Outback Flames: Australian Rural Romantic Suspense (3 page)

He couldn't
come right out and say, 'How about we take up where we left off?' She was a
killer all right, a man killer. His heart was on the rampage ever since he
climbed from his car, and sitting there in exactly the same position he'd sat
with her when they were kids tore at his heartstrings. It took all his
willpower not to lean on in and take a kiss. Shit. Now look what mess he'd got
himself into. Working for her for the next few months would destroy him.

He wanted to
tell her so much, but there was a chance she'd have nothing more to do with him
if he opened his mouth. He'd have to learn a bit about her condition first.
Find out something about her memory loss. And hell, she didn't know who he was,
didn't recognise a single damn thing about him. He could be a stranger for all
she cared. 

Shit. He was a
stranger. Zoe had never known him, well, in the life she was living now. He
wanted to change that fact, but he had to get her to remember them first up
before she found out anything else. He wanted...he slammed his fist down on the
steering wheel.

Wait until he
got hold of Jade. Waving him over...he hesitated in his thoughts. She didn't
know it was Zoe...but still her matchmaking was beginning to annoy him. He hit
the brake much too hard when he pulled up at his parents’ property, and skidded
toward the front veranda, stopping metres from the foundations.

His mother ran
out, wiping her hands on a tea towel. An apron concealed a pink floral dress to
her knees. 'Jordan. Good heavens, what's up? You just missed hitting the
veranda.'

He swung the
driver's door open, and gave it a slam. 'Hi Mum. Sorry. I wouldn't have hit it.
Is Jade here?' He knew she was. Her car was parked right beside his, but he
asked the question anyway.

'Yes, she's
out back. Has she been up to her old tricks again?'

'You could say
that.'

'She mentioned
that Zoe Montgomery was back in town. Is she the one that has you all riled up?'

'Nope.'

'So it is
Jade?'

'You could say
that.'

Jordan walked
up the steps onto the landing, gave his mother a quick peck on the cheek and
paused in his steps. 'You look beautiful as always.'

'Oh Jordan. In
an apron? You're always so sweet. Um...Do you know what's going on?'

'Zoe wants to
fix up the old property.'

His mother,
Helen, screwed up her face.

'Where did she
get to? This is odd. Did you tell her she's listed as missing?'

'No. I didn't
say a thing. Little bubbly bee took herself off to the cop shop to let them
know. Zoe was told the house had burnt down, not just damaged. You should have
seen her face when she saw it in reasonable shape. It came as a surprise, or
shock. I thought she was going to pass out. I'm not about to overload her with
information and have her turn on me now. I need to soften the blow a little.'

'You can't
hang onto the past Jordan. Let it go. It will destroy you and take her down
with you.'

'We'll see
about that won't we?'

Helen shook
her head. 'I wonder why she didn't come back sooner.'

'Not sure
about that one. I guess she thought she'd have nothing to return to.'

'Who told her
the house burned down?'

'Don't know
Mum.' He opened the screen door. 'Jade, Jade, you about?'

'You be easy
on her, she's only a woman.'

'Yeah, yeah,
yeah.'

After making
his way through the house, he hesitated by the back door when he spotted Jade
all pixie looking, sitting on a seat and swinging her legs underneath her. She
looked up with doe like eyes, and his gut went from an annoyed tiger to a purring
damn cat. God he hated that. Hated knowing his sister and mother had a way to
wound him around their little fingers and they knew exactly what they were
doing.

'You did it
again,' he said, as he pushed the screen door open, and walked over to where she
was seated. He dropped onto a chair beside her.

'It's for your
own good.'

'I wish you
didn't wave me over. I would have kept on going.'

'Preciously.
But I didn't know before hand it was Zoe.'

'Yeah. I know.
It's just.' He shook his head.

'You would have
run into her at another time if it wasn't today.'

'I suppose
you're right.'

Jade sprang
forward. 'I thought so. Look at you. You're head over heels for the woman,
aren't you? You're all flustered and not yourself. I can sense it.'

Jordan fired a
heated gaze in her direction.

'Come on
simmer down and spit it out big bro. She's beautiful isn't she? A stunner. I
thought you'd go for her...you still love her don't you.'

'I've never
stopped loving her, and don't you repeat that to any one or you're a dead woman,
my sister or not.'

'I won't
Jordan. I wanted you to get in first, before every other hot blooded male
within a fifty kilometre radius knew a new face was in town.'

'Yeah, that'd
be right.'

'They would.
If you don't, they will.'

'Are you
talking about Tommy and Nathan?'

'Exactly.'

