Raven Falls: Australian Rural Romantic Suspense

by Suzanne Brandyn

  Raven Falls

  by

  Suzanne Brandyn

  Copyright © 2017 Suzanne Brandyn

  All Rights Reserved

  Sunburnt Enterprises

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please report to Amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission in writing from the author or Sunburnt Publications. You must not circulate this book in any format.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organisations, places and events are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Dear Reader

  I'm excited to bring you another Rural Romantic Suspense, Raven Falls.

  Raven Falls is about the bond between a sister and her brothers and naturally the gorgeous hero, who is so alike the hero on the cover of this novel. Raven Falls is about realising not all promises broken are the fault of the individual. It’s also a mystery which could send the hero and heroine in opposite directions.

  I have four brothers, whom at one time walked many trails in the Outback, one of which still roams our mighty land. To deliver a story where the heroine has three brothers was wonderful to write, although I’ve used some personality traits from my brothers, the characters in Raven Falls are fictional. It was fun growing up with siblings, and to share some of the fondest moments with readers is a delight.

  Like all my novels, I enjoy writing them immensely and I do hope you enjoy reading them. I love hearing from readers and I’m indebted for any reviews you may leave on Amazon.

  Thank you.

  Enjoy

  Suzanne x

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  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  More books by Suzanne Amazon

  Chapter One

  ‘Unless he can perform miracles, he can hightail it back to wherever he came from.’ Samantha Osborne shot a heated look at her elder brother Cameron.

  ‘We thought you’d be away for at least another week. We wanted to get him settled in and make a few changes.’

  ‘What get him settled in without confiding in me?’

  ‘Give us a break Sam. You said you were going away for a change, to recharge. You’ve been back two weeks now and it’s as though you’ve never left.’

  ‘You’ve known all this time, and out of the blue you’ve decided to tell me now.’

  ‘We wanted to wait a while for the right time.’

  ‘Right time.’ Samantha shook her head. ‘It was your idea for me to take a break. You lot ganged up on me. I had little choice.’

  ‘I’ll admit that. We thought it’d do you good.’

  ‘You mentioned changes.’

  ‘He’s a wealth of knowledge. He has a degree in agriculture, the lot. He also runs and owns companies.’

  Samantha’s lips slipped into a derisive grin. ‘Degrees don’t mean a thing out in these parts, you know that. It’s the hands-on work that counts.’

  ‘I don’t know what happened to you when you were away, but usually a person comes back happy and relaxed after taking a holiday.’

  ‘I had to get back. Make sure you were okay.’ She dropped her shoulders.

  Cameron closed the few steps between them, and placed his breakfast dishes onto the sink.

  ‘You think this new guy is a miracle worker. I doubt that.’ She tilted her chin upwards, let out a fake chuckle.

  ‘We could do with some input sis. We have the biggest herd of cattle. As far as the crow flies, Raven Falls is well known on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales.’

  ‘And I don’t know that? We have enough workers. The place is running okay. Mum and Dad employed what we have, what we need. They didn’t go searching for outside advice, for help.’

  ‘And look where that got us.’

  ‘The drought is to blame. It has nothing to do with Mum and Dad, or the way they ran the property.’

  ‘I didn’t mean it like that. I meant the drought. It got us facing the drought. I heard Dad talking about irrigating the place, so I’m thinking of our future. We can’t continue like this for much longer.’

  ‘Why didn’t you confide in me? We all have to agree on what happens at Raven Falls.’

  ‘Exactly.’

  They looked up as Steven, one of Samantha’s younger brothers, walked into the room. Long strides ate up the kitchen floorboards before he stopped on the opposite side of the timber breakfast bar.

  ‘I suppose you knew about this as well.’ She wiped the bench top with a tea towel, as though she was wiping a hotplate turned to high.

  ‘We can’t back out now. He’s arriving today,’ Steven said.

  ‘Today. That’s just dandy. Well you two can look after him. I’ve got to get Christopher up to the bus stop.’ She tossed the tea towel onto the sink.

  ‘It’ll work out, Sam. Since Mum and Dad have been gone, things haven’t been easy on all of us. It’s about time we pulled together on this. The drought won’t last forever and we still have the Falls,’ Cameron said. ‘At least we’ve got some cattle. Not like other folk about.’

  Samantha was about to dash from the room.

  ‘See you at lunch sis,’ Cameron called.

  She hesitated, turned back. ‘You don’t have to worry about that. I want to see what this smart newcomer-with-heaps-of-qualifications guy has got to offer.’

  ‘Sam, before you go… We thought the break would do you good. You’ve come back a different person. Do you want to talk about it?’

  Samantha’s stomach broke out into a waterfall of nerves. ‘Nothing happened. I had a break and that was it. Nothing...nothing at all. I’m sorry...I didn’t realise. I’ll try to be...what’d you say? Like the old me.’

