Runaway Bride. Barbara Hannay

time.’

      ‘No, and Violet’s mind’s still razor sharp. She’s managed to keep in regular contact with me even though I’m always on the move. And the other day, she hammered me at a complicated word game.’

      This time when Damon smiled, Bella had to look away. They still had a long drive ahead, up the Queensland coast, and she’d be a mess if she kept reacting to him like this.

      At least she was confident now that they’d find their grandparents, and everything would be resolved in another day or two.

      Then, Damon could look after Violet, and with a little luck Bella would coax Paddy into taking a train trip from Cairns to Brisbane and she’d have him safely back in Willara in no time. Then she’d be free.

      Free of marriage plans, free of old boyfriends and hopefully free of family worries. She could work out, then, what she wanted to do with the rest of her life.

      She wished she felt happier about that. If only she felt free, rather than completely blank, like a deleted page on a computer screen.

      Right now, she felt more lost than free.

      But heavens … she couldn’t start worrying about her future just yet. For now, she had to try to relax.

      As they left the café, Bella was surprised by how much better she felt. She’d had a good night’s sleep, her stomach was full and caffeine was pumping through her veins. She wasn’t even daunted by the sight of their red sports car looking ridiculously small and low as it hunkered between the massive haulage trains in the parking lot.

      ‘Let’s have the top down this morning,’ she said in a burst of enthusiasm. ‘Or would you like to leave it up while you sleep?’

      ‘Down’s fine.’ Damon was already pushing the appropriate lever.

      Bella settled herself behind the wheel, adjusting the seat and the rear-vision mirror. She turned the ignition and the engine purred with the low throaty growl of a jungle cat.

      Cool. Excitement pinged. For the first time in ages, she was looking forward to this adventure.

      As they left Rockhampton behind them and headed north along the highway, the morning air was fresh and the sun not yet hot. This was cattle country, smooth and flat, with straight roads and few trees and plenty of visibility. The sky was clear and pale and endless, and a flock of galahs fluttered overhead, their rosy pink breasts a bright contrast to the soft pale grey of their wings.

      Bella felt her spirits lift even higher. She put her foot down and the little car leapt in response. This was fun.

      ‘You should try to catch some sleep,’ she told Damon, but to her annoyance his eyes remained stubbornly open. Didn’t he trust her driving? She pressed the accelerator a little harder, but reluctantly had to ease back when the car shot over the speed limit.

      Out of the corner of her eye she caught Damon’s smile. No doubt he was amused and she wished he would go to sleep.

      In a bid to ignore him, she let her thoughts turn to Kent. She’d fallen asleep last night without ringing to see how he was faring with the aftermath of their break up and it had been too early to ring this morning.

      She hoped Kent was okay. At least she knew he wasn’t nursing a broken heart. She felt a bit guilty that she’d escaped the unpleasant job of ringing the wedding guests and the caterers, but he’d insisted that she leave him with the task.

      This morning, she was truly relieved that they’d come to their senses in time. In fact, she could now look on her close brush with a serious, life-changing mistake as a useful warning. She would think very carefully before she leapt into any new relationship. She was certainly mega cautious about the man currently sitting beside her.

      It was good to have these thoughts sorted, good to recognise that she felt more at peace with herself than she had in weeks.

      To her relief, Damon was starting to relax, too. He stretched his legs out as far as the car’s cramped interior would allow, let his head fall back and closed his eyes.

      Great. Finally, he trusted her driving, and she felt better than ever.

      Bella drew a deep lungful of the fresh air rushing past them. She’d never been this far north before. She took in details of her surroundings and pondered on the lives of the people living in the vast cattle stations that stretched for miles on either side of the highway.

      She felt so relieved and light-hearted she might have broken into song if Damon hadn’t been dozing. Instead, she hummed softly under her breath, and she was still humming when she saw the blue-and-white car appear in her rear-vision mirror.

      Was that a police car?

      Uneasiness lifted the hairs on the back of her neck. Hastily she checked the speedometer. Whoops—just over.

      With a guilty grimace, she applied the brakes and hoped she wasn’t in range of the police radar.

      She was out of luck. Almost immediately, blue-and-red lights began to flash behind her. Damn.

      The police car drew closer, the lights flashing bossily. Bella groaned, ‘Oh, God,’ and unhappily pulled over to the edge of the highway.

      Beside her, Damon stirred. ‘What’s up? What’s happening?’

      ‘Police,’ she muttered miserably. Wasn’t this the story of her life? Every time she tried the tiniest adventure, fate slapped her down.

      Damon shot a glance behind and saw the police car pulling up. ‘Were you speeding?’ ‘Not really.’

      Bella half expected Damon to swear, but he merely let out a soft, resigned sigh. She felt sick as she heard the crunch of a heavy tread on the bitumen behind them. In the car’s side mirror she saw a tall, blue-uniformed figure. She sat up straight, lifted her chin to a dignified angle.

      The policeman was young and puffed with self-importance. ‘Good morning,’ he said in an annoyingly pseudo-friendly voice.

      ‘Morning, constable,’ Damon answered.

      The young policeman ignored his greeting and fixed cool blue eyes on Bella.

      She tried to look innocent. ‘I wasn’t speeding, was I?’

      The policeman shrugged. ‘Can I see your licence, madam?’

      ‘Oh? Oh, yes. Sure. It’s in my bag.’

      Her bag was at Damon’s feet and their hands collided as they both reached for it. Their gazes met and Damon’s eyes held a silent message of empathy. Then he smiled and winked.

      His smile helped, but Bella was flushed and shaking as she handed over her licence. The young policeman frowned officiously and began to jot down her details in his notebook.

      Beside her, Damon let out an annoyed huff. ‘How about an explanation, officer? What’s the problem?’

      ‘I’ll need your licence too, sir.’

      Bella was sure Damon would protest this time. After all, he was merely a passenger. To her surprise he said quietly, ‘Yeah. Whatever.’ Then pulled his licence from his wallet and handed it over.

      Now she was seriously scared. Why did the policemen want Damon’s licence, as well? This couldn’t be a mere speeding infringement.

      Memories of Damon’s reckless reputation flashed through her thoughts. He’d been pretty wild in his teens. He’d even been arrested by his own father when he was eighteen and it had caused a scandal that fired up Willara’s gossips for months. Bella’s parents had listened, and they’d refused to let her see him. Not long after that Damon had left town.

      She’d always believed the infamous event was a storm in a teacup, blown out of proportion by small-town rumours, but she had no idea what Damon had done since then. She wasn’t intimate with the details of his past ten years.

      The policeman certainly seemed suspicious.