Page 82 of Stockman's Sandstorm

She ignored his question, asking one of her own. ‘Do you get jealous?’

‘Right now,’ he said, leaning so close their noses almost touched. ‘If you were to kiss some other guy, I’d turn into Dex and deck that bloke for daring to be in your breathing space. Just the thought of anyone taking you away from me scares me.’

Her eyes widened at his open sincerity. ‘You saying that is so hot. No, wait, that’s just the weather, and this hot cave …’ She fanned herself. Surely, she wasn’t falling for his caveman routine while sitting in a cave. Come on! ‘What are you grinning at? I don’t like that grin.’

It was the cocky, know-it-all grin, the one with the dimple. ‘You like me.’

‘I kissed you, didn’t I?’ She crossed her arms over her chest that prickled with a tingling flash of desire.

‘No, you really like me. Your cheeks are flushed, you’re licking your lips, and your shirt is showing …’ He leaned in and whispered with his hot breath against her ear. ‘Baby, you’re getting turned on.’

Goosebumps exploded across her skin in a heated wave. She shuddered on the spot.

‘When we get home, I’m coming for you.’ His lips nuzzled into her neck as she squirmed.

‘Mason—’

‘Can sleep in his own room.’

‘I’m not that easy.’ She tried to push him away and sit straighter.

‘Fine. What do you want? More flowers? Wine? Chocolates? Dinner?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘All right then, I’ll surprise you. And you will not talk your way out of it.’ He held her chin and kissed her. Pressed his lips against hers so hard she felt his teeth, but most of all, his hunger. This kiss was so much deeper than the last, so much hungrier, and so much hotter, she nearly melted on the spot.

The radio squawked loudly, and Charlie’s voice came over the speaker to echo inside the cave. ‘Sandstorm’s lifting folks. Who got the nanny? I lost her in the storm.’

But the storm in this cave was so much hotter.

‘I’ve got her.’ Ash’s dark, smouldering eyes remained on hers as he spoke over the radio. ‘Harper is with me and Mason. We’re in a cave just off the main track.’

‘Good. Where you at, Bree?’

‘Stuck with the fabulous fart brothers inside this poky cave. Remind me to never feed these boys beans again.’

‘It’s the horses, Bree, not us,’ came Dex’s voice.

That’s when the sand fell like a wall of rain to reveal clear blue skies and sunshine.

‘Come on.’ Ash picked up Mason and held his hand out to Harper. ‘Let’s go join the rest of the party.’

‘What will they say?’

‘I don’t care what they say, Harper.’ He pulled her closer, slinging his arm over her shoulder, and tenderly kissed her temple. ‘Right now, none of them matter. I just care about you, me, and Mason. I want us to be a family.’

Thirty-three

Disappointment blended with bulldust as the day progressed. So much for her date, because when they got through the Stoneys, Ash bundled Harper and Mason into his ute, telling her to drive back to the farmhouse, while the others continued mustering their new herd towards some paddock.

That left Harper following a dirt track—on her own—with Mason tucked up in his booster seat, without a map or a blipping dot on the GPS to tell her she was travelling in the right direction. All she had was the crappy track she could barely make out after that dust storm.

When the sheds and the farmhouse came into sight, she then realised how hard she’d been gripping the steering wheel, her shoulders ached.

But it was getting inside the house that bothered her. She had to deal with Sarge.

Her fear fell away when she spotted the labrador, Ruby, leaping off the front porch, her tail wagging, giving them a happy dance that had Mason eager to hug his nanny dog. Scout, the beagle, did laps of joy chasing its tail, to then lean against Harper’s leg and smile. Even Sarge seemed pleased to see her.

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