gallipoli street by mary-anne o'connor - chapter sampler

8/10/2019 Gallipoli Street by Mary-Anne O'Connor - Chapter Sampler

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gallipoliSTREET

M A RY- A N N E O CO N N O R


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First Published 2015First Austral ian Paperback Edition 2015ISBN 978 174369214 1

GALLIPOLI STREET 2015 by Mary-Anne OConnor Australian Copyright 2015New Zealand Copyright 2015

Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilisation of this work in whole or inpart in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafterinvented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information stor-age or retr ieval system, is forbidden without the permission of the publisher.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shal l not, by way of trade or otherwise, belent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the prior consent of the publisherin any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without asimilar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

This is a work of ction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the productof the authors imagination or are used ctitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons,living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

Creator: OConnor, Mary-Anne, author.Title: Gallipoli street / Mary-Anne OConnor.ISBN: 9781743692141 (paperback)


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One

Beecroft, Sydney, Australia,November 1913

The rumble echoed through the faint drone of cicadas and Jacklifted his head, listening.

A ash of grey caught his attention through the branches and


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Mary-Anne OConnor 4

A womans scream carried across the expanse and he jumpedto his feet, annoyed at himself for taking off his boots momentsbefore. Jack glanced back at the beautiful, ushed face looking upat him enquiringly and cursed the wretched timing of it all, hop-

ing she would heed his instruction.Stay here!With that, he leapt onto Tilley, snatched up the reins and hurled

her down the slope.Tilley wasnt nearly as ne looking as Ebony, Iggys mare, but

Jack had only had her a few weeks and already she was outstrip-ping a few of the others out on Rileys track. He felt reasonably

sure he could catch the bolting horse and wagon before they hitthe mush that had replaced the shallows in recent months. Think-ing about what would happen if the wheels met with that thickclog of mud, he gripped the leather saddle hard with his thighs

and urged Tilley on faster.He tore across the paddock, taking the fence at a gallop before

cutting down towards the lane, weighing up the unappealing


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Gallipoli Street 5

The sight was not what he expected.With her honey-blonde hair loosened from its usual tight

braiding and her cotton dress tucked into a belt about her waist,Veronica Maggie OShay was standing up in her fathers cart, one

leg rm against the front-board. Her arms were taut and she wasobviously in full control of Bessie, who was galloping along infront. The girl let out a loud catcall, which Jack recognised as thescream hed heard earlier, then took a bend in the lane with pre-cision, laughing in exhilaration.

It was the laugh that did it. Jacks high-pitched whistle madeVeronica start and she turned and stared at him in surprise. Her

condent pose became a confused moment of imbalance as shecontorted in alarm, the cart careening dangerously before she man-aged to regain control, slowing Bessie down to a canter then nallyto a walk.

She jumped down from the wagon and rounded on Jack as hedismounted, her hair twisting and bouncing about her, reminding

Jack of a pet cockatoo hed once had, who used to gallop across


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Mary-Anne OConnor 6

her daughter was running about the place with her legs bare to thewind, making a scene!

Jack indicated at the still half-tucked-in dress, distracted by thelimbs that were being hastily covered from his sight.

She wouldntshe Veronica swatted angrily at the unrulyblonde curls blowing across her face and Jack knew he had herthere. Mrs OShay would not be amused by this escapade. Veron-ica seemed to run out of logic and reverted to one of her brotherToms favourite retaliations instead. Youre youre nothing butan ugly mans dog, you know that?

Sure shed love to hear her supposedly rened daughter talk-

ing like that too, Jack said, beginning to be amused by Veronicasoutrage, and the way shed copied Toms slang, clearly the worstinsult she knew. He could tell the comments about her motherwere unnerving her; she was biting her lip and he noticed he was

staring again. He became uncomfortably aware that they werevery much alone, both in varying states of undress.

Id better escort you home, he said, quickly pulling up his


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Gallipoli Street 7

Then he met her eyes. OShay eyes. The same colour as herbrothers, Mick and Tom.

His two oldest, closest friends.Their little sister.

Anyway, youd better do something about that hair, he said,almost shoving her away and turning to needlessly tighten Tilleysgirth.

Veronica seemed to steady herself before climbing back ontothe wagon. Sitting on the bench seat she braided her hair furiouslyas Jack determined to look away. This is Vera, for Gods sake, hetold himself sternly, purposefully using her brothers pet name for

her. Get a hold of yourself.Forcing a neutral expression, he mounted Tilley and delib-erately adopted an authoritative, paternal tone. Just take morecare in the future, Vera. You wouldve been in serious trouble if

I hadnt come along. What if youd ended up in the creek? Hereceived a haughty sidelong glance in response, and felt his frus-tration rise again, forgetting the new, mature approach. When


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Mary-Anne OConnor 8

She set off up the track at a pace, leaving him enveloped inplumes of dust. Jack moved to the side, shielding his face, watchingthe angry little cloud all the way to the corner until she disappearedfrom view.

What the hell was wrong with her? And, even more discon-certing, what the hell was wrong with him?

She was like family. Growing up on neighbouring farms, theMurphys and the OShays had been inseparable as kids barefootand unencumbered, they had grown as wild as the bush itselfwithin a thousand adventures of childhood. He supposed theydnever looked ahead, to when adulthood would arrive and drive

them into responsibility and restriction, reining them in andstrapping them down. He suspected Veronica was resentful. Shedhad the worst of it at that suffocating school her mother had senther to and now, when it was nally over, she had come home to

nd that the rest of them had long moved on into adult lives. Theadventures were of a different nature, the friendships altered.

Even his sister Pattie, Veronicas closest friend, had been home


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Mary-Anne OConnor 10

two months with her he had learnt how to please a woman: wherethey liked to be touched, how they liked to be touched. Howmuch fun a lady could have without completely surrendering hervirtue.

He leant forward and lifted her hair, kissing her softly behindher ear, noticing that his breath raised little bumps along her arms.She closed her eyes as he found her mouth, playing against it untilshe sighed, her eyes heavy and asking for more.

Did you miss me? he asked.She reached behind and showed him a pile of unlaced corsets,

raising her eyebrows in answer.

Ill take that as a yes. He laughed, rolling her onto the blanketand kissing her deeply again, this time running his ngers acrossthe thin fabric to feel the bare skin beneath. He stretched her armsup above her head and traced circles against her breasts, watching

her gasp as her skin met his touch.Youre a bad, bad boy Jack Murphy, she whispered, tracing

one nail across his chin. Jack kissed her again, the sweet scent of


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Mary-Anne OConnor 12

so what had possessed her to do it? She didnt really know, she just knew she needed to do things like that sometimes, to remindherself how it all used to feel. Before shed had to grow up.

Sinking into the cool water she ran her hand down her arm,

reliving the moment hed touched her, remembering the feel of hisngers, as if theyd burnt her. Shed been so close to him she couldbreathe in his scent; every part of her alert. His open shirt and hislow-slung trousers had revealed a at brown stomach with a trail

of ne dark hair. She blushed to think what lay at the end of it.No, Jack Murphy was denitely not like a brother to her. He

never had been really.What was he doing, riding around half dressed like that? she

wondered distractedly. Maybe hed been for a swim. That wouldexplain italthough he didnt look as if hed been swimming.Maybe hed been about to, and that was where he was headed

when he saw me. Or maybe he had been taking his clothes offfor other reasons. Maybe Rose even took them off. Veronica satup straighter, not liking that idea at all. No, he wouldnt do such
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