The Outback Bridal Rescue. Emma Darcy
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if he was only filling in for someone.
Johnny had learnt very young that pleasing people gave him the easiest track through life. It was much smarter to stay on their good side. Straying from that only brought punishment. He still had nightmares about being locked in a dark cupboard for upsetting his first foster parents. By the time he’d been placed in another home, he’d worked out how to act. It was a blueprint he always carried in his head—win friends, avoid trouble.
He hoped the owner of this place was a reasonable kind of guy, not some bastard exploiting the justice system to get a free labour force, just like some foster parents, taking money from the government for looking after kids who really had to look after themselves, in more ways than just earning their keep in those supposedly safe homes.
The judge had rambled on about this being a program that would get boys who’d run off the rails back to ground values, good basic stuff to teach them what real life was about.
As if they hadn’t already had a gutful of real life!
And its lessons!
Still, Johnny figured he could ride this through easily enough—put a smile on his face, roll his shoulders, act willing.
The plane taxied back to where a man—the owner?—was waiting beside a four-wheel-drive Land Rover. Big man—broad-shouldered, barrel-chested, craggy weathered face, iron-grey hair. Had to be over fifty but still looking tough and formidable.
Not someone to buck, Johnny thought, though size didn’t strike fear in him anymore. He’d grown big himself. Bigger than most boys at sixteen. It made other guys think twice about picking a fight with him. Not that he ever actively invited one, and wouldn’t here, either. A friendly face and manner always served him best.
‘John Wayne rides again,’ Mitch Tyler mocked, making light of the big man waiting for them, yet his body language yelled tension.
‘No horse,’ Johnny tossed at him with a grin, wanting Mitch to relax, make it easier for all of them.
It won a smile. A bit twisted but a smile nonetheless. It gave Johnny some hope that Mitch might loosen up, given time and if they were treated reasonably well here.
He caught Ric Donato looking curiously at him and wondered what he was thinking. Dismissing him as harmless? No threat? Possibly good company? What did he see?
Johnny tried envisaging himself objectively—a hunky guy who wouldn’t be out of place in the front row of a football team, streaky brown hair that invariably flopped over his forehead because of a cowlick near his right temple, eyes that had a mix of green and brown in them and a twinkle of good humour that Johnny had assiduously cultivated, a mouth full of good white teeth which certainly helped to make a smile infectious.
Even so, he was no competition for Ric Donato in the good looks department. Girls probably fell all over him. Which was what had got him into trouble, stealing a Porsche to show off to some rich chick. Johnny had no time for girls yet. He just wanted to play his own music, get into a band, go on the road.
The plane came to a halt.
The cop told them to get their duffle bags from under the back seats. A few minutes later he was leading them out to a way of life which was far, far removed from anything the three of them had known before.
The initial introduction was ominous, striking bad chords in Johnny.
‘Here are your boys, Maguire. Straight off the city streets for you to whip into shape.’
The big old man—and he sure was big close up—gave the cop a steely look. ‘That’s not how we do things out here.’ The words were softly spoken but they carried a confident authority that scorned any need for abusive tactics.
He nodded to the three of them, offering a measure of respect. ‘I’m Patrick Maguire. Welcome to Gundamurra. In the Aboriginal language, that means “Good day.” I hope you will all eventually feel it was a good day when you first set foot on my place.’
Johnny’s bad feelings simmered down. It was okay. Patrick Maguire’s little speech had a welcoming ring to it, no punishment intended. Nevertheless, a strong sense of caution had Johnny intently watching the big man’s approach to Mitch, the first in line.
‘And you are…?’ The massive hand he held out looked suspiciously like a bone-cruncher.
‘Mitch Tyler,’ came the slightly belligerent reply. Mitch met the hand with his own in a kind of defiant challenge.
‘Good to meet you, Mitch.’
A normal handshake, no attempt to dominate.
Johnny’s smile was designed to disarm but it had more than a touch of relief in it as he quickly offered his hand in greeting, being next in line. ‘Johnny Ellis. Good to meet you, Mr Maguire.’
The steely-grey gaze returned a weighing look that made Johnny feel he was being measured in terms far different to what he was used to. His stomach contracted nervously as the warm handclasp seemed to get right under his skin, seeking all he kept hidden.
His determinedly fixed smile evoked only a hint of amusement in the grey eyes, causing an unaccustomed sense of confusion in Johnny as Patrick Maguire finally released his hand and moved on to Ric who introduced himself far more coolly, not giving anything away.
‘Ready to go?’ the old man asked him.
‘Yeah. I’m ready.’ Aggression in this reply.
Ready to take on the whole damned world if Ric had to, Johnny interpreted, and wondered if Patrick Maguire was looking for that kind of spirit. Had he himself failed some test by appearing too easygoing?
Didn’t matter.
All he had to do was ride through the six months here with the least amount of trouble. He might not be a fighter like Ric and Mitch but he knew how to survive, and head-on clashes weren’t his style. Reading the lay of the land, adjusting to it, accommodating it…that was the way to go for Johnny Ellis.
Yet as Patrick Maguire stood back and cast his gaze along the three of them, taking in his new recruits for outback tuition, he nodded, as though approving each one. Johnny’s stomach relaxed, feeling good vibes coming from the man. Somehow he had passed the test, whatever it was. He was accepted.
So Gundamurra shouldn’t be a bad place to be. The old man had said it meant “good day.” Johnny decided he could do with a lot of good days. No worries. No stress. No angling for some step that would help him get where he wanted to go in the music world. He could let all that wait for six months, settle in and enjoy the wide open spaces.
Yeah…he was ready for this.
Probably more so than Ric or Mitch.
Though he hoped the three of them could establish and maintain friendly relations while they were here.
It was beyond Johnny Ellis’s imagination that a friendship would evolve that would last the rest of their lives, intertwining through all that was important to them…being there for each other in times of need, understanding where they were coming from and why.
The bond of Gundamurra was about to be forged.
And at the heart of it was Patrick Maguire, the man who would become the father they’d never known, a man who listened to the people they were, learning their individual strengths, guiding them towards paths that could lead towards successful futures, encouraging them to fly as only they could…and always, always, welcoming them home.
CHAPTER ONE
Twenty-two years later…
JOHNNY ELLIS rode into the old western town that had been built for the movie. Behind him was the Arizona desert. In front of him was the film crew, cameras rolling. It was all he could do to keep a straight face, in keeping with the character he was playing—cowboy on a mission.
An inner grin was twitching at the corners of his mouth. On the country and western