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      Max settled Phoebe between his knees, her back tucked against his front.

      The cellar wasn’t huge, but Max didn’t expect to be there for long as the fire was moving so fast. The only question was, would they still be here after it had roared through?

      The lack of space meant they couldn’t sit face to face, and for that Max was grateful as he knew he’d find his growing awareness of one very womanly woman too distracting. Phoebe was strong and brave and warm and vulnerable, all at once. And he’d never met anyone like her.

      The wind increased in intensity as they waited. The roof timbers creaked and groaned under the roar of the fire. The flames would be leaping from treetop to treetop, threatening to devour the house. And them along with it. If the fire took hold they didn’t stand a chance.

      Phoebe half turned towards Max and buried her face in his shoulder. Involuntarily he wrapped her in his arms, silently offering comfort. She felt good nestled against him, head tucked to one side. She was a perfect fit.

      Suddenly the house gave an almighty shudder, and then lay silent. Had the impossible happened? Had they escaped?

      Emily Forbes is the pseudonym of two sisters who share both a passion for writing and a life-long love of reading. Beyond books and their families, their interests include cooking (food is a recurring theme in their books!), learning languages, playing the piano and netball, as well as an addiction to travel—armchair is fine, but anything involving a plane ticket is better. Home for both is South Australia, where they live three minutes apart with their husbands and four young children. With backgrounds in business administration, law, arts, clinical psychology and physiotherapy, they have worked in many areas. This past professional experience adds to their writing in many ways: legal dilemmas, psychological ordeals and business scandals are all intermeshed with the medical settings of their stories. And, since nothing could ever be as delicious as spending their days telling the stories of gorgeous heroes and spirited heroines, they are eternally grateful their mutual dream of writing for a living came true. They would love you to visit and keep up to date with current news and future releases at the Medical™ Romance authors’ website: http://www.medicalromance.com.

       Recent titles by the same author:

      WEDDING AT PELICAN BEACH

      THE SURGEON’S LONGED-FOR BRIDE

      A MOTHER IN THE MAKING

      EMERGENCY AT PELICAN BEACH

       Dear Reader

      Every woman loves a Mills & Boon^® romance—and who could resist a firefighter as a hero? We certainly couldn’t. So when gorgeous firefighter Max Williams strolled onto the page, we didn’t even try to resist giving him his own story.

      More importantly, our paramedic heroine Phoebe didn’t stand a chance against Max’s charms when he sauntered into her life, arriving to run the local country fire station in the middle of a burning hot Australian summer.

      Max and Phoebe’s story is set in South Australia, in the Adelaide Hills: hills that are covered in dense bush, with quaint little towns nestled into the valleys. Summers there are extremely hot; the bush turns tinderbox brown, water is scarce, and bushfires pose an ever-present danger, pitting people against the elements. This battle happens all over our vast continent—not surprising since in places it’s no less wild or dangerous than when European settlers first arrived 230 years ago. What is amazing is that Mills & Boon has existed for 100 of those 230 years. It’s an incredible achievement, and we are thrilled to be part of the Mills and Boon success story—a success that has made it possible for us to reach readers around the world.

      EMERGENCY: WIFE NEEDED is the first book in a two-book series. We had so much fun with Max and Phoebe, we couldn’t say goodbye. Luckily, Ned Kellaway, Max’s firefighter buddy, proved irresistible, and his story will be on sale early next year.

      Our editor fell in love with Max, and we hope you do, too. So here’s to Max, and to all our readers, and here’s to Mills & Boon Medical™ Romances sweeping women everywhere off their feet for the next hundred years and beyond.

      Love

       Emily Forbes

      EMERGENCY: WIFE NEEDED

      BY

      EMILY FORBES

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      MILLS & BOON

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      This book would not have been possible without Glen, AKA Cookie, our real-life firefighter, whose fabulous inside information was only surpassed by his ability to slide down that pole with such panache.

      Thanks also to Tim, the dashing lead singer from the Dirty Strangers, for providing the inspiration for our rock god hero, and to James, for playing the role of our personal publicity guru with natural flair.

      This one’s for the boys!

      CHAPTER ONE

      PHOEBE WILSON parked the ambulance at the intersection of the Hahndorf and Woodside roads, overlooking an almost dry riverbed, as her partner sent a message back to the station, advising they were in position.

      The wind howled around the ambulance, carrying with it the sound of sirens as other units were dispatched from the stations throughout the Hills area. A red glow lit the horizon to the north where the fire service crews were trying to subdue the raging beast that was the bushfire. The fires, already burning for almost twenty-four hours, were steadily consuming the land lying between them and Hahndorf. The forecast maximum temperature for today was a blistering forty degrees and the angry north wind, combined with tinderbox conditions following one of the driest winters on record, made perfect conditions for fuelling bushfires.

      The knowledge made calm acceptance of their instructions to sit and wait difficult. Yet here they were. Sitting. Waiting. Both of which were a stock-standard part of the job, although not so easy today.

      They were on one periphery of the bushfire, the first in line to treat any casualties the fire crews might bring out to them. In theory, Phoebe and her partner were on their days off but all emergency personnel had been called in. The bushfires were threatening homes and lives and it was all hands on deck. Or at least all hands ready and waiting to be on deck. Phoebe searched for her Discman as her partner, Steve, organised his newspapers. As usual he’d brought the form guide for the horse races and The Trading Post along to help kill time.

      ‘What are you looking for this week?’ Phoebe asked, nodding at The Trading Post.

      ‘Old clocks for Dutchy to restore while he’s out of action.’

      ‘How’s he doing?’ she asked, enquiring after a collegue. ‘Have you spoken to him lately?’

      ‘He’s OK. His ankle’s feeling good, the pins seem to be holding it all together. He’s still peeved about the accident happening in the first place, especially as he’s the health and safety rep for the fire crews.’

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