Check out an excerpt from Demelza Carlton's 'Water and Fire'

Book blurb:

A steamy contemporary medical romance involving a sexy doctor, a naughty nurse, a midwife on a mission and a mysterious predator in Albany, Western Australia.




Working as a student midwife in an Australian country hospital is never easy, but Belinda finds more trouble than most.

There's the intern doctor who follows her around like an overgrown puppy, the dangerous local wildlife and her own secrets she must keep.

When she finds herself without a place to live, what else can possibly go wrong?

Or is it time for something to go right?

Read an excerpt:

I heard her approach, but still she surprised me. She spied above the surface, her face close beside the boat, her eye focussed on me. A tiny back broke the surface next to her, followed by a tail barely bigger than a dolphin's. Her baby was so young it was still pale grey.

I held tight to the rail at the bow as she breached beside the vessel, soaking me with spray as she twisted in the air and splashed down again. The boat rocked violently, but stayed afloat. A gust of wind chilled me to the bone. I couldn't stop smiling, even as my hands turned pale blue. The other passengers moved out to the bow again and we all watched as the whale cow breached a little further away. Murmured sighs echoed around me as the tiny back and tail flicked to the surface beside her.

I nodded my thanks to her and shivered in the wind, wishing I'd thought to bring warmer clothing. I wondered if it was warmer in the water with the whale than in the wind on the boat. If only I could slip into the water unseen to find out.

Aidan was close behind me, but I didn't mind his nearness. He blocked the wind from one direction, if nothing else. I heard him unzip his coat and wondered why he'd do such a thing in this wind. The answer came as he enclosed me in tartan, his arms lightly around me.

I pulled away automatically, but stopped at the sound of his voice. Now he sounded in control. "You're turning blue. You can share my coat or you can go inside and wrap up in the foil blanket from the boat's first aid kit. If you stand out here much longer in your wet clothes, you'll get hypothermia and I promise I'll get you admitted to hospital as soon as the boat docks. Whatever you choose, I'm not going to let you freeze. I'm not a very good one, but I am a doctor."

I couldn't be admitted to hospital as a patient. I refused to sit inside when the whales were out here. That left me one option. I struggled out of my own dripping coat and dropped it on the deck. My sweater and shirt beneath it were merely damp. I sank deeper into Aidan's coat, until my back touched his chest.

His breath tickled my ear as he laughed. "I expected you to take the first aid option inside."

"The whales are out here," I said.

As if on cue, the baby exhaled into the air and flashed its fin and tail. The whale cow lifted her back high, followed by a tail wider than the boat, as she dove deep and headed out of the bay. I farewelled her with my eyes.

Aidan zipped up his coat again, this time with me inside. He was so warm. I felt surprisingly comfortable in this strange man's arms.

Listen to author Demelza Carlton read the first chapter of her book




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About the author:

Demelza Carlton has always loved the ocean, but on her first snorkelling trip she found she was afraid of fish.

She has since swum with sea lions, sharks and sea cucumbers and stood on spray-drenched cliffs over a seething sea as a seven-metre cyclonic swell surged in, shattering a shipwreck below.

Sensationalist spin? No - Demelza tends to take a camera with her so she can capture and share the moment later; shipwrecks, sharks and all.

Demelza now lives in Perth, Western Australia, the shark attack capital of the world.

The Ocean's Gift series was her first foray into fiction, followed by the Nightmares trilogy.

Contact links:

Website: http://www.demelzacarlton.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DemelzaCarltonAuthor
Twitter: http://twitter.com/DemelzaCarlton
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/DemelzaCarlton
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/DemelzaCarlton?feature=watch
Amazon: http://viewauthor.at/DemelzaCarlton