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  "Oh!" Xan unclipped her matching wristband and held it out. "Sorry."

  The barman hesitated before he finally took it. The scanner pad beeped and he handed the watch back, his eyes on the screen. "You're...you're Ms Lane?"

  "Yes."

  He straightened and held out his hand. "I'm sorry, I thought you'd be older. I'm Marcel. Mostly I work the bar, but my speciality is hen's parties." He winked. "I'm a very skilled dancer. Those nights...I'm Magic Marcel."

  Xan blinked. Blushed. Blinked again. She'd never met a man so proud to admit he was a stripper. Then again, she'd seen the queue that night the Sun Cinemas had screened the latest Magic Mike movie. "Call me Xan," she replied, shaking his hand. "Is it normally this quiet?" She waved her free hand at the empty bar.

  He shrugged. "It's dinner time in the wet season. Most guests are still in the restaurant. When they close, everyone moves here, but with the races on, most people are in town for the weekend."

  The races? How could she have forgotten? If she'd still been working at the backpackers, she'd have been trackside with most of the guests. Most of town, too, admittedly. She'd never been a big fan of horse racing back in the UK, but here in Broome, with the red dirt track, it was a far cry from the turf at home.

  Marcel set her drink on a tray. "You're welcome to sit at the bar, but the best spot tonight is out on the veranda, overlooking the ocean." He grabbed the tray and walked away.

  Xan slid off her barstool and followed him. He placed her drink on a dimly-lit table by the veranda railing.

  "If there's a storm, you'll see lightning and waves, but if the clouds clear up, you get a sky full of stars." Marcel leaned out over the railing and pointed. "The rain's stopped and the moon's rising over there in a few hours, so I think you're in for the Milky Way tonight." He glanced back. "Enjoy it." He returned to the bar, where a well-dressed couple waited to be served.

  Xan sat back, sipping her drink, as she watched the bar patrons instead of the sky.

  They entered in pairs, dressed for a fancy dinner and not a night at the pub, and the only single men were her father's age or older. Business executives or whatever they were, they weren't her type. No, if Xan intended to throw away her principles for a night, it would be with some hot young stud, not a silver fox who'd expect her to fulfil his fantasies.

  Oh no – she'd looked too long. A man who looked fifty, if he was a day, flashed her welcoming smile and gestured toward the empty seat across from him. Xan blushed and shook her head. He raised his whisky glass in a toast to her before his eyes darted elsewhere.

  Allowing herself to breathe again, Xan kept her eyes on the darkness outside, where the stars had started to appear. Well, mostly planets at first, she figured, wishing she knew more about Southern Hemisphere constellations. Hey, that was something she could put on her list of activities for the hotel – stargazing.

  "You can't see a fucking thing from there," drawled a voice in the darkness.

  Xan peered out to find the source of the voice, but he was right about one thing – she couldn't see him. She could hear the approaching footsteps, though, as the voice's owner ascended the veranda steps and strode across the deck.

  Now, she could see everything not covered by his board shorts, which was the only clothing the man wore. Not that he needed to cover up a body that rivalled that of the Flying Frog Man. What she could see of it, anyway.

  He swigged from a half-full bottle of bourbon, slammed it down on her table, and wiped his mouth on his forearm. Judging by his unsteady gait, the rest of the bourbon was already sloshing through his bloodstream. He flashed a grin. "You're new, and you're hot, too."

  Hands down, Bourbon Boy was the youngest bloke present. Definitely the only one under thirty, except maybe the barman. But Xan had no intention of settling for less than stellar if it came to sex.

  "Who isn't? The wet season in Broome's humid and hot as hell. Hence why I'm drinking." She lifted her glass to her lips and sipped the liquid that remained. Mostly melted ice, but that didn't matter.

  "You're out." Bourbon Boy snapped his fingers. "Oi, Marcel. Lady here needs another."

  Xan turned in time to see the irritation on Marcel's face before he nodded and ducked beneath the counter. In no time at all, the smiling barman brought her a second drink. "Here you are, Ms...Xan. I'll put in the drinks order on Monday morning, so let me know if you'd like the distributor to put another case on the truck for you. We only get a delivery once a fortnight in wet season, you see, so if we run out, it could be another three weeks before we get any more."

