Page 79 of Stockman's Stormcloud

‘Why not?’

‘Because of your health.’

‘Is that your excuse? When I know you were getting into that kiss, just as much as me. You’ve been waiting for it.’

The arrogant arsehole. ‘You have your secrets. I have mine.’ She scooped up her cat. ‘I need to take Mr Purrington home.’ It wasn’t nearly as fancy as this place. ‘And you need to take a shower and get something to eat.’

‘Are you working tonight?’

This time she didn’t answer him, just like he’d ignored her many questions. Ha, two could play that game of secrecy.

Dex grabbed her wrist. ‘Hey, did I do something wrong?’ His concern was so genuine it made her drop her head in shame at her pettiness.

But she had to protect herself, and her cat, who was purring in her arms. ‘Remember I told you Mr Purrington was a therapy cat?’

‘I do.’

‘I found Mr Purrington behind these industrial sheds. It was pouring with rain, on a cold and miserable autumn night. The poor thing was a starving kitten, shivering under a dumpster.’ She cuddled her cat closer. ‘I’d been living in my car for a month when I found him. And he was the only thing that made me smile when I was going through such a terrible time in my life.’ Back then she suffered every day, and having Mr Purrington to cuddle up to at night had been a blessing.

‘How did you end up living in your car? You’re an ER nurse.’ Dex stepped back, his shoulders rigid. But he was listening.

‘My ex was a gambler, who had emptied our joint bank account, which was supposed to pay our mortgage. He’d regularly lied to me that everything was okay, while hocking thingsfrom the house, that he said he’d sent out for repairs. And I’m pretty sure he screwed around on me, just like my ex did before him.’ Men sucked! So why was she even telling the guy who owned a cattle station, when he’d just turn his nose up at her. If not, his family would.

She tenderly stroked the cat that snuggled into her chest, just like it did those long and cold nights huddled in the back of her car in fear of someone smashing a window to break in, while learning the art of stealth camping.

She was a survivor who’d camped in rock bottom’s basement, to fight inch by inch just to feel the sun again.

‘All I have left fits inside my crappy car, along with this cat, some cheap second-hand camera equipment, and my job where I came out here to escape the southern winters, and to start again.’

‘Didn’t you have a good job in the city?

‘I worked at the same hospital for almost ten years, first as a radiologist until I moved to their busy inner-city ER, where I was a nursing shift supervisor. And they fired me, just like that.’ She clicked her fingers, still fuming that they’d done that to her.

‘Why?’

‘Because my ex and I caused a scene in my ER.’ She heaved air, hating what that man had done to her. Frowning harder at the man standing before her. ‘Thankfully, now I have a new job that gives me somewhere to live.’

‘Where?’

‘In the nurses’ accommodation, behind Elsie Creek Hospital. And I have a fantastic boss, Jenny, and I work with an amazing team of people.’ No way was she going to put herself in jeopardy for anyone—and certainly not another man.

Yet this man was making her jealous, and she hated that jealousy she felt over Dex, especially when it came to Bree. When she’d never been like this before. It wasn’t right.

‘Did your ex abuse you?’ He watched her, as emotionless and cold as Ryder. Or was this the real Dex, who she wasonly now starting to see?

‘No. He just lied to me and used me. He. Kept. Secrets. From. Me.’ She glared at him.

Dex arched an eyebrow at her like she was nothing more than a flea on a dog’s collar. ‘As an addict?’

She nodded.

‘And you think I’d do that to you?’ His eyes narrowed at her.

‘No. You’re the type of man who’d break my heart.’ In a way she’d never recover from! She needed to save herself, her sanity, and her soul, and slipped out to her car with her cat and never looked back.

Twenty-five

‘Come and check out this paddock I told you about.’ Dex led his brothers along the boundary fence of the caretaker’s cottage, just on sunrise.

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