Teaser Tuesday!

Teaser Tuesday Meme Welcome to Teaser Tuesday, the blog series where I share snippets from new and past releases, and works-in-progress, and love to con author buddies into doing the same. Which is the case again this week!

But first, news from the slowly settling chaos that is the new Hein house. I’ve been running our oven through its paces and, much to my surprise, it’s been behaving rather well. It looks like the people who did the renovation installed the most basic model they could find, which means it has only two functions – fan bake and grill.

I narrowed my eyes when I first saw it, picturing dried out cakes and other travesties, but it’s proved me wrong. So far we’ve enjoyed hot-crossed buns, mascarpone lemon tart, and salt and vinegar roast potatoes, and all were tasty and not remotely dried out. Excellent!

Speaking of excellent, my guest today is small town and rural romance author Jennie Jones. Jennie is the loveliest person, and great fun to catch up with. She also writes hugely popular books.

I have no doubt many of you are very familiar with Jennie’s books, especially her Swallow’s Fall series. Regular readers will also be aware of Jennie’s new Rangelands series, described as “Rural Romance meets Blue Heelers” (for international folk, Blue Heelers was a much-loved and long-running police drama set in the Australian countryside), and which began with A Place to Stay.

The latest instalment is A Place with Heart and it sounds fabulous. Think mystery, sizzling sexual tension, the Australian outback, and Jennie’s trademark sparkling characters.

Here’s Jennie to tell you more about it and share a juicy sample. Enjoy!

Thanks for having me back on Teaser Tuesday, Cathryn.

In my new release A Place with Heart my heroine, Jaxine, is facing the unexpected: the arrival of her child, Frances, whom she was forced to give up to its father when she was only seventeen. She has a lot to think about, reflect on, regret, and get over so she can make the world a better place for her put-upon 13-year-old daughter who has been turfed out of her home in the most heartbreaking circumstances.

As if that’s not enough, there’s a crime spree happening in town, and Jax and Frances are caught up in it. Good job Detective Senior Sergeant Jack Maxwell is on hand – although his week isn’t going according to plan either! But one thing Jack knows almost from the start of the story is what he wants – Jaxine. This teaser is taken from after Jack discovers exactly what happened to Jax and to Frances, and why the woman he’s in love with is so reluctant to let him into her life.

Jack pulled his mobile out of his shirt pocket and rang her.

‘You okay, sweetheart?’ he said as soon as she answered and before she had time to speak.

There was a pause. ‘Jack, you’ve got to stop—’

‘Will you come out with me?’

A longer pause.

‘I want to take you out,’ he said, turning his back to the street and stepping into the alley between the café and the newsagent’s. ‘I want to walk up Sunset Mountain with you and hold your hand when we get to the steep bits.’

‘Jack …’

‘I want to drive out to Maria Downs with you,’ he said softly, ‘and pick you a big bunch of wildflowers.’

‘That’s illegal.’

‘I’ll risk it.’

He stepped further away from the rumble of traffic on High Street. The smell of fried food and coffee lingered in the evening air but all Jack inhaled was the sweet scent of Jax’s perfume. Just the way he remembered it. ‘I want to see you smile at me again. Our smile, Jax. You know the one I mean.’ Goosebumps rose on his skin. ‘That smile we share when we look at each other and the world around us disappears. Don’t tell me you don’t know which smile I mean. It’s still there.’

He heard her swallow, as though she had a lump of emotion in her throat.

‘Come out with me. Be with me.’ Let me in.

He waited for her response, his breath coming deeply.

‘Jack—’

‘I’m just telling you what I want.’

He hung up before she had a chance to give him a negative.

He headed for the cop shop. First, he was going to run a check on Frances’s father, then he was going to call a close friend who worked alongside child protection.

Ooh, how sweet. And also how intriguing. Like me, you want more, more, more of A Place with Heart, don’t you? Oh yes you do!

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