Adam’s Thorn
By
Angela Verdenius
(BBW Romance)
Copyright 2013 Angela Verdenius
Cover image courtesy of forgiss and istockphoto
Cover by Joleene Naylor
ISBN: NGLVRD00000031
ebook Edition License Notes
No part of this book may be reproduced or copied in any form without prior consent of the author & publisher.
All characters and towns are figments of the author’s imagination and bear no resemblance to any person living or deceased.
Table of Contents
Foreword
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Bio
Other Books by this Author
Foreword
I found that some overseas readers were having difficulty with the Australian slang, so I thought a list of the slang I’ve used will help while reading the following story. If I’ve forgotten any, I do apologise! Also, you’ll find some of our Aussie words have different spelling to the US.
* please note that sizes in the US and Australia differ, so when reading of a set dress size, check the conversion on-line if you want!
Cheers,
Angela
Australian Terms/Slang
Arvo - afternoon
Barbie - BBQ
Beaut - beautiful, awesome, great, wonderful
Bewdy - as in ‘awsome, great’
Biccies - biscuits. The same as cookies
Bikie - biker, person who rides motorcycles.
Bloke/s - man/men
Bloody - a swear word ‘no bloody good’, in place of ‘no damned good’
Boofhead - idiot, simpleton, etc. It’s an insult, though sometimes we use it as a term of affection. It depends on how it is said and meant.
Boot (of a car) - trunk
Budgie smugglers - men’s bathers, small, brief and tight-fitting
Buggered - many Aussie use it as a slang word for ‘broken’ (it’s buggered), ‘tired (I’m buggered), and ‘no way’ (I’m buggered if I’m going to do that). Just some examples
Bung/Bunging - as in ‘bunging onto something’, putting on something (bung veggies on a plate, putting veggies on a plate), usually in a careless or ‘easy’ manner.
Chemist - pharmacy
Chips - in Australia we have cold crunchy chips form a packet, or hot chips known in some countries as French Fries
Crash cart - resuscitation trolley in a hospital or medical setting - used for life threatening situations such as cardiac arrest
Dander – temper
Dill - silly, idiot
Doona - like a padded quilt that fits inside a cover and lies on the bed. Can have the warmth of two, three or four blankets, etc.
Donger - penis. Also another meaning is a place people sometimes sleep in, such as ‘dongers’ on mine sites.
Dunny - toilet. When used in the terms ‘built like a brick dunny’, it refers to something built solid, unmoveable.
Garbo/s - the person/s who drive and/or load garbage onto the garbage truck.
Giggle-box - TV, television
Got his/her/their goat – annoyed him/her/them
Hoon/s - person/people who indulge in antisocial behaviour. Great explanation in Wikipedia
Iced coffee/chocolate - a milk drink flavoured with chocolate or coffee
Lolly - sweetie, candy
Loo - toilet
Lug - face
Milo - chocolate malt drink. Can have it hot or cold. Yummy!
Moosh - slang for face/mouth
Mobile phone - cell phone
NAD - No Abnormalities Detected
Nong - idiot
Nooky - sex
Panadol - paracetamol, similar to Tylenol in the US
Pav/s - Pavlova/Pavlovas - best dessert ever!
PCYC - Police and Citizens Youth Club
Pedal Pushers - three quarter pants/knickerbockers
Porking - having sex
Primapore - sticky patch with a pad in it, a medical dressing
Pub – hotel
Quack – derogatory term for a doctor
RAC - Royal Automobile Club of Western Australia. Covers insurance, holidays, loans, etc
Red backs - poisonous spider, black in colour with a red stripe on its back.
Rotty – Rottweiler breed of dog.
Rubbers – condoms
Seasol - gardening mix used to nourish plants
Servo - service station
Shag - sex
Sheila – female
Slab – carton of beer.
Snaggers - sausages
Soft drink - soda, fizzy drink
Tea - some people call the evening meal dinner. In my family, we’ve always called it tea, as in breaky, dinner and tea, or breaky, lunch and tea.
Thongs - worn on the feet, same as ‘flip flops’
Tickled pink - delighted
Tim Tams - a brand of Arnott’s Biscuits. Yummy!
TLC - Tender Loving Care
Togs - bathers, swim suit
Torch - flashlight
Tucker – food
Twistie – a brand of cheese-flavoured snack food – very yummy!
Ute - small truck
Vegemite - most Aussies find this spread yummy, many non-Aussies find it too salty. Here’s the hint - if you ever have Vegemite, use it spread thinly, never thickly!
Yamaha & Suzuki - ‘brands’ of motorcycles.
You wally - silly
Wanger - penis
Waterworks - crying
Whopper - a lie
Driving - In Australia, you cannot get a driver’s licence to drive a car until you are 17 years old. You get your Learner’s Permit (which requires you to drive only in the company of a qualified driver), then at 18 you can go for your Probationary licence (you can drive on your own but at restricted speed limits), and then finally you are a fully qualified driver.
Chapter 1
The little Ford Laser whipped past the police patrol car to disappear into the distance.
