Her Knight in the Outback Read Free

call his name a little louder, but, where before there was only the barest movement behind his lids, now they were wide open and staring straight at her. This close, with the light streaming in from the open curtains, she saw they weren’t grey at all—or not
just
grey, at least. The pewter irises were flecked with rust that neatly matched the tarnished blond of his hair and beard, particularly concentrated around his pupils.
    She’d never seen eyes like them. She immediately thought of the burnt umber coastal rocks of the far north, where they slid down to pale, clean ocean. And where she’d started her journey eight months ago.
    â€˜We’re here,’ she said, irritated at her own breathlessness. And at being caught checking him out.
    He didn’t move, but maybe that was because she was leaning so awkwardly over him from all the pulse-taking.
    â€˜Where’s here?’ he croaked.
    She pushed back onto her heels and dragged her hands back from the heat of his body. ‘The border. You’ll have to get up while they inspect the bus.’
    They took border security seriously here on the invisible line between South Australia and Western Australia. Less about gun-running and drug-trafficking and more about fruit flies and honey. Quarantine was king when agriculture was your primary industry.
    Sullivan twisted gingerly into an upright position, then carefully pulled himself to his feet and did his best to put the cushions back where they’d started. Not right, but he got points for the effort.
    So he hadn’t been raised by leather-clad wolves, then.
    He bundled up his belongings, tossed them to the ground outside the bus and lowered himself carefully down.
    â€˜How is your leg?’ Eve asked.
    â€˜I’ll live.’
    Okay. Man of few words. Clearly, he’d spent too much time in his own company.
    The inspection team made quick work of hunting over every inch of her converted bus and Sullivan’s saddlebags. She’d become proficient at dumping or eating anything that was likely to get picked up at the border and so, this time, the team only found one item to protest—a couple of walnuts not yet consumed.
    Into the bin they went.
    She lifted her eyes towards Sullivan, deep in discussion with one of the border staff who had him in one ear and their phone on the other. Arranging assistance for his crippled bike, presumably. As soon as they were done, he limped back towards her and hiked his bags up over his shoulder.
    â€˜Thanks for the ride,’ he said as though the effort half choked him.
    â€˜You don’t need to go into Eucla?’ Just as she’d grown used to him.
    â€˜They’re sending someone out to grab me and retrieve my bike.’
    â€˜Oh. Great that they can do it straight away.’
    â€˜Country courtesy.’
    As opposed to her lack of...?
‘Well, good luck with your—’
    It was then she realised she had absolutely no idea what he was doing out here, other than hitting random emus. In all her angsting out on the deserted highway, she really hadn’t stopped to wonder, let alone ask.
    â€˜â€”with your travels.’
    His nod was brisk and businesslike. ‘Cheers.’
    And then he was gone, back towards the border security office and the little café that catered for people delayed while crossing. Marshall Sullivan didn’t seem half so scary here in a bustling border stop, though his beard was no less bushy and the ink dagger under his skin no less menacing. All the what-ifs she’d felt two hours ago on that long empty road hobbled away from her as he did.
    And she wondered how she’d possibly missed the first time how well his riding leathers fitted him.

CHAPTER TWO
    I T WAS THE raised voices that first got Marshall’s attention. Female, anxious and angry, almost swallowed up by drunk, male and belligerent.
    â€˜Stop!’
    The fact a gaggle of passers-by had formed a wide,