait a bit.”

      “I want to see the lizard,” Carly said, looking up at Callan as if she knew him.

      “Got a few more hops, so I’ll say no to that beer,” Rob came in, leaning his hand on the top of the vehicle.

      “Next time, mate,” Callan answered, as if beer had indeed been mentioned.

      The lines were almost scripted, the kind of running joke that sustained male relationships out here. Rob never had a beer when he was flying, but the unstated offer—like an offer of help in times of trouble—was always there.

      The two men waved at each other and Rob headed back to the plane. Jacinda managed to call, “Thank you!” in his direction and he waved again.

      “Pick you two up on your way back,” he said, but was tactful enough not to ask when that might be.

      “Can I see the lizard?” Carly repeated.

      “She loved painting the boomerang. She’s talked about you quite a lot,” Jac murmured. To Carly she added, “I’m not sure if there are lizards here at the airstrip, honey. Maybe we’ll have time to look for one tomorrow. Can Mommy have the water again now, please?”

      This time, she could take it in gulps, and when she’d had a long drink, she gave a grin of relief. “Never tasted so good!”

      But he saw that her hands were shaking.

      Carly had started to look