Page 4 of Clear Skies (Stormcloud Station)

CHAPTER TWO

THE REALITY OF what this man was saying finally hit Daisy. She was stuck here. On this side of Corella Creek. Her mind had refused to believe it might be true, even as he rescued her from the flood. The creek was swollen beyond anything she could’ve imagined. When she’d driven through it yesterday on her way into town, it’d been the normal sluggish trickle she’d been used to. Sure, she’d only been in the area for a month, and she’d probably used the crossing less than half a dozen times, but how could things have changed so drastically and so quickly? It was one more lesson this country was forcing her to learn.

She needed to get to the outstation. Back to her brother, River. He would be worried about her. She was supposed to have returned this morning, but had got caught up waiting for the motorcycle part River needed. The delivery truck was late bringing it into the mechanic shop. Daisy wasn’t known for her patience, but she’d had no choice but to wait. River was determined to get the motorcycle working again. It was the only thing that afforded him any freedom; a way to get around the property. Then he wasn’t completely reliant on her and her run-down Corolla. The motorcycle had broken down four days ago, and it’d taken River a day to figure out what was wrong and one more day to get the part ordered in. He’d been like a caged bear the whole time. Daisy needed to stock up on food anyway, so it was a no-brainer that she head into town to pick it up.

She wasn’t going to tell this man standing in the rain next to her any of that, however. She’d made a rookie mistake of mentioning there was someone else, and now she needed to cover her tracks. At least she’d remembered to give him her nickname, instead of her actual name. Replaying her cover story in her mind, she glanced up at the man, who was still staring at her with incredulity written all over his face. Had he mentioned Stormcloud Station? It sounded like he was from there.

The panic was still there, clawing around the edges of her belly, trying to escape, but she tamped it down. There was no way she could contact River to let him know what was going on. She’d have to hope he used his common sense and stayed put, and wait for her to return.

“Who do you need to get back to?” the man asked again.

She glanced up at him through the rain. He’d lost that holier-than-though tone from before, when he’d given her a tongue-lashing about driving into the creek. But it didn’t mean he’d gone up in her estimation. Most men were dicks. At least, they were in her world.

“Oh…it’s only my work colleague.” She waved a hand dismissively, forcing her face into a bland smile. “He’ll be wondering where I am. But it’s okay, he’ll understand I got stuck in this storm. He’ll be fine.” Which was probably a lie. River would be anything but calm. He’d be fretting about her like there was no tomorrow. He hated to be alone. She crossed her fingers behind her back and prayed he wouldn’t do anything stupid; like get it into his head to come looking for her. River was so…unreliable. Was that the right word? She could think of at least a dozen others that might also fit. Irresponsible. Reckless. Clueless. With a chip on his shoulder. But he was her brother, and she had no option but to overlook all his faults and love him unconditionally. Because as his big sister, that was her job.

The man’s—Dale, she had to remember to call him Dale—face changed. It lost that hard edge, his brow wrinkling in concern.

“I’ve got a sat phone in the car. Do you want to try and call him?”

Wouldn’t that be the perfect solution? If only River had a satellite phone, or a cell phone, or even if there was a landline at the outstation. But she had their only means of communication on the front seat of the car, an old iPhone that was out of charge.

“He hasn’t got a phone,” she said, much more breezily than she felt. “But that’s okay, he’ll figure it out.”

“What about you, then?”

“What?” She wasn’t sure what he meant.

“Do you have anywhere you can go until the creek drops?”

Oh. He was right. River wasn’t the only one in trouble. What the hell was she supposed to do now? She had nowhere to go.

“I…ah…hadn’t really thought about it. I guess, I’ll stay here in the car and wait til the creek goes down. Then I can drive across as soon as it’s safe.”

The incredulous look returned to Dale’s face. He opened his mouth and shut it again, as if trying to decide what to say. “Apart from the fact it could take days for the creek to go down, you know your engine will have water damage, don’t you? Even if you let it dry out, and even if it does actually start, you shouldn’t drive it. You could harm the pistons or the head.”

