Breaking The Drought (25 page)

Oh God he was serious. Jenna closed her eyes and tried to process what Luke had just said. He wanted her. He was prepared to sell his family home and give up the country life he loved just to be with her. It was everything she'd secretly dreamed of since that first kiss on the night of the ball. Luke was prepared to make her the centre of his universe, something that no man, hell, no person, had ever done before.

There was just one little problem.

She opened her eyes and looked at him. The grin was gone and an apprehensive expression had settled on his face. She realised he was waiting for her answer. ‘So did you find one? A job I mean.'

He nodded. ‘I think I'm in with a good chance of picking up a position in the ER at St George's. My mate Hamish works there. He wasn't too thrilled when I woke him at 6 a.m. London time, but after he'd woken up he was happy to help. He said there's a temporary position opening up in six weeks' time. He's emailed me the details and says he'll put in a good word for me. Reckons I'm a shoe-in.'

‘Oh God, I'm so sorry Luke.' She couldn't help herself. She placed a hand on her wound to support it and began to laugh.

Luke frowned. ‘Sorry for what? What's so goddamned funny?'

She shook her head and held out her hand to him. ‘I love you too. I want nothing more than for us to be together, but I have to tell you, I'm not going to London. I turned down the job yesterday afternoon.'

‘What?' He manoeuvred his arms around the various tubes and gathered her up into to his arms. ‘You're kidding me, right?'

‘I'm afraid not.'

Luke joined in her laughter. ‘Hamish is going to kill me.' After a moment his face became serious again. He brushed the hair from her face and tenderly stroked her cheek. ‘I don't care where it is, I just want to be with you. You're my home.' He leaned in and tenderly pressed his lips to hers.

Jenna drew him to her, wanting to feel the thud of his heart against her own. This was real, not a dream, but she could hardly dare to believe it.

After a moment he pulled back and gently took her hands in his. ‘So if not London, then what? I thought you said you were leaving Melbourne?'

‘I am. I mean that's what I'd planned. You were on the mark yesterday morning when you asked if I was finding it hard to settle back into my work. The time I spent in Barlow changed me. I realised I had my priorities all wrong.'

‘How's that?'

‘I've spent my whole life trying to control everything. I was so busy trying to protect myself from being hurt that I wasn't really living at all. When I met you I realised I couldn't stop myself from falling in love. It just happened. If you didn't love me back, no checklist in the world could shield me from the pain.'

‘Checklist? What are you talking about?'

She felt the heat rise up her neck and into her cheeks. ‘I had a list of criteria for potential partners.'

Luke guffawed. ‘So how did I fare?'

‘Not well, I'm afraid.' She gave a small chuckle. ‘In fact your score was downright dismal.'

‘I'm shocked.' Luke grinned at her. ‘So, I still don't get it. Why not London?'

‘I never intended to go into this line of work. I always wanted to be a writer, but I was afraid I would never make any money writing fiction. I started off writing freelance stories for magazines and eventually I ended up being the editor of
Gloss
.'

‘I thought you loved your work.'

‘I did, I guess, but probably not for the reasons you think. My career moves were all part of the grand plan of “having it all”. I know this will be hard for you to understand, coming from the family you do, but I've never known the joy of living in a home filled with love. I thought if I tried hard enough I could create the perfect family. I figured if I made good money and chose a partner carefully I could give my children the stability I never had. Now I realise how stupid that was. Being able to give kids a big home, fashionable clothes and an expensive education isn't important. Creating a home filled with love is what counts.'

‘How many?'

‘How many what?'

‘Kids. How many kids are we factoring in to our new Grand Plan?'

We
. He definitely said
we
. Jenna's heart soared.

‘Lots. At least three.'

He leaned in to kiss her again, his hand reaching behind her head to pull her close. When she eventually drew away from him, he smiled. ‘You still haven't told me where we're going.'

She shrugged. ‘I really didn't have a destination in mind. Writing the story about Maggie and the other Barlow women gave me an idea for a novel set somewhere in the bush. My plan was to move to a small town for a while to immerse myself in the community. I guess you could call it research.'

‘Any ideas where?'

She shook her head. ‘I thought I'd just see where the road takes me.'

‘Sounds like a plan.'

‘It would be great if we could find a place that needs a doctor.'

Luke grinned. ‘Bound to be plenty of those.'

A smile twitched at Jenna's mouth. ‘Yeah, in fact I can think of one already.'

‘Where's that?'

‘Barlow.'

The look on Luke's face brought a lump to her throat.

‘Really?' he asked, his voice thick with emotion. ‘You'd move there for me?'

‘Luke Tanner, there's nothing on earth I wouldn't do for you. But moving to Barlow is for me as well. For us. Tandarra's in your blood. It's where you come from, who you are. It's your history. I want our kids to feel part of that. Please don't sell it.'

‘Whatever you want, Miss Jimmy Shoes.'

Jenna rolled the magazine up and clocked him on the head with it. ‘That'll be enough of that, Doctor Tanner. I might love you but I'm still not impressed with you calling me that name.'

