The Lure of the Jewel Sea: Whitsunday Romance, #3

By Rhonda Forrest

THE LURE OF THE JEWEL SEA - Romance in the Whitsundays. You won't want to leave!

When her friend Frankie asks her to officiate at her wedding in the Whitsundays, Kathleen agrees to fly in and fly out. A quick visit and then back to the comfort of the Gold Coast. Maybe then she'll be able to work out what direction her life is headed.

The heat of summer and the plagues of insects reinforce her idea of life in the north and she's excited about returning home. She just needs to get the wedding out of the way. However, fate intervenes, a business opportunity arises and decisions need to be made.
Amidst the heat of the tropics, there is also a romance brewing and the business venture is not the only challenging question she needs to ask herself. Will she take a chance, or do what she's always done and take the comfortable path in life?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Valeena Press
• Release date: Mar 3, 2024
• ISBN: 9798223126195

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Agust of hot wind caused Kathleen to stop on the top of the stairs as she exited the plane. The warmth of the air hit her like a wave from a furnace and filled the space around her. She tightened her grip on her bag. The heat must be from the bitumen tarmac and the plane engines that had eventually rattled to a stop. Surely this wasn’t normal. Her heels clipped on the metal stairs and she watched where she stepped as she became part of the line of people who were making their way to the buildings over further.

‘Good God,’ she said to Erin, who walked beside her. ‘Wouldn’t you think they’d have a covered area to walk under. I thought this was supposed to be the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and Whitsunday islands.’ She wiped her hand across her brow. ‘That sun is intense.’

‘Watch your heels, the bitumen will be sticky under your feet. It’s up to forty degrees today.’

‘My God,’ Kathleen pushed her sunglasses down over her eyes. ‘The glare, I can hardly see.’ She struggled with her luggage.

‘Come on,’ Erin took one of her bags from her. ‘That’s why I travel with this backpack. Gives me a spare hand.’

‘Thank you,’ Kathleen managed to say, her breath short due to the humidity that hung heavy. Erin waited with Kathleen until her other luggage arrived, ready for collection. It had been interesting to talk to Erin and she was grateful for her help. ‘You’re going to do well in your new job. I’ve really enjoyed your company,’ Kathleen told her.

‘Thank you, I’ve had fun talking to you also and I love your tips for buying clothes. I’ll have to leave you now though. I can see my brother out there in the carpark. I’ll see you around for sure.’

‘Well, you have my phone number,’ Kathleen replied. ‘But I doubt if I’ll see you again. Once the wedding is done I’ll be on my way back home. Make sure to give me a call when you’re down south next time and I’ll take you shopping.’

Erin was sweet, so mature for someone her age, Kathleen thought. She had appreciated the young woman’s company on the trip, their conversation making the short flight go even quicker.

As she turned her phone back on, the messages and emails flooded in and she groaned, thinking about how many work ones would be amongst them. Her business had been constant for the last few years and for some reason that she couldn’t explain she just didn’t have the same enthusiasm or drive that she’d had had in the first ten years that she’d run it. This year she’d turned thirty-four and sometimes she wondered if it was time to sell the business and take up a new venture. Her doubts about continuing with her celebrant work had led to her decision to take time off. She’d left the diary blank for the next few months and was looking forward to some time back at home after Frankie’s wedding. She needed time to herself. Life was good but there was nothing to aim for anymore, she’d lost her motivation and although she had everything to feel happy about, something was missing.

‘No, it’s not a man that I need,’ she assured her mother when she’d last seen her. ‘I just need something new. Maybe a different unit, closer to the beach, with a better view and a different job perhaps.’

Kathleen gave Erin a hug as they said goodbye. ‘Good luck with your new job. Frankie has just messaged and she’s about ten minutes away so I’ll wait in here until she comes.’

The two parted ways and Kathleen took a seat. The airport was busy. It was the start of the school holidays and there were families with kids as well as numerous backpackers, who she had been told were vital employees for the area. There were also large numbers of trade workers in their fluoro shirts and shorts. Employees at the mines, she guessed, surprised at how many there were either getting ready to board or entering the building from another plane that had landed around the same time.

One of her favourite pastimes was to people watch and this crowd was a bit different to the one at Brisbane airport. Quite a mixture, she thought, watching a family with three children, the parents and two boys and a girl all dressed in jeans, big buckled belts and checked collared shirts. In their hands they held their hats, their leather boots clicking across the tiled floor as they made their way to the entry lounge. Another man, dressed similarly, stopped them, his loud greeting audible from where she sat.

‘Bloody hell, look at you lot all dressed up.’ The man took his well-worn cowboy hat off and ran his hand through his wavy blonde hair. Good looking, she thought, although the way he was jumping up and down and waving his tattooed arms around reminded her of the last man she had dated on the coast. Big and muscly, noisy, tattoos and too much testosterone. Plus, a male ego that in the end had been just too much to bear. Men. They were all the same.

The man standing with the kids grabbed the blonde-haired man’s hand and shook it vigorously. He was obviously their father and his words were loud, echoing through the waiting area. ‘We’re taking the kiddos to the coast, aye. Dreamworld, Sea World, and Movie World. The missus has the tickets all booked and paid for.’

