Page 86 of Stockman's Sandstorm

Harper had never done a mug shot search on snakes before—terrorists yes, after that car bomb attack, but never wildlife. ‘That one.’ She pointed to the picture. ‘The brown snake. They’re poisonous, right?’

‘Yes.’ Ryan opened a medicine cabinet and pulled out a vial, then a syringe. ‘It’s not all bad, over eighty per cent of dogs recover from a snakebite, if treated quickly.’

‘So, Ruby will be fine?’ She patted the poor dog that had diluted pupils. Her breathing was erratic, and she’d lost her ability to walk. ‘Please let her be fine.’

Ryan injected the antivenene. ‘It’s up to Ruby, but I’ll keep monitoring her through the night. So you can leave her with me.’

She wanted to stay and hold Ruby’s paw. ‘Can we ...’

Ryan shook his head, guessing her question.

‘Call me if—wait, they don’t have a landline at Elsie Creek Station, and my phone doesn’t get reception out there.’

‘Bree’s got a landline in the caretaker’s cottage. I have her number.’

‘They’re out mustering.’ Cap was going to kill her for getting one of his dogs hurt. Then Ash might freak out that Mason had been in danger, and who knows what Ryder and Dex would do when they found out? ‘Can I come back in the morning?’

‘Sure.’ He held out a business card. ‘Here’s my number. Did you say you’re out there on your own?’

She barely nodded, trying not to show her fear of being home alone.

‘Did they leave you with a radio, or are they out of range?’

Again, she shrugged. ‘They said they’d be back sometime tomorrow.’

‘Right, well …’ Ryan took back his business card and scribbled on the back. ‘This number is for the pub, and the other number is for Cowboy Craig.’

‘I don’t want a date.’

‘Craig may be a flirt, but he’d help anyone, and he’ll check over the place for any more snakes. I’d offer to go, but I can’t leave Ruby.’

She gulped at the thought of more snakes infesting the place—it was as bad as those spiders that killed snakes. ‘I flicked the snake into the garden.’ How she did that was a miracle. ‘And I have two guard dogs.’

‘Sarge, right?’

‘Is it true that Sarge was a riot dog?’

Ryan nodded. ‘Yep. Sarge has a bullet wound in his shoulder from protecting his owner, who sadly died. Has Cap given you the command to feed Sarge?’

‘Yes.’ At least she’d fed the regal shepherd and his offsider Scout when she’d first arrived home.

‘Which means you’ll be fine with Sarge. He knows to trust you. But if you don’t feel safe at all, call Craig. I swear he will be a thorough gentleman. He’ll just sleep in his swag until the Riggs brothers get home. But put this little fella to bed.’ He gently patted Mason’s head, the poor boy was barely keeping his eyes open, and it was way past his bedtime. ‘You can come back and see your dog tomorrow, okay?’

‘Thank you, Ryan.’ With Mason, they hugged the dog together. ‘You be well, Ruby. We’ll come back for you, and you’d better be here, girl.’ The tears streamed down her cheeks as they left poor Ruby behind.

With a long journey back to the station in the dark, with only a small boy for company, Elsie Creek Station was proving to be a dangerous place for someone as precious as Mason. And she was only here for Mason.

Thirty-six

At midnight, the farmhouse was eerily quiet. It only made her loneliness smother over everything like an oil slick spreading across the harbour of no-hope.

Harper had let Scout and Sarge stay inside, because it was too dangerous for anyone to be outside.

To stop her worry over Ruby, and her fear of the dark, for the first time in weeks, Harper dragged out her laptop to check on her emails and let it load 762 emails. 762!

She skimmed the headlines for some international emergency. But there wasn’t one. It was just the job.

Poor Ruby was an emergency, it was a life and death situation. It was enough for her to prioritise and slam her laptop shut.

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