He had to trust her with his secret
For once, Dr Theo McWilliam had more on his mind than Bendbrook Hospital’s Emergency Department. He was involved in a custody battle with his ex-wife for his four-year-old son, Sam. Life was complicated enough – and then Sister Savannah Laine arrived.
Despite Theo’s reluctance, a growing attraction developed between them, but he couldn’t bring himself to tell Savannah about Sam. Only Savannah had already been hurt by another man’s secrets, and Theo had to find a way to tell Savannah about his before he lost the trust of the woman he loved.
Reviews
Thank you for a great read. Loved Dr Theo and Savannah. Their story made me smile, it made me sad, it made me sigh with delight. I’m certainly looking forward to reading more of your stories! Mary Hawkins – multi-published romance author.
Savannah and Theo work their magic upon the book as if they were real. I wish there were more people in the world like them.
Angela
Excerpt
Savannah turned to survey the inside of the house. She pulled the string on the nearest blind and the sun streamed in to illuminate the swirling dust motes in the air.
Alone again. Except for her brave warrior dog.
Maybe she was mad, but for the first time in a long time she did feel at peace. She didn’t need to please anyone but herself. Typically, even in eternal sleep, her uncle had saved her sanity.
The next two hours passed in pursuit of dirt and drifts of spiders’ webs, and for someone who hated housework, Savannah scrubbed the little house until it shone. She sang along to the same early Slim Dusty records her uncle had collected. They’d always sung when she’d been a child here and the two of them had yodelled their way through the household chores.
She’d just swept the last of the leaves off the verandah when Benson barked. She glanced up and the dust dried in her throat. A man was walking up her driveway. And she was here, alone. She looked around the verandah and finally at the broom in her hand. Not exactly a deadly weapon!
She moistened her lips and swallowed. Take a deep breath, woman. Either she was going to live here, be self-sufficient and confident, or she could high-tail it back to the rat race and lock herself in her mother’s downstairs flat. She held the broom in one hand, caught Benson up against her chest with the other and drew herself up to her full five feet nothing. Then she waved. Even aliens could come in peace.
He didn’t wave back. Great. She bit her lip.
He was a man all right. His strong thighs pumped as he strode up the hill under the well-cut jeans. She couldn’t tell his age because of the shade thrown over his face by the broad-brimmed black Akubra, but he was fit. Rampantly fit. She gulped.
Of course, that was judging by the speed he covered the distance between them – and the way the sun shone off his muscles below the shoulder of his sleeveless shirt. She tried to dredge up some saliva in her mouth and her heart felt as if it was beating as fast as Benson’s. She could almost feel the testosterone from here. How come men in the city didn’t shout about their maleness like this guy did?
At least he stopped at the bottom of the verandah steps. That gave her time to swallow again. The dark bristles of five o’clock shadow glinted on his chin while a faint drift of soap assured her he bathed. She smiled to herself at the normality of soap and her shoulders relaxed a little. He was human.
Savannah re-moistened her lips. ‘Good afternoon. Can I help you?’
He lifted his hat and raked springy chocolate-brown hair back off his forehead. His eyes were dark blue and really quite beautiful. She lost the plot for a moment as she was drawn into them. Benson squirmed in her arms, trying to bury his head further under her arm. It helped bring her back to reality.
The man turned his hat in his hands and she wasn’t sure if he was being polite or just letting his head breathe.
‘Afternoon. You’re Andy’s niece?’ His voice was deep and clear. A strong voice for a strong man. She supposed she’d expected a slow drawl. She suppressed a shiver of awareness.
‘Savannah Laine. And you are?’
‘Theo.’ She knew that name and her shoulders relaxed a fraction. The country solicitor had said he’d arranged for Theo to care for the stock until she could come. She’d imagined a crusty old farmer. Well he looked like a farmer but there was certainly no crust – and he wasn’t old either.
‘The gentleman who’s been looking after the animals? Thank you for that.’
‘No problem. Your uncle was a great guy.’ His statement seemed genuine but his gaze held no hint of sympathy for her. It stiffened her spine.
‘Yes, I know.’ She ignored the prickle of tears in her throat and changed the subject. ‘The animals. That was my next job. So how many animals are there?’
He raised thick brown brows at her ignorance. ‘In the pig shed there’s six sows, a boar, and a dozen or so growers that need to go to market soon. I’ll come down with you and run you through the feed schedule board tonight, if you like.’
That many! Savannah swallowed.
He went on. ‘There are twenty or so fowls. If you want to sell any eggs put them in a carton in your mail box and the mailman will leave you two dollars. And there’s one rooster, but I’d be knocking him on the head. He’s a pain.’
Savannah tried to imagine herself knocking a rooster on the head – what did you use? A hammer? She shuddered. ‘He’s probably safe for the moment.’
Theo gave a short laugh and it changed his face into something less harsh.
Thank goodness for that. For a while there she’d thought he was the frozen man. His eyes warmed in genuine amusement and became even more mesmerising until they went cold again. She dragged her attention back to what he was saying.
‘Then there are the cattle – twenty Murray Grey breeders, a placid Murray Grey bull and fifteen vealers.’
She’d helped her uncle with the farm animals over many holidays – she wasn’t scared or lacking in confidence – but that was a heck of a lot of lives depending on her.
‘That’s all?’
‘Just Billy the horse and a couple of ducks and geese, but they’re pretty self sufficient.’
Savannah nodded and tried to look nonchalant. ‘If you’re not in a hurry, I could come down and see the pigs with you now. What time do they normally eat?’ She put Benson down and descended the stairs to the boot rack.
Theo looked at Benson cringing and quivering on the verandah. He shook his head in disgust. Savannah thought she heard him say ‘Dishmop’ but couldn’t be sure.
He looked at his watch. ‘I’ve been coming around about five in the afternoon and eight in the morning, but they’re pretty flexible. If you leave them too long, they’ll let you know.’
Savannah tapped the Wellington’s upside down on the ground and slipped one foot into her uncle’s gumboots.
Theo was much taller than she was and she could feel him looking down at her.
His voice was serious. ‘I had a green tree snake in one boot and a red-back spider in the other one yesterday.’
Savannah’s foot hovered over the second boot. Had she checked it well enough?
She heard him snort and glared up at him. ‘Very funny.’
His face was deadpan. ‘So you reckon you can run this farm on your own?’
That snapped her head up. ‘Why? Do you think I can’t?’
He stared at her for a moment as if she really offended him, his eyes narrowed. Then he shook his head once. ‘Lady, luckily, it’s not my problem.’ He turned and started to walk down the driveway to the sheds.
Macho moron. Savannah glared at the muscles of his back moulded against his shirt and clumped behind him in her uncle’s big boots. She’d have to get herself a pair she didn’t swim around in. She awkwardly skipped a couple of steps to make up some ground. Where did he learn his social graces? The guy was a pain.
She almost laughed out loud when she remembered the rooster and what could happen to ‘pains’ around here. Theo probably wouldn’t notice if she hit him on the head with a hammer.
my second Kimberley’s of Western Australia book has hit the shelves.
Makes you wonder about the covers in all the other countries. 