'She's way out
of their league.'

'They won't
think that.'

Perhaps she
was also way out of his league. God, he didn't know anything about her and when
she found about him he'd be crossed off her books forever.

'Well, are you
going to thank me?'

'Not at
present. I have to organise a quote for the renovations, and organise quotes
from sparkies and plumbers.' He stood, turned and ruffled her hair. 'Thanks
squirt. Um, did she say much more to you?'

'She told me
that she wanted to take over where her parents left off. I presumed her parents
had moved from the area, until she introduced herself.'

'How did you
start chatting?'

'I was sitting
having a coffee and she walked past. We exchanged smiles and then it went from
there. I had no idea who she was. We were talking about Munna and its people
basically. With the heat and everything I guess we forgot the intros.'

Jordan shook
his head as he listened.

'She also said
that she didn't have any photographs of her family. You do, don't you Jordan?'

'Yeah. I'll
have a look. I think Mum has some as well. There might be some inside the house
at Montagreen, although I haven't seen any.'

Jade sprung
forward. 'Oh wow, she's going to love you for this.'

God, he hoped
so. He wanted to get to know her all over again, and he knew the word slow was
involved. When he was a kid, their relationship had been natural, one that
automatically happened. There weren't any complications except for her age, and
he'd only got as far as a kiss. He respected that, respected that she was too
young, but now she was all woman. His heart was in overdrive, his body no
better.

Jade wandered
inside leaving him staring in the distance. He could scarcely believe that
after all these years Zoe was home where she belonged. He wondered what she'd
done all her life, and who had she been with? Did she have boyfriends? He
cursed silently. He'd been living under a log lately, a bloody big log. A woman
who looked like that would have a line-up of men. He grimaced as a twinge of jealousy
slipped to his gut.

After scoring one of the biggest
jobs in Munna, Jordan wandered under the shade of the fig tree and inspected
his morning’s work at Montagreen. The house looked different. A few more days
and the outside would be completed and the damage unnoticeable, then he'd
tackle the inside.

He opened his
Thermos and poured a mug of coffee, thinking how he could explain what he knew
to Zoe. His gut hadn't felt right since she'd returned; especially knowing what
he was about to dump on her wouldn't go down too well. How would she react?

More than
likely she'd tell him to go to hell and forget about the job. He'd got attached
to it as he pictured the final stage. He shook his head. There was no use
worrying.

After setting
his mug on the table, he got back to work. A local mob erected the scaffold
equipment, as it was too risky to use the staircase. He was working on the
cladding on the exterior of the house when he heard a car pull up. He glanced
over his shoulder and spotted Zoe climbing from her ute.

She walked to
the back of the ute and dragged out a broom, a bucket and more items of
cleaning equipment. He squinted, lifted his hat from his head and ran a hand
behind his neck before climbing down.

'You look like
you're on a mission,' he said, as he sauntered toward her.

 She glanced
up. 'Hell, you startled me. And yes. I've got to get stuck into the cleaning.'

'Whoa, hang
back. You can't use the stairs yet. The bottom floor is stable, but not on this
side of the house.'

'Well, I'll
start on the other side. I'll get the kitchen cleaned, the office, and the
dining room.'

'Be careful,
okay?'

Zoe raised her
eyebrows. 'I'm always careful.' She shot him a wide smile and headed into the
house, appearing as though she was about to tackle the world. A hint of
amusement spread over his face, and he grinned. She was still the same bubbly
girl he'd once known, despite everything that had happened to her. Nothing
seemed to dampen her spirits.

He nailed
cladding over the exposed hole, and stood back admiring his craftsmanship. He
felt good and it looked good. A lick of paint, and no one would be any wiser.
He loved building, loved doing things with his hands, loved the feel of the
timber and the smell of the outdoors, although his mind had been crammed with
thoughts of Zoe for the past few days.

He wanted to
ask her outright why she didn't speak to him the night of the fire, why she
ignored him as though he wasn't there. But he wouldn't get an answer. She had
no idea, so what was the use? He glanced at a canvas bag he'd brought to work
with him early that morning.

After going
through some old photograph albums, he found he had two photographs of the
house taken from the front, and four of her parents with Zoe taken under the
fig tree. The only problem was he was also sitting with them. He didn't know
how or what to say if she started asking questions. There'd been no time to
find out about her condition, and now he decided to play it by ear. After all,
it couldn't be too hard to talk about the past, about what was and...he took
his frustrations out on his nail gun while battening down the last of the
cladding. 