  Three weeks for more beer? They really were in the middle of nowhere out here. She thanked Marcel, who frowned at Bourbon Boy before returning to the bar.

  The bottle of bourbon upended, glugging down the man's throat. An amber stream trickled from the side of his mouth, down the ridges of his sculpted chest and abs. He caught her staring and grinned. "Well, Zzzzan. I'm Jay. Come with me. I'll get you closer to the stars than you ever thought possible." He grabbed her hand in his free one and tugged.

  "My drink?"

  "Bring it!"

  She barely had time to seize the ginger beer bottle before Jay yanked her out of her seat. With his fierce grip on her hand, she had no choice but to follow him down the stairs and into the dark.

  "Where are you taking me?" she demanded, trying valiantly to free herself.

  "Relax, Zzzzan. We're not leaving the island. I'm taking you to the private Penguin jetty." He bumped the bourbon bottle against his wristband. "Your tracker will keep you safe. Hotel security are watching your every move. Plus a panic button if you need help. Just tap it and security will come rescue you."

  What? Xan glanced at her wristband, but it was too dark to see much of it. It was her ID and room key, she knew, but a tracking device? It was as big as those deluxe diving watches in the dive shop in town, so the wristband could hold a GPS, but the expense of handing them out to every guest...

  "Wouldn't do to lose a VIP, sweetheart. Want me to show you the stars like you've never seen them before?" Bourbon Boy – Jay – took another unsteady step on the path.

  How much trouble could she get into, anyway? This was paradise and her new home.

  "Sure."

  NINETEEN

  Phuong woke up with cold feet. Not just cold, either – soaking wet. That couldn't be right. She jumped up and bumped her head on the ceiling, a painful reminder that she was in her car. Where there shouldn't be any water. Peering down, she saw dark water swirling in the footwell. How on Earth....

  She glanced out the window, scanning the scene that seemed even more unbelievable in the pre-dawn light. Her car sat in a shallow stream so wide that she couldn't see the other side – or the bridge she'd crossed last night. As the light brightened, she realised what she was seeing wasn't a stream at all, but the return of the river that hadn't been home last night. Somehow, water upstream had come flooding down here and it was already over the wheels of her car. If she didn't get out of there quickly, she'd be swept away, car and all.

  Phuong wrenched her key in the ignition, praying to anyone who'd listen that her engine would work. By some miracle, it coughed into life. She shoved the car into gear, slamming her foot into the puddle to floor the accelerator. When she reached dry road, she slowed the car to a stop and burst into tears. She'd come so close to dying in that flood. Good thing she hadn't slept under the bridge with those two backpackers, who...

  Her heart plummeted. Hans and Ria.

  She twisted around in her seat, peering back at the way she'd come, but there was no sign of them. Their camp site had been obliterated by the raging river while she slept. There was nothing she could do – she didn't have a car that could go off-road, and she didn't have any rope to pull them to safety, even if she found them. Her best bet was to drive to the next roadhouse and ask for help there.

  Grimly, she ground her car into gear and sped away from the torrent that had taken her travelling companions. What else could go wrong?


  TWENTY

  After a moment, Xan forced Jay to stop so she could slip off her heels. Clutching her shoes and her drink to her chest with her free arm, Xan trotted beside him, their bare feet slapping on the faintly lit path through the jungle.

  Waves crashed, leaves rustled and something swooped between the trees overhead, but Xan couldn't see any of it clearly. Even the stars above only appeared between the gaps of the palm tree canopy turning the path into a tunnel of sorts. But a tunnel to where?

  "Where are we going?" Xan demanded.

  "I told you. The private Penguin jetty."

  "What the hell does that mean?"

  "It's a jetty and it's private and it has no lights, so it's the best place to look at the stars." Jay pointed into the darkness ahead, where the lights ended. "There."

  "What about the private penguins?" None of this made sense.

