The first answer is beautiful BALI. I flew out with another midwife, my friend Vicki, at the end of May and came back in the first week of June. This is a photo of me outside the Bumi Sehat, at Ubud, Bali, of course we couldn’t miss out on a visit to a birth centre for mostly Balinese women. This centre is funded by donations and staffed by inspiring women. This was my second visit to Bumi Sehat and again I was fortunate to talk to the Australian midwife working there and also to Robyn Lim, a dynamic American lady who founded the centre. Can you see the sculpture of a woman birthing behind me at the front gate.  It gets the midwife in me everytime. (And that’s why its a large pic because I wanted you to be able to see  the detail :)

This trip we did so much more exploring and connecting with the essence of Bali. Pushbike rides, Balinese Cooking Classes, volcanoes and even stayed with a wonderful Balinese family. Fabulous, fabulous people and time and the setting for my current book. Now why aren’t you surprised.

Then I was home for two weeks, before I waved goodbye to my long-suffering husband, and flew into Melbourne to talk about the publicity for launch of The Don’t Panic Guide To Birth in September.

Watch out for me in print, maybe weekend papers, health and women’s mags, some radio gigs and maybe even a few minutes on breakfast TV. It’s very exciting to me that Penguin Australia are so behind the concept of the Don’t Panic Guide To Birth.  All good reasons to decline that cream bun just in case. Sigh.

Then it was on for a Screenwriting weekend with some writing friends to enjoy two fabulous Hollywood screenwriting gurus, Michael Hauge and Steve Kaplan before I flew home. What a fabulous weekend that was.

Then there was a heap of work, some gorgeous births I was priviliged to share, and now I’m off to the Hunter Valley for another fab Advance Life Support Obstetrics weekend with midwives and doctors from all over. Though I doubt there’ll be much time for tasting the glorious wines of the Hunter. My husband and I keep promising we’re going to go for a lazy weekend and enjoy what the Hunter has to offer. 

But then I’m home for a whole four weeks, and there’s this little matter of a book to finish,  before it’s ROMANCE WRITERS OF AUSTRALIA conference time at the beautiful Coogee Beach.  http://www.romanceaustralia.com/conference_sydney.html

I really hope to see you there.

warmest wishes for a fabulous July and I really must remember to feel my feet on the ground

xxFiona

The Midwife and The Millionaire,

my second Kimberley’s of Western Australia book has hit the shelves.

Check the review.

In a two pack in England with the talented Judy Campbell, and as Medical book of the month in Australia in single format, and with another cover in North America. All have great covers and I thought I’d share them.

Because this is my last Kimberley’s book I was sad to leave this magical area behind at the end of the book. The ideas for Sophie’s story came during a helicopter trip towards the Tanami Desert when I spent a full day exploring the fabulous striped rock formations of the Bungle Bungles. The land was so arid I wondered how people would survive if they were stranded. As a strange co-incidence, we were only a day behind the new Qantas (Australia’s airline) commercial being made there, so if you see the clip and notice the cathedral like cave, that’s the place. It’s always a thrill for me to recognise the landscape of the Bungle Bungles when the children start to sing.

I hope you enjoy Sophie and Levi’s story. I had great fun challenging them.

THE MIDWIFE AND THE MILLIONAIRE

Midwife Sophie Sullivan is beautiful, fun-loving, calm in a crisis…and hates arrogant, smooth-talking playboys like Sydney’s most eligible bachelor Levi Pearson! But when a helicopter crashes down in Western Australia, with Levi and Sophie on board, these two very different people must rely on each other to survive… But isn’t it often said that opposites attract?  Out now UK, in July North America and Australia/NZ

And thanks to Sheryl from Cataromance for another lovely review. 

The Midwife and the Millionaire by Fiona McArthur is a medical romance that plays with the emotions and delivers an enthralling read. Sophie is a woman who knows what she likes and dislikes, and her first impression of Levi is that of arrogance which changes as she gets  to know him. While Levi wasn’t looking for complications but discovers one in Sophie, a woman he finds as prickly as a pear yet somehow more desirable. Ms McArthur has created a tale of a fiery encounter ending with a relationship of love. Thank you Ms McArthur for giving this reader another enchanting read.

You can find the review in the link.

Makes you wonder about the covers in all the other countries.

