Jeanie’s arm came around her shoulders and they stood together, unmoving, all attention on the radio.
Ten minutes. Fifteen minutes. Twenty.
The radio crackled again and Mark’s voice came into the room, a little croaky and breathless, but still even. ‘Control, Dungirri One Bravo portable. Sitrep – we’re all okay. Repeat, everyone’s okay. The tanker is heavily damaged, but no major injuries. We are sheltering in a burned-out area approximately twenty-five metres east of the tanker. Please confirm receipt of sitrep.’
‘Confirmed, Dungirri One Bravo,’ Ryan said. ‘Thank God. We’ll have someone in to pick you up in ten minutes.’
The rescue truck brought them in an hour or so later and Jenn found him, leaning against a wall outside, gulping down a bottle of water, red-eyed from smoke and exhaustion. His yellow uniform jacket lay on the ground at his feet, his helmet beside it.
His wide, weary smile when he saw her melted away any uncertainties, and struck her heart. Oblivious to all the people around, she walked straight to him, and when he reached out and pulled her close she went without hesitation, burying her head in his shoulder, breathing in the smoke and sweat and reality of him. Hip to hip, shoulder to chest, his cheek resting on her head, she fitted there with him, encompassed, belonging.
‘You came back,’ he said at last.
‘Yes.’ She took a deep breath. ‘I hope you’re willing to help me with my new research project.’
‘Which is?’ Underneath the hint of teasing, she heard a hitch of uncertainty.
‘Researching stories about life, and courage, community and friendship, and strength and love,’ she told him. ‘I figure there’s probably a fair few out here in regional Australia that need telling. And maybe my skills can be useful here in Dungirri.’
He gently lifted her chin to look into her face. ‘So, you’re staying for a while?’
‘Yes. I’m staying for a while. I’ve taken six months’ leave of absence. It seems as though that’s enough time to learn some things I need to learn, and to decide … decide if there’s a future here for me.’
He brushed a strand of hair back from her face, and smiled, light dancing in the warmth of his eyes.
‘I’ve missed you, Jenn. Not just these long, last two weeks, but the eighteen years before that. Count on me to help you with this research project. As much as you want. Anything you need.’
She cupped his face with her hands and he met her kiss, long and slow and breathtakingly tender, that gentleness, the strength of him, the centre of him.
A burst of laughter nearby brought them back to reality and a fire-fighter slapped Mark on the shoulder as a group of them passed. Andrew Pappas, grinning widely, although he’d been on that truck with Mark facing death not so long ago.
‘Free food at the pub for emergency services,’ Andrew told them. ‘You two coming?’
Mark’s warm eyes smiled at her. ‘I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. Shall we go?’
‘I’m not an emergency worker.’
He reached down to pick up his jacket and helmet. ‘I hear you’ve been working the phones for hours.’ He put his helmet on to her head with a grin. ‘You’re one of us, Jenn.’
Arms around each other, they followed their friends along the road through the dust and the heat, the dry leaves swirling in the promised wind change, towards the pub and the town with enough heart and strength and determination to survive, whatever the odds.
Bronwyn Parry grew up surrounded by books, with a fascination for places, people and their stories. Bronwyn’s first novel, As Darkness Falls, won a prestigious Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Award for best romantic suspense manuscript in 2007. Her second novel, Dark Country, was named the Favourite Romantic Suspense Novel of 2009 by the Australian Romance Readers Association (ARRA) and in 2010 was a finalist in the Romance Writers of America RITA Awards – the Oscars of romance writing. Dead Heat was named the Favourite Romantic Suspense Novel in 2013 by the ARRA and was a finalist in the RITA Awards. An occasional academic, Bronwyn’s active interest in fiction and its readership is reflected in her PhD research and she is passionate about the richness, diversity and value of popular fiction. Bronwyn lives in the New England tablelands in New South Wales and loves to travel in Australia’s wild places.
www.bronwynparry.com
OTHER BOOKS BY BRONWYN PARRY
Haunted by her past, Detective Isabelle O’Connell is recalled to duty to investigate the abduction of a child from her home town. She and DCI Alec Goddard have only days to find the girl alive, with few clues, a town filled with suspects and a vast wilderness to search. It quickly becomes a game of cat and mouse, with Isabelle directly in the killer’s sights.
For Isabelle, this case is already personal. For Alec, his best intentions to keep it purely professional soon dissolve as his anguish over Isabelle’s safety moves beyond concern for a colleague. Their mutual attraction leaves them both vulnerable to their private nightmares – nightmares the killer ruthlessly exploits.
‘an impressive debut’ The Australian Women’s Weekly
‘a strong debut from an author who could be a future star’
Australian Bookseller & Publisher
Most people in the small town of Dungirri have considered Morgan ‘Gil’ Gillespie a murderer for eighteen years, so he expects no welcome on his return. What he doesn’t expect is the discovery of a woman’s tortured body in the boot of his car, and new accusations of murder.
Wearied by too many deaths and doubting her own skills, local police sergeant Kris Matthews isn’t sure if Gil is a decent man wronged by life, or a brutal criminal she should be locking up. But she does know that he is not guilty of this murder because she is his alibi …
Between organised crime, police corruption and the town’s hatred, Gil has nowhere to hide. He needs to work out who’s behind the murder before his enemies try to harm the few people he cares about. Kris is determined to help him, but will their search for the truth make her the next target?
‘loyalty and romance combine with all the action to make a memorable story’ Woman’s Day
‘Nuanced … intriguing’ Weekend Australian
National Parks Ranger Jo Lockwood is often alone in the wilderness, and she likes it that way – until she discovers the body of a man, brutally murdered.
Detective Nick Matheson’s posting to country New South Wales after years working undercover is supposed to be an uneventful return to normal duties. But he knows organised crime from the inside out and suspects that this victim is not an isolated murder.
As the body count starts mounting, Nick’s past and present collide, threatening the people he cares about most.
Jo is determined to do everything she can to help the investigation but she has seen the killer’s face and now she’s his next target.
Trapped in the rugged outback, pursued by hunters who can’t afford to fail, Nick and Jo will need to trust each other and act quickly if they want to survive.
‘a thrilling romance set in the wide open spaces of outback New South Wales’ Brisbane News
Darkening Skies Page 30