Sheesh, she didn’t know that. Although common sense should’ve told her so. Why had she been so stupid? Why had she thought she could get through the creek? Now, not only was she stranded on the wrong side, but she may well have wrecked their only means of transport, as well. She should’ve known better; she had spent a few years up in the top end of the Northern Territory living with her extended family, so she was no stranger to tropical weather. Creeks and waterway were notoriously dangerous in these kinds of downpours. But her thoughts of getting back to River had overwhelmed any sense of logic. And now she was trapped.

Standing out in the pelting rain was really annoying her, she had to keep wiping the drops away from her face. She was soaked through, her car was a wreck, she was stuck in the middle of godforsaken nowhere, while River was at the outstation getting up to who-knew-what. And she had boxes of perishable food in the rear seat that would spoil, if they were left out in this humidity much longer. She’d spent most of her remaining money on those supplies, they were supposed to last for the next month, she couldn’t lose it all now. Could her day get any worse?

“Sorry, I didn’t know.” She took a step backward and her foot nearly landed on one of those horrible, ugly cane toads that were absolutely everywhere up here. She stepped around it, screwing her face up in disgust. She was completely out of her element. Which was a tad ironic, if you took her indigenous heritage into account. Born and bred in the city of Perth, she had no idea how to survive in this rugged country. But then, if it hadn’t been for River, she’d still be happy and safe back in Perth, probably on her way to a lecture at the uni, right about now. She’d put her whole life on hold for her brother. The urge to put her head in her hands and cry was strong. But she didn’t do that. Cry in front of strangers. A heavy weight settled in her stomach, and a weary fatigue settled into her bones.

Dale stood silently beside her, but he seemed to debate something internally as he pursed his lips and looked at her. She avoided his gaze. The last thing she wanted was his scorn. She had more than enough self-flagellation to go around for the both of them.

“It looks like you’ll have to come to Stormcloud with me.”

She flashed a look up at him. “You’d do that?” Kindness—decency—wasn’t something she was used to. Daisy got away with a lot of things others from her culture didn’t, because of her looks. She understood that being attractive had unlocked a lot of doors for her that’d normally stay shut. But she was also extremely aware of the insidious racism found everywhere. Had encountered it in every form. Which was why his simple compassion shocked her. Now, she felt a little ashamed of the way she’d attacked him earlier. Her sharp tongue was her self-defense mechanism, and she knew even some of her best friends considered her prickly. She was working on taming her temper, but it didn’t always work. And this poor guy had only been trying to help.

“Of course.” He gave her a look that said he thought she was crazy even to ask. “We look after each other out here. Besides, my mum would kill me if she found out I’d left you here.”

Dale smiled for the first time that day, and Daisy was almost knocked backwards. Oh. Wow. He had the most gorgeous dimples. They brought his face to life. She was momentarily mesmerized. Now that she took the time to look, even with the hat pulled down to keep the rain off, he was not just good-looking; he was stunningly attractive. What was a bloke like this doing out here? In the middle of bloody nowhere. His wet jeans clung to impressive thighs and his equally sodden shirt lay flat against his skin, showing off plenty of hardened muscles underneath.

She stopped to consider how she might look. Bedraggled, was probably one way to describe herself. Her clothes were completely wet through, and her hair was coming down from its ponytail and hanging in wet strands around her face. There wasn’t a trace of makeup on her face. But then again, that was nothing new. Since she’d been here, in North Queensland, there’d been no reason for her to wear makeup, let alone a pretty dress.

Could she do that? Go off with this gorgeous stranger to his station to take shelter? She probably didn’t have too many other options.

Dale continued, “I’ll get Steve to come and look at your car when the rain stops. He’s not a licensed mechanic, but he knows his way around just about any engine. If it needs to be towed to town, we can organize that for you, too.”

“Thank you, that would be great.” She nodded her appreciation. “Who’s Steve?”

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