Runaway to the Outback Read online

Jonas studied Ryan and took note of how relaxed and happy he was. Obviously being engaged to Sindy was a huge part of it, but it looked like Ryan was really content with the decision he’d made about leaving his old life behind in Sydney, and renewing his relationship with the town he’d spent most of his childhood in.

  “You definitely have settled back in. Do you miss Sydney, though?” He had to ask. He had to look out for his sister.

  “Not really. I mean Sindy and I go back there every once in a while for the weekend and to check on my old apartment, but we both can’t wait to get back here. I’m thinking of selling the penthouse. I can’t see us moving there. Not now.”

  What did he mean by not now? What was going on between the two of them? The opportunity to delve deeper was lost, as Sindy and Pandora returned to the room. He almost didn’t recognise Pandora. Her hair was down from the intricate style and curled around her shoulders in a cascade of gold. The jeans she wore fitted as though they’d been made just for her. The silky blue vee-neck top highlighted her eyes and hair.

  He’d thought she was stunning before in the wedding dress; in casual clothes she was breathtaking.

  “You might want to pick your jaw up off the floor before she gets any closer.” Ryan spoke out of the side of his mouth and Jonas grabbed up his glass of water and downed the remaining contents, grimacing at the warm liquid.

  Pandora and Sindy stopped in front of them and his sister immediately went to her fiancé’s side, leaning into him as if she couldn’t stand by herself. “I think it’s time we left. I’ll see you around, Jonas. Take care, Pandora. It was so nice to meet you.”

  What the hell? What was up with his sister? One minute she was anxious to stay around and help, and the next she’s practically running for the door.

  He studied Sindy a little closer. Her face had paled since she arrived back with the clothes and there seemed to be a green tinge to her skin, plus the sheen of sweat above her upper lip.

  Was she sick? If she was he hoped that it wasn’t contagious considering she’d spent some time with Pandora, helping her. That’s the last thing she needed, to get sick on top of walking away from a photo shoot. But whatever was wrong with his sister, he hoped she recovered quickly.

  Ryan’s face went from relaxed to concern in a matter of seconds as he turned to look at Sindy. “Right, yes. Let’s go. Bye, Jonas.” He gathered his fiancée close and ushered her quickly to the door.

  “Later and thanks for everything, sis.” He called to their departing backs. His sister lifted her hand in acknowledgement before disappearing out the door.

  “Well, that was weird,” he muttered.

  “I’m sure she’ll be okay. She was queasy when she was helping me with my dress.” Pandora sat back down on the stool she’d been occupying.

  “Yeah, I’ll have to call them in the morning to see if she’s okay. Hopefully it’s nothing too serious.”

  A soft grin lifted the corners of Pandora’s mouth. He’d surmised a smile she used earlier was to entice people to buy a product they didn’t need. This smile had to be when the photographer asked her to look mysterious. Or to think of a lover. Like the earlier smile, he’d buy whatever she was selling or promoting if he came across her face in a magazine or online. “I think she’ll be fine.”

  Okay, something was going on. Did Pandora know what was wrong with Sindy? He thought back on his conversation with Ryan and how his future brother-in-law had talked about selling the penthouse because they wouldn’t be going to the city much. The way she’d suddenly felt ill, and Ryan’s quick reaction. Not to mention the way she babbled about the town thinking she was pregnant.

  Wait.

  It couldn’t be, could it? But the analytical mind that had made him an excellent stockbroker lined everything up and came up with a bigger picture. The only picture.

  “No way,” he muttered. “I don’t believe it.”

  “What?”

  He leaned closer to Pandora and waited until she did the same. He lowered his voice, not wanting anyone around him to hear. “I think my sister’s pregnant.”

  “I think you may be right,” she whispered back.

  Shock had him pulling away from her. How could his sister tell a complete stranger this big news but not her immediate family? He would’ve thought something as huge as this they would’ve been the first to be told. He was going to have words with her when he saw her next. At least Ryan knew.

  “She told you?” His voice came out angrier than he meant it to.

