Page 47 of Stockman's Showdown

‘Dammit!’ He stood so fast his chair flung back against the wall, gripping the top of his head as all those pieces fell into place.

‘What?’ Dex stopped swinging, to sit forward with a hard clunk on his chair.

Ryder started pacing the length of the room. ‘I can’t believe I didn’t see it sooner.’

‘It’d be nice if you shared with the rest of the class, cupcake.’

‘Tell me if this makes sense… Leo is growing a cash crop and working for another organisation while owning a run-down cattle station. Publicly, he’s claiming to build a lithium mine and painting us as the enemy in a legal battle over water and land zoning. He’s keeping us distracted while using the so-called mine to launder money—funnelling cash from illegal activities through fake contractors and investments tied to the project. And where’s that money going? Some of it pays his lawyers to keep the pressure on us.’

‘It makes sense to me.’ Bree nodded at Ryder. The intelligence on this woman was just another tick as to why she fascinated him so much.

After this conversation, he was going to buy her a dozen cupcakes. Jeez, at this rate, he may as well find a decent cupcake recipe to get up at sunrise to bake the things when Charlie was baking his bread.

‘Here, I can’t eat them all.’ She pushed the cakebox towards Dex.

‘Nah, Ryder bought these for you.’

She arched her eyebrows at him in disbelief.

Hell, yeah. He was definitely going to buy her more just for the conversation.

‘Bribery will only get you so many places.’

Oh, honey, if you only knew the places I want to explore with you.

When she took another bite of her small cake, her eyes rolling at the heavenly flavour, he couldn’t stop watching.

‘The Station Hand’s wife, Queen Elizabeth, made this one, I can tell. She’s perfected the red velvet cupcake.’ Bree washed it down with a sip of her coffee. ‘So, who’s up for a sneaky midnight visit to the neighbours?’

And there it was. The real reason why Bree was here telling all—she didn’t want to do this on her own.

Nineteen

‘I’m surprised you didn’t jump the fence.’ Dex grinned at Bree while rocking in his chair.

It didn’t stop Ryder from scowling at her. ‘I bet you were thinking about it.’

She hated how Ryder could read her so well. So what if she had contemplated jumping the fence. She normally would have. If caught, she would’ve made some lame excuse about searching for cattle or her dog had run off.

‘But you heard those shots…’ Ryder let the obvious hang in the air.

‘And got my sweet arse out of there.’ It’s why she was here. The cupcakes were a bonus she hadn’t expected. ‘Have you spoken to the police today?’

Ryder nodded. ‘They found Jack Price’s real passport in the suitcase lining and Marcus has got Porter working on the case full-time.’

‘Good. That’ll make Charlie happy.’

‘How is Charlie today?’ Ryder’s swapped his scowl for a look of concern. It was obvious how much Ryder cared for her grandfather.

‘Charlie is having a rest day, watching black-and-white Western movies in bed, while eating his favourite snacks. Idoubt Pop will need dinner, and neither will I if I keep eating these cupcakes.’ She closed the lid and pushed the box across the table towards Ryder.

‘I’ll stash them in our fridge for later.’ Ryder got out a large marker and wrote:Bree’s Cupcakes. Do not touch unless you want to lose your fingers!The definitive stabbing motion he made for the exclamation mark on the box showed he meant business.

Dammmn, that’s hot!‘That’s subtle, cupcake.’

‘Ash and Cap would wolf them down in a second if they saw them.’

She tilted her head as she watched him put the box into their fridge. The view of his arse in those jeans was delectable.

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