  "There aren't any. It's the wet season and we're the only ones here. Not that anyone ever comes here. Guests don't stay in Villa Penguin. You can come here whenever you want." Jay dragged her further into the dark.

  This was stupid. Xan fished out her phone and held it up so she could see where she was going. To her surprise, he was right – before them was a wooden jetty extending out over midnight-coloured waves, though it wasn't even nine o'clock yet, according to her phone. Too early to be doing crazy stuff.

  Her feet didn't agree with her, though. They kept walking, even when the paved path ended in damp wooden boards. She should turn around and go to bed – alone.

  "Now lie down," Jay ordered.

  Xan burst out laughing. As if! First the arrogant prick had dragged her all the way out here without explaining why or where, and now he thought he could demand sex? "Screw you."

  "Maybe later, babe, but I'm gonna do the stars first. First clear night in ages." He threw his empty bourbon bottle over the waves and stretched out at the end of the jetty, folding his hands behind his head. "And turn that fucking phone off. Can't see as much when there's lights on."

  She stared at him. He really wanted to stare at the stars? And here she'd thought it was a euphemism for...something. She tucked her phone away. Sighing, she settled on the jetty, sipped her drink, and lifted her eyes. Wow, the weirdo was right. With the lights off and her vision adjusting to the darkness, she could see millions of stars, like a spray of glitter across the whole damn sky. Sitting cross-legged and twisting her neck around to look straight up wasn't the most comfortable way to do this, though...

  Xan glanced at Jay, who was too intent on the sky to notice her anymore.

  So much for seduction or a one night stand. Stars it would be. Safer, too. She set her empty bottle down.

  Scooting her bum along the jetty to put more distance between Jay's body and hers, Xan lay back and looked up. What she'd thought was a cloud at first resolved into a thousand tiny pinpricks, each a sun so far away she'd never seen it before. Light flared on the edge of her vision. She turned her head just in time to see something streak across the sky before it vanished.

  "Did you see that?" she and Jay said at the same time.

  "You have to make a wish for shooting stars," Xan added, fervently wishing to succeed in her role at the resort.

  "That's bullshit," Jay grunted. "Wishes don't come true, and all the fairy tales your parents told you as a kid are the biggest lie of all."

  Xan wasn't sure what to respond with. What could you say?

  "You make plans, but they all go to shit. I loved her for years. Since primary school. Knew we'd be together one day. I just had to be patient and wait, so we'd have our happy ending." Jay laughed harshly. "But she had other ideas for Prince Charming. Rapist bastard."

  What? Xan sat up. "Who?"

  "Prince Charming, of course. The fucker had his way with Sleeping Beauty. That's what woke her up. She should've threatened him with a knife."

  Xan said lightly, "That's not the Disney story I remember."

  "Cartoons for kids. Nothing like real life. She picked the one who hurt her and threatened me. I'd never hurt her. Never. But she's marrying the violent bastard. I tried to protect her from him. I did. No thank you, though. No, she's going to marry him and I have to leave the fucking country..." Jay's voice dropped too low for her to understand, though Xan hadn't understood much of his rambling.

  Xan ignored him and watched for more shooting stars. She could do with another wish or two. Or...

  A flurry of lights flared and vanished like a cloud of sparks in the sky. Enough for more wishes than she could think of.

  She wished her parents would stay safe and healthy while she was here.

  That she'd solve the resort's mysteries.

  That Jerome's dick would fall off.

  That she'd get her own happy ending one day and it would be nothing like Jay's bitter ramblings. Nothing like Jay at all.

  Xan glanced at Jay, who'd fallen silent. "Jay?"

  He let out a loud snore.

  Oh, how charming. No wonder his princess had chosen Prince Charming over him.

  Xan rose and made her way back to the lit path. Better to go to bed alone than to make a mistake with a man she barely knew.

  "Maybe not, baby," she whispered.

  Jay snored on, oblivious, while she headed back to her hotel room.

  TWENTY-ONE

  Phuong crept across the third flooded section of road, hoping that the water wasn't too deep to cross. Warning signs on both sides of the road told of the dangers of being swept away – as if she needed the reminder. Hans and Ria might be dead now and she'd nearly joined them.

