I saw watching our camp,” she murmured. If he’d been visiting the creek again, his intentions—whatever they were—had been thwarted because she was up and about instead of sleeping.
Blake nodded confirmation. “Eddy Gilgai. Take a good look so you’ll know him if you see him hanging around again.”
She did so, then lowered the glasses. “You sound as if you expect to see more of him.”
“If Max put him up to this, we will. Max isn’t the type to give up easily.”
“Shouldn’t we try to catch Eddy now?”
“That stand of trees is farther away than it looks. By the time I get there, he’ll have melted into the bush. One of his clan could track him but I doubt that I could. And besides even if we did catch him, we couldn’t prove he was up to no good.”
“Even though Des asked him to leave?”
“Visiting his relatives isn’t a crime, and that’s what he’d claim to be doing.”
“If feeding a wild crocodile isn’t illegal and you can’t arrest him for trespassing, how will you pin anything on him?”
His mouth tightened. “Tom’s the lawman. I have my own methods.”
Not entirely orthodox, she deduced. “I don’t think I want to know.”
“No reason you should. None of this need concern you, provided you stay well clear of the creek.”
A vision of a prehistoric killer rearing out of the water made her shiver. “Don’t worry, I intend to.” She wasn’t sure about taking the rest of his advice.
His dark gaze told her he suspected what she was thinking. “I’ll be around to make sure you do.”
“I don’t need a minder.”
“No? Then show me the direction that takes us back to camp.”
She stood up and looked around. “Should be easy enough. We climbed up here from that side.” A network of creeks bordered their location. And all the clumps of trees looked alike. Surely there should be a glimpse of the tent from here? A faint track gave her more confidence. “That way,” she said, pointing.
He looked amused. “The trail does lead to a camp, but it’s about three times as far away as yours and only used at cattle mustering time.”
“Smart-ass,” she muttered under her breath. Then remembered her resolution and folded her arms. “Okay, Crocodile Man, how do I work it out?”
In a fluid movement, he uncoiled from the ground and picked up a stick. Pushing it vertically into the ground, he placed a stone at the end of the shadow cast by the stick. “Now we wait twenty minutes.”
She was intrigued. “For what?”
“Patience,” he counseled.
Easy for him to say. She wasn’t known for patience. She wondered if he knew it and was testing her. She decided not to give him the satisfaction of being right and schooled herself to remain still, although her awareness of him grew to agonizing proportions.
He stood statue-still, his gaze on the far horizon. How could he be so at ease when her muscles twitched with the need for movement? The twenty minutes seemed like an eternity.
When her watch indicated the time had passed, although he hadn’t even glanced at his watch, he placed another stone at the slightly changed angle of shadow cast by the stick, then drew a line from the first stone to well beyond the second.
“This line runs west-east.” He turned her until the shadow stick was behind her and she was standing with her left foot halfway between the stones and her right foot on the line the same distance again past the second stone.
Warmth flooded through her from his touch, and her concentration wavered. His breath was hot on her cheek, his smell invitingly masculine. She dragged in a steadying breath. “Now what?”
“Now you’re looking north, in the direction of the camp.” Hunkering down he drew a line at her feet bisecting the first line, indicating north-south, she assumed.
When she said so, he nodded. “This is how you make an earth compass.”
Trying not to focus on the luxuriant spill of his hair, or give in to the temptation to run her fingers through it—an entirely new temptation for her—her brows knit. “How would this help us at night?” They had climbed the hill before dawn.
He stood up, standing a fraction too close to her for comfort. “The earth compass works in moonlight, too. Once you decide in which direction to travel, you stand on the compass and face the way you intend moving. Look for a bright star, or better still, a group of stars in that direction and move toward them.”
Follow your star, she thought. Was there a message here? “Won’t the trees get in your line of sight?” she asked, annoyed at the husky way her voice came out.
He nodded. “Good thinking. You don’t choose stars that are right on the horizon, or you’ll lose sight of them behind the trees. You also need to remember that stars move east to west at about fifteen degrees an hour, the same as the sun. I’ll show you how to measure degrees using your hand span.”
He took her hand and the world lurched again. Much more of his touch and she would be in his arms again, not answerable for the consequences. She tugged free, feeling heat flood into her face. “Show me later. I think we should get back to camp and make sure Eddy hasn’t disturbed anything.”
Blake saw the telltale color stain her cheeks and felt an inner swell of satisfaction. She would be his before this adventure was over. She might not be sure if she wanted him, but he had no doubts. What happened after that was up to fate, although he had ideas about that, too.
“You’re the boss,” he said. For now, at least.
He saw her eyes widen as if she’d picked up his thought. “You don’t have a problem with that?”
His shoulders lifted. “Why should I? I’m a sensitive new-age kind of guy.”
“Yeah, right.”
Feigning hurt feelings, he stuck out his lower lip. “You don’t believe me.”
“I believe you’ll let me lead as long as it suits you.”
Keeping the grin off his face, he said, “I might surprise you.”
The skeptical look she gave him only made him want her more. He’d take the greatest delight in breeching that tough journalistic facade to connect with the woman beneath. She’d be all softness, all warmth, all passion. An all-or-nothing kind of lady. His kind.
But first he’d have to win her trust and make her want him as much as he wanted her. Then he’d see who led and who followed.
He couldn’t stop himself. He brushed his thumb along her jawline and saw her shudder. Dark, potent desire leaped into her gaze and he watched her master it with an effort. Or thought she had. She would never know how tempted he was to show her how thin her veneer of control really
