Page 47 of Stockman's Stowaway

Ash scooped up the box. ‘So, I’ll be tagging them?’

Again, Ryder nodded as he assisted Dex with a stack of tools and a metal looking cradle. ‘Cap, you know what to do. Mia, you would’ve helped your father with the sheep?’

‘Before you delegate Mia to work, I want her to help me with Willow.’ Cap tugged on her sleeve. ‘This way, Mia.’

‘Let me see if I’ve got this right…’ She faltered as he half-stepped, half-turned towards her, and bumped into him. ‘Sorry.’

Cap’s warm hands held her arms, to send a scurry of tingles to rush beneath her skin. ‘I think you should stop saying sorry when you have nothing to be sorry about.’

‘Sss—’ She lifted her shoulders to her earlobes. ‘It’s a habit.’

‘I noticed. Like the way you twist your fingers when nervous.’ He stared at her for a beat, then those delicious malt-whisky eyes roamed over her face before turning away. ‘What were you saying?’ Cap adjusted his long-legged gait to match hers. He did that a lot, stopping to let her catch up, even lowering his head to match her height, always asking her opinion.

But he was also her boss, and after what she’d been through, could she really trust her feelings?

She cleared her throat, getting head back in the game as they walked through the yards. ‘If it’s like sheep, we’d herd them intothe yard, pushing them down the chutes where we’d vaccinate them, shear them. Is this similar?’

‘Close. We want to maintain a decent herd, and with Charlie’s incredible experience, he’ll help us cull our stock. We don’t want any beasts with defects or bad temperaments. We’re looking for clean coats, no scaling on their necks, and decent body frames.’

‘How do you cull them?’ All she saw was a shifting sea of white coats.

‘Where Bree is, that’s what we call the pound.’ He pointed to the smaller round pen under the shade of the tall, corrugated roof, where Charlie stood high on the boardwalk, with Bree on the other side.

‘It looks like a small show jumping arena.’

‘Each beast will enter the pound to be inspected. Bree will manage the network of gates, like a sorting yard, where Charlie will call out to Bree which gate to send the beast through. Half of these will go into Ash’s paddock. Hopefully, it’ll be our paddock in the next muster.’

She stopped still, as the heat washed through her chest as her smile grew.Ours?

But it shouldn’t be like this when they’d only just met.

Cap kept walking towards the back pen, only to stop and wait for her, again. ‘There’s also a poddy gate for the little guys that have lost their mothers or those smaller weaners that need a little extra help. They’ll score a truck ride back to the homestead’s yards, which Dex has finished repairing. They’ll live there for a few months under the care of the guardian dogs.’

Again, they walked in unison, side by side, his gait easy with the smooth confidence of someone who knew and loved this land. She’d never known anyone to have such a sexy stride.

‘When are you collecting the guardian dogs?’ She liked hearing him speak, even more when his eyes locked onto hers,where the hint of a smile showed she’d asked the right questions on topics he cared about.

‘The vet has organised someone to bring them out.’

‘Andourjob?’ It slipped out, but it felt right saying it.

‘We’ll be the backyarders, pushing the cattle through the chutes.’ Cap bent under a metal rail, his hand out to help her. She’d noticed that was a habit of his: opening doors for her, pulling out a chair, always offering her the first choice of food or drinks, treating her like a lady—she’d never been so spoiled.

‘Our job is to guide the herd through, while keeping watch over Bree, who’ll need to have eyes in the back of her head to watch what’s coming down the race. There’s nothing more terrifying than a beast snorting just behind your ear.’ Cap physically shivered. ‘We need to keep the pace slow and gentle on the animals, so no rushing them. We only want Willow to push them through one at a time.’

‘Do you think she can do it?’

‘Like I said, I’ve got Atlas and Fern to show her how, and from what I’ve seen, Willow is an experienced working dog. Her natural instincts will kick in, and our job is to harness what she loves to do.’ Cap gave a different whistle she hadn’t heard before, and the two cattle dogs trotted over as the rest of the pack rested in the shade by the water troughs. ‘It’s time to bring the masters into the game. This way we’ll get a tonne of practice in for the local campdraft.’

‘Where you take your show dogs—sorry, I mean the dogs you want to show.’

‘Eh?’ He arched an eyebrow at her.

‘My dad was always telling me off if I said show dogs, he said it sounded like they were going to sing show tunes and do high kicks in some conga line.’

Never had a laugh sounded sexier on a man. ‘Are you ready to see what Willow can do?’

Eighteen

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