Outback Flames: Australian Rural Romantic Suspense by Suzanne Brandyn Read Free Book Online Page A

glanced
back at the photographs.
    The fig
tree...her parents...Jordan. She squinted, leaned forward. They all seemed so
happy. It was all here, but her memory was locked away in the photographs with
those people. Perhaps Jade could add something. After all waiting for the
sergeant to return could take weeks.
    The doctor she
saw once in Tamworth recently said speaking to people who knew her before that
night might help to unlock that part of her mind. H e said talking about it was the only way for
her memory to return, if at all. When she visited him there wasn't anyone to
help her with the past, and she didn't dare broach the subject with her aunt.
Now, she had Jordan, Jade and the sergeant.
    She spent the
following half an hour studying the photographs and tried to recognise
something. Failing, she pushed upward to her feet, clutching the album close to
her chest. With a last surveillance of the area, she walked toward her ute,
turned back and stilled. Her heart squeezed. She was a shell, an empty shell.
Without a past how could she move forward?

Chapter
Five
     
    On the way back to the motel, she
decided to do a little shopping. She needed more toiletries and coffee, perhaps
some biscuits, Tim Tams. Her aunt said they were an overindulgence they
couldn't afford. Zoe wanted to indulge, and then overindulge. She grinned. She
didn't shop with her aunt, but she'd spotted packets of Tim Tams at the
Pattersons, and had her first treat at seventeen, thanks to Lily Patterson.
They were the most divine taste, one she'd never forgotten.
    Zoe owed it to
herself to have a treat occasionally. After all, life was for enjoying. It was
about time she tried to enjoy her life.
    ***
    Jordan veered
his car up beside the primary school and jumped out the second he saw his son
Luke running from the school gate.
    'Dad.'
    'Yeah mate.'
    'Guess what?
I'm invited to a party. I got an invitation.' He held it in his left hand as it
waved all over the place.
    'Let's look at
it when we get home. Come on.'
    Luke stopped
beside his father, and Jordan took his bag. 'How was your day?'
    'Mrs Fletcher
is nice, but she's married.'
    Jordan
wondered if his sister's matchmaking skills were rubbing off on his son. He
seemed to be mentioning women a lot lately.
    'Yeah, mate. I
know she's married. Why do you say that?'
    'Well
sometimes—'
    Jordan opened
the car door and Luke climbed in. He was a replica of himself when he was a
kid. Dark hair, and blue eyes, except Luke's eyes were deeper; almost midnight
blue. He was already a winner with the girls.
    'See you
tomorrow Luke.'
    Jordan
chuckled when he heard a little girl call out. He glanced up as he rounded the
front end of his car to the driver's side and climbed in. The girl waved and he
spotted Luke waving back.
    Luke appeared
lost in thought. 'What're you thinking mate?'
    'Ah, nothing.
I was talking about Mrs Fletcher.'
    'Sorry. What
were you saying?'
    'Well everyone
has a wife or girlfriend. Dad, you don't have a wife or a girlfriend. You never
have a wife or girlfriend. How come?'
    Talk about
kill his manhood. He'd had a few women since Michelle's death, but that was when
he frequented the city a few times. And those days were long gone. He didn't
broadcast his sexual life to the small town of Munna, especially to his sister
or his son.
    'I'm happy the
way we are. Aren't you happy?'
    'I sure am
Dad. A girl would spoil things anyhow.'
    Jordan
grinned. 'Sure would.' And he thought of Zoe. God she wouldn't spoil a thing,
in fact it'd be the opposite. He pictured running his hands down her arms,
kissing those luscious lips a thousand times over, and holding her naked
against him. He stifled a moan.
    'Dad, Dad.
What's the matter?'
    Jolted from
his temporarily lack of awareness, he turned his gaze toward his son.
    'Thinking
about the job today. Sorry mate.'
    And Luke
didn't stop chatting about the girl’s birthday party scheduled for that
weekend. Jordan usually worked on Saturdays to compensate for the early