  Pandora reared back as if he’d struck her. “I guessed, just like you. After she ran to the bathroom and threw up, I questioned her in case it was something I could catch. She told me there was no way I could catch what she had. From there it wasn’t hard to put two and two together and come up with baby.”

  Jonas took a deep breath and counted to ten, calming himself. He didn’t have any right to get angry at Pandora. “I’m sorry, that was uncalled for.”

  “Seems you have a habit of saying things that you shouldn’t,” she responded with a wry grin. She picked up her glass but stopped from taking a sip and replaced it back on the coaster. Was she planning on leaving now? It still hadn’t been that long since she’d downed her scotch.

  “Are you hungry? We’ve got a pretty decent menu here, with good food,” he asked by way of an apology. When it looked like she was about to rebuff him he forged forward. “The offer of the room is still on the table. If you do decide you want to go back to Sydney, you can’t do it on an empty stomach. And I promise I will do my best not to say anything else that will upset you.”

  “That’s a mighty big promise. Do you think you can keep it?”

  At least he hadn’t quite killed her sense of humour. “Yeah, it is a big promise, isn’t it? I’m a man, I’m pre-wired to often say the wrong thing at the wrong time. I did it often enough to Sindy and Yolanda.”

  “Yolanda?” she asked, her smile faltering a little bit.

  “Yolanda’s my baby sister. She lives in Sydney with her husband and daughter.” He leaned forward on the bar. “She’s considered the black sheep of the family. Running off for the bright lights of the big city to secretly marry her from-the-wrong-side-of-the-tracks high school sweetheart the second school ended.”

  “Scandal in Bunya Junction, huh?”

  “Something like that. My folks weren’t happy, that’s for sure. They’d wanted her to go to university like the rest of us. However, like everything else in her life, Yolanda had set ideas and she always walked to her own beat.”

  Pandora’s eyes narrowed a little bit and her spine straightened. “There’s nothing wrong with her being an independent woman and making decisions that are best for her.”

  “You’re right. The second she’d hit her teenage years, Yolanda had begun to push the boundaries.”

  Pandora smiled wryly. “Like all teenagers. I’m sure you pushed against your parents’ rules.”

  “True, I did. I think Yolanda’s rebelliousness came from the way everyone treated her as fragile.”

  “Fragile? Why was that?”

  “She was always sick as child. Every time she got sick it would be ten times worse for her.” He shrugged. “Old habits die hard and, in hindsight, I can see now all the places where I’d protected her from getting hurt when I should’ve let her fall.” Or the times he cleaned up her messes for her. Although she never seemed grateful for his help. At the end of the day it wasn’t exactly surprising she’d rebelled and had gone against everything their parents wanted for her life. But he kept those thoughts to himself. Pandora didn’t need to know all the ins and outs of his family. She was only going to be in town for another couple of hours.

  “I’m sure she appreciated her big brother looking out for her.”

  “Maybe.”

  “So, there’s you, Sindy and Yolanda. Any other siblings?” Pandora asked. He noted she still hadn’t accepted his dinner invitation.

  “There’s four of us in total. Scott and Sindy
are the oldest and they’re twins. I already told you Sindy was a nurse and Scott is a doctor. He runs the regional hospital about an hour away from here. Then there’s me and finally Yolanda.”

  “It was only me growing up. I would’ve loved to have had a brother or a sister.” Her voice was soft and there was a hint of wistfulness about it. He wanted to reach out and stroke her hair. Comfort her.

  What the actual hell?

  He’d just met the woman and he kept wanting to comfort her? He needed to get a grip on himself. He needed to control the need to fix things. At the moment it seemed like she was a little like Yolanda, running away when things got tough, expecting others to sort out the mess her departure had created.

  Her not answering his dinner invitation was probably a good thing, as well as her desire to leave town. If there was one place where Pandora didn’t belong it was in Bunya Junction. A model, like herself, would be stifled in the small community he lived in.

