Stormflight

by Christine Roberts

Love was the last thing on Rachel Sanderson's mind as she fought to keep the old four-wheel drive Landcruiser from sliding off the rough track. The storm had been building all day, fuelled by the remnants of a tropical cyclone that had swept down from the north. Now, with darkness falling, the storm had broken, drenching the barren landscape and sending thunder-claps rolling across the sky. The thunder didn't bother Rachel unduly, but the rain did. She had spent too many years on the land not to be worried by the flash floods that could strand her for days. Still only twenty-five, Rachel had spent all her life on Mount Grace, a sprawling sheep station in the north-west of Western Australia owned by her father, Ron Sanderson. It was a lonely life for Rachel. The years had slipped by all too quickly, leaving Rachel little time to think about anything but work, resigning herself to a life of solitude, never letting herself dwell on the emptiness inside her, an emptiness destined never to be filled.
Or so she thought, until a flash of lightning revealed a crashed aircraft at the side of the track and Rachel's life was turned upside down. For inside the wreckage lay the unconscious form of thirty-four year old Paul Gallagher, a handsome and wealthy businessman from the city. With the rain hampering her, Rachel struggles desperately to free Paul from the aircraft before the flood waters arrive. Against all odds, she succeeds, bringing Paul at last to the safety of the Mount Grace homestead. However, when Ron Sanderson returns a few days later, he makes it clear to Rachel that Paul is not welcome. Not wanting to cause a rift, Paul departs, and now Rachel must decide whether to follow her dreams or resign herself to a lonely life on Mount Grace….

143 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 31, 2015