by Annie Seaton
He snapped it shut and put it safely deep in his briefcase.
One day.
He turned the light off and headed for the bedroom.
He lay beside Emma and rubbed gentle circles on her back until he drifted off to sleep beside her.
*
The raucous noise of the cockatoos woke them at dawn. Emma was exhausted and had slept soundly. She wanted to call the doctor at Cairns Base Hospital and check on Wilma before they headed to Port Douglas to visit her family.
‘Bacon and eggs?’ Jeremy called from the kitchen while she showered. ‘I don’t like the look of this stove. I think something’s living in it. I’ll fire up the barbeque.’
‘Sounds good, thanks.’ Emma stepped out of the shower and quickly dried her hair before leaving it loose. She slipped on one of the new dresses she’d picked up in town and a pair of flat strappy sandals, before applying a light touch of make-up. A smile tilted her lips as she applied a touch of lip gloss. George was sure to make some smart comment about her wearing a dress, but she wanted to make an effort for Mum and Dru.
And for Jeremy.
She was so proud of him. Last night as they’d worked side by side in emergency, she’d seen the Jeremy of old. The calm and competent doctor. Not a shred of arrogance, or a hint that a city doctor knew better. None of the hesitation she’d seen in him on Saturday night.
But she sensed there was something on his mind this morning. He was quiet as he turned the eggs on the barbeque. Emma carried the plates and cutlery to the table on the porch, and glanced at the bottle of champagne and the two glasses that he’d put on the table last night. Condensation had left a damp ring on the tablecloth around the bottle. She crossed to the edge of the porch where the gas was still hissing under the barbeque plate, and put her hand on his shoulder. ‘Almost done?’
His pale blue eyes were glistening as he turned to her and put his arms around her.
‘What’s wrong?’ She lifted her arms and cupped his face in her hands. ‘Are you okay after last night? Or are you nervous about meeting my family?’
Jeremy chuckled. ‘Neither. After my family, I’m sure they will be delightful.’ He glanced at the bottle and glasses sitting on the table. ‘Everything is right now. And it’s going to get even better.’ He ran his hands gently down Emma’s bare arms before he stepped away and pulled down the cover of the barbeque.
She walked across to the table but Jeremy followed her and took her hand before she could sit down.
He looked at the bottle of champagne. ‘I was going to have a toast last night, but I guess it’ll have to be orange juice instead.’
He picked up his glass of juice and lifted it.
Emma smiled and lifted her glass. ‘What are we toasting?’
Jeremy smiled. ‘To Jem and Em. The couple most likely,’ he said.
He held her gaze, his expression full of love. Joy burst through her and warmth unfurled in Emma’s chest. Her own eyes filled with tears and she let them run unchecked down her cheeks. Slivers of pink tinted the eastern sky as the sun cleared the treetops to the east. A pair of palm cockatoos flew over squawking, and Emma lifted her eyes as the sun rose over the Daintree.
‘To Jem and Em.’ She closed her eyes as his warm lips settled gently on hers.
Acknowledgements
The Daintree Rainforest is a unique, fascinating and amazing part of our planet. Visiting this World Heritage site in 2014 raised my awareness of the species and plants that are being threatened by human intervention. I hope that by reading this book, readers across Australia—and the world—will appreciate the biodiversity of the Daintree Rainforest and help protect this pristine environment.
The writing of Daintree has seen me continue on my writing journey, fulfilling my lifelong dream. Seeing my second book come to print, I have been supported by so many people in my life. I would like to acknowledge them here.
A huge thank you to my publisher, Haylee Nash and the awesome team at Pan Macmillan. Thank you again for believing in me. I will be forever grateful that you took a chance on me. Haylee, your ongoing support is highly valued. Lachlan Jobbins and Georgia Douglas, my editors: you take my words, bring me back to the ground and then teach me how to fly. My story is richer for your wonderful editing. The whole team at Pan Macmillan is fabulous and once again I have been blessed with a spectacular cover. A special thank you to my former publicist, Lara Wallace who set up so many media contacts over the past year.
To the many friends I have made in the writing world who constantly support me on my journey; I often say I have found my ‘tribe’ and I value the daily contact with like-minded people all over the world. Again, a special mention and thank you to my critique partner, Susanne Bellamy.
