Page 95 of Stockman's Sandstorm

‘Miss Jamison.’ He slid on his hat, that shaded his sinister eyes. ‘Say hi to Bree for me, tell her I haven’t given up on our date.’ He tapped the brim of his hat and climbed into his large vehicle.

Harper waited until Leo’s vehicle drove out of sight before retrieving the envelope.

How did Leo know who she was? Was Leo going to expose her biggest secret?

Forty-one

Sarge gave a deep and distinctive bark from the front porch. It was enough to alert Scout to roll off her new doggy bed and trot over to stand beside the larger dog and howl, but with her tail wagging.

Harper peered through the front windows of the farmhouse to an empty driveway, but Sarge and Scout were facing the sheds.

She pushed open the screen door as voices rose from the shed. It was the Riggs brothers.

Harper dashed inside, wiping sweaty palms down her summer dress. It was time to activate her plan.

With Leo threatening to expose her, Harper didn’t know how long she had left at playing the nanny—which meant getting on the brothers’ good side. Welcome to Mission Impossible.

Dex dumped his load of washing by the back door and grabbed a round of beers from the outdoor beer fridge and headed for the table. He didn’t even say hello.

‘Hey, who cleaned the table?’ Cap asked, patting Sarge and Scout. ‘It’s set for dinner.’

Ryder dragged back his chair, scowling at his paperwork piled on the side bench.

Harper carried out the stew pot and put it on the table. ‘This is from Bree. It’s the last of her stew.’ She looked for Ash, who was nowhere in sight.

‘For someone who cooks on a simple campfire, Bree is a brilliant cook.’ Dex eagerly scooped up a ladle full of stew into a bowl as Cap tore at the bread. ‘We should have Bree come with us on every muster. That woman has some serious skills as a stockwoman. Her cooking is just a bonus.’

‘Yeah, Bree was a big help. Charlie too.’ Ryder loaded up his spoon with a hearty stew.

They were silent as they ate, not one of them even saying hello or thank you to Harper. The jerks!

‘Um, so … I put the coffee machine out here to make it easier for you guys.’ She pointed to the bench, where she’d created a coffee station of sorts.

Harper still sucked at small talk, and decided to barrel though with her rehearsed speech, placing the small box in front of Cap. ‘I’m sorry, Cap.’

‘For what?’

‘There was this snake—’

‘Where’s Mason?’ Both Ryder and Dex jumped to their feet.

‘Mason is fine. He’s watching cartoons.’

‘You connected the television?’ Dex peered through the large open windows. ‘Hey, that’s my TV.’ He scowled. Like scary scowled.

‘You had four of them, and I picked the one I could lift.’

‘So you can sit around and watch TV all day.’

Arsehole.

‘Is that why our boxes are all shoved aside?’

Cap pointed. ‘Oh, hey, look at the new dog beds—’

‘House dogs,’ complained Dex. ‘She’s turning the police dogs into house dogs.’

‘Can I just speak without being interrupted, please?’ She glared at Dex.

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