  “Sometimes I wished I was an only child.” Great, he hadn’t meant to blurt that out. His mouth had a mind of its own at the moment.

  Her lips twisted into a grimace. “Trust me, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.”

  “Ditto, growing up in a big family. There wasn’t much time to myself. It was loud and noisy all the time, too.”

  Now he went home to the empty house next door to his work, and instead of being happy to have peace and quiet, especially after a busy and raucous day at the pub, he found he craved someone to spend time with. There weren’t many single women in Bunya Junction, and most he’d gone to school with. While he’d dated a couple since he’d been back, none had had him thinking of a future.

  Would a city girl like Pandora be interested in being a pub owner’s wife? He couldn’t imagine her or any of the girls he’d dated while he’d lived in the city fitting in in Bunya Junction.

  The one girl he’d thought he might have a future with, Gina, the woman he’d been dating for a year, had said thanks but no thanks and dumped him the next day when he’d made the decision to move back home. She’d informed him the very idea of being four hours away from civilisation was something she couldn’t deal with. Gina had shown her true colours and he had been glad he hadn’t proposed to her, as he’d been planning. Also, with distance it had become clear that, in between his long hours, he’d spent most of his time chasing after Gina and sorting out any messes she’d created along the way, just as he’d done with his baby sister.

  He’d learned his lesson, though, city girls would never be happy living in the country.

  Fixing things was a habit he was determined to break, which was why he’d only offered Pandora one night’s stay. She could then go back to Sydney or wherever she lived and he’d never have to worry about her again.

  “We’re a pair, aren’t we?” She shook her hair, and again he was reminded of a waterfall of gold as the strands settled around her shoulders. “So, what’s good on the menu? Are you talented and cook as well as serve drinks?”

  “Everything is good on the menu and, no, I don’t cook. I have a great chef who does that. Let me grab you a menu.”

  Now she was staying for dinner, he could use the time to convince Pandora that staying in Bunya Junction for the night was exactly what she needed.

  Or was he setting himself up to crash and burn?

  Chapter Three

  Pandora sat at a table and looked at the food in front of her. If her agent saw what she was about to put in her mouth, she’d whip the plate away faster than she could blink. Jonas hadn’t lied when he said the food the pub served was good. Everything on the menu sounded delicious. Habit had her looking at the salads, but she’d made an effort to look at the other choices and had decided on a chicken Alfredo pasta dish. The sauce looked creamy and decadent. It was carb overload, and she’d probably regret ordering it in the morning, but she’d deal with that tomorrow. Tonight she was forgetting who she was and what she did for a living.

  “Is your meal okay?” Jonas came up to her, a tea towel slung over his shoulder. At present he looked relaxed, as if he’d been born to be a publican. And maybe he had. She didn’t know that much about him—except for his family. Was the pub a family business?

  Oh, what did it matter; come tomorrow morning she’d be in the car heading back to the city. She still hadn’t called her agent, and wasn’t sure she would once she got back to the room she’d taken for the night. By now Laura would’ve gone into damage control—at least Pandora hoped she had. In any event, she could take this night to be normal and not ‘on’ like she always had to be. If she had any idea how to be normal. That ship left the shore when her model career took off.

  “Yep. It’s great, thanks.” Her fork hovered above the ribbons of pasta.

  “Really? From what I’ve seen you haven’t sampled it yet and I don’t know whether you want to dig your fork in or drop it and run out the door.”

  She chuckled. He didn’t know how close to the truth he was. “I was just thinking if my agent saw this meal she’d take it away from me. Then again, if I was having dinner with her I wouldn’t have ordered it.”

  “Well, you’re in Bunya Junction. There’s no judgement here about what you decide to do. If you want something different we can make it for you. I’ll be more than happy to take Pete’s chicken Alfredo off your hands.”

  Was this guy for real?

