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Australian Secrets
Fiona McCallum
Some secrets need to be told…Current affairs reporter Nicola Harvey has everything – she’s part of Australian television’s A-list, has a wealthy, successful fiancé and a classy apartment in Adelaide. But appearances are deceiving and Nicola’s sensing a problem. So, when her boss sends her on an extended research trip, she’s happy to get away for some country-style relaxation.When Nicola arrives in the little town of Nowhere Else, nothing is as she expected: there’s no spa and all the locals are tight-lipped except the handsome stranger from the plane, who’s keen to entertain her!The deeper Nicola digs for a story, the more time she spends with rugged Alex and she realises coming here wasn’t a mistake. In fact, Alex may just unlock the mystery of her past. And hold the key to her future happiness…Originally published as Nowhere Else.
Praise for (#ulink_d954ba8c-74ff-5c5e-a5a9-272ad9f5cf72)FIONA McCALLUM (#ulink_d954ba8c-74ff-5c5e-a5a9-272ad9f5cf72)
‘Open any one of Fiona McCallum’s novels and you’ll be hit with a dose of girl power.’
—Yours
‘Ms McCallum is now a bestselling rural fiction author and her latest book is another realistic portrayal of country life bundled in a heartwarming journey of self-discovery with her fifth novel.’
—Eyre Peninsula Tribune
‘Fiona McCallum writes beautifully and again she swept me away with her descriptions of country living. A beautiful novel filled with romance, inner strength and, above all, friendship.’
—That Book You Like on Time Will Tell
Australian
Secrets
Fiona McCallum
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
In memory of my beloved feline friend, Calvin, who gave me fourteen wonderful years of companionship and unconditional love
FIONA McCALLUM spent her childhood years on the family cereal and wool farm outside a small town on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula. An avid reader and writer, she decided at the age of nine that she wanted to be the next Enid Blyton! She completed her final years of schooling at a private boarding school in Adelaide.
Having returned to her home town to work in the local council office, Fiona maintained her literary interests by writing poetry and short stories, and studying at TAFE via correspondence. Her ability to put into words her observations of country life saw a number of her articles published in the now defunct newspaper SA Statewide.
When her marriage ended, Fiona moved to Adelaide, eventually found romance, and followed it to Melbourne. She returned to full-time study at the age of twenty-six and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Professional Writing) from Deakin University. While studying, she found herself drawn to writing fiction, where her keen observation of the human condition and everyday situations could be combined with her love of storytelling.
After brief stints in administration, marketing and recruitment, Fiona started Content Solutions, a consultancy providing professional writing and editing services to the corporate sector. Living with a sales and marketing executive and working on high-level business proposals and tenders has given Fiona great insight into vastly different ways of life.
Fiona continued to develop her creative writing skills by reading widely and voraciously and attending short courses. In 2001 she realised her true passion lay in writing full-length fiction and in 2002 completed her first manuscript.
In early 2004 Fiona made the difficult decision to return to Adelaide alone in order to achieve a balanced lifestyle and develop a career as a novelist. She successfully re-established her consultancy and now enjoys the sharp contrast between her corporate work and creative writing.
Australian Secrets is Fiona’s second novel.
Table of Contents
Cover (#u7447e7d6-648d-5ade-bb1c-ce49bc7698c2)
Praise for FIONA McCALLUM (#ulink_e2ef1fb4-28d7-5436-a39f-b359c845b13d)
Title Page (#ud90641e6-1568-56d6-99a9-10f718e9958f)
Dedication (#u25b2e7b0-d68a-551c-955a-d0fc63cbb5d6)
About the Author (#ud49e2e9d-3822-54a3-9683-fdbd85dfc074)
Prologue (#ulink_50f60a14-ed32-5662-82f7-4717e9f496f4)
Chapter One (#ulink_05d56dc8-f777-5ada-9459-246aebc90933)
Chapter Two (#ulink_dc1ebbaf-24d9-5cce-9d87-946b828caa34)
Chapter Three (#ulink_b890d3fe-17ca-5892-a47c-78adb28b77bc)
Chapter Four (#ulink_b8bcc0f0-97c0-524b-8255-c5f2384b4fde)
Chapter Five (#ulink_fd059ff4-3447-5d9f-81f7-9c4314351c69)
Chapter Six (#ulink_085cad44-6b7a-5896-86ef-70a6d891bfaf)
Chapter Seven (#ulink_b5dd7aca-03be-5186-a54e-e507ed6a5606)
Chapter Eight (#ulink_73481461-df65-5170-997e-3246f12e64d0)
Chapter Nine (#ulink_0d304164-8039-5ff6-a0f6-7fa9ec9639b8)
Chapter Ten (#ulink_f1867d7f-2ace-542e-bf94-e7b1f21794a6)
Chapter Eleven (#ulink_cc819e4d-4b88-5bb7-85c1-fb66b166c98d)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-one (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-two (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-three (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-one (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-two (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-three (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-one (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-two (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-three (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Endpage (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
Prologue (#ulink_bf244041-c5c9-56ec-840f-71cab2e4f77e)
Walkley Awards presentation
‘And the final nominee is Nicola Harvey, Life and Times, for her investigation into the crash of SAR Airlines’ flight 519.’
