Page 44 of Stockman's Sandstorm

‘But if you leave Harper here, fellas, that’ll be Bree’s excuse to stay and keep an eye on the girl. And trust me on this, lads, we need Bree to go with us. Because once that kid makes up her mind, she’ll stock up on supplies for all of us, baby gear and dogs included. Bree runs a flamin’ good muster camp.’

‘Right, that’s settled then.’ Ryder tapped on the table. ‘Harper will come with us. I’ll ask Jonathan for two quiet horses for Harper to ride. Do you need horses, Charlie?’

‘We’ve got our own well-trained stockhorses getting lazy in the stables.’

‘You have stables?’ Dex swivelled in his seat to face the caretaker’s cottage. ‘How many horses?’

‘Enough for me and my granddaughter to take mustering.’

‘Are you sure you can convince Bree to come?’ Ryder made more notes on his tablet. ‘Because if we ask Bree, she’ll laugh in our faces and walk off.’

‘Ain’t that the truth,’ said Dex, with Ash and Cap nodding.

‘I’ll get my granddaughter to come, don’t you worry ‘bout that. You lads just need to convince Harper.’ Charlie pointed at the house where Harper was inside Mason’s room.

‘Not me. I’m pretty sure the nanny wants to string me up alive,’ said Dex with an evil grin. ‘Ash can talk to Harper, she listens to Ash.’

‘Dex is right.’ Ryder plonked his elbow on the table and pointed at Ash. ‘You were the one who sweet-talked Harper into working out here as a nanny, when she’s clearly not a nanny. So, you can convince Harper to come on the muster. Then Charlie can convince Bree to help save our cattle, so we can pay for a legal team to help save our station.’

Nineteen

‘No. And I mean no. N. O. No.’ Harper scowled at Ash seated across from her at the outdoor table covered in assorted plastic containers, glass domes cut from beer bottles, thick tape, and paint. ‘It’s bad enough you’ve got me helping you do your arts and crafts session—’

‘We’re making fake cameras to help protect this place.’

‘Is that normal?’

‘No.’ Ash sighed heavily. ‘We’ve ordered more, but they won’t be here for a while. I told you I want to use them for stock monitoring. I have so many ideas for this place, but it’s all shoved aside for this …’ He held up the painted box in his hands. ‘Aren’t I the lucky one,’ he said sarcastically, ‘delegated to making these things, cleaning troughs, or digging holes for poles to hold up these fake cameras.’

She felt sorry for Ash, who seemed to be overlooked by the older siblings. ‘Have you told your brothers this?’

He shrugged. ‘They look at me like I don’t have the experience, but I know what I’m talking about when it comes to tech.’

‘I believe you.’

He blinked at her, as if he’d misheard her.

‘I can relate, too.’

‘How?’

‘I worked in a very male-dominated area. So when a woman, who isn’t even thirty, starts telling them what to do, you should see them puff out their fat chests. Half the time I expect them to light a fat a cigar while telling the little girl to run away.’ She playfully mimicked their action of shooing at a fly over their drying paintwork.

Ash’s lips flickered to a grin, but only briefly as he carefully cut off the base from one of the dark beer bottles, revealing the dome shape of glass, which he lined up with the others. ‘What did you do to get past that?’

‘I had to earn their respect by proving to them I could do the job. If you want to gamify the station, you need to show your brothers.’ She pointed to the many squares of tin foil wrapped around the timber frame to replicate a solar panel. ‘I’ll admit this is clever. But will these fake cameras survive a storm?’

‘No. But they don’t need to. It’s only a temporary measure while we’re out on the muster.’

‘Why?’ She narrowed her eyes at him.

‘Nothing to worry about. It’s quite normal for places to have security cameras. Especially when no one will be here, because Harper, I want you to come with us.’

‘I’m sorry, do I have I’m a gullible idiot tattooed across my forehead?’

His laugh was a surprised rough sound, which was hot. ‘You sound like Bree.’

‘I did, didn’t I?’ She adored Bree. The sassy redhead was the ultimate fixer, from how to change nappies, fix a washer in the kitchen sink, bake a tray of shortbread, while mixing a wicked gin concoction. Bree was Harper’s hero. She’d never have coped without Bree’s help. ‘In my normal world, I’d never meet anyone like Bree, or you, and I wouldn’t be making fake cameras.’

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