  The last couple of hours had been like she’d walked into a different reality. The people of Bunya Junction had opened their arms to her. Supplying her with a bag of clothes she probably wouldn’t get to wear. So many people had come up and asked if she was okay. The whole experience was unlike anything she’d ever had in her life and she was waiting for the other shoe to fall. For them to turn their backs on her, as they were sure to do. No way people actually could be like the townsfolk of this small town. Her parents hadn’t been that way, nor the people she now worked and associated with.

  And this guy was the one she should be most wary of. His friendliness from the very second she walked into the pub was an anomaly in her life. How could she trust his openness when she’d been let down by the people who should love her the most?

  No, she wasn’t going to think about the ones who had failed her. Tonight she was claiming as her own. Did it really matter what she ate tonight? No one would know except her and the people in this town.

  She dug her fork into the dish, swirling the saucy pasta around and spearing a piece of chicken. Lifting the loaded fork up, her lips closed over the food and she bit into it. Immediately an explosion of flavours burst in her mouth. The pepper from the chicken, along with basil, garlic and Parmesan from the sauce, combined to make for one of the best dishes she’d tasted in a long time.

  “Oh, no, no way are you getting this,” she mumbled around another mouthful of food.

  Jonas chuckled and the sound rolled down her spine like a raindrop sliding along a window. “That’s usually the response we get to that dish. Can I get you another drink?”

  “Sure. Can I have a water? Do you have sparkling?” Okay, now she was starting to sound like a bit of a diva, but if she had another Coke on top of this meal, she’d be bloated all night and she didn’t want to feel that way.

  “Coming right up.”

  He disappeared back toward the bar and she took a moment to admire the fit of his jeans around his butt. For someone who worked behind a bar, he looked to be in good shape. Then again, she didn’t think she’d seen him sit down since she walked in hours ago. Not to mention he would probably have to haul in boxes of alcohol and beer kegs. All physical activity that would negate the need for him to go to the gym on a regular basis.

  As she ate she looked around at the other patrons seated in the open room. There was a table of four who were watching the rugby game on television. Whenever there was a decision they didn’t like they would jeer; when their team scored they let out loud cheers.

  It still amazed her that no one seemed to think it unusual that she was sitting
amongst them. An outsider who didn’t belong. Oh, she’d seen plenty of speculation in some of the people’s eyes and she wondered if the pub was normally this busy on a Saturday night, or her presence had drawn extra prying eyes. Whatever it was, at least Jonas would benefit from her walking in without a cent to her name. But she would pay him back for everything he’d given her.

  “Here you go.” Jonas smiled as he placed the glass by her plate. “Let me know if you need anything else.” A sliver of happiness spiked through her at his attentiveness.

  “Thanks. And I will.” She picked up her glass and took a long draw from the straw, conscious that he still hovered by her table. “Is there something else you wanted?” she asked as it appeared he wasn’t going to move back to his position behind the bar. Only he wasn’t looking at her. His gaze was fixed on something behind her. His brow furrowed so much, lines appeared at the bridge of his nose. He rolled his shoulders back and stood up a little straighter.

  “Hey Drew, what can I do for you?”

  Drew? Who the heck is Drew?

  She looked behind her to see a police officer walking toward the table.

  “Evening, Jonas, miss.” He nodded at Jonas but focused all his attention on her. Uh oh, this can’t be good.

  “Hi.” The word come out three octaves higher than she normally spoke. Heat filled her cheeks and she was sure Drew probably thought she was guilty. If he was here about the car, which she had technically stolen, she was guilty as charged.

  “Are you Pandora Sebastian?” Drew asked.

  “What’s this about, Drew?” Jonas interrupted, his hand coming to rest on the corner of her chair. His close presence was comforting.

  Ignoring Jonas, Drew looked at one of the vacant chairs at the table and then back at her. “May I?”

  In her periphery she was aware that conversation had all but stopped and all eyes were on her. What had Jonas said earlier? Small towns? Yeah, small towns for the win—not.

  The whole time she’d been in the pub she’d been anticipating this moment. The moment where their true colours were shown and they turned their backs on her. She was the cuckoo and they were about to throw her out of the nest. Well, nothing she could do about their reaction now, but to brazen it out.