Maid for the South Pole
by Demelza Carlton
Hotel maid turned meteorologist Audra
is determined to make her mark on the world without a man getting in
her way. Seizing the chance to join an expedition to the South Pole,
she thinks all her Christmases have come at once.
Until she returns to the research
station and meets her new roommate.
When Jean-Pierre's wife broke his
heart, he swore off women, vowing to spend his holidays in Antarctica
for one final season. He didn't count on sharing a room with an
Australian woman who hates him for something he can't even remember.
Will the heat of a South Pole summer be
enough to thaw two icy hearts?
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Giveaway:
http://blog.ravenpublicity.com/giveaways/demelzacarlton
A taste of what's in store in Maid for the South Pole:
A taste of what's in store in Maid
for the South Pole:
Ice, ice and more ice unfolded below,
until the blocky buildings of Davis Station came into view, sitting
on the only patch of rock in a sea of white. Eric brought the
helicopter down behind the buildings, beside what he said was a lake
and the station's water supply.
Jean began to help Eric unload his
gear, but Eric waved him away.
"They heard us arrive, and I
radioed ahead to tell them I have their special Christmas supplies.
Give it five minutes and I'll have more volunteers than I know what
to do with, helping me unload. Go report to the station leader for
your accommodation assignment before he knocks off for the day."
Armed with Eric's directions to the
station leader's office, Jean headed inside, out of the cold. He
found the office occupied by a woman – definitely not a he.
Cautiously, Jean knocked on the open door. "Hey, I'm looking for
the station leader?"
She gave a tired wave. "That's me,
for my sins. Who'd have believed we could have a water shortage while
we're surrounded by ice? Even with shorter showers, it only stretches
so far. I'm Ali, by the way." She extended her hand across the
desk.
Jean shook it. "Jean Pennant,
climate change biologist from the University of Washington. Here to
finish my PhD research out at Heard Island."
Ali stared. "Jean? Spelled
J-E-A-N? We all thought you were a woman."
Jean made a show of patting down his
chest, then his groin. "No, definitely not a woman." He
grinned. "If it makes you feel better, I was told the station
leader here was a man. I guess it's hard to tell when we're all
dressed alike outside."
"True." Ali reached for a
folder on her desk and cast her eyes down on the contents. "You're
here for your accommodation assignment, yes? It looks like you're in
luck. You're housed with the summer Met team in SAM, the Summer
Accommodation Module." She pulled a page out of the back of the
folder and marked it with two crosses. "You're here. Your
sleeping quarters are here." She tapped the paper with her pen.
"That's Living Quarters, where we do pretty much everything else
except work and sleep."
"Sounds pretty simple," Jean
said, craning his neck to look at the map.
"Here." Ali handed it to him.
"I'll let you get settled in today. Tomorrow, one of the
training officers will take you through all our station procedures,
so you know what's what. They'll schedule you in for the next round
of survival training, too, before you go on your expedition. Have
fun."
That sounded like a dismissal to Jean,
so he thanked her and headed out.
His boots crunched on the grey gravel
road as he trudged up to his temporary home, a big, red barn of a
place. As long as it was warm inside, he didn't care what it looked
like. The sleeping quarters were easy to identify because they had
people's names on the doors. Two to a room. He hoped his new roommate
didn't snore, like the geologists he'd shared with on Heard Island
last year. If he did, Jean would requisition some earplugs from
Stores tomorrow.
Just like on the map, his room was
right at the end of a corridor. Jean knocked cautiously, but he
received no response from inside, so he cracked the door open. Light
flooded through the window, revealing an empty room. Empty of people,
at least, seeing as his roommate had already claimed the top bunk and
half of the available storage space. A closed laptop sat on the desk,
beside a box of tampons.
Jean's bag thumped to the floor. He
knew a few marine biologists who used tampons in their waterproof
camera housings to absorb moisture, but Ali had said he was rooming
with a meteorologist, not a marine biologist or a photographer. An
amateur photographer, maybe?
Jean checked the door. His name was
definitely on it, below one that looked vaguely familiar: Audra
Zujute. Where had he heard that before?
An image of Doug came to mind. That was
right. Doug had talked about someone called Audra. It wasn't exactly
a common name, so it was probably the same woman Doug said had nursed
him aboard the icebreaker last year. Probably best to take the
crewman's advice and thank her, then, in case she remembered him
later and thought he was an ungrateful asshole. Maybe if he saw her,
it might jog his memory of the days aboard the ship. Hey, it was
worth a shot.
In the meantime, he decided to check
his email, seeing as Ali had given him the station's wi-fi password.
Perhaps Louis had sent through some new corrections on the chapters
Jean had emailed him from McMurdo. Sure enough, he had – enough to
keep Jean busy for the rest of the afternoon and evening.
He lost track of time, reading comment
after comment and making the required changes. The light coming
through the window faded to darkness without Jean taking his eyes off
his tablet.
It wasn't until the door handle rattled
that Jean's thoughts strayed from anything that involved penguins. He
leaped to his feet, smoothing down his shirt. The last time she'd
seen him, he'd been badly injured and probably incoherent. He wanted
to make a better impression this time.
As the door swung open, Jean marched
forward, sticking his hand out. "Hi, I'm Jean-Pierre, your new
roommate. You must be Audra. I believe I owe you for what you did on
the Aurora Australis last year."
Her already large eyes widened as her
face paled. "Shit," she said, before she turned on her heel
and strode off
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