sounded like her father!
Darcie looked up warily. Was he enquiring whether she had a boyfriend who might be wanting to keep her out all night? Well, let him wonder about that. ‘Yes, I’ll be home. But I may be late.’
Jack closed the door on the dishwasher and stood against it. ‘Have a good day, then.’
‘I shall.’ She hovered for a moment, pushing her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. ‘Thanks for this, Jack. The day off, I mean.’
He shrugged. ‘You’re probably owed a zillion.’
‘If there’s an emergency...’
He sent her a dry look. ‘If I need you, I’ll call you. Now scoot.’ He flicked his fingers in a shooing motion. ‘Before I reassign you.’
She scooted.
Jack wandered out onto the veranda, the better to take in the vibe of his new surroundings. Leaning on the timber railings, he looked down at the wildly flowering red bottlebrush. The hardiest of the natives, it simply produced more and more blossoms, regardless of the vagaries of the seasons.
Raising his gaze, he looked out towards the horizon. There was a ribbon of smoke-laden cloud along the ridge tops. So far it obviously wasn’t a cause for concern. He hoped it stayed that way...
The clip of Darcie’s footsteps along the veranda interrupted his train of thought. He swung round, a muscle tightening in his jaw, an instinct purely male sharpening every one of his senses. She’d gathered up her hair and tied it into a ponytail and she’d outlined her mouth with a sexy red lipstick.
His heart did a U-turn. His male antennae switched to high alert. Hell. This was right out of left field.
He fancied her.
Darcie stopped beside him, dangling her Akubra hat loosely between her fingers. ‘Taking in the scenery?’ Her quick smile sparkled white against the red lipstick.
‘Just getting acquainted with the possibilities.’ And wasn’t that the truth.
‘Good,’ she said lightly, and proceeded down the steps. At the bottom she turned and looked back. ‘Don’t wait up.’
Cheeky monkey. Jack dipped his head to hide a burgeoning grin and countered, ‘Don’t fall off.’
Then, with something like wistfulness in his gaze, he watched as she reversed out of the driveway and took off.
His hands tightened their grip on the railings, some part of him wanting to rush after her, flag her down.
And spend the entire day with her.
DARCIE HALF WOKE to the sound of knocking on her bedroom door. For a few seconds she struggled to open her eyes, calling groggily, ‘Who is it?’
‘It’s Jack. Can you come to the door, please? We have an emergency.’
Jack? Jack...? Darcie closed her eyes again.
Hell, what was she doing? Jack glanced at his watch. He rapped on the door again. ‘Wake up, Darcie! I need to speak to you!’
Jack! Oh, good grief! Darcie sat bolt upright as reality struck. Throwing herself out of bed, she padded over to the door. ‘What time is it?’ She blinked up at him.
‘Five o’clock—’ He stopped abruptly. She was pulling on a gown over a short ruby-red nightie, her breasts moving gently beneath the silk. Hell. His breath jagged in his throat. He stepped back and blinked. ‘Uh—we have an emergency out where some kind of film is being shot. Do you know about it?’
‘Not really. Lauren mentioned it. What’s happened?’
‘Apparently two of the actors have fallen into a disused well. The message the ambulance got was pretty garbled. But they’ve asked for medical backup. I’m sorry to disrupt your sleep-in but I think this needs both of us.’
‘OK...’ Darcie pushed the heavy fall of hair back from her cheek. ‘Give me a few minutes.’
‘I’ll meet you out front. Don’t mess about.’
Darcie made a face at the closing door. She pulled on jeans and T-shirt and pushing her feet into sturdy trainers she sprinted to the bathroom.
* * *
Armed with a couple of trauma kits from the hospital, they travelled in Jack’s Land Rover. ‘I’ve spoken to Mal Duffy, the police sergeant,’ Jack said. ‘He’s given me directions to the site. It’s about forty Ks.’
‘So, apart from the ambulance, who’s in on this jaunt?’
‘The state emergency service.’
Darcie nodded. She was well acquainted with the SES and their dedicated volunteers. ‘Mal heads up the local SES. Their vehicle with the rescue gear is kept at the police station but he’ll have to try to get a team together. At this early hour on a Sunday, it could be difficult.’
Jack raised an eyebrow, seeming impressed with her local knowledge. ‘In that case, we’ll just have to wing it until they get there.’
‘Why on earth would they be filming so early?’ she wondered aloud.
‘Maybe they wanted to catch a special effect with the light.’
She glanced at him sharply. ‘You know something about making films, then?’
‘Oh, yeah.’ He gave a hard, discordant laugh. ‘My ex is an actress.’
For a moment his words formed an uncomfortable silence between them. Darcie glanced at his profile but it told her nothing. Was he sad or mad or both? ‘Ex-wife?’
‘No.’ He paused infinitesimally. ‘We didn’t get that far. We’d been together for three years. But our jobs took us in different directions. In the end, the relationship proved unworkable.’
Of course, it hadn’t helped that when he’d got to England, where Zoe had been filming, she’d found someone else. He swallowed the residue of bitterness. His ego had taken a hard kick, but life moved on. And thank heaven for that.
‘I guess relationships are tricky at the best of times,’ Darcie responded quietly. ‘Do you have any idea what size this well might be?’ She changed conversation lines tactfully.
‘Going by my acquaintance with wells, I’d guess six by six in the old measurements.’
‘So—the size of a small room,’ she said consideringly.
Jack took his eyes off the road for a second to look at her. ‘Any problems with confined spaces?’
‘I’ve done a little caving...’ Darcie recognised the flutter of uncertainty in her stomach. ‘I don’t know how that equates with going down into a well.’
‘Only
