Page 14 of Stockman's Sandstorm

That was obvious, if she was ready to protect a kid she’d just met.

Ash grinned as he adjusted his hat. ‘So, may I ask, what are you doing out here? I saw the suitcase in your car with its interstate number plates.’

‘I’m on holiday.’

Some holiday if she was dressed to go to work in that tight skirt, shirt, and heels that showed off her lean legs. She was mouth-wateringly stunning—in a conservative secretary kind of way—with her hair and make-up flawless. ‘For how long?’

Harper shrugged. She didn’t even look at Ash, concentrating on the boy she carried effortlessly on her hip, now playing some game of hide-and-seek for the biscuit.

Ash had never been so ignored. Especially by a woman—and a snooty one at that.

‘Here’s a long shot …’ He rubbed his hat on his head. ‘How about we hire you … I mean me … I hire you to be Mason’s nanny?’ He had nothing to lose, and the lady seemed protective over the kid.

‘Excuse me?’ Harper gave him a slow blink, distracted enough for the boy to snatch the piece of biscuit out of her hand.

That’s my boy. Wait. No, he’s not.

‘Hey, you. Don’t snatch.’ Harper playfully tapped a polished fingernail on the toddler’s nose.

The biscuit was long gone, replaced by a shine in the boy’s eyes.

‘I don’t know much about children,’ she said. ‘But if you have internet, I’m not shy about searching for answers.’

His jaw dropped, wondering if he’d heard right. ‘Are you saying you’d take the job?’

‘Only temporarily.’

‘Great.’ The relief was enormous. ‘I’ll take whatever time you’ve got. That’d give us time to advertise properly.’

‘As long as you stop flirting with me.’

‘Say what?’ Asked the man who flirted with females for fun.

‘We need to set some boundaries. I know what you are: you’re a player.’

‘I play games. As a gamer.’ He exhaled heavily, letting his eyes crawl all over her from head to toe, taking in that trim figure of hers, and that fine soft skin.

She twitched her nose at him as if he smelled of rotten fruit. ‘I will not be some sordid cliché where the boss does the babysitter. I don’t like things being messy and complicated in the workplace.’

Ash shrugged. Should he warn her about the station being nothing but a messy dust bowl?

‘But I will help you, if you agree to keeping boundaries, that this is a strictly business-only relationship.’ She jutted her chin out, the supermarket’s light highlighting the simple pearl earrings, while she looked him over with clear disdain. The snooty thing.

He didn’t care, as long as Harper took good care of Mason. Ash would do anything for a decent night’s sleep or to just make it through the next twenty-seven days. ‘Agreed. So, will you take the job?’

Nine

How did Harper let herself get talked into this? This wasn’t part of any work schedule that came with a memo or emailed request as part of the paper trail. No, this was a handshake deal that had her following the dusty trail of someone she’d just met, to become a nanny.

Harper had had little to do with babies, except smile at photos of influential people’s offspring and pretend she cared. How was she going to do this?

But Mason was different. His squishy hugs pushed away that deep-seated loneliness she hadn’t been able to shake since landing back in Australia. His little giggle and gummy smile lit up the room, warming her heart.

Plus, they shared a love for shortbread, so the kid would be okay. Right?

But where Ash was leading her didn’t feel right.

Harper searched for signs of life. There were none, just a red dusty road, with a rambling fence line that enclosed dry paddocks dotted with scraggly looking trees with crooked, spindly black trunks. Patches of pink wildflowers scattered like paint spilled on a red dusty floor, broken up by towering cone-shaped pillars of dirt that reminded her of stalagmites you might find on Mars.

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