Tonight we spare a thought for the families of the victims of flight 519, which the coroner has found crashed as a result of mechanical failure and not pilot error, contrary to the initial Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigation.
‘Mayday Mayday Mayday … two engine failures … we’ll be ditching … Request someone come out and help us please.’
Pilot Matt Berkowitz, Ruth and Paul Harvey, Elizabeth Gibbs, Violet Patterson, Mark Neilson, David Richards, and Stewart Cope perished when the Piper Navajo Chieftain aircraft in which they were flying suffered twin engine failure, and plunged into Spencer Gulf.
During an investigation spanning three years and two continents, Life and Times journalist Nicola Harvey made a number of crucial discoveries. Not only did she uncover a raft of questionable business practices by operator SAR Airlines, but she found that the Australian Transport Safety Bureau had itself played a significant part in the disaster, and then tried to cover it up. This discovery changed the course of the investigation and helped clear the young pilot’s name.
‘… And the winner for television current affairs feature, documentary or special longer than twenty minutes is …’
Chapter One (#ulink_6d6c77bf-156c-5937-93e3-fd329ddaa9f7)
‘Me, me, me,’ Nicola yelled into the pillows, beating them with her fists, the announcer’s words bouncing back and forth between her ears.
Leaning back into the plush pillows, hands clasped behind her head, she couldn’t wipe the grin from her face. Not that she was trying to. Stuff being humble, she thought. I deserve this.
Steam drifted from under the ensuite door, rolling towards the end of the bed like a fog, accompanied by the damp musky smells of masculine body wash and shaving foam. She could hear the heavy beat of water on the glass screen, the occasional stomp of wet feet and squelch of a soap-filled sponge rubbing briskly on skin.
‘And the winner is … Nicola Harvey,’ Nicola whispered. A Walkley and a Gold Walkley – could life be more perfect?
She could hear Scott padding about on the smooth, damp Carrara marble, the opening and shutting of vanity cupboard doors, the buzz of his electric toothbrush. Scott always followed the same routine. Soon would come the brief roar of his hairdryer – there it was. And finally the slap, slap of hands as he applied aftershave.
Nicola imagined the astringent stinging and wondered why you’d bother every day. But it did smell damn good, she thought, as it accompanied Scott past the wardrobe and around to his side of the bed.
She rolled over for a better look as he bent to retrieve his Tag Heuer watch from the bedside table, admiring the muscles of his smooth, toned back and strong shoulders. Damn he was in good shape; almost forty and not an ounce of fat in sight.
Nicola fixed her gaze on the section of olive skin that disappeared under the roll of white towel around his waist, licking her lips hungrily. God she wanted to tear his towel off. What better way to celebrate than to make love with the man you loved?
She sighed. How long had it been? Nicola had tried to coax him when they’d got home from the ceremony, but he’d said he was too tired. And she really had been too drunk.
Though as he inspected himself in the mirrored door of his wardrobe, she saw that he hadn’t been too tired to hang up all his clothes.
Of course he hadn’t, she thought, feeling a little annoyed.
In the early days, Nicola had questioned whether two people with such diametrically opposed views on tidiness could happily cohabit. When they’d moved in together Scott had stated that as long as everything was out of sight he could put up with her untidy ways. Compromise; that was what love was all about, right?
She was impressed the first time she saw his carefully ordered wardrobe.