Read The Excerpt……

	An Excerpt From…The Midwife and the Millionaire by Fiona McArthur  Another squat boab tree dropped its leaves as Sophie Sullivan drove past, a sure sign the wet season was nearly over. She sounded her car horn at the frilled-neck lizard basking in the middle of the dirt track and he reared on hind legs, spread his neck frill and hissed until he seemed much more than he really was.Typical male.At least the craggy red mountains that embraced her were true, she thought, as she drove towards the boulder-strewn river—that range was a dear part of home. Home: far north Western Australia, the Kimberleys and a place blissfully away from the city and men who shed lies like the boab shed leaves. Even the dusty Gibb River Road looked attractive until she saw the vehicle parked by the Pentecost and the motionless man beside the sluggish water. More crocodile fodder. She sighed—travellers caused her no end of concern, especially ones who hovered for long periods at the edge of the crocodile-inhabited rivers. The tourists parked by the river because of the view to the Cockburn Range across the ochre plains. Locals used the designated parking area at the top of the hill, well away from the water. She pulled up next to the expensive all-terrain vehicle and wound down her window. ‘You OK, there?’ The man didn’t answer. He must’ve heard her truck. She was ten feet away from him. Careless and rude, she thought and narrowed her eyes. Finally he turned his head and glanced at her dismissively. ‘Fine, thanks.’ He was big—Sophie couldn’t help but notice— bigger than her brother, Smiley, who topped six-two, and this guy was very nicely muscled so he’d be a mouthful for any croc, but he was too close and too stationary in a dangerous spot. It would be a shame to waste the body, she thought dispassionately, and with the new knowledge from Brand-name Brad she could have done without, it would be a waste of the designer jeans and Rolex watch. Congratulations were in order for her immunity from the male species. A hard-won but valuable lesson. Sophie bit back another sigh. How did you tell someone to get back in their vehicle when they blatantly ignored you? ‘You’ve seen the warnings?’ She looked at the sign herself, read it under her breath even. ‘Crocodiles Inhabit This Area. Keep Away from the Edge. Do Not Enter the Water.’ But her reading it didn’t make him face her. In fact, no further response to her at all. Grrr. Spare me from arrogant males. Despite the flags that waved from the man to say go away, she tried one more time. ‘About the crocodiles here?’ ‘Yes, thanks.’ Far less cordial and this time he shifted his feet so he faced her. ‘I’m just passing through.’ ‘You’ll pass right through a croc,’ she said drily. ‘I lost my darling dog in a spot like this once.’ And still had nightmares about the tragedy her lack of concentration had caused. Then he looked directly at her. He wasn’t to-die-for handsome, really, but he had those dark, dark lashes and an intense gaze that held her, effortlessly, until he dropped the connection as easily as he’d reeled her in. The trumpet call. Danger, and not from crocodiles. Her skin prickled. ‘I’m sorry to hear about your pet.’ He glanced back at the river before he looked again at her, to assess if she’d be a nuisance by the look of it, and Sophie could feel the warmth of the sun beat in the window, or she hoped that explained the heat. Best not to become entangled in another look so she concentrated on a small scar on his chin that made him less imposing—more vulnerable, which was a funny thing to think about a stranger, but his mouth… She had a sudden ridiculous urge to see those lips smile. Sophie searched for the question she’d asked. He coughed and she looked up in time to see him roll his eyes, obviously used to stunned mullet expressions on passing females, and he didn’t bother to hide the sigh. ‘If I get attacked by a croc because I had to talk to you I’m going to be extremely unhappy.’ Sophie blinked. What the heck was she doing? So much for immunity! She obviously needed a booster shot against this guy, so leaving was a great idea. ‘Right, then. Your funeral.’ For the first time in ten years Sophie crunched the gears as she slipped her vehicle into reverse. Levi Pearson turned back to contemplate the spot where his father had been taken five months ago. Or had he been pushed and the crocodile only secondary to his demise? He’d find out. That tiny whiff of suspicion, something only he seemed to have sniffed, was the reason he’d flown up here after the wet season and why he’d asked his stubbornly determined sister not to mention their proper connection to Xanadu. That and the fact the other consultant he worked with had recommended a holiday for the tenth time in the past two years. As soon as he’d confirmed or dismissed the concept of foul play he’d get her the hell out of downtown no-wheresville and back to Sydney. The manager here was more than capable of running Xanadu, and Levi didn’t need another burden, but he’d discovered a motive he couldn’t dismiss. Lord knew the original owners of the station had enough reason to hate his family if the stories of his father were true. He took his eye off the bank and risked a glance at the blonde woman’s four-wheel-drive vehicle as it ploughed through the river away from him. Nothing else mattered. Hadn’t for a long while. Definitely not a pair of concerned blue eyes under two stern eyebrows. Above a lush little mouth. He frowned. She’d been an officious little thing but strangely intriguing. Still, he’d read the population of the Kimberley region was about thirty thousand people in an area slightly bigger than Germany and it was the last place he’d ever settle. So, he should be safe from bumping into her again. He didn’t need the complication of fleeting sexual attraction to a cowgirl. A stealthy splash to the left of where he stood had his attention firmly back on the water and Levi took a few steps towards the vehicle he’d borrowed from the resort. Probably better not to get eaten and give her the chance to say I told you so. He could feel the twitch of his lips at the thought, along with surprise at the idea of smiling, something he hadn’t done much of in the past year or two, and climbed back into his vehicle. Nearly two hours later Sophie swerved around another pothole and the old four-wheel drive bounced off the thousandth corrugation on her way to Jabiru Station Township. They’d grade the road soon now the rain had stopped. She gritted her teeth to stop the jarring. Almost home. Funnily enough, she wasn’t tired. Hadn’t been since the Pentecost. She didn’t want to think about the man at the river any more. It had been one of those moments in time when you catch another person’s eye and, for a second or two, glances tangle and reverberate, and then you both look away and the moment passes. Except the moment seemed to last an eternity and she was still waiting for it to pass. It had been one of those moments. Just a stranger. With great eyes. And a great body. And a great mouth. Even in the firm line, she remembered, his mouth had hinted at a fullness and dangerous curve that made her wonder how he’d got the scar. She hoped some hot-blooded woman had thrown a plate at him. Her lips twitched but she pulled them back into line. He’d looked like everything she didn’t want in a man. Rude, definitely. Stupid, obviously. She frowned. He didn’t look stupid; actually, he’d looked fearsomely intelligent. So not stupid, maybe reckless. She didn’t want that either, did she? No way. Worst of all, he’d had the trappings of her ex. Stinking, selfishly, blatantly wealthy. Like Dr Brad Gale. The liar. She was finished with doctors and liars and people who thought they could buy you. And serve you a prenuptial at the same time. She was glad to be home, in a place where people said what they meant and didn’t string you along. Where she could be useful to those who needed her, and not as some decorative arm hanging, and definitely not confined to answering only when spoken to. Sophie did wonder if her poor brother had become used to his bachelor ways while she’d been away. He’d looked surprised when she’d arrived to move back into her own room, even if ‘Shortest engagement in history,’ was all he’d said. She drove through the tiny Jabiru Station Township— mostly pubs and boarded buildings—to their house, a modest timber residence with bull-nosed verandas on all sides and a tiny dry garden. Neat and comfortable, in the same state of disrepair as they’d inherited it from their parents, who’d inherited it from her father’s parents after Granddad did that bad thing. A place where Smiley could save every cent for his dream station, like the one his grandfather had been tricked out of in a card game all those years ago. Against a man who’d lied. Not that Smiley lusted after Xanadu. He’d his own plans for a different station that accounted for his cattle having to be lodged all over the Kimberley while he saved for the land, but it irked Sophie that her own father and now Smiley had to scrimp so hard to make their way in the place they were born. ‘You must’ve loaded the cattle early, because I didn’t see the road train on the way in,’ she said as she rounded the veranda, then stopped. He had someone with him. Her brother’s drawl seemed more noticeable, which was saying something, as his normal speech defined the word leisurely. ‘Sophie.’ He looked at her, and then indicated the petite dark-haired woman beside him. ‘This is Odette. From Sydney. She’s having a baby, and in the area for a week or so, and wanted to meet a midwife in case she had any problems.’ Sophie held out her hand and shook the young woman’s perfectly manicured fingers. Nice expensive watch. Brad had bought her one just like it. She’d left it in Perth. Sophie bit back the thought. He’d made her judgemental and that wasn’t like her—or hadn’t been before she’d tripped off to Perth for her midwifery. She needed to get her new prejudice under control. Wealthy tourists kept a lot of people in jobs around here. ‘Nice to meet you, Odette. Welcome to Jabiru Station Township. You been waiting long?’ ‘I flew in an hour ago.’ Her coral-coloured lips tilted as she smiled. She had a sweet face, Sophie thought, and well made up, which was interesting as the heat usually melted foundation around here. ‘Guess I should have rung first but I thought the clinic was open.’ Sophie looked across the street to the old homestead that’d been turned into the clinic. ‘I’ve been visiting an Aboriginal community. It’s “women’s health” day. Just takes a few hours to cover the distance around here.’ ‘So Smiley was explaining.’ She looked shyly up at Sophie’s brother. Goofily, Smiley actually smiled back, an occurrence that was so rare it had derived his nickname. Sophie felt herself frown. She’d never seen him look like that. Or be much into explaining anything. She’d be lucky to get a dozen words out of him on a normal morning. ‘Odette flew herself in a chopper,’ he said. Impressive. ‘You’re a pilot? Wow.’ And very pregnant, but she didn’t say it. Odette shrugged with a smile. ‘I do it for fun. You’re a midwife. Wow.’ Sophie had to laugh. ‘I do that for fun too. My friend, Kate, the other midwife, flies her own plane from Jabiru Homestead.’ Odette exuded good nature and Sophie couldn’t help liking her. ‘So you’re having a baby? And want a check-up? Come across to the clinic. Was there something you were worried about?’ Odette turned and smiled at Sophie’s brother. ‘Thanks, Smiley. I hope I get to see you again.’ He nodded and tipped his hat. The two women crossed the road and Odette looked back. ‘Your brother’s a handsome man.’ Sophie blinked. She’d never thought about it. He was just… Smiley. ‘If he’s not in the house he’s got an Akubra on so I don’t often see his face. I guess I still see skinned knees and freckles.’ ‘I didn’t see any of those.’ Odette sounded almost dreamy and Sophie grimaced. City-rich women and Smiley did not mix. ‘Is it your husband’s helicopter?’ Not very subtle. ‘I don’t have a husband.’ Odette was no fool and she met Sophie’s eyes without a flicker. ‘The father of my baby is dead.’ Bummer, for more reasons than one, Sophie thought. Was she being judgemental again? ‘Sorry for being nosy.’ ‘That’s OK. Better to get it out in the open anyway. He wasn’t a nice man,’ Odette went on. ‘And the chopper belongs to the resort where I’m staying.’ ‘That would be Xanadu, then.’ It wasn’t a question. Xanadu. Now an ultra-high-end resort a hundred kilometres away, as the chopper flew, that catered for a Kimberley adventure in five-star luxury. Private suites, fine wine and cuisine, and escorted tours with private sittings in the hot springs and gorges. They’d turned it into a wilderness park with a few token cattle. Not like in Grandfather’s day. ‘I’ve never known them to lend the chopper before.’ Odette shrugged. ‘I just asked the manager.’ She looked across at Sophie. ‘I could take you and Smiley up for a fly if you want.’ ‘Thanks, but maybe another time. Should you be flying when you’re pregnant?’ ‘You sound like my brother.’ Now why did she suddenly think of the man at the river? ‘Don’t suppose he’s a big bloke, scar on his chin, not into smiling.’ The one who was ‘just passing through.’ ‘You’ve met Levi?’ ‘Levi?’ It seemed he was another person who was happy to bend the truth.
Copyright © 2000-2010 Harlequin Enterprises Limited. All rights reserved.

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When the opportunity came to try something to slow me down, typically,  I rushed into it, and luckily it was great. I’d like to share my experience of last weekend. At a women’s retreat.  My first ever SILENT retreat!!!! Just got home!

Goodness. Well, not talking took a little getting used to, but actually it was pretty cool to just smile and nod and go about your thoughts for a couple of days.  But you know, writers have the bonus on non writers because I just talked to my notebook.

 No computers, mobile phones, or outside contact. Verbally, I only whispered a couple of times and therefore all the comments, utterances, mental discussions I had, were with myself. It’s all there in blue ink. Written gabbling. The descriptions I will share in my next seaside book. And the poems just fell out.

For the retreat, the meals were catered, superbly I might add, but vegetarian and I’m not a vegie lover, more of a meatatarian, carnivore if truth be known, but there too, was growth.

 We stayed in bunkhouses, basic and seven women to a bunkhouse, some woke early and wanted to shower (that would be me), some giggled, and some weren’t sure what the rest of us were on. But even that unaccustomed community was a gem I wouldn’t have missed.  And I learnt to be kind to myself. To soften.  To realise the harshness we sometimes judge ourselves with is not in fact necessary or even real. So that was cool. And a relief.  And I’ve started to learn to remember to feel the earth beneath my feet. Not just get somewhere and wonder how it happened. To be present in the moment.

