by Leah Martyn
‘Yes, sure.’ She looked around and saw a pile of groceries had been unloaded onto the benchtop. ‘Have you been to the supermarket already?’
‘I was awake early,’ he said. ‘Thought I’d do a quick swoop. I borrowed your car. I hope that’s all right?’
‘Of course.’ Darcie searched for a bowl and began cracking the eggs. ‘You must let Lauren and me pay for our share of the groceries.’
‘We can talk about that later,’ Jack dismissed. ‘Tomatoes for you?’
‘Yes, please.’ Darcie’s mouth began to water. All this home cooking was beginning to heighten her taste buds. ‘And I’ll make some toast. Did you get bread?’
‘I did. The baker had his front door open a crack. I gave him a shout, introduced myself and he obligingly sold me a couple of loaves.’
‘That’ll be Jai.’ Darcie found the wholemeal loaf and hacked off a couple of slices. ‘He and his wife, Nikki, relocated from Thailand. He makes gorgeous bread.’
Jack piled the cooked sausages onto a plate. ‘Should we keep some of this food for Lauren?’
‘Uh-uh. She’ll sleep for ages. And she’s vegetarian anyway.’
‘Oh—OK. Good for her,’ Jack said, though he sounded doubtful. ‘We won’t have continuous tofu to look forward to, will we?’
Darcie chuckled. ‘Tofu is the new meat. But she’s more a risotto person. Although she does a great grilled halloumi and courgette salad.’
‘You mean zucchini? Well, that sounds all right, as long as there’s a nice T-bone steak to go with it,’ he said with wry humour. ‘This is about ready. Should we tuck in?’
‘I’ll get the plates.’
‘I hope it’s up to scratch,’ he said.
‘Oh, it will be.’ Darcie was adamant. ‘You seem like an amazingly good cook.’
‘I was reared on a cattle property,’ Jack said, as they settled over their meal. ‘We all had to learn to throw a meal together, especially at mustering time. If you were given kitchen duties, you had to have something ready to feed the troops or risk getting a kick up the backside. Sorry...’ His mouth pulled down. ‘That sounded a bit crass.’
‘Not at all.’ Darcie dismissed his apology. ‘So, are there a lot of you in the family?’
‘I’m the eldest of five. Two brothers, two sisters. I recall some pretty rowdy mealtimes.’
And he made it sound so warm and wonderful. Darcie felt the weight of her own solitary childhood sit heavily on her shoulders. Meals on your own didn’t have much going for them. But that was her old life. She shook her head as if to clear the debris and firmly closed the lid on that particular Pandora’s box. She drummed up a quick smile. ‘So, happy childhood, then?’
‘Mmm.’ Jack hadn’t missed the subtlety of her mood change or her quickly shuttered look. But he didn’t want to be stepping on any of her private landmines. One thing he did know, he’d shut up about his happy childhood.
‘So, what are your plans for today?’ He’d already noticed her boots, jeans and soft white shirt.
‘I’m going riding.’ She filled him in about the Aldertons and Willow Bend. ‘You’ll probably meet Lou sooner rather than later. She’s on the hospital board and a great innovator.’
‘Excellent. As the sole MOs for the entire district, we need all the help we can get.’
They batted light conversation around for the rest of the meal.
‘You’ll find a set of keys for your use at the nurses’ station,’ Darcie said, as they finished breakfast and began clearing the table. ‘Including those for your vehicle.’
‘Thanks.’ He bent and began stacking the dishwasher.
Darcie blinked a bit. Heavens, he really was house-trained. ‘Natalie Britten will be the RN on duty and with a bit of luck a couple of our ancillary staff should turn up as well. There’s a list of numbers to call if there are any staffing problems.’
‘You like all your ducks in a row, don’t you?’
Darcie’s chin came up. ‘We’re running a hospital,’ she countered. ‘We have to make some effort for things to be orderly.’
‘That wasn’t my first impression.’ He smiled then, a little half-smile that seemed to flicker on one side of his lips before settling into place.
‘A tiny glitch.’ Darcie shrugged away his comment. ‘I think you enjoyed surprising us.’
‘Perhaps I did.’ He considered her for a long moment. ‘Will you be home tonight?’ Oh, good grief! He squirmed inwardly. He’d 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.
CHAPTER FOUR
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 one way to find out,’ Jack said. ‘It’ll be dark inside and there’ll probably be rubble at the bottom. And I mean anything from rocks to old furniture. Usually, when a well is closed, some effort is extended to part fill the hole to make it less of a hazard. We’ll need to look out for rats as well.’
‘Rats?’ Darcie suppressed a shudder. ‘I hope they’re dead ones and long gone.’ A frown touched her forehead. ‘It’s daylight pretty early these days—how come they wouldn’t have known the well was there?’
‘I doubt it would have been used for years, and it’s possible that some attempt would have been made to cover it over.’
‘Well, whatever they did hasn’t been good enough. Why wouldn’t they build a roof or something?’
‘A roof!’ Jack hooted. ‘You’ve still a lot to learn about life in the Australian bush, Darcie. Our graziers have to make the best use of their time to stay viable. They can’t go around erecting a roof over every well they close. More than likely, they would have chucked some logs across the top. But with time they’ll have become overgrown, which will have only served to camouflage the rotting wood beneath.’
