Page 63 of Stockman's Sandstorm

‘Didn’t you hear?’ called out Dex from the rear. ‘That’s how Ryder made his millions, from pocketing diamonds while on the job.’

‘Finders keepers, boys.’ Ryder spun around to share a grin.

‘Did I just see Ryder smile?’ Bree pulled down her neckerchief. ‘Did everyone else witness that miracle?’

The banter was casual, with no bickering, and for the first time in days, the tension had lifted. The mood grew lighter the deeper they weaved their way through the sandstone canyons.

But then the track got narrower, and Harper pulled her horse to a stop. Her mouth clamped into a knot, and she was stock-still and sombre, raising her arm to point her dainty finger. ‘There is no way I’m going through there.’

Twenty-five

‘I’m not going through that.’ Harper pointed to the track ahead, that ran uphill along the edge of a cliff. Terror made her pulse pound in her ears, with a cold sweat breaking out across her skin.

‘Single file from here, folks,’ called out Charlie from the front. ‘You right back there, kid?’

‘All good, Pop.’ Bree took a deep drink from her water bottle. ‘Drink some water, Harper. We don’t want you dehydrating.’

Harper wanted to pee. To run. To jump off this horse and run back to the farmhouse and hide behind the cardboard boxes that filled the lounge room. She was an indoors girl. Not this.

‘Hey …’ Ash patted her knee, concern evident in his eyes. ‘You’ll be okay. It’s wider than it looks.’

‘You know those scary movies where treasure hunters have to scale the walls on the side of the cliffs? That’s that!’ Harper pointed to the cliff. A freaking cliff. ‘How did you get the cattle though that?’

‘Easy …’ Bree steered her big black horse alongside Harper. ‘One step after the other. You can do this. Now, go get your cowgirl on.’ She slapped the rump of Harper’s horse, and it moved forward.

‘I hate you right now, Bree.’ Gripping the reins, Harper had no choice but to follow the road. A road made up entirely of sandy cream rock.

To stop her worry, she had to think of something else.

That’s when her favourite comfort food popped into her head. Shortbread. Imagining that the smooth sandstone walls were like shortbread. The path was just a clever carving of beautiful shortbread biscuits.

She swallowed hard, her mouth claggy, yet her throat dry, now wishing she’d taken Bree’s advice and drunk some water. But she was too scared to release the reins as she peered over the side where they were so high up, they’d fry in the sun. The deep cavern echoed their hoof steps. Not even the dogs barked, as a solemn heaviness filled the air.

‘You’re doing just fine, Harper.’ Ash turned in the saddle and smiled at her. Mason was awake. ‘Wave to Harper, Mason.’ His little hand waved as his smile widened.

‘Arper-Arper.’ Mason’s little voice echoed off the many stone corridors to bounce back as it there were a dozen little boy’s singing. ‘Bwee-Bwee.’

‘Look at you go, little man.’ Bree’s voice was light, and with no fear. Did Bree fear anything? ‘And you too, Harper. You’ve got this.’

Harper was too scared to look back. All she could do was trust the horse she’d just met. It made her focus on each step her horse took, with no thoughts of the future, or the past, just this present moment.

She licked her lips, trying to keep her breathing calm, tasting the sandy dust that blended with the nervous salty sweat. Her hands tightened on the reins and saddle, as her shadow stretched over the rock walls outlining her wide-brimmed hat.

The horse’s steady gait made her hips sway in the saddle and there was just her, the horse, that big sky, and this sandstone trail of rich red ridges that blended into a cliffside, where rocky domes and large boulders rested like dots along the canyon’s rims.

When she rode around the canyon’s prehistoric wall of stone, Ash was there waiting for her, sitting proudly on his horse with a big smile, holding Mason close to his chest.

She sighed heavily from the wave of relief for having survived. Her hands were sore, and her shoulders ached from gripping the saddle and reins.

But then Ash’s smile widened, and it was directed at her, the one with the dimple that made her give in to him so easily. It was the smile that had brought her out here, only this time he was looking at her with pride and admiration.

It should be illegal for his eyes to glint like that. It was disrespectful to the laws of nature.

‘You made it.’

‘Barely.’ Why couldn’t he hold her and tell her that? She could really do with a hug.

‘Well, you’re gonna love this.’ He beckoned her to follow, leaving her no choice. The sand muffled the horses’ steps, but the men’s voices echoed around her as they wove deeper into a corridor of sandstone.

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