  On the way toward the front door she called out, ‘You ready Chris? It’s time to go.’

  Snatching the ute keys from the sideboard and with no sign of Christopher her youngest brother, she called out again. ‘Come on Chris. You’ve got five minutes.’

  Samantha sat in the ute waiting, and drummed her fingers on the steering wheel, while Cameron’s words repeated in her mind.

  You’ve come back a different person. She had no time to recall a summer fling, especially with someone that had never kept his promise. Her mind and heart wouldn’t forget being in his arms, of those special nights that played out like a movie each night when she closed her eyes to sleep. His promise to give her a call was blown away by the southerlies that leapt up each night at the caravan park. She could slice that week from her life as though it never existed, except she thought it meant much more than a holiday fling.

  Christopher opened the ute door and c
limbed in. Fifteen was far too young to be without the guidance of a mother and a father. He’d been ten when their parents died in a horrific car accident near Dingo Creek.

  ‘You know you could put a bit of pepper in your steps. You never rush, do you?’ All three of her brothers had that same lanky Osborne feature when they walked. It was as though the world would wait for them. An Osborne trait, so her mother had once told her.

  ‘What’s the point?’

  Samantha shook her head. ‘I’m sorry you had to hear that in there.’

  ‘Cameron thought you’d be pleased. You’re doing so much work with housework and helping out with the cattle. And we all know something happened to you while you were away, so why don’t you cough it up?’

  ‘Nothing...nothing happened. I had a nice time and that was it. I met some nice people, and enjoyed the ocean.’

  ‘Yeah, well. Forget it.’

  ‘Did Cam and Steve discuss how much we are going to pay this new guy?’ Samantha switched on the air-conditioner.

  ‘I don’t know. All I know is that he’s here to help out, give some advice about the property and any potential it might have. Something about an irrigation system.’

  She screwed up her face, and shot a glance in his direction. ‘What? Potential, advice, irrigation system. I think they lost it while I was away. And they didn’t discuss wages?’

  ‘Why don’t you ask Cam about it? He organised it all.’

  ‘I will, don’t you worry. So how are you going with your schooling? Mum would have wanted you to do your best.’

  ‘It’s pretty easy. I don’t mind. As I’ve always said, I’ll help out on the property. Ditch school. I know it all.’

  ‘Helping on weekends and holidays is fine for now. We all had to study. It’s the right thing to do. You might change your mind about being a full-time jackaroo when you’re older. You might want to be a doctor or a carpenter after you finish your studies. It’s good to have an education behind you.’

  ‘You did, and what good did it do you? You wanted to start your own veterinary business. What happened to that?’

  ‘It’s not important for me these days, and besides, I have to care for you guys.’

  ‘The only boring thing is the bus trip. It takes so long every morning and arvo with the continual stopping. Feels like hours the way old Bob Moore drives.’

  Samantha chuckled. ‘I remember that bus trip well. I used to do my homework on the way back and when I got home, I was so relieved. No homework.’ She pulled up beside the front gate. ‘A little over a year and you can apply for your learner’s licence. It’ll go fast and before you know it, you’ll have a driver’s licence. Then you can wave goodbye to the bus.’

  ‘That’ll be the day I’m looking forward to.’

  ‘Here you go. I’ll bring your bike up later today. In that way you won’t have to wait around for me.'

  ‘Steven said he’d fix it today.’

  ‘That’s good. See you this arvo.’ She leaned sideways and kissed him on the cheek.

  ‘Thanks sis.’

  ‘Be good and have a nice day.’

  He climbed from the ute and turned back. ‘You too.’

  ‘Learn as much as you can Chris. You won’t regret it.’

  ‘I’ll try.’

  As Christopher crossed the cattle grid and headed toward the opposite side of the road, Samantha blinked back a watery gaze, noticing how much the sun played over the lighter streaks of brown in his hair. His eyes were also like her father’s, the colour of a shimmering summer sky. If only their parents were still around. Trying to be a mother to a bunch of wild men was a tough job although it was something her mother would have wanted her to do. Well, they weren’t wild. They were brothers trying to do their best and mix in a little fun. Samantha didn’t see anything wrong with having fun.

  She’d put her life on hold after her parents’ death. A few months after she completed a veterinary science course her parents died, but she wasn’t complaining. She belonged on the property, although it would have been good to follow through on a dream that seemed a lifetime ago. When it came to the crunch, she wasn’t about to leave her brothers. They needed her, even if they didn’t realise it.

  As soon as she reversed the ute, the old yellow school bus jerked to a screaming halt, spewing up red dust. Samantha wondered if the brakes were set to screech like that. A faint smile slipped to her lips as she reached out through the window, giving Bob, the driver, a wave. She could see the outline of Christopher through the wide windows and as the bus pulled away, she waved again. He didn’t look in her direction.