Like the beach at sunrise.  I saw dolphins surfing in the waves, and stretching away sand when I was the only person in sight, I sat at night on the beach in the dark by myself (after threading my way through the silent woods with my penlight torch)  and gazed at the amazing stars with the thunder of the surf in my ears, and still felt safe.

Then there was the rainforest. Huge and beside the sea. It  had a boardwalk which was at least 500 yards long I’d think, half a kilometre of boards,  and wound under palms and strangler figs and the place where lithe lianas coil (for the Australian’s) – it’s from a poem by Dorothea McKellar that we learnt at school. http://www.abpa.org.au/Bush_Poetry/Traditional_Poetry/my_country.html

And this morning I took a three-legged stool, alone except for the forest and the forest dwellers,  and sat between three ancient figs and later, I stood and swung like the drum in Karate Kid because I’d seen someone else do it at the beach, and suddenly the tears were running down my face. I wanted to hug a tree.

We had Dharma talks with the most amazing woman teacher, Radha Nicholson from Byron Bay, you could google her, and meditation, and women’s stories and at the last we sat in a circle and spoke of what stood out for us over the last 3 days. In the end, the fact that women, through thick and thin, through unimaginable hardships and great joy, have such strength and wisdom and compassion that I felt so blessed to have been in that place. And blessed to go home to my husband who loved me. But I’ll be back next year and if anyone wants to come with me send me a mail and I’ll tell you more.

Big hugs

Fi

I’ve had such amazing support from friends and colleagues in the birthing profession, midwives, doctors,  new and experienced mums as well as my writing mates with input, suggestions, and read throughs. So this baby has lots of input from aunts and uncles who care about birthing women. 

So now I’m on the Penguin Page, see link below, and have smiled over the ‘almost ready’ cover which I love and will share with you as soon as it’s set. Penguin have made the birth guide small enough to fit in your handbag, or maybe even a very generous jean pocket (maybe not but we’ll see), and I think the format is great. It’s retailing at $14.95, so it’s very affordable, a big thing we all worked towards, and makes it great for giving as a last minute hug to that nervous pregnant friend or relative. 

So watch this space, I’ll post my new cover as soon as it’s available.

warmest wishes

Fiona

I’m off to the middle of Australia on Friday. Alice Springs here I come andI can’t wait.

It’s ALSO time again, that’s Advanced Life Support Obstetrics, and I’ll be attending conference with other midwives and doctors for the weekend in Alice. ALSO is a great initiative for health care workers associated with birthing women to update skills and share validated responses if an obstetric emergency happens. Everyone sits the same exams and we all go home inspired and invigorated by meeting knew people and stretching our brains. I feel very privileged to be a small part of such a wonderful team.

After ALSO, I’m off for a week of sightseeing around central Australia, both camping off-road through Kings Canyon, Glen Helen, and a little more luxuriously, in a resort at Uluru (Ayers Rock). Then there’s the Olgas and the deserts, the night sky and stars that stretch forever. There’s been a good downfall of rain as well so we’ll be extra lucky to see the lushness that’s rare in the red centre. Can’t wait.

So watch out for my photos next month and for a book or two set in Central Australia next year. What a job.

Saffron W. has won my webpage celebration book prize. I’ll post Midwife In A Million and The Midwife’s New-Found Family out to you, Saffron.

xx Fi

I have a thing for views. Three nights in a Lighthouse keeper’s cottage with two like-minded souls at Smoky Cape passed in a blur of writing, beams of light, and perhaps a few glasses of wine. But what about the view?

There with my writing friends, from rt. Amy Andrews, HMB Medicals Romance; Kelly Hunter, Harlequin Modern Extra; and me. You can just see Hat Head in the distance but what a beach. Can you see the chair to the left? Think sunset and a glass of bubbles.

The most amazing thing was at night we sat directly under the lighthouse above the sea and the beams swung out over the waves. When you leaned back and looked up, the lighthouse roof looked like a space ship with rotating beams, three beams, 3 seconds, three beams, 3 seconds, you get the picture.

We’re all dressed up here because my husband has dropped in to take us out to dinner at Geppy’s, an Italian restaurant that overlooks the beach and boulders at South West Rocks. A fabulous evening with fabulous food. Then he dropped us home again and left us to it. What a hero!

The B&B is decked out with beautiful four poster beds and authentic furnishings as well as lots of lighthouse memorabillia. And the home cooked breakfast, with tropical fruit and yoghurt is to die for. Sound like an advertisement. I can’t help myself. They have about forty weddings a year here and I can see why. It’s already in one book but I can see more lighthouses to come.

And to finish off I’ve added a piccie from Valentine’s Day at Port Macquarie. This photo taken my my husband, Ian, from the balcony of our room. It was such a romantic place to be on Valentine’s. We made up a lovely platter of cold meat and cheese and lots of fresh fruit and just enjoyed it from our room.

That’s all for this week. It’s turned chilly today, the second day of autumn down-under, and I’ve the first cardigan of the year on. So keep warm, keep dry and if in doubt snuggle up with a book. By the way, MIDWIFE IN A  MILLION, is out now. The first of my Kimberleys of Western Australia, books, and I can’t wait to hear what you think. Warmest regards and happy reading

xx Fi

 Coming August 3oth, 2010 from Penguin Australia,  to help those last minute nerves and questions.

Don’t you love the cover!

I’m very excited about my first Non-Fiction book, THE DON’T PANIC GUIDE TO BIRTH.

A midwife for twenty five years, I’ve always been passionate about sharing the insights I’ve gained about birth with women and their families.

When a mother-to-be walks into an antenatal class she has some questions she wants to ask first. One of them is “How will I know if I’m in labour?”and there’s heaps of answers after that. This book starts there. If you want an easy to read, last minute guide to those burning questions, I can’t wait to share.

wishing you a wonderful birth

Fiona

I received a lovely early Valentines Day pressy this morning, and it’s even red. My first lovely cataromance reviewers Award for The Midwife’s New-Found Family. The award goes to Misty and Ben’s story from my Lyrebird Lake series of books. Thank you so much to Cataromance for the honour.

And tomorrow my handsome Valentine and I are going to stay in a swish hotel, overlooking the river, with bubbles and chocolates to celebrate. Considering its been a hectic week at work with the joy of catching three babies in the last week as well as some classic moments of unusual interest, the late checkout is appreciated. We don’t give gifts for valentine’s but I have written him a love poem. What are you doing for Valentine’s Day? Whatever you do, smile, and the world smiles with you. I wish you much fun and frivolity and a lotta love. Watch this space because my new webpage is coming (excuse the teething but it will be worth it) and there’ll be plenty to celebrate.

Warm and fuzzies and Happy Valentines from me

xx Fiona

  5STAR  CATAROMANCE REVIEW – They said…

An engaging and thoroughly enthralling romance of overcoming tribulations, Midwife In A Million by Fiona McArthur will leave readers full of exhilaration. Ms McArthur has created characters that any reader could fall in love with, characters that struggle to find the happiness they deserve while also dealing with medical situations that could end in disaster. I really enjoyed reading this book because not only does it end with a happily-ever-after but it also gives the reader a look into the complications of a relationship and love that time cannot defeat. Kudos Ms McArthur for another spectacular book.

Now that made my day today.

To save a baby -Their gruelling race against time across the rugged Outback to save a patient’s unborn child challenges Kate and Rory physically and emotionally –                                    

So followed a glorious week in the top end of Australia driving in an all-terrain vehicle across rock-strewn rivers, past magnificent escarpments and into the purple sunsets of the Kimberleys. Such fabulous land and fabulous people—that’s where Rory and Kate from ‘Midwife in a Million’ grew up.

Rory had always been Kate’s hero, the one who’d stood up for her in school, the only person who knew the real Kate—not the Outback royalty one. He was there for Kate at her most desperate times…except for the one time she didn’t tell him she needed him. And for the past ten years that secret was enough to destroy what they’d had.

In this book, Kate needs to transfer a young pregnant woman to Perth, through floods and storms and terrible roads, and it’s Rory who arrives to help. This is their journey. I hope you grow to love Kate and Rory as much as I did. They epitomize the strength, determination and humor of the people who live “top end.” I hope, too, that within the following pages you can glimpse the incredible beauty of the Kimberleys that thrilled me.

I wish you happy reading!

Fiona McArthur

by Fiona McArthur

Ten years ago paramedic Rory McIver left home, promising childhood sweetheart Kate Onslow he’d return to make her his bride. But Kate abruptly called off their engagement, and Rory, devastated, stayed away. Now he’s back to ask the woman who broke his heart one simple question—why?

When a medical emergency forces them together, the passion between the old flames reignites! Their grueling race against time across the rugged Outback to save a patient’s unborn child challenges Kate and Rory physically and emotionally. Now is the time for them to confront their past—their future together depends upon it!

