Aaron
(The Wells Brothers bk 2)
By
Angela Verdenius
(BBW Romance)
Copyright 2016 Angela Verdenius
All Rights Reserved
Cover image courtesy of © claudio.arnese / istockphoto.com
Cover by Angela Verdenius
ebook Edition License Notes
No part of this book may be reproduced, resold, copied or given away in any form without prior consent of the author & publisher.
All characters and towns are figments of the author’s imagination and bear no resemblance to any person living or deceased.
Table of Contents
Glossary
Foreword
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Bio
Other Books by this Author
Glossary
I found that some overseas readers were having difficulty with the Australian slang, so I thought a list of the slang I’ve used will help while reading the following story. If I’ve forgotten any, I do apologise! Also, you’ll find some of our Aussie words have different spelling to the US. Interestingly enough, as I’ve grown (gracefully) older, I find a lot of our slang is bypassing the younger generation, so if a young Aussie says they have never heard a certain word, don’t be surprised! But trust me, I’ve used these words all my life growing up, and so have a lot of my family and friends. Does that make me an older Aussie? Heck yes! LOL
Cheers,
Angela
Australian Names/Terms/Slang
AFP - Australian Federal Police
Ambos - ambulance officers
Arvo - afternoon
Barbie - BBQ
Beaut - beautiful, awesome, great, wonderful
Berko - berserk
Bewdy - as in ‘awesome, great’
Biccies - biscuits. The same as cookies
Bikie - biker, person who rides motorcycles.
Bloke/s - man/men
Bloody - a swear word ‘no bloody good’, in place of ‘no damned good’
Boofhead - idiot, simpleton, etc. It’s an insult, though sometimes we use it as a term of affection. It depends on how it is said and meant.
Boot (of a car) - trunk
Brown nose - currying favour, sucking up. Has a cruder description, but let’s not go into that here. Means the same thing!
Budgie smugglers - men’s bathers, small, brief and tight-fitting
Buggered - many Aussie use it as a slang word for ‘broken’ (it’s buggered), ‘tired (I’m buggered), and ‘no way’ (I’m buggered if I’m going to do that). Just some examples
Bung/Bunging - as in ‘bunging onto something’, putting on something (bung veggies on a plate, putting veggies on a plate), usually in a careless or ‘easy’ manner.
Bush rangers - outlaws/thieves/robbers.
Cark/carked - die, died.
Chips - in Australia we have cold crunchy chips from a packet, or hot chips known in some countries as French Fries
Chippie - carpenter
Crash cart - resuscitation trolley in a hospital or medical setting - used for life threatening situations such as cardiac arrest
Dander – temper
Dial - face
Dill - silly, idiot
Dogs - (as in attached to a truck) - trailers, enclosed or not, that carry goods or are empty.
Doona - like a padded quilt that fits inside a cover and lies on the bed. Can have the warmth of two, three or four blankets, etc.
Donger - penis. Also another meaning is a place people sometimes sleep in, such as ‘dongers’ on mine sites.
Dunny - toilet. When used in the terms ‘built like a brick dunny’, it refers to something built solid, unmoveable.
Fire bug - arsonist
Firies - fire fighters
Garbo/s - the person/s who drive and/or load garbage onto the garbage truck.
Gee-gees - horses
Giggle-box - TV, television
Gob - mouth
Got his/her/their goat – annoyed him/her/them
Hoon/s - person/people who indulge in antisocial behaviour. Great explanation in Wikipedia
Iced Coffee/chocolate - a milk drink flavoured with chocolate or coffee
Jumper - sweater
Kick up a stink - make a fuss, get angry
Local rag - local newspaper
Lolly - sweetie, candy
Loo - toilet
Lug - face
Milo - chocolate malt drink. Can have it hot or cold. Yummy!
Moosh - slang for face/mouth
Mobile phone - cell phone
Mozzie - mosquito
NAD - No Abnormalities Detected
Nong - idiot
Nooky - sex
Paddy wagon - four wheel drive police vehicle carries four police in the double cab and has a filled-in imprisonment section in the back to place prisoners.
Panadol - paracetamol, similar to Tylenol in the US
Pav/s - Pavlova/Pavlovas - best dessert ever!
PCYC - Police and Citizens Youth Club
Pedal Pushers - three quarter pants/knickerbockers
Porking - having sex
Primapore - sticky patch with a pad in it, a medical dressing
Pub – hotel
Quack – derogatory term for a doctor
RAC - Royal Automobile Club of Western Australia. Covers insurance, holidays, loans, etc
Red backs - poisonous spider, black in colour with a red stripe on its back.
Root - sex
Rotty – Rottweiler breed of dog.
Rubbers – condoms
Sack - bed - as ‘in the sack’ meaning ‘in bed’
Servo - service station
Shag - sex
Sheila – female
Slab – carton of beer.
