Page 30 of Stockman's Stowaway

‘Me three.’ Ash raised his beer the same way Harper held her hand in the air when asking a question.

‘Bree’s done so much for me,’ said Mia. ‘I have no way to repay her. I mean, today, Bree found me a single bed. The mattress was brand new, still in its plastic, and everything. Bree said she never had time to use it. It came with these cute little boy’s sheets.’

The brothers looked at her sullenly.

‘What did I say?’ Mia gave a meek shrug.

‘That would’ve been for Liam,’ Cap explained quietly, as Ryder and Dex’s frowns deepened.

‘Who?’

‘Bree’s son.’

‘Excuse me.’ Ash dragged himself off his chair. The screen door to the farmhouse creaked open, as he slid off his boots by the front door mat. ‘Mason? Where you at, son?’ The door clanged shut behind him.

‘Bree has a son?’ Mia whispered to Cap.

‘She lost him to leukaemia.’ It was so freaking sad.

‘Oh no…’ Mia clutched her throat. ‘I didn’t know. I feel terrible. I was laughing at the kids’ sheets with sheep on them. Bree said nothing.’

‘She doesn’t. And she won’t.’ Ryder’s sturdy Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he sculled back the rest of his beer. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, dumping the empty bottle on the table. ‘I’ve got some paperwork to do. Make sure you keep your receipts on the materials for the renovations, Cap. Call me when dinner is ready. It’s not my turn to cook.’

‘I cooked last night. It’s someone else’s turn.’ Dex’s chair scraped across the deck as he stood. ‘I’ll go take a look at the grading you want done at the kennels.’ Dex jumped off the verandah.

So much for his brothers being hospitable, and all that worry over them meeting Mia had been for nothing. Or were they goingto give Mia the cold shoulder like they did when Harper had first arrived? They’d better not!

Twelve

‘I really stuffed that up, didn’t I?’ Mia watched the Riggs brothers scatter from the table. They were all big men, all blessed with good looks, but the older brothers seemed harder. ‘I’ve never cleared a room so fast.’ So much for making a good impression.

‘Not your fault. You weren’t to know.’ Cap sighed, scrubbing at his face.

‘I’m sorry.’

‘Why?’ The denim of his jeans tightened around his impressive thighs as he leaned back in his chair.

‘Your brothers must think I’m an idiot.’ She gulped down her beer, the fizzy buzz affecting her brain already. ‘Technically they—you—will be my boss.’

‘Stop. Please.’ His large hand was so tender on her shoulder. ‘I prefer partner in the work we’re doing. I train the pack to be part of a team, and I’m like that with my brothers, and what we do at this station is a team effort. The good news is, we have Dex looking at the grading, which is a great start.’

‘You never mentioned the nursery to your brothers.’ He’d only mentioned the kennels.

‘I, um…’ He gazed up at the corrugated roof with its exposed beams, as if to articulate his thoughts, giving her a clear profile of his masculine face.

He then dropped his head, his eyes dark and clear and so intense, they landed on hers as if to hold them for ransom. She couldn’t look away. Not when his voice dropped an octave. ‘I hadn’t been able to work out the details until you came along.’

Dayummm.

This was a guy who’d already said he wanted her for her brains, her skills, and somehow he knew how to fuel her passion for her work, allowing her free rein to build a native plant nursery her way. But he was also unearthing another inner passion she’d thought she’d long buried.

When most people watched you, they rarely gave you their undivided attention. Normally she’d slide under their radar like an unseen garden gnome. But this was something entirely different.

She tugged at the collar of her shirt, clearing her tight throat. ‘Do you think we can talk Bree into welding up those planting tables in the nursery?’ Her voice was way too high.

‘I can do it, once we’ve finished repairing the drafting yards.’ He sat back in his chair, stretching his muscular legs out before him to cross them at the ankles, with his arms crossing over his powerful chest and his wide-brimmed stockman’s hat shading his eyes. He was a gloriously handsome man beneath all that denim and dust.

Mia sat forward, plucking at the label of her beer bottle to keep her eyes off him. She shouldn’t find anyone attractive, not after what she’d been through. It had to be the beer amplifying her thoughts.

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