Outback Affair: An Affair Novel (Entangled Indulgence) by Annie Seaton Page B

season, I do a bit of this and that around Cockatoo Springs. Sometimes I help with the tours.” He looked at her. “There’s a really good trip you should take if you stay there long enough. It’s a trip out into the bush, gathering bush foods, and learning about bush tucker.”
    Her face lit up with interest, and his stomach clenched. She was altogether too beautiful for his peace of mind. Even with her hair tied back with a piece of string and his old fishing shirt buttoned up to her throat.
    “That sounds fabulous. I’ve never read about that. I could include it in my article.” She tipped her head to the side and held his gaze. “Have you always fished up here? No other career?”
    Alex looked up as the flock of red-tailed cockatoos squealed overhead. Something had disturbed them—he looked around to see what had set them off, but couldn’t see anything around. He turned his attention back to Jess. Her mug was beside her, and she’d sprawled out on the blanket on her stomach with her chin propped in her hands.
    It wouldn’t hurt to be truthful here.
    “I came to the Territory two years ago.”
    “Where from?”
    “A small town called Armidale in the middle of New South Wales.”
    “No fishing there?”
    “No, not this sort of fishing. I grew up in the country, and I’d never held a fishing rod until I went out on a charter from Darwin and I was hooked. Pardon the pun.
    “So what did you do before that?”
    “I studied to be an environmental lawyer and worked for the government in Brisbane for a while.” Alex held her gaze in his and shrugged. “At least I ended up here, working in the environment.”
    “That’s a big change. What made you leave law?”
    He stared off into the distance, and the raucous noise kicked up by the cockatoos stopped as suddenly as it had started.
    “Life happened. I needed a change.”
    “Law wasn’t for you?”
    “Family circumstances.”
    He’d left Emily behind in the cemetery on that cold hill in Armidale and hadn’t talked about her since he’d come to the Territory. Not only had he had to deal with her death but her betrayal had screwed with his head and his emotions for the first year. He’d only started to move on these past few months.
    “You’re quiet.” Jess rolled over and sat up, placing her hand on his arm. “And you have a sad look on your face. I hope I haven’t upset you.”
    She chewed her lip, looking across at him with concern
    Feelings he hadn’t let surface for years were filling his chest. He dropped his head and pulled Bowser over onto his lap.
    “I have two brothers and three sisters. I’m the baby of the family. My two brothers, even though they are very different in personality, both disagree with how I handled a situation a couple of years back.” Alex laughed shortly, but there was no amusement in it. “Nick and Tom both think I ran away from home, and they can’t understand me giving up my law career.” He looked up at the sky and lifted one hand.
    “But hey, they were wrong. It’s not all about money.” He gestured around them. “Look what I have. The outback has looked after me, and I’m pretty damn happy. I haven’t done too badly up here.”
    As soon as his contract finished in the next couple of weeks, he had to figure out what he was going to do with the rest of his life. But first, he had to sort out his passenger.

Chapter Seven
    The raw pain in Alex’s voice when he talked about the ‘situation,’ which had been the catalyst for him coming to the Top End, piqued Jess’s interest. Even though she was a food journalist, she was always interested in people, and thoughts of using Alex’s story as a second article played around in her mind.
    He had offered that I interview him instead of Ricardo. I could do a series, seeing I’ve come all this way.
    She was curious about what had happened to spur him onto such a dramatic move in his life, but until he volunteered the information she wasn’t going to press