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“You’ve grown up, Gem.”
Tears welled in Gemma’s throat, making it hard to reply. “What—what did you expect?”
“Oh, I expected something quite spectacular.” The skin around Max’s eyes creased as he smiled.
This conversation was dangerous, but she was mesmerized by his voice—deep, yet rough around the edges, as if his throat felt as choked as hers. She couldn’t drag herself away, despite the embarrassing memories still hot in her thoughts.
As if sensing her confusion, Max took both her hands in his and pulled her toward him. “Now that you’re so grown up, I think it’s time we talked about a little matter that we should have discussed long ago—five years ago.”
Strong and silent…
Powerful and passionate…
Tough and tender…
Who can resist the rugged loners of the Outback? As tough and untamed as the land they rule, they burn as hot as the Australian sun once they meet the woman they’ve been waiting for!
Inherited: Twins (#3701)
by Jessica Hart
Men who turn your whole world upside down!
Outback Baby
Barbara Hannay
MILLS & BOON
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For Lucy Francesca, who was born into our family at the time this story was coming to life.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
WHEN Gemma heard the pounding on her front door, she knew something was desperately wrong. Startled, she hurried to answer it, hardly expecting to find her best friend on her doorstep, clutching her ten-month-old daughter to her chest as if the baby were a life-preserver.
‘I need your help, Gemma. Are you terribly busy?’
Shocked by the fear in her friend’s eyes, Gemma slipped a reassuring arm around her shoulders. ‘Bel, you know I’m never too busy for you. Come in and tell me what’s wrong.’
Isobel stepped into the flat with a shaky sigh and hefted baby Mollie higher on her hip. Her eyes darted to the pile of paperwork on Gemma’s dining table. ‘Oh, you are busy. I’m sorry.’
‘Don’t worry about this mess.’ With a quick dismissive gesture, Gemma gathered up the designs she’d just finished and slipped them into a manila folder. For the moment she would have to put aside her own panic about deadlines and the need to dash this marketing brochure to the printers this afternoon. Isobel was obviously besieged by much more serious problems. ‘How can I help?’
To Gemma’s horror, Isobel’s normally serene face crumpled and tears spilled onto her cheeks. ‘It’s Dave.’
‘Dave? Has something happened in Africa?’ Two months earlier, Isobel’s husband Dave had been seconded by an Australian aid agency to sink wells in Somalia.
Isobel hugged Mollie even closer and rested a trembling chin on the baby’s curly head. ‘It’s so sudden, it’s terrible. He’s being held hostage. I’m sure it’s all some awful mistake, but rebels are involved.’ She drew a deep shuddering breath, clearly trying to suppress the urge to burst into full-scale crying.
‘I can’t believe it,’ Gemma whispered, gripping her friend’s cold fingers while she gaped at her.
Surely this sort of thing didn’t happen to ordinary people? Not to easygoing, cheerful Dave Jardine?
She groped for the right words and gave up the struggle. ‘I’m so sorry. This is terrible. Poor Dave.’ The thought of her childhood friend—the boy she’d grown up with in the bush—facing armed rebels was appalling. How could his wife bear it? She stared helplessly at Isobel’s white face and whispered, ‘What can we do?’
‘I’m going to him,’ Isobel answered with a determined lift of her chin.
‘You’re going to Africa?’ Gemma pulled out another chair and sat down swiftly. This second shock was almost worse than the first. ‘What can you do?’ she asked at last.
‘Apparently I’m the only one who can do anything,’ Isobel explained with wide, frightened eyes. ‘Because I’m Dave’s wife, the people at the Australian Embassy think I can help.
