She stuck her head around the door jamb. “I’m heading for the field where I saw the lights last night. You coming?”
“Now?”
Her head disappeared, voice moving down the hallway. “Yep.”
Nick looked down at Sheba in his
arms. “I think I’m getting the connection between you two now.”
Sheba purred.
Standing, he put her carefully down on the chair where she primly resumed the Sphinx position.
Out in the hallway,
Nick watched as Bree pulled Bast out of a backpack that had been sitting on the floor and set her down on the hallway table, where Bast proceeded to bat a set of car keys around the top. Bree took the car keys off her, and Bast sat down, whiskers forward, eyes bright, gaze fastened on her.
Bree stroked her head. “We’ll be back, baby.
There’s plenty of food and water in the kitchen, the litter tray is clean, and I’ve left a hot water bottle in the bed for you.”
Wait…what? “A hot water bottle?” Nick echoed disbelievingly.
“Bast feels the cold. She likes to curl up under the doona with a hot water bottle warming her toes.”
“Uh huh.” Nothing about Bree should surprise him anymore.
“Besides, you should know…”
Nick
raised his eyebrows at her.
She
hesitated, then shook her head. “Never mind. Let’s go.”
He followed her out, waiting as she locked the front door before following her down the veranda steps.
“We’ll take my van,” she said when he started to head for the Landcruiser.
“Sure.” He got into the passenger seat.
Sliding open the side door, Bree got in, placing the backpack just behind her seat before she manoeuvred between the seats to drop into the driver’s seat.
“Haven’t got the door fixed yet, huh?” Nick queried.
“Waiting for a new door to come in.”
“
The panel beater can’t get the dent out?”
“Whatever hit the door had a lot of force. It cracked something in there.”
“Something?”
“
Hey, I’m not the panel beater. All I know is it has a bloody big dent in it and it won’t open. I can’t even wind the window down. It’s broken.”
“I’ll have a look at it when we get back.”
She smiled at him. “That’s sweet, but you don’t have to.”
“I know, but I will.”
“Oh, forceful.” She gave a fake shudder. “I like it.”
Amused, Nick clicked on his seatbelt. “You have no
idea how forceful I can be.”
“I know how stubborn you can be.”
“Really?” Was she going to say something about their letters?
“You’re sitting in that seat beside me. What does that say about you?”
“I’m experiencing the weird and unnatural?”
She started driving the van along the driveway. “Are you saying I’m weird and unnatural?”
“Nope. You’re in a world of your own.”
She flashed him a smile. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“It was meant as one.” And he meant it sincerely.
Was it his imagination or did the pink in her cheeks deepen? Nick studied her. The woman was an enigma, no doubt about it. Went her own way, did her own thing, and that was another point…Bree was perfectly happy doing things on her own. When she went alien hunting, she did it by herself. She seemed perfectly happy with her own company, confident in her abilities, able to
laugh at herself and others. That sense of humour had always come through in her letters, but to actually hear those smart comments come out from between those lush lips was a hundred times better. To see the sparkle in her eyes, the way her lips curved in amusement, to hear the laugh that was always so close to the surface, was so much better than imagining it.
He had to admit
that her sense of humour was exactly the same as her letters, nothing was faked, but she had her secrets too. Not once in her letters had she ever hinted at UFO hunting or beliefs, in fact, when he thought about it, she didn’t mention her past much but simply entertained him with day-to-day happenings and musings.
There w
ere two sides to Bree - the light-hearted, fun-loving, confident woman, and a side he basically didn’t know at all.
He wanted to know both sides, wanted to know her true thoughts and feelings. Share them.
Damn it, time to stop messing around and just lay it on the line. Before he could say anything, however, Bree started talking.
“Now, I got permission from the farmer to check out the area of the sighting. Don’t tell him I was already there.”
“So he doesn’t know you were there last night?”
“On a need-to-know basis, Nick.”
“Why am I not surprised?”
“Because you know the need for
confidentiality.”
“
Anyone passing would have seen your van on the side of the road.”
“Your point?”
“
Next
to his field.”
“Your point?”
“Bree, it wouldn’t take much to put two and two together.”
“Your point?”
Incredulous, he stared at her. Was she serious? Then he caught the twitch of her lips. “Are you messing with my head?”
“Absolutely.”
He sighed, relaxing back in the seat. “Never mind messing with my head, you’ll do it in.”
“Funny, that’s what some of my teachers used to say.”
“Gee, I can’t imagine why.”
“Is that a hint of sarcasm, Nick?”
“Your point?”
She laughed.
Grinning, he looked out at the passing fields. One thing about Bree, she made him relax, made him laugh, made him feel good about life. Just as her letters had made him laugh when everything else was so grim, so she made him laugh now.
Bree had a way
of touching something inside him, that lonely little spot that he rarely acknowledge. She touched it, surrounded it with warmth and laughter, made him feel a part of someone else.
Yeah, he had a good friend in Alex, had made friends with Paul and the other blokes in the town, but with Bree he just felt…Nick turned his head to look at her profile.
Complete. She made him feel complete. Like they were two parts of a whole and she drew him to her until they were together.