Sitting inside the patrol car, Adam glanced at the speed camera reading. He half expected it to read 200 kms per hour or something equally ridiculous, but no, the current bane of his existence wasn’t speeding.
Gazing after the Laser, he brooded. He wasn’t a brooding man by nature but since she’d come into town, he’d started brooding.
Barbie Declan. Blonde and busty, with a voluptuous hour-glass figure, she wore pretty, lacy, floaty kind of clothes that hugged or skimmed all those lush curves. A full-bodied woman who exuded a confidence that had more than one man giving her a second glance.
Barbie Declan. The dark cloud on his silver lining, the burr under his saddle, the dark spot in his bright world.
The thorn in his side.
Scratching the side of his jaw, he frowned, wondering just how long she intended to stay in Peeron. It was a quiet little country town and certainly didn’t need the likes of Barbie stirring up trouble. That she was trouble, there was no doubt. Always had been, always would be. She’d blown into town, glared at him, given him the cold shoulder, and brought out every old resentment he’d thought long gone.
Resentment or anger? He’d have thought his actions that night so long ago would have gotten it out of his system, that and quite a few years and a whole hell of a lot of experience.
Shaking his head, he straightened in the seat, clipping on the seat belt with a firm movement. That night was in the past where it belonge
d and he had no intention of dragging it up into the light of day. It certainly wasn’t one of which he was proud, but it wasn’t, he had to be truthful, one of which he was particularly disgusted.
Starting the car, he checked the traffic before pulling put onto the highway. Deliberately pulling his thoughts from a certain blonde, busty babe, he concentrated on the traffic, following the path he’d mapped out earlier in his mind. Not that there was much pathway, being he was on the main highway which led right through town.
Checking some of the more common side roads leading to the river and up Lovers Lane, he waved to Old Man Parker, who was fishing in the river. His dog lay not far away, snoozing happily. Back up the road, onto the main highway, and down some of the roads leading to the farms.
All was quiet, the occupants of the few cars he passed waving to him. He’d grown up in Peeron, leaving it for a number of years before asking for a transfer back home after having had enough of the cities.
Yep, give him the smaller, friendlier towns, especially one in which he knew almost everyone. It was like working form home, in a way.
Smiling, he turned off a farm road onto the highway, and was still smiling until he turned a corner to find a certain Ford Laser parked on the side of the road, a jack near the back wheel, a certain busty blonde struggling to loosen the nuts holding the wheel on tight.
Not a car was in sight or she’d have had help.
The smile disappeared form his face as, with a silent curse, he pulled in behind the Laser. Duty called, however unwelcome.
The relief on her face when she glanced up turned to something a whole lot less welcoming. Her finely arched brows lowered, those lush lips tightened, and her gaze lowered to the tyre again as she recommenced struggling with it.
“Flat tyre?” He came to a stop beside her.
“Nothing I can’t fix,” she replied coldly.
Watching her white-knuckled grip on the tool, he arched a brow. “Really?”
“Yeah, really.” She swiped the back of one hand across her brow, impatiently pushing back the heavy fall of blonde hair that tumbled over her shoulders.
Adam held out his hand. “Let me.”
“I can manage.” Ignoring him, she applied pressure on the bar.
“I can help.”
“I don’t need your help.”
His normally even temper slipped a notch. “Give it here.”
“No.” The bar slipped off the nut, almost making her lose her balance.
Why the hell did she have to be so bloody stubborn? “Barbie, hand it over.”
“I said, I can manage.” Straightening, she glared up at him.
“And I said, hand it over.” Without waiting, he grabbed it from her hand. “Move aside. Please.”
She actually made a grab back for the bar. Unbelievable.
Catching her wrist in a firm hold, Adam looked her right in the eye. “Don’t.”
Those pale blue eyes flashed, the irises startling against the black of her thick lashes. “Adam-”
He pointed at her. “Step back.”
“Or what?”
There it was, the challenge. The muscle in his clenched jaw ticked, but he turned his back to her instead of replying. Nope, he was more in control now, had a lot more experience in people trying to pick a fight.
Squatting down, he fitted the bar to the nut and exerting a little effort, loosened the nut.
He could almost feel the annoyance rolling off her in steaming waves. From the corner of his eye he could see the floaty material of her dress, the pale peach colour shot through with pastel pink, the breeze fluttering the hem just below her knees. A soft, flowery scent blew right into his nose.
Barbie’s scent. Once she’d preferred harder scents, sharper, but like her clothes sense it seemed her choice of perfume had improved. Her rudeness, however, left a lot to be desired. Regardless, he had been brought up to help damsels in distress, even ones whom he’d - Stop right there!
Focussing on the wheel, he changed it, deliberately avoiding looking at her, trying to breath in the scent of rubber instead of flowers. Moving closer to the wheel, he succeeded.
Hallelujah.
Thankfully, she maintained a chilly silence while he changed the wheel. It wasn’t as if they had much to say to each other anyway.
He’d almost finished tightening the nuts on the new wheel when the sound of a vehicle pulling up had him glancing around to see the ambulance parked beside them, the local paramedic leaning one elbow on the doorframe as he smiled at Barbie.