EXCERPT

Rory McIver stepped thankfully from the RFDS aircraft he’d hitched a ride with. It hadn’t been one of the smoothest flights he’d ever been on. Maybe he should have driven from Perth but it had been such a hectic couple of weeks that the idea of driving three thousand kilometres on a whim didn’t do it for him.

He bent to scoop a little of the red earth he’d watched pass below his window for hours, let it run through his fingers, then allowed the wind to blow the soil from his palm. He looked around. He never thought he’d return.

Even early in the morning on the airstrip the hot wind wrapped around him like an electric blanket on high, that all enveloping heat that only Western Australia’s Kimberley could offer, a heat he hadn’t felt for ten years and savoured now.

He touched his shirt pocket and gripped the bulkiness of his wallet in that habit he’d acquired since she’d sent the damn letter all that time ago. Enough!

As the plane bumped away on the dirt strip a cattle dog barked and the dog’s lanky owner tipped his finger under his hat in greeting. ‘G’day, Rory. Long time, no see.’

Here was a person who hadn’t changed. ‘Smiley.’ Rory nodded to the cowboy leaning against the battered truck. ‘Good of you to meet me.’ They shook hands and Rory threw his swag in the back where a cloud of red soil smothered it as it landed. He smiled wryly and opened the passenger door against the wind. When the spinning top of a whirly wind tried to climb in with him he wondered about the implications of the strong breeze.

Smiley pushed himself off the truck and slid behind the wheel to start the engine. ‘I wondered how long it would take you after Kate turned up,’ Smiley drawled in that remembered way and drew a smile from Rory until the words sank in.

Rory grimaced. Well, apparently not long. ‘I read in the newspaper that her father’s sick. So she’s been gone a long time, too?’

‘Hmm. Left the same year as you. Went to school in Perth.’ Smiley grunted and let off the handbrake. ‘She’s back to spend time with him but flies down to the station township a few days a week to relieve Sophie.’

Smiley glanced at a small four-wheel drive vehicle under a lean-to in the corner of the paddock and Rory gathered it was Kate’s. ‘She works at the clinic, and delivers the babies that drop in from the camps, as well as emergencies.’ Smiley shook his head. ‘I hear the old man isn’t happy she’s working here at all.’

Seems Lyle Onslow hadn’t changed then. Malignant old sod.

‘Her father was never happy.’

‘He’s dying.’ Smiley turned to look at him and they both thought about that. Lyle was a hard man, and not always fair, but no doubt Saint Peter would sort that one out shortly.

Smiley shrugged the old man’s problems away and slipped another matchstick into his mouth to chew. His lips barely moved but the matchstick danced at the edge of his lips in a skill passed down from Smiley’s father. It brought back the good memories for Rory and there’d been many of those.

‘So you told her you’re coming?’ Smiley said around the match.

No, Rory thought. He closed his eyes and the sleepless night he’d spent trying to work out how to do that hung heavily behind his lids. ‘Try and keep a damper on that news, mate, until I get a chance.’

Smiley snorted, the closest he came to a laugh. ‘Keep a damper on it? Here?’ Smiley took the match-stick out and pointed it at Rory. ‘The airwaves’ve been hummin’ since your plane left Perth.’

Rory supposed he’d known that—just blocked it out—and he’d have to deal with the fact that he’d broken his promise when he saw her.

When he saw her. He didn’t know how he felt about seeing the woman who’d dumped him after promising to wait. Had never answered his letters. Had apparently been the cause of heartbreak and suffering for his parents, who had shown her nothing but kindness when her mother died.

He needed more time, or would there never be enough time between them? Now he’d almost achieved his life’s goal he’d finally realised he couldn’t move on until he’d settled the past.

‘How’s Sophie?’

Smiley’s sister was the antithesis of her brother. Bubbly and extrovert, she bossed Smiley mercilessly and her dour brother just shrugged. There’d been a time the four of them had done everything together out on the sprawling million acres of Jabiru Station— another thing Kate’s father hadn’t liked, his daughter knocking about with the hired help.

‘Nagging as usual,’ Smiley said but there was pride in his voice and he elaborated, unusual for him, as if he sensed Rory’s need for a change of subject. ‘Now she’s working at the clinic with…’ He shot him a quick glance.

… with Kate, Rory completed in his mind.

‘Anyway, having help means Sophie gets some time off for a change,’ Smiley went on. ‘So she’s good. She’s getting tips on baby-catching, she calls it, and thinkin’ of doing her midwifery.’ He looked back at the road. ‘When do you go back?’

Kate the teacher for Sophie? Of course she’d changed. What did he expect? That she’d still think he, Rory, held the answers to the universe?

‘I’ve a week off. I’ll stay over at the Hilton until RFDS can pick me up in a couple of days.’

The Hilton was the town’s tongue-in-cheek name for the extremely run down boarding house presided over by a tough ex-army nurse, Betty Shultz. Shultzie swore she’d never leave Jabiru Township, then again, Shultzie swore, loudly and often, all the time.

Her Hilton was nothing like the chain of exclusive hotels of the same name; her establishment was bare minimum and held together by pieces of wood nailed over the top of other pieces of wood.

‘How was Charlie’s retirement party?’

‘Good food,’ Smiley said. ‘Don’t suppose you’d want his job?’

After flogging himself to higher and higher levels until last month’s appointment? Volunteer ambulance in the bush instead of Deputy Commissioner of the entire state? Actually, it held some attraction. Back on the road instead of budget meetings and troubleshooting.

‘No. Afraid not.’

They didn’t speak again until they drove past the huge cattle yards on the outskirts and pulled up opposite the rundown hotel in the main street of Jabiru Township, population a hundred and fifty through the week, three hundred—mostly ringers and cowboys—on the weekend. Town, sweet town.

He looked around. A big change from Perth city.

Another whirly wind scooted past Rory as he lifted his swag out of the back and he glanced at the pale sky for the first streaks of cloud. Not yet.

He thumped the roof and Smiley lifted his hand and drove away. Rory watched the truck until it disappeared in a ball of dust and wondered if he could change his mind and ride it back out to the airstrip.

He’d never run from a challenge before. Funny how attractive that thought was right now, but only for a moment.

Well, he’d arrived. He needed to stop making such a big deal of a visit home. It wasn’t as if he had family here any more. He squashed that bitterness away too. The rest—meaning his reaction to Kate— would have to take care of itself.

He looked at the mostly boarded shops in the deserted street. It wasn’t like Kate’s father’s homestead and the home station where he’d grown up, but in the years since he’d been to the commercial part of Jabiru not much had changed.

Except the collateral damage he’d caused to his family by his liaison with Kate.

Kate Onslow was born into the pilot’s seat of an aeroplane; luckily, because it made the distance she needed to cover so ridiculously easy.

The two-hour drive between Jabiru Homestead and Jabiru Township was dust all the way and to fly cut the distance down to twenty minutes. Her greatgrandfather had settled on the station a hundred years ago and when the township had grown exponentially her grandfather had built a new homestead away from the madding crowds. Though a hundred people didn’t seem ‘madding’ to Kate, she could understand the improvement in position for the family headquarters.

The new Jabiru Homestead, many-gabled, encircled by verandas and sprawled over an acre, nestled below a range of ochre mountains that bordered the Timor Sea; the peaks gave water and provided glorious waterholes and a lush rainforest pocket, and all only a short distance from the sparseness around the house.

The old homestead at Jabiru Township that she could see in the distance now from the air, held the hospital clinic, the pharmacy, the one-roomed library of donated books and the garage for the town’s only four-wheel drive ambulance truck.

As she closed in on her destination Kate saw the Royal Flying Doctor plane take off from the town strip and her heart rate dropped in a swoop as if she’d flown through a sudden wind shift, something her aircraft had been doing all flight, but this internal up-draught made her sick to the stomach.

She’d had three radio calls already to tell her Rory McIver was coming to town to see her.

Last month it had been hard enough to come back and face her belligerent father and the reality of his illness but that paled in comparison with Rory’s unexpected visit.

She’d been able to face the idea of coming home because she’d known her father would never change her mind about anything again. But Rory? Once he’d been the world to her.

She would just have to survive this too. Her independence would help her survive it. The sudden sting of threatening tears she ignored—they never came to anything. She hadn’t cried since all that had happened ten years ago and the lies. But the emotional turbulence had started and she hadn’t even seen him. She was a big girl now and not some needy teenager with an adolescent crush on the manager’s son.

Kate took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. Too many years she’d spent telling herself she needed to stand on her own, rely on herself, be strong, and that determination would not be undermined by a man who had been out of her life for a long time. What did he want to see her for now, anyway?

Kate stripped Rory’s intrusion from her mind and concentrated on her descent because that was her strength. Single-minded concentration on what needed to be done. But, as soon as the plane grounded, as soon as room for distraction arrived, the thoughts returned to stick like the plane’s wheels to the ruts on the strip.