  Christopher was suffering from their parents’ death. They all were. God she missed them. It’d been a tough slog surviving without them and she wondered what the future had in store.

  Samantha pulled up to one side of the brick and weatherboard home, where a wide veranda wrapped around all four sides. She eased from her car, walked up the five steps and slowed her pace. Her mother’s many pot plants struggled for attention, and the occasional statue thickened her heart with emotion. Even the flower beds which were once vibrant and colourful looked nothing like they had when her mother was alive. The limbs of shrubs and perennials now drooped and brown tinges ate away at the once vibrant green; even the old tennis court out back held signs of neglect.

  She leaned on a timber post. The house was built on a slight hill, which gave a good view out over the property. Large gum trees dotted the landscape, with intermittent shrubs as far as the eye could see. Breaking that landscape were two sheds, one of which contained a harvester. Thoughts of it ever starting again crossed her mind and she recalled the early morning rides she’d taken with her father, sitting in the air-conditioned cabin, intrigued at how the machine worked.

  She wondered why they hadn’t sold the monster years ago, but she gathered growing wheat one day might be an option. After all, there’d been much talk about the rains arriving like a flash flood. The land was crying out for replenishment.

  When she arrived in the kitchen, piles of dishes sat to one side of the sink and she shook her head. After stacking them into the dishwasher and setting it to wash, she cleared the rest of the kitchen and made several roast lamb sandwiches with pickles and some with tomato sauce for lunch.

  Satisfied there were a few choices for her brothers she slipped them into the fridge and made her way toward the back of the house to the laundry where she slammed to a halt, glaring at the humongous pile of washing strewn over the floor.

  She shrugged. At least they had the decency to put their dirty clothes in the laundry and not leave them scattered over the bedroom floors. Domestic duties consumed most of the morning. It was something Samantha hated with a vengeance, ever since the first time she had to make her bed. She couldn’t blame her brothers for not wanting to tidy up, but they all had to pitch in and do their bit.

  Lunchtime came around fast enough, and the sound of voices entered the house as Cameron and Steven walked in. She hurried toward them and stopped, propping her hands on her hips. ‘What are the rules regarding dirty boots?’

  ‘Aw sis. Ease off.’

  ‘I’m not going to clean if you’re going to be walking in with dirty boots on. Come on, give me a break here.’ She glanced behind them. ‘Where’s the new guy?’

  ‘He ain’t coming today. Got caught up with something,’ Cameron said.

  ‘Just like that. He’s not turning up. Reliable will be slashed off his list of qualifications.’

  ‘Sis, will you stop whinging for a sec. You’re on fast forward. I need a drink.’

  ‘There’s lemonade in the fridge. You know where the glasses are.’ She spun on one foot, and hurried toward the back veranda where she almost fell onto a wooden bench and dropped her head into her hands. Tears brimmed her eyes.

  Her brothers wouldn’t be content with the statement that nothing happened, but what could she tell them? Tell them that she’d fallen head over heels with the most wonderful man she’d ever met,
and that he told her he’d felt the same way? Well not in words, but his actions indicated he was interested. And then tell them that he promised he’d call and he hadn’t? She steadied her breath, and wiped perspiration from her temple with the back of her hand while struggling to rein in her emotions but it was of little use.

  The clop of Cameron’s footfalls approached. She gazed up. Long tendrils of dark brown curls, near black, dipped past his collar, and hung over his forehead, almost concealing eyes the colour of freshly mown grass after the summer rains.

  ‘Hey, are you okay?’

  Blinking back tears, she sniffed. ‘Not really, but I’ll be fine.’

  He walked up beside her and sat down. ‘Okay who was he? It’s obvious he broke you bad. What’s his name? I’ll beat the living daylights out of the man.’

  She forced her lips into a grin, but it wasn’t lasting. She sniffled, and glanced out toward the paddocks. ‘There’s no need Cam. It’s nothing.’

  ‘He’s really broken you, hasn’t he? He must have been someone special.’

  ‘It wasn’t a... guy.’ Guilt for fibbing niggled at her, but she didn’t want to explain the details of her private love life, not to her brother. He may be two years older but he wasn’t her mother. ‘I guess it’s trying to work from sunup to sundown, and then the effect the drought is having on not only us but the community in general. I also worry about you lot.’

  ‘We’ll be fine. Wait and see. I know it’s been a hard slog the last few years but you can’t take it out on everyone ‘round you.’

  ‘I’m sorry. I can’t shake the feelings.’

  ‘You need to talk.’

  ‘You’re lucky you had Mum to talk to.’

  ‘You’ve got me, although I’m not as good as Mum used to be.’

  ‘You’re doing fine Cam.’

  ‘And you’re doing fine also. I know how much not having Mum about means to you, to all of us, but we have to make this place work. What else is there?’

  Samantha shook her head, and sniffled, blinking back tears. ‘I do miss her. Every time I look about the place she’s still here.’