Page 22 of Stockman's Showdown

‘No. You stop it. You don’t control me.’ She sneered, raising her chin in defiance. So what if he was all tall, hot, and broody. With his tousled brown hair, chiselled jaw, and trimmed beard. He never scared her.

But then he slapped his hat back on his head, shading the look in his eyes that were a warm toasted hazelnut—it was such a contradiction for a man with ice in his veins. Especially when arguing with the a-hole!

‘I don’t want to control you, Bree,’ he said, so close their hat brims were touching. ‘All I want is to take care of you, because you mean so much to me.’

Her eyes flared wide as she stepped back from him. ‘You can’t.’

‘I can’t help it. Believe me.’ Again, he removed his hat, to wipe away the perspiration on his forehead, using the upper sleeve of his shirt that tightly showed off his muscles.

‘I’m all wrong for you.’

He shook his head as he readjusted his hat. ‘No, you’re perfect.’

‘Are your ears full of bulldust or something?’ Giving him her best dramatic eye roll. ‘I just told you I’m all wrong for you. Because if I was right for you, we wouldn’t bescreaming at each other!’ Her own voice echoed to blend with his, while the cattle watched them like spectators in a shopping mall. ‘Remember, you and your brothers conned my grandfather into coming, knowing of course he’d manipulate me into playing stockwoman. So here I am, doing that job—that you already told me you would’ve fired me for! You ungrateful—’

Beneath their feet the ground rumbled again, and something cracked on the hill behind them. ‘What was that?’

It was enough to make the hair stand up on the back of her neck.

They spun around to search for the source, as something else cracked like ice being broken but a thousand times bigger, coming from above them.

The horses nickered and started pawing at the ground with the cattle once again stirring, heading back the way they’d come.

‘Get out of here, Bree. Go.’ Ryder threw her into the saddle.

She struggled to grip Back Hand’s reins, managing only to grasp his mane, as the horse hurtled down the small hill and bolted towards the back of the rising dust cloud caused by the shifting herd.

A massive rumble began from behind them.

Bree peered over her shoulder as the entire side of the rock wall fell. She knew the escarpment’s height was only half the size of Uluru, but still taller than the Eiffel tower, sending tons ofrubble, rock, and sheered sandstone powder to wash over them in an explosion that hurt her ears.

As the dust scattered, and the exhausted cattle slowed down, Ryder and Bree pulled up their horses to turn and gape at the damage. The air was filled with a chalky haze blended with the gritty dust coating her sweat-soaked skin, which she could taste on her tongue. She dragged out her water bottle, taking a deep drink to wash out her mouth, swallowing hard to stop the ringing in her ears. ‘Here.’ She passed the bottle to Ryder.

‘Thanks.’ He took it, splashing some over his face, before guzzling deep.

The landslide had transformed the lower section of once-solid rock face into a jagged pile of rubble, resembling a beach left bare by the retreating tide. It was catastrophic.

‘Did Bree do that?’ Dex asked, riding up to meet them.

‘It’s sandstone. Crumbly stuff, that’s always falling off the escarpment.’

‘With some help from cattle and redheads with shotguns.’ Dex grinned at her.

‘Are you two, okay?’ Ash rode up fast to join them.

‘We’re fine.’ She brushed the dust from her clothing, where that green blanket was now red. The good thing was, as she removed the thick dust-encrusted blanket from her shoulders, it had saved her clothes and her hair from the brunt of the dust.

She really liked this blanket. Taking the time to roll it up and securing it to her saddlebags, even copped a nod from Ryder.

What was the story behind this blanket?

‘Bree, you’re a nut case and a hero all in one,’ Ash said, with Dex chuckling beside him. ‘You’re the only woman I know who’d race to cut off a herd and end up starting a landslide.’

‘Is everyone at the camp, okay?’ Bree couldn’t see them through the dusty haze. But the cattle were calming down and drinking from Koala Creek, which was a good sign.

‘Charlie, Cap, and his dogs protected them. What the heck happened?’ Ash poked back the brim of his hat.

‘Sophie is what.’ Ryder scowled at his brother.

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