She gritted her teeth and secured her aircraft but the worry nagged at her all the way to town in her vehicle. Nagged her through the first half hour at work, right up until sixteen-year-old Lucy Bolton presented with the worst case of indigestion she’d had in her life.

Jabiru Township Clinic serviced the small town set in the baked earth at the edge of the station’s southern mountain ranges, a place that hid lush waterholes and settlements, plus far-flung aboriginal communities and out camps for the station. If the situation was dire, the doctor might be able to fly in once a week—unfortunately he’d been in yesterday.

Kate took one look at Lucy and put her to bed in the four bed ward. ‘Under those covers, young lady. No arguments. Where’s your mother?’

Lucy was a big-boned, hardworking girl whose mother leased one of the four pubs in town from Kate’s father. Usually happy-go-lucky and fun, Kate knew Lucy wasn’t one to complain. They bred them tough out here—had to—it was a long way to twentieth century medicine.

‘Mum’s tired.’ Lucy sat gingerly on the edge of the bed and kicked off her shoes. ‘There was a big outfit in town yesterday and I didn’t want to wake her.’ Lucy sighed as she rested her head back on the pillow and closed her eyes. ‘The queer thing is, Kate,’ she whispered, ‘I haven’t eaten a thing ’cause I feel so rotten, so how can I have indigestion?’

‘That’s not good.’ Kate stared down at the young girl and in a swirl of memories saw herself. ‘Poor you.’ She stroked her hair. She saw the slight puffi-ness around the eyes, the tiredness, that protective maternal hand that crept over her stomach. Her voice dropped. ‘Any chance you’re pregnant, Luce?’

Lucy’s eyes flew open and the sudden fear in the young girl’s face was enough confirmation. Kate sighed under her breath for the loss of youth coming Lucy’s way and a smidgen for the prick of envy. She wished she’d had the sense to ask for help like Lucy had.

Though in Kate’s day Mrs Schulz mightn’t have been as easy to approach as Kate or Sophie would be, even if Kate had been able to get all the way to the township from the home station.

She stroked Lucy’s shoulder. ‘Everything will be fine. I’ll just take your blood pressure, poppet. You don’t look well to me either.’

By the time Kate had done a full physical assessment the window shutters were banging against the walls outside and the howl of the wind was clearly audible. Kate barely noticed it as her concern grew for the young woman in front of her.

The flying doctor would have to come back and pick her up because there was no way she could manage Lucy here. And there was no way she wanted to because she knew what it could cost.

This is my first Western Australia Book set in the Kimberley Ranges and holds a special place for me.

I had the best fun exploring the Kimberleys for research. My eldest and middle sons and I hired a four wheel drive vehicle and covered some dusty and spectacular miles. Just like Kate and Rory did when they raced their patient to help in Midwife In  A Million. North Western Australia is certainly an inspiring place. I’d love to hear any thoughts you have when you read it.

Happy New Year and Happy New Decade but lets talk about the old for a moment.

What an amazing last ten years it’s been. Full of tragedies and triumphs in the world and we’ve all been impacted like never before by distant events to our own tiny circles thanks to digital technology. The fact that it was a new decade escaped me until the last moment and suddenly I was looking back. What about you? Did you look back at the last ten years and say, ‘WOW! Where did that go?’

On a personal level, ten years ago I had a five year old son and four young teenage boys, we hadn’t even started the learner driver scene. And both my parents were there to hug. My husband and I were consolidating, working hard, juggling the boy’s school and sport on each other’s days off,  like millions of people do every day as they bring up their kids. Just goes to show you have to be thankful and enjoy every minute ’cause those memories are digital now, too.

In 2000 I sold my first book after a previous decade of never finishing one, and since then have written twenty medical romance novels for Harlequin Mills and Boon and even had my first Romantic Book Of  The Year nomination from RWAus. Juggling harder, my life took off in a whole other world of  writing, conferences, and travel that I’d only dreamed was possible, but the most amazing and fabulous thing about this journey is the friendships formed along the way.

Generous advice and support from other writers, wonderful feedback from readers, editorial guidance, unexpected bookstore friendships and support from librarians (Hi Lynne from Wellington, Ohio, and the amazing contact with people I’ve met at conferences and on loops and chats. Technology is certainly amazing and while I’m no whizz I do love the ease of contact in this decade and can’t wait to see what’s next.

One of life's precious moments.

With the older boys gone onto their own lives, this decade I get to savour my time with the youngest, revel in my two granddaughters like I was blessed to on Christmas Eve, and enjoy the fact I don’t have to rise at 5am to get my words down. Darn shame I keep waking up early, though.

But somethings haven’t changed. The warmth from holding hands and sharing a sunset with the man you love, the delight as you see your new book for the first time in real life, the deep inhalation of a fragrant rose or the feel of a friend’s incredible quilt she’s fashioned from tiny threads. Or from my other life as a midwife the joy of sharing birth with a woman and her family, we had a ten pound five boy the other night near midnight, did I mention I think women are awesome?  In fact LIFE is amazing. And I’m thankful.

So I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you all the pleasures and the joy and lots of love in 2010 and the future.

xx Fiona

I love the smiles of Christmas

On the Christmas Theme because I love it.

Have just sent off my twentieth book to my editor, and a big sigh as I drop my shoulders. The house is a mess, the Christmas shopping is looking pretty thin, and the wasps have built a heap of nests I’d love to shift before Christmas. But the granddaughters have put up the decorations, crooked and clumpy, and I love it.

I’m on holidays and I’ve just finished my first Italian hero so that’s a fab thing.  Gianni’s  a fish out of water in Lyrebird Lake and it’s been fun. And I’m learning Italian which I’m absolutely loving. I play the audio tapes from the library in my car on the way to work every morning and despite my atrocious accent I can understand enough to be able to add, subtract, and ask your name – all in Italian. What a great language. When I get really good I’m going to try and read one of my own copies in the Italian translation (‘cause at least I can guess a bit) and then I’ll be hunting down my friends books. Can anyone read Italian? I’m giving away an Italian copy of one of my books as well as the competition.  Just send a contact Fiona form from my webpage and mention this blog at fionamcarthur.com

Tomorrow I’m off to Brisbane (485 kms Google maps tells me) early tomorrow morning to see the gorgeous KEITH URBAN in concert with my youngest son tomorrow night. I’m so excited. Has anybody seen him in concert?

Then picking up my lovely mother-in-law the next day to come home. May turned eighty-five and just laughs at the mess in my house and the troops that pass through it. After Christmas I’m camping with my fifteen-year old and my two little granddaughters so that will be fun. If 2010 turns out to be half as good as 2009 for me then I can’t wait.

My other good news is I’ve sold my first non-fiction Last Minute Little Birth Book to Penguin Australia. To come out late next year it’s a very simple, very quick guide for those who left it too late for heavy study before labour and my friends tell me it sounds just like me talking to my young mums in antenatal classes. I absolutely LOVED writing it so wish me luck for that one. I’m very excited about it.

That’s it from me, have to rush off like a chook with my head cut off, and try and make order out of chaos. Excuse the copy of this on eharl as haven’t time for webpage fixing. Keep well, keep reading and most of all keep happy for Christmas and 2010

Best wishes for the festive season to all

Love Fi

There’s a cute real event behind this story – I met a lovely mum in maternity one night who’s 4 year old son tripped around two streets home from his aunty’s  in the middle of the night. His mum was booked to have her labour induced early the next morning but hadn’t left for the hospital when she heard the gate open. Can’t imagine how scared the little boy was.

For those readers I’ve re-posted the info on how to find the free downloads if you scroll to the bottom of the page.

MIDWIFE IN A MILLION, my first outback Australia book set in the KIMBERLEY’S of Western Australia hits the shelves in the UK on the 5th February and Australia and North America in March. I’m so excited about this book, the first of my two Kimberley books because the landscape and the people grabbed my heart when I visited in May this year.

Well, my husband and I went to ther MELBOURNE CUP horse race this year.

Dressed for the Cup. Check out the Fascinator!

This is something we’ve wanted to do for a long time and finally made it. Of course the incentive was our anniversary and a BIG birthday for me this month.

The seats at the racecourse were up in the sky but WHAT A VIEW!

To make it all even more exciting we actually travelled to Melbourne on a 6 night cruise. Here’s the view as we left Sydney.

Pretty Cool, I thought. Actually it became a tad chilly but Oh so worth standing on the bow of Pacific Dawn to watch the harbour glide by. I forgot to do the TITANIC pose that Carol Marinelli asked for.

CONGRATULATIONS to CATHY B. who won the first three Lyrebird Lake books in our HAPPY WEDDING ANNIVERSARY draw.