‘Hmmm, we'll have to think of a new name then. How about Mrs Tanner?'

Jenna frowned while she pretended to consider his question. ‘Yes,' she said. ‘I like that one. I like it very much indeed.'

Country Chic

From the kitchen table of Jenna Tanner

Greetings from Barlow,

I write today with mixed emotions. I'm partly sad, because this will be my last column for
Gloss,
at least for a while. But another part of me is bursting with happiness and excitement, because it won't be long before I'll get to meet “the bump”.

Luke and I have decided to go against the current trend; we don't know if “the bump” is a boy or a girl. Well, Luke
says
he doesn't know, but I'm not convinced. You'd think the town doctor would be able to interpret an ultrasound scan, but he swears he closed his eyes at the critical moment!

Shopping for baby gear and fashionable maternity clothes here in Barlow presents somewhat of a challenge. Last month I drove 60 kilometres to a nearby town, only to find everything in stock was more last century than last season. You will be pleased to know that I have risen to the occasion and have managed to furnish the nursery and dress myself quite adequately without so much as one visit to The Big Smoke. How? The internet, my friends, I have discovered online shopping. It's like magic. All I have to do is click on the object of my desire and voila! It's mine.

My friends have helped too, sending an array of gifts from far and wide. The ladies at the Country Women's Association have all knitted booties (how sweet!) and my friend, Brooke, has made me some gorgeous maternity clothes. She and her husband Rob are living on a wildlife reserve in Africa now, so her last lot of floaty garments were inspired by the vivid colours of her surroundings. I can tell you I caused a bit of a stir at the General Store when I went to buy milk wearing an orange chiffon caftan!

I can't believe that I have been writing this column for almost two years. I know when I moved here some of you wondered how I would survive away from designer stores and sushi bars. Indeed, I did wonder the same thing myself. But I'm a Country Chick now. Last week I found myself singing along to a Keith Urban song. Will wonders never cease?

I am beginning to appreciate the everyday wonders that living in the country affords me: good friends and neighbours and the time to really talk to them; fresh local produce and real home cooking; breathtakingly beautiful scenery from every window in my house; and, of course, my wonderful husband is here to share all this with me, which makes life perfect. Well, almost perfect. I still need to teach Frank, our local publican, how to make a decent skinny latte.

Being here has also inspired me to follow my heart and do the thing I've always dreamed of. After years of talking about it I've finally written a novel. As yet, I haven't found a publisher, but keep your fingers crossed for me.

I must leave you here, as I'm a busy little farmer today. There are animals to be fed, bills to pay, and guests to prepare for. My sister-in-law, Maggie, is on her way to stay with us. Luke's family have a tradition of planting a rose when a new baby is born, so Maggie and her son, Joey, want to be here for the occasion. She's also bringing the new man in her life. I'm very excited because we've not had the pleasure of meeting him yet.

So this is it. Farewell, dear reader, and if you ever find yourself in Barlow, do drop in and say hello.

Jenna x

Discover beautiful South Africa in this sweet, heart-warming Cinderella story about a blogger, a billionaire, and one chance meeting
.

When it comes to men, if physiotherapist Caitlin Sutherland didn't have bad luck, she would have no luck at all. To help cope, Caitlin starts blogging in her spare time, about the types of men she meets and the bad dates she goes on.

While on duty during the annual Wines to Whales bicycle race, a gorgeous, sweaty cyclist walks in and sets her hormones dancing. But he is Don Cavallo; one of the four Cavallo brothers — hotel tycoons, famous as much for their business skills as for the number of beauties regularly seen on their arms.

Don Cavallo has his own issues with the other sex. He has yet to find one who is interested in him and not in his money or hotels. But when this sexy physio puts her hands on his back she not only touches his body, but also his heart.

They've both been burned before, but neither of them can stop themselves from playing with fire.

 

From best-selling author Amy Andrews comes a new single-title romance about putting pleasure before business, and the things we risk when we find someone worth risking everything for.

Samantha Evans's life is going to hell. Not only has she rage-quit her beloved, high-powered job, but she is suddenly afflicted by hormones, free time, and an unavoidable, unignorable, undeniably gorgeous irritant in the form of Nick Hawke, her extreme sports star neighbour, who has come home to take over the reins of his grandmother's second-hand bookshop. Sam needs something to keep her from begging for her old job back until she's good and sure her boss understands how wrong he was, and taking a low-risk, low-stress job helping Nick at the bookstore might be just the thing.

After all, it's not like Nick is the right guy to help her with her hormones. He'll just be fun to look at while she searches for
the one
.

Nick has six months to get over an injury before Everest and a big, fat contract beckon. That means no sports, no danger and, above all else, no risks. It means playing it safe. And Nick Hawke doesn't do safe. So he's going to need something to stave off the boredom while selling books he doesn't read to people who wouldn't know a carabineer from a crochet hook. What could be safer than hiring a cranky, unemployed accountant to help run the bookstore? Sam is efficient and methodical and messing up her neat, post-it note world could be a fun way to pass the time….