What am I thinking?
A little disturbed by the direction his thoughts were taking, Nick swung his attention back to the fields. “You must have gone through a lot of teachers.”
“Huh?” She glanced briefly at him.
“You mentioned your teachers.”
“Oh. Yeah. We travelled a fair bit, so I had a lot of different teachers.”
“Your family travelled?”
“Yep.”
“Any brothers or sisters?”
“You’d know that.”
It was his turn to give a puzzled “Huh?”
“Don’t you have a dossier on me?”
Nick blinked.
Bree smiled at him. “Military. Alien sightings. You soldier, me alien hunter. You work for the government, I work for…others.”
“You work for
others
?”
“You’re not denying the first statements.”
“What?” He shook his head. “Bree, there’s no conspiracy, I’m not here to watch you, I-”
“Nick, Nick, Nick.” Laughing, she flicked on the indicator. “You’re too easy.”
He dropped his head back against the seat. “Messing with my head again?”
“Big time.” Cheerfully, she turned the van onto a small road. “All righty, listen up, soldier. This is the farm where the sighting was. We’re going to report in to the farmer and then go on foot. All you have to do is be polite and look pretty.”
“Afraid I’ll give up your position last night, General?” he asked dryly.
“No, I just like my men to be polite and look pretty.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Am I one of your men?”
“Sweetie, right now you’re my only man.”
Okay, he liked the sound of that. Yeah, he really,
really
did.
The farmhouse came into view, but Bree didn’t pull up there, driving further on instead to park under a tree near one of the big sheds. As they got out
of the van, two men came out and approached them.
As they
neared, Nick saw that one was a tall, thin teenager, the other a much older version. Father and son.
“Hi, Ted,” Bree greeted
the older man. “Thanks for letting us have a little look around.”
Ted eyed Nick. “Seriously? You, too?”
“I’m just here to look pretty,” Nick replied.
Ted grunted.
His son looked at Bree a touch derisively. “Do you always bring muscle?”
“Always use protection, David” she said
gravely. “Then you’ll neve get caught out with something undesirable.”
Protection as in…?
Nick almost choked.
David coloured, but Ted obviously didn’t get the double meaning because he simply continued talking.
Or maybe Bree didn’t mean it as a double meaning…did she? Looking at her talking seriously to Ted, Nick just wasn’t sure.
“You’ll have to walk across some
of the field and through the trees out the back there,” Ted was saying. “David reckoned he saw the lights from there.”
“I did,”
David said. “And some kind of beam things.”
Nick studied David.
Hmmmm
.
“What colour were the beams?
” Bree queried.
“Green and red.”
“And the light? Was it small, big, did it move around?”
“It was just this great big glow, you know? Sat behind the hill.”
“And you saw all this from your window?”
David nodded.
“I can’t believe I’m letting you do this.” Ted looked at Nick. “And I can’t believe you’re actually with her.”
Not really caring what he thought, Nick just smiled.
“He’s the muscle,” David muttered. “Soldier.” He suddenly looked a little uncertain. “Uh - has the military been called in about this or something?”
“Not that I’m aware of,” Nick replied easily.
David visibly relaxed.
Interesting
, and so very telling.
Ted scowled. “Military? They’ve got more important things to worry about than chasing ridiculous stories of lights in the sky. Now, follow the track through the field to the trees, then you’ll have to go straight.”
“Sure you don’t want me to show you?” David asked eagerly.
Bree smiled. “We’ll be fine. The hill isn’t that big and we can check around the area. But thanks for the offer
. If I have any questions, I can come see you?”
“Yeah, sure.” He looked
disappointed.
Ted rolled his eyes.
“We better be off, then.” Backpack on her back, Bree turned on her heel and started for the field.
Nick stepped up beside her, matching his longer legs to her shorter stride. Once they were far enough away, he glanced over his shoulder. “David was a little eager, don’t you think?”
“Most of them are.”
“I think he knows more than he’s letting on.”
“We can kidnap him tonight, hold him in the back of the van while you interrogate him. Did you bring a head sack? I forgot to pack one.”
The woman was incorrigible.
Reaching out, Nick slid his hand under the strap of her backpack. “Here, let me carry this.”
“I assure you I’m strong enough to handle it.” She kept moving forward.
Hooking his fingers around the strap, Nick simply stopped walking. Bree jerked to a halt. When she looked back at him, her gaze going from his hand at her shoulder to his face, he matched her raised eyebrow with a lift of his own.
“Really, Nick-” she began.
“Really, Bree.”
“Are you serious?”
“Absolutely.”
Curiosity replaced her
amused expression. “Why?”
“Because I don’t feel comfortable with you carrying a backpack while I swan around free.”
“It’s not heavy.”
He shrugged, walking
behind her to edge both hands under the straps. “Arms back.”
Half expecting a smart retort, he was
pleasantly surprised when she obeyed. Sliding the straps down her arms, he freed the backpack and swung it around, sliding his arms through the straps and settling it on his back. Definitely not heavy. Adjusting it, he watched as Bree turned to look at him.
“I’ve never had a man do that before,” she said slowly.