It’s been fun but that’s all for this month. I’m hard at it finishing Emma’s Story in Lyrebird Lake. I’m afraid Emma’s found a man who certainly needs some healing by the mystical Lyrebird. And its’ back to work tomorrow night. Hoping for lots of lovely babies to come in for me to catch. Follow me at FiCatchesBabies on Twitter.

Happy reading and have a great month

love Fiona

Great news. Download my free eBook today, The Midwife’s Little Miracle. I love this book. There’s another nine books from other authors to download if you have fun. And it’s all free for a year.

Mills and Boon’s eBook sales arm in the UK are celebrating their first birthday of eBooks. While for some they’ll never replace the feel of a book in your hand, the idea of a backlit small screen where I can choose the size of the font, have no light needed to annoy my husband, and holds a big fistful of novels in my bed – isn’t too scary.

To try the feel of an eBook (excuse the pun), you can easily download to your computer.

To read eBooks on your computer you need a program like:

• Adobe – Digital Editions (Runs on Windows and Mac OSX, and can open .epub files)
  OR
• Calibre eBook Management (Runs on Windows, Mac OSX and Linux and can open .epub and .mobi files)

The Midwife’s Little Miracle.epub (you will need Adobe Digital Editions or Calibre eBook Management or a similar program that can read .epub eBook files)

The Midwife’s Little Miracle.mobi (you will need Calibre eBook Management or a similar program that can read .mobi eBook files)

The eBook is on a special site set up by Mills and Boon for the ten books they are offering. One from each line of romance and of course mine is from the Medical Romance Line. So enjoy.

everyonesreading.com

There’s an interesting discussion on ebooks and e-readers at http://community.eharlequin.com/content/medical-authors-group-blog – look for the photo of my colourful scarf in New Zealand

Mills and Boon’s eBook sales arm in the UK are celebrating their first birthday of eBooks. While for some they’ll never replace the feel of a book in your hand, the idea of a backlit small screen where I can choose the size of the font, have no light needed to annoy my husband, and holds a big fistful of novels in my bed – isn’t too scary.

To try the feel of an eBook (excuse the pun), you can easily download to your computer.

To read eBooks on your computer you need a program like:

• Adobe – Digital Editions (Runs on Windows and Mac OSX, and can open .epub files)
  OR
• Calibre eBook Management (Runs on Windows, Mac OSX and Linux and can open .epub and .mobi files)

The Midwife’s Little Miracle.epub (you will need Adobe Digital Editions or Calibre eBook Management or a similar program that can read .epub eBook files)

The Midwife’s Little Miracle.mobi (you will need Calibre eBook Management or a similar program that can read .mobi eBook files)

The eBook is on a special site set up by Mills and Boon for the ten books they are offering. One from each line of romance and of course mine is from the Medical Romance Line. So enjoy.

everyonesreading.com

There’s an interesting discussion on ebooks and e-readers at http://community.eharlequin.com/content/medical-authors-group-blog – look for the photo of my colourful scarf in New Zealand

Fellow Medical author Alison Roberts

(Hot shot Surgeon, Cinderella Bride, HMB Medical Aug 09) home country of New Zealand. Such a heartwrenchingly beautiful country – no wonder she writes such gorgeous books.

We drove down to Akaroa Harbour and I loved the little waterside township of Akaroa with all its French influences and scenery.

On the road scenery

Tiny bays, larger bays, and always soaring peaks and rocky outcrops. And sheep.

Alison’s dog, Molly, loves riding in the car. She’s a wind-in-her-hair kinda girl.  We drove west over gorgeous farm land and back over the mountains  to the spectacular view over Christchurch. As a person who lives in a very temperate zone, 15 -25 degrees celsius most of the time, it was very exciting to see snow on the far Alps.  Short trips are great,  and then again it was lovely to be back with my DH in my own bed and back into my writing. But now I have to slip off to work, Well Women’s Clinic today, so take care, keep well

and look after you

 warmest wishes

Fi

Now, this morning, under a deepening blue sky I can see a fluffyblack baby water turkey hop across the tops of waterlillies to follow his mum and dad. Babies everywhere. And you all know how much I love babies.

Yep. Love Spring. New beginnings, new life, new people to meet, friendships to make, and for me a new book to start. Emma’s Story. For those who’ve read any of my Lyrebird Lake maternity books – there’s one out this month, Pregnant Midwife Father Needed- fabulous little Emma has been in them all.

It’s Emma’s time to shine and show us the amazing woman I know she is. And she’s got a lot on her plate. Her mum’s disease is progressing, and she’s returned home to Lyrebird Lake. Now her daughter is asking why can’t she have a dad like all the kids at school as Emma carries the secret she believes no man can love.  But I need to get to page one, chapter one and start listening to what she has to say. But before I go…

Congratulations to Margaret Lawson of Canada who’s won a copy of  Pregnant Midwife Father Needed. I really hope you enjoy Mia’s story, Margaret.

In celebration of spring, I have a new competition starting today that will run until the 25th October. That’s my wedding anniversay and the prize is all three of my published Lyrebird Lake books in a romance pack to mark that important day in my life.

My hero and I have been married for 29 years this year and he still makes my heart skip a beat and feel warm inside when I catch sight of him unexpectedly. Like magic. Can you tell I watched Sleepless In Seattle with him last night?

Wishing a wonderful spring to all the lovers and the lovers of romance out there at this beautiful time of the year.

warmest wishes

Fiona

Lyrebird Lake Maternity
Every day brings a miracle…

Release dates

UK – August 2009. Buy PREGNANT MIDWIFE: FATHER NEEDED on MillsandBoon.co.uk now
Australia – September 2009.

Single and pregnant –
she’s about to be rescued!
Rescue medic Angus Campbell never fails to meet difficult situations head on. But bonding with his
new-found son needs more than professional training – it needs his heart and his time. His childhood home, Lyrebird Lake, is the best place to find both of those things…
Pregnant midwife Mia is expecting a new arrival – but not this six-foot sex god and his son! Mia does her best not to get involved, but Angus can’t stop thinking that, with Mia as his wife, his son and her baby would have the perfect family.

Excerpt

‘Is this the right place, Dad?’

Angus Campbell looked at the son he still couldn’t believe was his and patted Simon’s shoulder awkwardly. ‘Yes, mate.’ How did one learn to be a ‘dad’ in one weekend? Angus pushed the thought away, raised his hand, and knocked on his own father’s door. ‘I just needed a minute to get my head together.’

He was talking to a closed door and the lack of response was unexpected. Angus strode to the window and peered in.

The house was quiet, something he couldn’t remember it ever being. When you were brought up in a country doctor’s residence there was always someone coming or going. At the very least the housekeeper, Louisa, was usually there.

That would be the Louisa his father was going to marry. Another idea he had to get used to.

He turned the handle of the front door and, sure enough, it swung open. They’d never locked the front in his time either.

He looked at Simon and then peered down the central hallway again. ‘Doesn’t look like anyone is home.’

His words fell away as the door to the bathroom opened and out of a cloud of billowing steam, framed by the door, stepped a very pink—and delightfully curved in all the right places—woman. And she was only just wrapped in a leaf-green towel, putting him in mind of a rose on a dew-laden morning.

Angus learned his new son was a gentleman when Simon spun on his heel and faced the other way, unlike his father.

He should really do that too. Instead, Angus met the steady green eyes assessing his arrival and unashamedly enjoyed the spectacular view. ‘Sorry.’

‘So I see.’ Her voice was level and delightfully throaty, and she could have been dressed in a three-piece business suit given her composure. She held his gaze and he lost sight of the rest. ‘Can I help you?’ she finally asked.

Impressed, Angus did avert his eyes for a moment. ‘I’m looking for Ned.’ He looked back. Yep. Dewy rose. ‘Does he still live here?’

‘Ah.’ She nodded as if something had been confirmed. ‘The prodigal son! We heard you were coming. They’ve all left for the hospital to see the new baby. Give me a minute and I’ll be right out.’

She slipped into a room two doors down and shut the door firmly.

Angus blinked and stepped back.

‘She can handle you, Dad. Watch out.’ Angus turned to look at this young man he barely knew, his son, and tilted his head.

‘Really? On what knowledge do you base that assumption?’

Simon grinned. ‘On my knowledge of women.’

So that explained it? The kid wasn’t even twenty. ‘How can you have such knowledge of women at your tender age?’

Simon flashed him a cheeky smile and Angus felt that pang again that he’d missed seeing this amazing young being grow up. No doubt he himself would have been a different man if he’d known he’d had a son. Angus felt the anger rise again and he damped it down ruthlessly. It was okay. He knew now.

Simon went on. ‘Because I have four sisters and you’ve been working eighty hours a week all over the world since I was born.’

Angus thought of the extremely desirable women he’d dated for short periods in far-off places over the years and decided his son didn’t need to know his father had more than a little experience himself. ‘So you know about me and not the other way around?’

‘Mum filled me in.’