And finally, my wonderful family. To Ian, the love of my life and my partner in research as we travel this magnificent country seeking stories each winter: I could not do this without you.
To our children, Kate and Dane, and their partners, Alex and Elizabeth: thank you for your love and support. A special mention for our talented daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Clare Smith, for the wonderful map of the Daintree Rainforest in the front of this book. To our grandchildren, Benjamin and Charlotte, who love having a ‘famous’—I can always hope—Nannie Annie who writes stories, it is wonderful to watch your creative talents developing.
Again a special mention for my wonderful aunt, Maureen Smith, who not only supports me, but supports so many Australian writers by reading, loving and sharing their stories.
I would also like to acknowledge and thank the Kuku Yalanji people of the Daintree Rainforest, whose history inspired my references in Daintree.
And to you, the reader. Thank you for choosing this book. I hope when you read Daintree that you love it and talk about it, and that maybe you will want to see this wonderful part of Australia for yourself. Watch out for Drusilla’s story, set in the wonderful East Kimberleys, which will be published in 2017.
Drop me a line at [email protected]. I would love to hear from you.
About Annie Seaton
Annie Seaton lives near the beach on the mid-north coast of New South Wales. Her career and studies have spanned the education sector for most of her working life, with the completion of a Masters Degree in Education, and working as an academic research librarian, a high school principal and a university tutor until she took up a full-time writing career.
She is now published internationally in e-books across the romance genre, and in 2014 was voted Australian Author of the Year by romance readers in the AusRomToday.com Readers’ Choice Awards. In 2016 her novel Kakadu Sunset was shortlisted in the long romance category of the Romance Writers’ Association of Australia annual Ruby awards.
Each winter, Annie and her husband leave the beach to roam the remote areas of Australia for story ideas and research. In 2014 they explored the Daintree Rainforest in North Queensland, from Mossman Gorge to Cape Tribulation. The small town of Dalrymple and the Dalrymple Gorge in this story are fictional locations, but are based on actual places in this beautiful part of Australia, which was first explored by G.E. Dalrymple in his North-East Coast Expedition of 1873.
The pristine beauty of this World Heritage rainforest, and the species of plants and animals that have existed within it for millions of years, are threatened by many activities, including logging, mining, tourism and over-development.
Daintree tells the story of a local community’s commitment to preserving the rainforest and all that lives in it.
Readers can contact Annie through her website
annieseaton.net
or find her on Facebook and Twitter
Also by Annie Seaton
Kakadu Sunset
Book One in the Porter Sisters Series
Kakadu Sunset
Annie Seaton
In the ancient lands of Kakadu, it’s not just the crocodiles you should be afraid of . . .
Helicopter pilot Ellie Porter loves her job. Soaring above the glorious K
akadu National Park, she feels freed from the heavy losses of her beloved family farm and the questions around her father’s suicide. But when a search-and-rescue mission on the boundary of the old property reveals unusual excavation works, Ellie vows to investigate.
The last thing she needs is her bad-tempered co-pilot, Kane McLaren, interfering. The son of the current owners of the farm, her attraction to him is a distraction she can’t afford, especially when someone threatens to put a stop to her inquiries – by any means necessary.
Ellie will have to trust Kane if she is to have any hope of uncovering the truth of what is really going on. Between Ellie’s damage and Kane’s secrets, can they find a way to open up to each other before the shadowy forces shut her up . . . for good?
Shortlisted for Romance Writers of Australia Romantic Book of the Year 2016
This is a work of fiction. Characters, institutions and organisations mentioned in this novel are either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, used fictitiously without any intent to describe actual conduct.
First published 2016 in Macmillan by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd
1 Market Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 2000
Copyright © Annie Seaton 2016
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved. This publication (or any part of it) may not be reproduced or transmitted, copied, stored, distributed or otherwise made available by any person or entity (including Google, Amazon or similar organisations), in any form (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical) or by any means (photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise) without prior written permission from the publisher.
This eBook may not include illustrations and/or photographs that may have been in the print edition.
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry is available
from the National Library of Australia
http://catalogue.nla.gov.au
EPUB format: 9781760551117
Typeset by Midland Typesetters Australia
Map by Elizabeth Clare Smith
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