Smoko - morning tea and afternoon tea break
Snaggers - sausages
Soft drink - soda, fizzy drink
Sparkie - electrician
Spider (drink) - soft drink of choice with a scoop of ice cream in it
Spunk - show backbone, courage, bravery
Station hand - works on a station, same as a ranch hand on a ranch.
Stiffy - erection, boner
Subbies - sub contractors
Tea - some people call the evening meal dinner. In my family, we’ve always called it tea, as in breaky, dinner and tea, or breaky, lunch and tea.
Thongs - worn on the feet, same as ‘flip flops’
Tickled pink - delighted
Tim Tams - a brand of Arnott’s Biscuits. Yummy!
TLC - Tender Loving Care
Togs - bathers, swim suit
Torch - flashlight
Toot - toilet
Tradies - tradesmen
Tucker – food
Twistie – a brand of cheese-flavoured snack food. Yummy!
Ute - small truck
Vegemite - most Aussies find this spread yummy, many non-Aussies find it too salty. Here’s the hint - if you ever have Vegemite, use it spread thinly, never thickly!
Vollie - volunteers
Wacky baccy - marijuana
Wanger - penis
Waterworks - crying
Whopper - a lie
Yamaha & Suzuki - ‘brands’ of motorcycles.
You wally - silly
Foreword
Whistleblowe
rs - during my research I found some alarming facts. Whistleblowers can face gaol, legal action, loss of job, social stigma, retaliation from accused parties, as well as suffer from depression, anxiety and other illnesses brought on by the consequences of being a whistleblower. There are organisations out there to help whistleblowers and give advice, and a lot of interesting information if you want to check it out.
Clairvoyants, etc - More interesting research on how scammers can catch people! So saying, do I believe in clairvoyants, mediums and psychics? I keep an open mind. I believe there are people out there with true gifts, and there are people out there who are con-artists. I’ve been to a clairvoyant who sat there and told me things without asking me questions, and what she said came true. I had a reading done by a different clairvoyant and she got irritated because I simply replied with a yes or no and the reading, need I say it, was poor. I do believe that there are things out there that defy explanation. You may not agree, and that’s fine. We’re all entitled to our own opinions.
Security - my research showed that security covers so many different areas, including - but not limited to - security teams, bodyguards, static guards, patrols, crowd control and threat assessment. Security guards also come from different backgrounds, depending on the needs of the company and what they do, from ordinary civilians with training to do basic security, to the more highly-trained ex-military, ex-police, etc.
Lastly, I just want to add that even though I did research in regards to security, clairvoyants, whistleblowers and communication devices, I’ve taken liberties with some things for the sake of the story.
But I hope you enjoy the story anyway, because at the end of the day we all want a HEA. And, you know, a man in uniform or in charge, is hot *wink*. Enjoy!
Cheers
Ang
Chapter 1
Aaron strolled through the throng of guests that filled the big room. Their chatter clamoured in the air, the clink of glasses, the smell of dainty nibblies filling the air to fight with cloying perfume and heavy aftershave.
Women smiled at him, men gave him a tentative nod, and almost everyone unconsciously shifted out of his path as he progressed.
As always, he’d planned the security of this night carefully down to the finest detail. Elspeth Arkwell’s grand opening of the Willock Mansion Hotel had a list of the rich and powerful, the movers and shakers, even some politicians thrown into the mix, all brought in to marvel at the changes, the resurrection, and spread the word of how truly wonderful it all was.
Both outside and inside the hotel his men and women were situated, their attention keen, their dress unobtrusive so that they blended into the crowd, their usual Wells Security uniforms replaced with suits for the men, under-stated evening gowns for the women. They watched, listened, and none were the wiser that in their midst were highly trained people prepared to defend them at a second’s notice.
Which was why his attention was focussed on one woman. One woman he’d only known was attending at the last minute. He hated last minute information, liked having time to really investigate, even watch and study from afar for a time if uncertain.
He hadn’t had that luxury this time but he’d had enough time to find out she wasn’t a security threat. He’d also found out other things, but for what she was here for tonight it didn’t matter. Besides, his job only went so far, the rest was Elspeth’s decision.
As always, though, anyone moving towards a VIP was to be watched.
“She’s moving towards the Premier now.” Ryan’s cool voice came through Aaron’s ear bud.
“Got her in sight.” He moved closer, veered his path to cut across the woman’s.
“I’m moving in.” Like a shadow, Ryan slipped through the crowd, seemingly appearing from nowhere to move behind her.
“Steer her away.” Aaron’s voice was a whisper in the babble of so many louder voices, yet he knew Ryan would hear.
Hear and obey, as Aaron expected all his security team to do.
Gaze on the woman, Aaron spoke quietly. “Reports. Kennedy?”
“All quiet,” was the reply through the ear bud.
“Anything on the cameras?”
“No.”
“Gail.”
“All quiet.”