A high-pitched
scream sent his senses into alert. He turned back, scrambled down the
scaffolding and ran indoors toward the kitchen, coming to a standstill beside
the doorway. He spotted Zoe sitting on the floor holding her head and raced
over to her. 'Are you okay? What happened?'

She glanced
up. Her cheeks flushed to a bright pink and she rubbed the top of her head.
'Damn ladder. I left the bucket with the hammer on top of the ladder. Naturally
I forgot about the hammer being there and when I climbed down the ladder
wobbled. And here I am sitting on the floor with one hell of a headache.' She
winced in pain.

Jordan glanced
at the metal bucket upside down on the floor, and bent forward. 'Here, give us
a look.'

She moved her
hand and his fingers parted her silky hair. 'It's not bleeding too much. Looks
like a gash, but by the looks of it, you've got a good sized egg growing. Are
you sure you're okay? Can you stand?'

Zoe pushed to
her feet. 'Um...yes. I'm fine, thanks.' She picked up the bucket and snatched
up a cloth until dizziness did a complete pirouette through her mind. She
dropped the bucket and staggered backwards.

Jordan reached
out and grabbed her arm trying to steady her. 'You're not too good. Come on,
sit down for a while.' He helped ease her back to the floor.

'I'm okay. I
think I got up a little fast, that's all.'

'Give it a few
minutes.'

She released a
huff. 'This place is a pigsty.'

'I was going
to suggest getting professional cleaners to tackle such a big job. I'd save you
a lot of back breaking work. That is, after the staircase is finished.'

'How long will
that take?'

'Another
week.'

Zoe nodded. 'I
might.'

'It's too much
for one person to handle.'

'I agree. Can
you recommend anyone?' She held her hand over the sore spot on her head.

'The Whites
run a cleaning company. They do a thorough job. They'd have this place
sparkling within a couple of days. But I wouldn't tackle it until after the
floorboards are re-sanded and sealed. All cleaning will have to wait until the
floors are finished, and the upstairs area. It'd be doubling up if it was
tackled now.

'Then there's
the furniture to think about. What do you want to keep, what is worth keeping?'

'I haven't
been upstairs, so how would I know?'

'I removed all
the contents from the rooms upstairs the day I started the renovations. I
didn't touch the end room, your old bedroom. It's intact, but a mess.'

She flicked
him a gaze. 'Can I see it?'

He could tell
she was excited when he mentioned her old bedroom, but to go up and see the
remains...he hesitated, but when he took one look at her jewel-coloured eyes,
he couldn't say no. 'Okay. But you have to do as I say.'

'Yes, sir.' She
grinned.

'Come on.'

Zoe stepped
where he trod, moved where he moved and stood on the top floor looking down the
hallway toward the end that had gone up in flames. She wrapped her trembling
hands around her waist and searched her mind for a memory. 

'I've got more
wall frames to put up. It'll resemble a home soon enough.' Jordan's voice drew
her from her attempted concentration and she turned, facing him.

'Um...thanks.'

She followed
him toward the other end of the hallway, then stood back while he opened the
bedroom door. Zoe walked up beside him, and leant on the architrave only to
gasp at the sight.

'Oh my god.'
She placed a hand over her mouth as that locked up smell hit her nostrils.
Pictures hung lopsided from the walls, and some had given up the ghost and
fallen to the floor. Piled on top of a single bed, a discoloured quilt and
sheets were beyond restoring. A set of dusty pink curtains, which would have
been exquisite in their day, hung askew over the window. Dust coated a
bookshelf full of books and she wondered if any were worth rescuing.

'It's worse
than a pigsty.' She shook her head at the sight before her. So this was once
her room. She wasn't game enough to breathe as she glared about, stung by the
realisation it was only a room, a room she no longer remembered.

Jordan reached
out, and touched her forearm. 'Come on, I knew you shouldn't have come up here.
I feel so bad. I should never have encouraged it.'

Tears filled
her eyes and she blinked them away. 'I insisted. It's not your fault.' She
sniffled.

'Come on. I'll
get someone to give the place a thorough overhaul before you set foot in here
again, that is after I repair the staircase.'

'Thank you.'
It was all she could manage. Emotion welled in her throat and she wondered why
she couldn't remember the life here with her mother and father. Blinking back
tears, she felt the warm touch of Jordan's hand as he led her down the
staircase and out through the front door.

They continued
toward the fig tree but his hand remained resting on the lower part of her
back. God it felt good. She could almost imagine he cared for her, that they
were...she forced the crazy thought from her mind. How could she trust someone
when all she'd known was lies, and it had taken her three years to put her trust
in the Pattersons? Even still, she was wary of everything they did and said,
until one day it dawned on her that they were honest and loving people. She
witnessed it in the many ways they'd help all their employees. She'd learnt to
trust them and in due time, perhaps she could learn to trust others.