Angus swallowed the bile in his throat. That would be the woman who had told Angus she’d miscarried this boy-man twenty years ago. The one woman he’d loved and wanted to marry who had married someone else.

His son went on. ‘She said she had to in case something happened to her.’

Angus drew a discreet breath to remove the overtones from his voice. ‘Well, I wish she’d told me about you earlier.’

Grey eyes met grey and he saw a little of his own anger in Simon’s usual good nature. ‘So do I.’

Mia Storm, oblivious to the amusement she’d left in her wake, shut the door firmly and leant against it. Hunk alert.

There was something about that big, craggy man at the door that sucked the breath from her lungs and accelerated her heart rate in a totally unwanted response, but it was okay. She knew it was a hormonal reaction that she could control. Would control! She was coping with pregnancy hormones, wasn’t she?

She’d come to Lyrebird Lake to start anew, build a good life for her unborn child and herself, fresh and immune to the destructive hold men like him seemed to have over her.

Not precisely him, because she didn’t know him from Adam, but there was that look in his eye that said he’d like to take half a dozen steps forward and carry her back into the bathroom and kick the door shut.

Her arms broke out in goose-bumps. Where the heck had that come from? She could feel the heat in her cheeks and she stepped away from the door as if there was a blowtorch on the other side.

He was Ned’s son, for crikey’s sake. A man that had walked out of his father’s country doctor’s residence twenty years ago and not bothered once to see if dear, sweet Ned was still alive, or so her friend, Misty, said.

No doubt after he’d had his way with her in the bathroom he’d be gone from her life just as quickly as the man who’d run from the child growing inside her.

Stop it!

Nobody was having their way with anybody in the bathroom and she needed to take control. She was good at that.

Mia ripped off her towel and pulled on her briefs. Now that she came to think about it there had been two people at the door, but she couldn’t remember anything about the other one except that he’d turned around, as he should, when confronted by a person undressed in their own house.

Not like… Angus. That was his name. She clipped her bra and spun it to the front. The big A, more likely. Mia stepped into her green shorts and yanked her ‘Fight Breast Cancer’ T-shirt over her head and glanced in the mirror.

Her hair bounced red ringlets all over her head like a frenzied mattress and she squeezed and rolled the coils so they flattened onto her head until most were confined by the elastic band in the middle. She hated the unruliness of her hair as the one thing she couldn’t control.

He’d been tall so she pushed her feet into her high-heeled sandals and straightened her shirt over her slightly rounded waist. She didn’t look pregnant yet.

Right, then.

She was back. He and Simon had retreated to the veranda and he’d considered going over to the hospital to look for his father because he’d behaved badly in there. He should have backed out of the door and knocked again, but his usual ease with women had been poleaxed by the vision in the hallway.

The vision looked him up and down and he saw that she was actually quite ordinary. Well, ordinary in an extraordinary way. Actually rounded and somehow… lush. Not really ordinary at all.

‘I’m Mia Storm. One of the midwives. I board here. I gather you’re Angus.’

She was a summer storm all right. Still in pink and green, hot as all get out one minute then drenching him with a cold shower of disdain, then blowing information at him like a gust of leaves. She looked like a militant hybrid with a rosebud mouth. She was hot!

He couldn’t think of a thing to say and he had to be saved by a nineteen-year-old Lothario. It was embarrassing. And ridiculously backed up his son’s impression of his father’s lack of experience. If it weren’t so mortifying, it would be amusing.

Simon stepped forward and held out his hand. ‘I’m Simon, the son he didn’t know about, and I’ve dragged him here to see the grandfather I’ve never met. You’ll have to forgive him. He’s still adjusting his horizons.’

Mia looked from Simon to Angus and her face softened. Simon had certainly taken the gust out of her storm and Angus could only watch in admiration. She smiled at both of them, the sun came out, and now he wouldn’t be able to speak for another ten seconds. What the heck had happened to him?

‘Hello, Simon.’ She chuckled delightfully, Angus thought fuzzily, at Simon’s ingenious explanations, and then Simon leant forward and kissed her cheek.

Angus frowned. The little upstart. As if it was the most natural thing in the world. Maybe he really had missed the boat on social behaviour.

‘And does your father have your winning ways?’ She tilted her head at him and somehow Angus knew she’d forgiven his faux pas in the hallway and even might feel sorry for his lack of social graces compared to his son’s.

He cleared his throat. ‘My apologies, Mia. I shouldn’t have opened the door. I thought the house was empty.’

Simon butted in. ‘Apparently Dad hasn’t socialised much in the last twenty years, but he’s really good at disasters.’

Thanks, son. That made him sound so promising. ‘Okay, Simon. Mia doesn’t want to know about me.’ Angus’s eyes were drawn back to hers. ‘You said my father was over at the hospital with the new baby.’ A thought tickled his sense of the ridiculous and he glanced at Simon. ‘Not a new uncle or aunt for Simon perchance?’ Serve him right. Let the upstart work out the odds for that.

This time she smiled for him. And again it was worth waiting for. ‘No. Ned’s a bit past having babies I think. One of the doctors here, Ben—his daughter had a child. Ned’s gone over to pass a silver coin across the baby’s palm.’

It was strange how nostalgic that unexpected reminder of all his father’s superstitions made Angus feel. How had twenty years gone without returning to at least make peace with him?

Angus had been going to, or he’d thought of it, but there’d never seemed to be time between flights and international health disasters to get up this way. He’d been ashamed of his behaviour all those years ago and hadn’t wanted a rushed trip. And after he and Simon’s mother had ‘lost’ the baby it had been too heart-wrenching to come back in the early years.

Later it had always been the too-short breaks between missions he’d blamed. But that stood up poorly now. His father must have aged so much since he’d last seen him. ‘How’s Dad’s health?’

‘Apart from his eyesight and a stiff hip, Ned’s well.’ She looked into his face to gauge his reaction. ‘He’s well enough to marry Louisa and dance at his own wedding.’

‘I’m glad. It seems I’ve been fortunate that it’s not too late to catch up.’

She looked him up and down like a schoolmarm and he felt the dusting of disapproval for his negligence. ‘Very fortunate.’ Then she glanced into the house. ‘Do you want to come in and wait here, or do you want to look for him over at the hospital?’

Angus needed to get over his response to this woman before he met his father and opened up a whole new bag of angst.

He didn’t do sentiment, hadn’t for years, but right at this minute he felt emotionally laden and he needed to shake the excess from his mind first.

This morning’s first meeting with Simon, finding his son looked like a younger version of himself with better people skills and the realisation of all he’d missed out on. With its accompanying well of bitterness at Simon’s mother’s betrayal, which he’d had to hide from her son, and now he’d been knocked for six by the rose.

Angus lifted his kit. ‘We’ll put our gear inside. Then I think I’ll go for a walk.’

‘I’ll stay here and look around,’ Simon said, and grinned at Mia.

No doubt flirting, Angus thought. ‘As long as you’re not too shy,’ he murmured dryly to himself, as he followed his son and Mia into the house.

The room she showed Simon was positioned two doors along the central hallway from Angus’s. Mia was in the middle—so next door to him. He liked that and his belly kicked as if to let him in on the reason. Okay. So maybe he did know why.

He glanced up at the high ceiling in the central hallway and memories rushed in.

He glanced into Simon’s room, the one with the French doors that led out to the wide verandas. You could slip in unnoticed when needed, as he recalled nostalgically.

He remembered at least eight bedrooms at this end and the four larger rooms at his father’s end where his old room was and the day clinics were held.

There’d always been other staff staying here then as well, so this end had been technically out of bounds to him as a child.

He’d stolen kisses in one of these empty rooms with Simon’s mother twenty years ago. His father had been right to say that a kiss led to a lot more. He glanced at the boy beside him and thought again of all he’d missed.

‘Did you want to see your room?’ Mia spoke from his shoulder and he snapped back to the present day.

‘Thank you, yes.’

He left Simon and followed her. Actually, he spent the two seconds observing the way her little backside wriggled delightfully, and his body just came along for the ride. Good grief. He was having an adolescent crisis. No doubt because of the memories that were crowding in from the time years ago when he’d been a raging mass of testosterone. He had to snap out of it.

Suddenly he realised the back of her lovely neck was pinker than it had been and a slow smile tugged at his lips. So she’d noticed him too. She was really going to be cross with him now.

‘This is it.’ She stopped, but didn’t turn around, and again his mouth twitched. He had an idea she didn’t want him to see her blush and he was determined he would.

‘Thanks, Mia.’ He didn’t move to open the door and though she turned back she averted her face as she looked at a point over his left shoulder. Her cheeks were delightfully dusted with pink.

He waited, but she didn’t say anything so he let her off the hook. ‘I’ll put the bags in and have a wander, then.’

‘You do that,’ she said to the wall behind him.