He spoke the name of each of the security personnel stationed inside, outside, in a back room monitoring cameras. Everything under control, no unknown intruders.
Satisfied but still on alert, Aaron drew nearer to the woman, watching as Ryan slid neatly in front of her.
She looked surprised before smiling up at Ryan. In keeping with his role of being unobtrusive, he smiled slightly back down at her and spoke softly. She nodded, gestured outwards. Ryan said something further and she laughed, head tilting back.
It was a full-on laugh, rich and deep, making several heads turn and people smile involuntarily.
Drawing to halt to one side of the big, open windows, automatically diminishing himself as a target by standing in front of a heavy drape of velvet curtain, Aaron took a sip from the champagne glass that held nothing but water as he glanced around.
Marietta, another security guard in a long, dark blue dress with a slit up one side to her very shapely thigh, drifted past, her gaze shifting among the crowd in seemingly idle interest as she sipped at a glass of Coke.
Aaron watched as Ryan and the woman parted ways. Ryan caught his gaze and turned in the opposite direction to disappear smoothly into the crowd.
Pausing near a table laden with trays of dainty finger food, the woman debated her choices.
Aaron debated her. Her head would come level with his chin, making her tall for an average woman. Thick brunette hair cascaded around her shoulders in swirls of loose waves. Small, straight nose, plump lips currently layered in dark red lipstick.
She turned to face him, holding a little plate with several dainty hot pastries on it, her eyes briefly catching his, and the colour was even more arresting than in the file photo. Whisky coloured. Amber. Enhanced by the dark eye shadow, the dramatic thickness of false eyelashes long and black framing the startling eye colour.
Beautiful made up, yes, but playing a part.
She shifted slightly, resting on one leg as she surveyed the party people. Aaron studied her, felt the ping of appreciation for her figure - lush, hour-glass curves making her, as one of his security team said when he’d first seen her, ‘bodacious’. No arguing that.
Just as there was no arguing the fact that her clothes did not fit in with the rest of the women’s expensive, elegant gowns and low necklines, nor did she dress as many would expect. No peasant blouse, no gypsy skirt, no jangling bangles, no colours that would pick her out of the crowd. Instead, she was dressed in a long, apricot-coloured gown that draped from her throat to just an inch or two above the floor. Over top she wore some kind of fitted lace tunic in lemon yellow with black lace at the ends of the elbow-length sleeves and hem that reached down to just around her knees. One bottom section of the lace tunic was gathered with a single black, silk rose. The only jewellery she wore were a pair of small, dangling topaz stone earrings that flashed briefly now and again through the thick tresses, and two rings on both hands. Even the rings were understated though the flash of the stones was clear when the light caught them.
Aaron would bet they were fake. As fake as the woman standing so quietly in the middle of the chattering, expensively dressed crowd. She looked almost old-fashioned, as though a woman at the turn of the century had stumbled through a hole in time. A quiet Yellow White-eye bird amongst the glitz and glamour of peacocks. It was a good look, making her stand out, giving her an air of respectability, made people tru
st her.
No, she didn’t dress as most people would expect. She didn’t stand out garishly, but her quietness and the way she dressed nevertheless drew the eye, the attention.
Stella Donahue - medium, clairvoyant, psychic - knew what she was doing.
Just as Aaron knew what she was doing. Just as he knew her real name.
As if just that second sensing his regard, she turned those whisky-coloured eyes in his direction and studied him in turn.
While eating.
Just studied him while taking dainty bite after dainty bite of the pastry in one hand, boldly sweeping him with a slow, studious gaze, taking his measure in a practiced way.
He was more used to doing the studying, more used to putting both men and women off guard with his steady regard. The fact that she didn’t seem the least bit intimidated pulled at him, had him strolling with deceptive casualness through the throng while keeping his gaze locked onto hers.
With a faint air of amusement she watched him draw nearer until he finally stopped before her, one hand in the pocket of his slacks, the other loose by his side.
“Miss Donahue,” Aaron greeted quietly.
Licking the tips of her fingers daintily, she handed the now empty plate to a passing waiter. “Mr Wells.”
So, she knew who he was. “Divine knowledge?”
“Your reputation precedes you.”
“As does yours.”
“Looking for a reading, Mr Wells?”
Now standing so close, he caught a whiff of her perfume - light, flowery, the barest hint, enough to tantalise, enough to make a man lean forward a little to catch another whiff. Aaron didn’t lean forward.
“No,” Stella mused. “You’re not a man to believe in readings, to believe in things you cannot see or understand.”
Ah, so she sought to make him think she could understand him? He quirked one brow slightly in silent query, inviting her to say more.
She didn’t take the bait. Instead, rather than pluck a glass of champagne from a passing tray so she could fiddle with it and occupy her hands as most other people would when confronted with someone, she simply folded her hands lightly in front of her waist in a charming, old-fashioned gesture and met him gaze for gaze.