When they
arrived under the shade of the tree, she was surprised to find a table and two
benches sitting on either side. 

'Have a seat.'

He broke
contact seconds before she sat. Her entire body zinged with such shock, and she
wasn't sure if it was from Jordan's touch or seeing a bedroom that didn't exist
in her mind.

Jordon sat
beside her, but kept his distance. 'It's only natural to react when seeing
something like that. Don't be so hard on yourself.'

'If I could
remember, have my memories, it'd make things a lot easier. Looking at that
bedroom, I could tell my parents loved me, that they thought a lot of me. There
are so many stuffed animals, and books. I don't think there's much to salvage.
'

'I'll get the
cleaners to go through the house, with instructions that anything worth saving
must be packed in boxes. How's that sound?'

She nodded.
'Looks like I have to put up with the motel for a while longer. Don't you think
it's odd that I escaped the fire but Mum and Dad didn't?'

'The ambulance
arrived not long after their room was engulfed with flames. Perhaps they were
asleep and didn't know what was happening.'

Zoe nodded in
thought.

'Perhaps.' She
gazed up at the house, trying to recall ever being here, but nothing leapt out
to soothe her nerves, announcing she was home. It certainly didn't feel like
home. Perhaps when the cleaners went through, when Jordan finished rebuilding
and she moved in, something might spark her mind and make her feel as though
she belonged here.

'Tell me a
little about yourself, Zoe? You know a bit about me. It's your turn.'

She finished
taking a sip of coffee and placed her cup down. 'There's not much to tell,
really. I worked as a jillaroo. When I was fifteen I started as a cook and went
from there.'

'Fifteen years
old. You mean after you left school.'

Zoe’s gaze ran
over a fence in the distance, and she rolled her lips, reverting her gaze to
Jordan. 'I didn't attend school.' She waited for his response.

'You what? You
didn't go to school?'

'You heard
right. When I left here, my aunt insisted. She said she had no money to send me
to school, that she wasn't well off. We lived on the borderline of poverty.'

Jordan jerked
back. Furrows formed across his forehead.

'It's no big
deal now, Jordan. I'm a qualified jillaroo and I love it. That's all that
matters.'

'You need to
get a few certificates for that don't you?'

'Yes. I
studied by correspondence when the time arrived. My aunt didn’t know though.'

'She sounds
like a witch of a woman.'

Zoe laughed.
'I don't like speaking ill of anyone, but she wasn't a nice person.'

'I can't
believe she didn't let you finish school.'

'She had her
reasons and I compensated.'

'You did a
great job.'

'Thank you.'
She glanced at him. Jordan was so appealing it scared the life out of her. She
pulled her gaze from the dangerous undertow shadowing his eyes. There was
something about his eyes. The river blue changed with his moods and little
needles of fire purred low in her belly each time they made eye contact.

She returned
her gaze to her coffee cup, picked it up and took a sip.

'Have you had
a chance to report you're not missing?'

Zoe thought
about it. 'Sort of. To the local constable. Um...I forget his name.'

'Constable
Matthew Berry.'

'Yes, that's
him. I went with him to the police station after meeting you and Jade. The
sergeant is away on holidays and the constable said I might have to go and make
a full statement when he returns. I don't want to make a statement. I've had
enough dramas in my life.' Zoe looked over her shoulder toward the road, and
back again.

'But shouldn't
you tell them what happened to you?'

'They know I'm
safe and not missing any more. That's all they need to know.'

'Well here
goes, there's only one way to start this.'

He appeared
hesitant. His jaw line hardened. Zoe drew in a slow breath as her anticipation
rose.

'We knew each
other before you left here.'

'How?'

'We went to
the same school, and we used to sort of hang out together. You were thirteen
and I was fifteen.'

'And?'

'This is
difficult to say, but there's no way around it. Do you mind if I take your
hand?'

She frowned,
but held out her hand. 'Go on. What have you got planned?'

'It's not
planned.' He took her hand, and his mind swung back to when they were kids. He'd
dreamt of this moment. His heart was killing him. The pressure was
unbelievable.

'We kissed
once, but that's all.'

She raised her
eyebrows. 'What was it like?' She grinned, a cheeky playful grin that had his
heart of the verge of busting through his chest. 'Well, sweet, nice, not so
nice, hot, longing, not long enough.'

He chuckled.
'It sounds weird doesn't it?'

Zoe laughed.
'Just a tad.'