Review

From Sheryl at Cataromance

Angus Campbell is a man who faces anything head on, especially after all the difficult situations he’s faced in his career as a rescue medic but he never thought that he would find himself confronting the past he left behind or the son he never knew about. Now it’s time for him to go home and Lyrebird Lake is exactly where he must confront his demons. Mia Storm knew that moving to Lyrebird Lake was the best decision she has ever made now that she’s expecting her own child but what she didn’t count on was finding herself attracted to Angus, a man who could leave her just as the father of her child did. But will they be able to find common ground? Or will Angus’ career take him away from the life that could be his?

Pregnant Midwife: Father Needed by Fiona McArthur is the third book in the Lyrebird Lake Maternity series and just as enthralling as the previous two. I loved how Mia and Angus first meet, the moment when Angus’ son shows him how to act like a gentleman, that is but one of my fondest recollections from the book. Pregnant Midwife: Father Needed is not only about awaiting a new arrival but also about beginning and reconnecting with loved ones that you never anticipated seeing again. Angus and Mia may be the hero and heroine but every other character makes an appearance and they leave an indelible presence too. Ms McArthur has created a series that is powerfully moving yet filled with characters that could be any other member of your family because they’re down-to-earth people who are just human like everyone else. Thank you Ms McArthur for a thoroughly enjoyable time spent in your world of Lyrebird Lake and I can’t wait to read of your many more delightful characters too.

RWA conference has been and gone but  it lived up to all expectations. Huge kudos have to go to the fab Amy Andrews and her hardworking team. Caught up with old friends and new and learnt new and fabulous tips for writing and publishing. This is my favourite time of the year.

I LOVE Brisbane, and the fabulous staff at the Sebel King George Square Hotel. It’s so easy to drive, park, find things and such a laidback capital with everything a major city needs without the hassle. And then there’s the conference; a smorgasboard of fab authors, agents, editors, readers and writers of romance and women’s fiction. And my friends. Blissful sigh. Will post pics of the fab Arabian Nights Cocktail party soon. And of course there’s the R*BY Awards where the fabulous Anne Gracie (Historical) and Trish Morey (Short Sexy) also won their categories to huge applause.

 THE MIDWIFE’S LITTLE MIRACLE free eBook download is still coming. I’ve spoken to my editor and I hear the new site, filled with goodies will be up soon. Will let you know as soon as I hear. My book will also be available for download from my webpage once its up. So watch for that.

I’m really thrilled because THE MIDWIFES LITTLE MIRACLE  is the first of my Lyrebird Lake Series and those who missed out can catch up with Montana’s story. Montana is one of my very favourite heroines and it’s lovely to see her getting out more. <G>.

The new competition is still running  ’till first day of September. See the competitions page for details.

 My next book out is PREGNANT MIDWIFE-FATHER NEEDED,   in September in the UKand North America. I see there are still copies in the backlist on eharlequin.com for the first two books of the linked Lyrebird Lake Series.

While all the books are stand alone, the linking makes it possible to see what’s happening in the lives of previous characters, something I know I always enjoy, but you don’t have to read the others to enjoy the last.

And further to Lyrebird LakeI’m just about to start on Emma’s book which is calling so strongly I’ll have to let her speak. She’s had to wait for my two Western Australian Kimberley books. But now, the second book set in the rugged Kimberleys of  Western Australia has gone, and I have had such fun with those two books and so look forward to sharing them with you next year.

It’s time for Emma.

And time for me to write

keep well and happy

with love

Fiona

I’m really thrilled because THE MIDWIFES LITTLE MIRACLE  is the first of my Lyrebird Lake Series and those who missed out can catch up with Montana’s story. Montana is one of my very favourite heroines and it’s lovely to see her getting out more. <G>.

I’ll let you know when and where as soon as it comes up. Should be sometime this month.

New competition starts today ’till first day of September. See the competitions page for details.

Five weeks  ’till RWAus Conference

I’m so looking forward to the Brisbane conference of Romance Writers of Australia (romanceaustralia.com) on the 14th, 15th and 16th August. I LOVE Brisbane, so easy to drive, park, find things and such a laidback capital with everything a major city needs without the hassle. And then there’s the conference; a smorgasboard of fab authors, agents, editors, readers and writers of romance and women’s fiction. And my friends. Blissful sigh.

Then there’s the idea of actually taking home new tricks and strategies, insight and enthusiam that conference always leaves me with. And to top it off, there’s the excitment of being a finalist in my first  R*BY nomination for THE MIDWIFE’S BABY. 

I’ve just been away at  an ALSO conference and would love to say ‘Hi’ to all the wonderful people I met for the first time as well as fellow instructors from previous courses. ALSO is always such a positive experience.

What is ALSO in Australia? (also.net.au)

Advanced Life Support Obstetrics. ALSO in Oz is a far flung group of doctors and midwives who believe teamwork increases safety for women in maternity care. ALSO brings midwives, general practitioners who practice obstetrics, obstetricians, and the obstetricians of the future all together over a weekend of intense workstations in management of unexpected crisis surrounding birth. Born in the United States, and now worldwide, ALSO’s teaching model is facilitated by volunteer instructors who believe passionately in keeping birthing women safe.

 I’m proud to be a tiny part of the concept and be privileged to spent a wonderful weekend in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales sharing knowledge with like-minded souls. Shame there wasn’t much time to sample the wineries but maybe next time…

What I did get to sample was the amazing lives of these real heroes and heroines of medicine and their knowledge and empathy with the families they care for. All fabulous inspiration for my novels.

My next book out is PREGNANT MIDWIFE-FATHER NEEDED,  out in September in the UKand North America. I see there are still copies in the backlist on eharlequin.com for the first two books of the linked Lyrebird Lake Series. While all the books are stand alone, the linking makesit possible to see what’s happening in the lives of previous characters, something I know I always enjoy.

I’ve almost finished the second book set in the rugged KImberleys of  Western Australia. I have had such fun with those two books and look forward to sharing them with you next year.

That’s all for now.

keep well and happy

with love

Fiona

I’m absolutely thrilled! THE MIDWIFE’S BABY has finalled in the Short Sweet category of the prestigious Romantic Book Of The Year,  R*BY, awards held at the Romance Writers of Australia Conference in Brisbane in August. This book  came out last year in Australia and was a lot of fun to write. I’ve been attending RWAustralia conferences since they were first  held eighteen years ago (that would be why a big birthday is coming up  for me) and have watched with awe as finalists each year have produced such wonderful books.

To think that the reader judges have included me in this elite makes me  very grateful for all the help and support I’ve received from Romance Writers of Australia over the years.

I can’t recommend joining the organisation  more highly if you are an aspiring or published author.

Congratulations to the other finalists and I look forward to a fabulous night with my writer friends and my family around me.

As promised, I’ve included an extra Kimberley photo and the first of my two Kimberley books now has a title, MIDWIFE IN A MILLION and is due for release early 2010.

I’m deep into the next book  set in the Kimberley region, and I’m loving this book. In the  north of Western Australia, helicopter crashed, a midwife walking away from a pregnant woman, hoping she doesn’t birth before she can get to help… and the hero to die for

sigh

its a hard life living these dreams. I don’t think so.

xx Fi

PS I’m off to see Simon and Garfunkle in Brisbane with a dear friend on Thursday. More on that later

keep well and happy

warmest regards

xx Fiona

I’ve been awarded my first five star review from Sheryl at Cataromance, for my new Lyrebird Lake book, The Midwife’s New-Found Family which I have to quote here, <G> but I will give you the link. http://cataromance.com/?p=1983

A powerfully moving tale of human fallacy.

The Midwife’s New-Found Family by Fiona McArthur is a fascinating contemporary that draws the reader in and then delivers a powerfully moving tale of human fallacy. I enjoyed perusing this book because it had a feel-good attitude to it and I thoroughly loved reading about all of the characters in it. Ms. McArthur is a fairly new author for me and she has also become one of my favorites. Her characters are determined to succeed in their chosen fields but they also have a frailty to them that makes them appear human and down-to-earth while also struggling to fix problems and discover what destiny has in store for them. This book should definitely be on anyone’s list as a story to read.

Such a lovely surprise when I made it back to computer access after my fab time in the Kimberleys of Western Australia, home of Baz Luhrmann’s movie, AUSTRALIA. The sky, the sunsets, the walls of the canyons. Darn shame the rivers have crocodiles but oh so beautiful.

But floating around in hot rainforest springs wasn’t all I was there for. Have just finished the proofs for my first Kimberley book or two, A MIDWIFE IN A MILLION which is set along the Gibb River Road, and have a heap of new ideas for the second. I even took a helicopter flight over the Bungle Bungles for a scene I can’t wait to write. I needed to talk to that helicopter pilot. More on that as the photos appear over the next few weeks.

Keep well, keep happy, and never lose sight of your dreams.

warm regards

Fiona