Outback Heat Series

Fashion student Lacey Weston is desperate to leave the city and go home to Jumbuck Springs. Her three older brothers are adamant she’s not. They made a death bed promise to their mother that Lacey would stay the distance at design school and Ethan, the oldest, takes this responsibility very seriously. But Lacey is deeply homesick and determined not to be dissuaded again. She’s also impulsive enough to try anything – even faking a pregnancy. Ex-cop turned mechanic, Cooper Grainger – one of Ethan’s oldest friends – agrees to watch out for Lacey in the city even though he has a history with her he’d rather forget. How hard could it be, right? But a couple of years later, Coop is over pulling Lacey out of scrapes and cleaning up her messes as she tries to outrun her grief and sense of dislocation. He takes her back to Jumbuck Springs so she can persuade her brothers to let her come home. But things don’t go according to plan. Before Coop knows it Lacey’s pregnant and he’s putting his hand up as the fake baby daddy, filling in for the town mechanic and moving in with her at the local pub. Lacey is thrilled to have won a reprieve but nothing about the situation sits well with Coop. Least of all having sweet little Lacey Weston as his new roomie…

Local television reporter Selena Durrum is in Jumbuck Springs for three days. Get in, see her grandmother, give her speech, and get out. Her career is about to hit big and she can’t afford any distractions. Especially not her childhood sweetheart… Jarrod Weston, rural firefighter, isn’t worried about seeing the woman who’d done a midnight runner on him fifteen years earlier. It was a long time ago and he’s moved on with his life… right? But neither of them were ready for their still potent attraction and the heavy pull of unfinished business. But then Selena gets offered the opportunity of a lifetime and once again has to choose between love and career… Will she go with her heart, or her head?

Paramedic Marcus Weston is losing it. The loveable larrikin of Jumbuck Springs is battling PTSD after a horrific incident during recent bushfires. He thought he had a handle on it but not even boozing, partying and wild women are helping this Casanova get outside his head anymore. Psychologist Juanita Slattery is looking for a sexy distraction. The long, tall stranger in a pair of Wranglers with his big old flirty smile and rugged country looks is just the ticket. And he doesn’t disappoint as they burn up the sheets together in an unforgettable one night stand. Fast forward a few days and they come face-to-face again. But this time Juanita is in Jumbuck Springs as part of the post-fire counselling team and Marcus is sitting on the other side of her desk. He just wants to get back to work. She knows he needs help. Professional boundaries dictate that they keep their distance, but intense physical attraction rarely follows reason…

Local pub owner Jemima Jane Ericson is living a lie. She’s been in love with her best friend Ethan since forever. But he fell in love with another woman, married her, and despite their tempestuous relationship and decade old divorce, JJ knows Ethan’s heart is still down for the count. And friendship is better than nothing, right? Single dad and Jumbuck Springs chief of police, Ethan Weston, hits the pub the night his ex-wife remarries and announces she wants custody of their daughter. When he wakes the next morning to find himself in JJ’s bed he’s mortified that they’d crossed a line they should never have crossed. Until JJ’s abusive ex, Shane, shows up at her door and Ethan claims he and JJ are engaged to protect her. Both are stunned by the unravelling of their normally sane lives but suddenly it makes sense – JJ gets a deterrent and Ethan gets the respectability of a wife for any custody claims. But when JJ’s life is threatened, Ethan is forced to confront feelings that may just run much deeper than convenience…