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The common brown snake was a meter and a half long and wasn’t too happy about being disturbed. It raised its small head and flicked its tongue a couple of times before uncoiling itself and slithering away into the scraggly bush.

“Are you all right?” Mack asked as he quickly strode over. “Did it bite you?” Alex gave a shudder and shook her head. “No, but it easily could have. I had no idea it was there.”

“I should have warned you,” he said frowning. “Snakes are attracted to water. He was probably hunting for mice under that tin.”

“Mice?” She gave another shudder. “Ewww. I hate mice even more than snakes.”

Mack’s mouth tilted in a sardonic smile as he kicked at the sheet of tin before picking it up. “You’re in the country, Dr MacDonald,” he reminded her as he led the way back to the patient. “You’d better get used to all creatures great and small or go home while you’ve still got the chance.”

Alex scowled at him. “I’m not going home,” she said, but a few minutes later when the Flying Doctor plane landed she was sorely tempted to jump on board and never once look back.

The cottage was in darkness by the time they returned, but the heat of the day was still trapped inside. It came out in a hot thick wave as Mack opened the front door and wrapped around Alex like a heavy woolen blanket. She fanned her face and gave him a rueful look. “How on earth do the locals survive this climate? It’s positively stifling.”

“It might be cooler out on the back veranda,” he suggested. “The sun’s been on this part of the house for most of the afternoon. Go out and sit down and I’ll bring a drink out in a couple of minutes. What would you like, white wine, beer or something soft?”

“A glass of white wine sounds lovely.”

It was more than lovely, Alex thought a short time later as she savoured the hints of gooseberry and passionfruit in the sauvignon blanc as she listened to the night music of crickets and frogs in the background. She couldn’t remember the last time she had heard nothing but the sounds of nature nor could she recall the last time she had seen the pin holes of so many stars in the dark blue blanket of the night sky above.

The veranda rail creaked as Mack leaned his forearms on it beside her, the rattle of ice cubes in his glass tinkling like tiny bells. “You did a good job out at the Ellis’s,” he said turning his head to look at her. “From what you said about being newly qualified I wasn’t sure how you’d cope, but you did really well.”

She sent him an arch glance. “So you don’t think I should pack my bags and go straight back to the city?”

His gaze meshed with hers in the semi-darkness, holding her captive for endless seconds as the silence pulsed with erotic promise around them...