  Her tyres made a crunching sound instead of the swish of travelling through the creek, and Phuong let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. She couldn't stop, though. She had to continue to the next roadhouse to tell them what had happened so they'd send help.

  She just had to keep going. Over a bridge that rose out of yet another brown torrent, but this river hadn't reached the top of the bridge yet. She sped across the bridge and almost cried when the roadhouse came into view as she rounded the bend.

  For a place in the middle of nowhere, it sure was a popular spot. Cars, trucks and caravans were parked everywhere except at the petrol pumps. People filled the shop, spilling out onto the veranda and even queueing on the paving outside. While she waited for the crowd to disperse, Phuong filled her car with fuel, figuring that she'd need it for the long round trip to the river and back. The throng didn't thin, so she joined the end of the line and settled in for a long wait.

  After what felt like forever, she finally made it inside the shop, where the privileged few had access to air conditioning and a TV tuned to the morning news. The news anchor frowned as she described flooding and road closures throughout the Gascoyne. The pictures on TV cut to yellow barriers on what looked like the road outside – yes, they were outside, she realised, peering through the dusty glass. She wouldn't be able to return for Hans and Ria until the road reopened. Phuong turned back to the news report, hoping to hear when that might be, but the programme had already moved to another news story – a missing persons report.

  Phuong gasped as her own face occupied the screen. "If you see Fiona, please contact police or encourage her to make herself known – "

  She had to get out of there before anyone recognised her, but her legs had turned to jelly. She couldn't go back to Norman. Wouldn't go back to the life of a slave. Slowly, Phuong forced her feet to take one step, then another, slipping between the queuing customers to the warm, dusty air outside. Her hands shook as she unlocked her car and slid the keys into the ignition, but she had to go.

  Shoving the car into gear, Phuong headed for the highway, hoping no one had seen her or if they had, that they hadn't recognised her. She had to get to Jason and his island paradise. For all Jason's jokes, she'd need a knight in shining armour to save her from Norman.

  TWENTY-TWO

  This was paradise. No question about it. Two days spent drinking in the bar, lazing on the beach in
between downpours, snorkelling in the lagoon, getting thoroughly thrashed at beach volleyball by a woman twice her age, moaning in delight at the restaurant chef's magical creations at mealtimes...by Monday morning, Xan didn't want to leave Romance Island Resort. She was thoroughly in love with the place. She hadn't seen Jay since Friday night, but that was fine by her. She didn't want to build a reputation for sleeping with guests, however well-built they might be. Some of those older guys might get ideas...

  Xan laughed into the shower spray. For the first time since Jerome's betrayal, she felt hope for the future. Oh, sure, she still wanted to rip his balls off and watch him choke on them while he bled to death, but she'd managed a whole two hours without fantasising about it. That was progress, right there.

  Admittedly, she had been snorkelling through the shark nursery at the time, and the thought of a thousand hungry baby sharks shredding the flesh from his bones while he screamed had provided quite a distraction, but...

  She had to hurry or she'd be late for work. She'd spent too long stressing over what to wear on her first day. Casual or formal business attire? After all, a tour guide could be doing anything from diving through to meeting and greeting VIPs. In the end, the humidity had won. She'd chosen a business skirt, but paired it with a sleeveless top. Xan packed her belongings back into her suitcase in anticipation of moving to her official accommodation during the morning. She hesitated when she reached her suit jacket, the one that matched her skirt. It was too hot to wear, but if circumstances required it...Xan threw the jacket over her arm and wheeled her suitcase out behind her, hoping she looked as put-together as possible.

  "Checking out?" the man at Reception greeted her.

  "Sort of," Xan replied. "I've been staying in the hotel, but I start work this morning, so it looks like the luxury part of my stay is over and it's time to shift to the staff accommodation. I'm Xan Lane."

  He shook her hand. "Toby. Usually I split the night porter shifts with Dan here, but I sort of got conscripted into doing day shift today, what with –" he coughed "– everything and all." He stared at the computer for a moment before he added, "Hey, Dan, can you take her to her new place?"