“G’day,” Matt greeted. “Flat tyre?”
“Afraid so,” Barbie replied.
Adam turned back to the wheel.
“Good thing Adam came along,” Matt said cheerfully.
“Apparently,” she replied, a little less sweetly.
“Need a hand, Adam?”
“Nah, I’m done.” Straightening, he twirled the bar in one hand before dropping it into the black tool bag lying beside the car.
Barbie looked at Matt. “Thanks for offering.”
“My pleasure. Can’t leave a lady stuck on the side of the road. Right, Adam?”
Adam cast him a narrow-eyed look. Yep, his friend had a glint of amusement in his eyes. Bastard. “That’s what my mother always taught me.”
“And mother always knows best,” Matt returned blithely.
“Hmmm.” Adam couldn’t help but cast Barbie a side-long glance.
Her arms were folded beneath her breasts, making the generous mounds rise high against the low neckline of her dress. Jesus, any lower and he’d have to arrest her for indecent exposure.
Catching the direction of his glance, her cheeks flushed pink as she dropped her arms. In a purposeful movement, she gave Adam the shoulder as she turned more towards the ambulance. “Thanks anyway, Matt.”
“No worries.” Matt grinned, his twinkling eyes switching to Adam. “Still coming over for the footy Sunday?”
“Yeah. See you there.”
The ambulance pulled back onto the highway and drove off, leaving Adam alone with Barbie. Turning around, she moved to the car, kneeling down and reaching for the jack.
Grabbing it before she could, he dropped it into the black tool bag, straightening with it in one hand. “Boot?”
Without a word she opened the door of the Laser and reached in to pull the lever, popping the hatchback open.
Adam dropped it into the back before heaving the flat tyre in beside it, careful not to squash several boxes that sat on one side. He’d have liked to check the contents more but she suddenly appeared beside him, reaching up to close the hatchback. It was either step back or get brained.
He stepped back.
Once the hatchback was shut, Barbie drew a deep breath, staring at the back window for several seconds before turning to him. “Thanks.”
He arched one brow. As gratitude went, it was grudging.
“For changing the tyre,” she continued through clenched teeth.
He gave a small nod, taking a step away.
“Even though I never asked for it.”
That made him pause. He gazed directly at her, the familiar annoyance seeping through him. The woman was impossible. But he maintained his poise, his role of a law officer and decent man.
Or tried to. Unfortunately, she chose that second to lift her chin, her nose going into the air as she eyed him like some unsavoury insect that had appeared in her presence.
Before he knew it, he’d opened his mouth and the words just fell out. “Oh, you ask for it all right. Keep up this pissy attitude, Barbie, and you’ll get it. Again.”
Her breath sucked in, those apple cheeks blooming with colour, her eyes flashing a mixture of mortification and fury. “You wouldn’t dare!”
“Oh lady, just keep daring me.” Before he could say anything more incriminating, Adam swung around, strode to the car and got in, picking up the sun glasses sitting on the dashboard and sliding them on. Then he just sat there, staring at her.
Good thing he had the sunglasses hiding his expression, because he was stunned that he’d actually let her get a rise out of him. No way he wanted her to notice.
Obviously Barbie didn’t want to hang around him any longer, for she stormed to the Laser, wrenched the door open and practically flung herself inside, yanking the door shut behind her. The engine roared to life and he was surprised she didn’t leave a spray of gravel in her wake as she pulled out onto the road, but the stubborn sheila obviously had some sense of self preservation because she did a perfect manoeuvre out and away.
Leaving Adam to drop his forehead onto the steering wheel and close his eyes. Christ, he’d faced riots, psychotic drug addicts, dangerous drunks, violent men and women, been spat on, called names, and even punched several times while dealing with out of control parties in the city. Never had he lost his temper, never had he allowed anyone to break his control, not once. His calmness and control was almost legendary amongst his fellow cops, his friends and family admired it, his calmness was just inbuilt, a part of him, just like his gut feelings that always steered him correctly. It had been in him from the day he was born, his father had always proudly proclaimed. Calm, unflappable Adam Moor.
And then along came Barbie and blew it all to shit in mere minutes.
Dropping his head back against the head rest of the seat, Adam took off the sunglasses and rubbed his eyes. He just hoped she left town soon. Why the hell she was still here, he didn’t know. Probably could ask her, but in all likelihood she’d throw a bucket of water over him.
When he’d dared to say something to her in the restaurant, she’d accidentally knocked his glass of water into his lap while passing his table. He’d almost lost it then, too, managing to grab her arm and drag her out of the restaurant for a good talking to, having enough sense not to do it in front of the fascinated townsfolk also in the restaurant. Of course, she’d denied it all, maintained it was an accident, and he could do nothing more than warn her and let her go. It wasn’t as if he could arrest her for assaulting a police officer, he’d have been laughed out of town.
Shoving the thought aside, Adam huffed out an impatient breath and started the car. He had work to do, and none of it involved sitting and stewing over Barbie Declan.
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