Breaking The Drought by Lisa Ireland

skylarking.’
    The yelling became louder and more insistent. Luke forced himself to pull away from Jenna. ‘Do you think — ’
    Jenna nodded. ‘It sounds like Rob.’
    Luke jumped up and pulled his T-shirt over his head. ‘I’m going to see if I can find them,’ he said.
    Jenna slid her feet into her thongs and picked up her caftan. ‘I’ll come with you.’
    Luke looked at her footwear. ‘It might be better if you stayed here,’ he said.
    More yelling sounds came from the distance.
    â€˜If one of them is injured, you might need my help,’ she said.
    She was right. An extra pair of hands never went astray. ‘Okay, but be careful walking in those shoes. We don’t need you to get hurt.’
    Jenna nodded and slipped the caftan over her head.
    â€˜Follow me,’ Luke said, and he headed off towards the sound of the voices.
    There was a well-defined track along the river’s edge, which Luke surmised was the route Rob and Brooke would have taken. He moved as quickly as he could without leaving Jenna behind, although he had to admit she was keeping pace pretty well, especially as they were going uphill. The bank was getting progressively steeper and the bush thicker the further they went along the track.
    â€˜Stop for a minute,’ Luke said, when they heard Rob’s voice again. He sounded nearby.
    â€˜Rob?’ Luke called.
    â€˜Down here, mate,’ came the reply.
    Luke looked down towards the water. Through the scrub he could just see Rob crouching down. Brooke appeared to be lying on the ground.
    â€˜What’s happened?’ Luke shouted.
    â€˜Brooke’s taken a tumble and hurt her ankle. I need your help to get her back to the truck.’
    â€˜Righto. I’ll be down in a minute.’ He turned to Jenna. ‘Go back to the ute and grab anything that might be useful.’
    â€˜Like what?’
    â€˜Towels, rope, anything that can help make a splint. If her ankle’s broken she won’t be able to put any weight on it at all. I’m not sure how hard it will be to get her up the slope but we don’t want to do any extra damage to her ankle in the process.’
    Jenna nodded. ‘I’ll be as quick as I can.’ She hesitated for a moment. ‘Luke?’
    â€˜Yes?’
    â€˜It surely can’t be that bad? I mean she’ll be okay won’t she?’
    He could hear the concern in her voice and it touched him. His natural instinct was to comfort her, but experience had taught him not to make promises he couldn’t keep. ‘I hope so. Just hurry back with whatever you can find.’
    Luke started down the steep embankment, wishing he’d had the sense to bring his work boots with him. He was relieved not to have Jenna behind him. He wasn’t ready to answer questions about his medical knowledge and surely she would notice that he knew more than your average farmer. What the hell was he doing? His desire had caused him to launch into something he knew he wasn’t ready for. He wanted to keep his distance, to go back to being comfortably numb, like he was before he met her. But the moment he kissed her the floodgates to his heart had opened.
    Thank God she was going back to Melbourne tomorrow. The last thing he needed was to turn his, or Maggie’s, world upside down.
    He reached the pebbly river’s edge and crouched down near Brooke. All thoughts of Jenna vanished from his mind as he assessed the situation. ‘How did you end up like this?’ he asked.
    Brooke’s face was white but she managed a smile. ‘I slipped on the wet rocks, klutz that I am.’
    Luke smiled reassuringly as he looked her over. ‘Where does it hurt?’ he asked.
    â€˜My ankle mainly. My hip’s a bit sore too.’
    â€˜Did you hit your head at all when you fell?’
    Brooke shook her head.
    â€˜Good. Let’s have a look at this ankle.’ He turned his