‘And there you have an accident waiting to happen,’ Darcie concluded.
‘By George, she’s got it!’
Darcie gave an exaggerated eye roll. ‘How much further, do you think?’
‘Hmm...ten Ks possibly.’
‘I hate this part of being a doctor out here,’ she admitted candidly. ‘Flying by the seat of your pants, not knowing what you’ll find when you get there.’
‘Comes with the territory, Darcie. You work as an outback doctor, you take on board the highs and lows.’ And if she hadn’t come to a realisation of that by now, then what the hell was she doing here?
‘I understand all that, Jack,’ she defended. ‘It’s just...medically, you can only do so much. And it’s so far from everything.’
Jack felt his mood softening. ‘Granted, we don’t have the backup of a casualty department,’ he conceded. ‘So we make adjustments. In our heads as well as practically.’ After a minute, he added, ‘Whatever path we follow in life, we’re probably conditioned by our backgrounds.’
‘Perhaps we are.’
‘I found working in London stressful.’
‘Did you?’ She sounded surprised.
‘You bet. London is an amazing city, so many centuries of history, but I felt as isolated in the heart of its busyness as you possibly do here in these great open spaces. I’m human too, Doctor. Just like you...’
They turned to each other, eyes meeting. Seeing the slow warmth in his, Darcie’s heart gave a little jiggle of recognition.
Suddenly, she felt a lift in her spirits, unexpectedly buoyed by his take on things. Perhaps they had, in quite different ways, quite a lot in common.
Within minutes they were at the location.
‘OK, let’s get cracking,’ Jack snapped, as they alighted from the Land Rover. He moved to organise the gear they’d need, tossing Darcie one of the high-visibility vests the hospital had included.
Quickly, Darcie slid into the vest and secured the fastenings. ‘We’d better find out who’s in charge.’
‘That looks like a site office.’ Jack indicated the prefab building. ‘We’ll enquire there.’
A short, stocky man behind the desk shot to his feet as Jack rapped and stuck his head in. ‘Blake Meadows,’ he said, and held out his hand. ‘I’m the film unit manager.’ His gaze flicked to Darcie and back to Jack. ‘You’re the doctors?’
‘Yes.’ Jack made the introductions. ‘What can you tell us?’
‘Two of our young actors, Jessica and Lachlan, have fallen into the well. We’ve managed to gather a few details. Jess caught her arm on a piece of protruding metal on the way down.’
‘So there’s bleeding,’ Darcie surmised.
The manager nodded. ‘At the moment, she’s been able to staunch it with her T-shirt.’
‘And the other casualty?’ Jack asked.
‘Lachy hasn’t been so fortunate.’ Blake Meadows made a grimace. ‘According to Jess, he landed on something hard—rocks maybe. Passed out. It’s his leg...’ He rubbed a hand across his face. ‘If this gets out, we’ll be in the news for all the wrong reasons. The company doesn’t need this.’
‘I don’t imagine the young people needed it either.’ Jack was tight-lipped. ‘Can you direct us to the well?’
‘I’ll take you.’ The manager hurried them from the office and towards an army-type Jeep parked nearby.
‘We probably won’t be able to do much until the SES gets here,’ Jack said, as they scrambled aboard and took off.
‘They should be right behind you,’ Blake said. ‘Frankly, I’m staggered with the promptness of everyone’s response.’
Well, at least their attendance was appreciated, Darcie thought critically, h
anging on for dear life as they rocked through the scrubby terrain towards the accident site.
* * *
To their surprise, Mal Duffy was already on the scene when they arrived. He greeted both doctors. ‘Knew a short cut,’ he explained in his slow drawl. ‘This is my team for today. Meet Rod and Gez.’
With no time to waste, Mal and his team began erecting a tripod arrangement over the top of the well.
‘Do we have any head torches?’ Jack queried. ‘It’s going to be pretty dark down there.’
‘Ah—unfortunately, we don’t have any in stock,’ Mal apologised. ‘The lantern torches are high-powered and we’ll place them to give you maximum light. Best we can do.’
‘Put head torches on your list of priorities, then, please,’ Jack countered thinly.
‘Will do, Doc. Sorry for the glitch.’
‘Has the air ambulance being notified?’ Jack asked.
‘CareFlight chopper is on its way,’ Mal said. ‘There’s a helipad at Pelican Springs homestead. It’s only about ten Ks from here. So once we get the casualties out, our ambos can shoot them across to meet the chopper.’
Jack’s mouth compressed briefly. It all sounded straightforward enough but experience had taught him it probably wouldn’t be. And if that was the case, then they’d just have to deal with any curve balls as they were thrown.
Mentally, Darcie began to prepare herself, watching as the SES team made their preparations.
‘You OK?’ Jack asked, shooting her a sideways glance.
‘Fine.’ She flicked a hand toward the SES team. ‘I take it we’re hooked up to this pulley thing and get lowered in?’
Jack nodded. ‘We’ll wear a safety harness. I’ll drop in first and the SES guys will retrieve the rope and send you down. OK, looks like they’re ready for us.’
Within seconds, Darcie found herself swinging down into the well. She gave a little gasp as she landed unevenly on some kind of rubble. Releasing herself from the guide rope, she began to take her bearings. It was darkish in the cavity, as Jack had predicted, and the place had a repulsive odour. ‘Jack?’