Kathleen cringed at the word, ‘missus’ however the woman he was referring to didn’t seem to object. ‘The kids are excited, aye’ the woman added in. ‘First time on a plane and to the city. We flew in from out west last night. Do ‘em good to see the world on the other side of the outback.’

‘Yuck it up, aye.’ The blonde-haired man ruffled one of the boy’s hair and playfully punched him. ‘You kids do what ya mum tells you now.’

What was it with people from up here. She had listened to the people in the seats behind her on the plane talking and had noticed the language, exactly the same as the two men who had sat in front of her. Even Erin spoke with a different twang in her voice and to Kathleen’s exasperation, often added ‘aye’ after her sentence, much like all these other people did. There was also usually a ‘mate’ in the sentence as well. Hopefully this fella, Simon, who Frankie had fallen madly in love with and was now getting married to, had better language than she’d heard this morning. She wasn’t sure she would be able to listen to it for too long without commenting or suggesting more appropriate words to use. Elocution lessons had been a major part of her upbringing. The large private school she had attended on the coast had ensured their girls spoke, dressed and acted as they should.

As she stood, she thought about how those wonderful traits had stayed with her and made her the person she was today. Hopefully Frankie hadn’t forgotten those important lessons either, even if she had chosen to live in some remote backwater of the Whitsundays.

CHAPTER 2

Walking out through the glass doors to the airport carpark had been like going from the freezer to the fire. Inside, the air conditioning was up so high that at one stage she had questioned whether to put her angora cardigan on or not. Now out here in the open, the blaze from a cloudless blue sky glared its brightness and she took a deep breath, the heat from the bitumen road and concrete paths adding to the warmth and stopping her in her tracks. Surely this was an anomaly, there was no way a person could do anything in this sort of weather.

Frankie spotted her from across the road and waved wildly, her long tanned legs poking out from a tiny pair of denim shorts. A flimsy singlet covered the top part of her body and a chubby baby perched on her hip. The two women hugged before looking for a long while at each other. It had been a while since they had seen each other. Frankie looked like a completely different person than the one who had left the Gold Coast only a couple of years ago and Kathleen held her at arm’s length. ‘It’s so good to see you. I’ve missed you.’

‘Me too. This is Charlotte,’ Frankie said. ‘Charlotte, meet Kathleen.’

Kathleen had put her bags down on the footpath, her hands clammy from clutching a large leather bag and other luggage. She tried to ignore the sweat that ran down between her breasts, her usually comfortable trousers and shirt suddenly feeling tight and restrictive as the glare of the sun beat down.

She squealed. ‘Look at you, Frankie. My God you look like a teenager again. Turn around.’ Frankie spun around, her feet pushed into rubber thongs, her legs as brown as every other visible part of her body. Kathleen pushed her face up closer to Charlotte’s, tickling her feet with her brightly coloured red nails. ‘Oh my, you are the cutest. She’s got such gorgeous blonde hair. Who does she look like? I can’t see any of you in her.’

Frankie hoisted Charlotte higher on her hip, the little girl holding out her hand as Kathleen gently squeezed it. She’d never had anything much to do with babies. Her marriage to Bentley the sharebroker, had broken up before they’d ever even considered such a decision. Even though she had sometimes thought about it, for him it had been out of the question. ‘Yuck, messy, loud and just a total interruption to our life. Plus, think of the money we would spend on them. Definitely no pesky brats for me and that way we’ll have everything all to ourselves.’

She wasn’t sure she was the mother type anyway. Life after Bentley was a bit lonely and the men she’d dated totally unsuitable for even a short relationship never mind anything more serious. At the moment she was doing okay by herself with no one else to worry about. This baby was adorable though and her cute little face looked back, smiling at Kathleen like she really liked her.

‘She loves you already, Kath. Look, she’s holding out her arms for you to hold her.’

‘Maybe when I get this linen off,’ Kathleen replied as she picked her bags up from where she had put them down. ‘I really need to get out of the sun. The sweat is dripping off me.’

‘Follow me,’ Frankie said as she waved her hand for her to follow.

‘Wait up. Hang on, my heels have sunk in the road.’ She pulled her foot out of her shoe and instantly regretted it as the road was so hot she couldn’t put her bare foot on it. As she hopped up and down, Frankie returned and bent down, pulling her shoe out from where it had sunk. ‘Quick, up here on the grass. This is a heatwave and even the locals are complaining about the weather.’ She looked Kathleen up and down, saying nothing.

‘I know, I was warned about the heat. Heavy linen probably wasn’t the correct choice for travel or for up here. Kind of you not to mention it.’

Frankie took her arm and guided her towards the car. At least now the shoes were on solid ground, although the scorched grass crackled as she walked on it. How did anything grow up here, without being burnt to a crisp?

The two women did not stop talking from the moment they got in the car. There was plenty to catch up on and their constant chatter sent Charlotte to sleep even before they had driven out of the carpark. Kathleen relaxed in the comfort of a seat with plenty of legroom, grateful for the air con that blasted out of the vents. As Frankie talked, Kathleen peered out the window, connecting the scenery she had taken in from the air. Towering stalks of cane lined the side of the road, the view the same on either side. She inhaled sharply