Stockman’s Showdown (The Stockmen #4)

Three

It was a freaking circus! Gathered by the new bar near the boardroom, Ryder could only shake his head with embarrassment at how his younger brothers were acting like fools, completely unorganised as they attempted to get their women onto their respective horses.

‘You keep clicking away on your camera like that, Soph, and you won’t have any battery left.’ Dex checked over the saddle straps of his new lady’s saddle.

Typically, Sophie ignored Dex to aim her camera at the ground, the cobwebs, even the horse’s eyelashes. ‘But this is my first muster.’

Ryder groaned, barely containing his frustration. The fact that his brothers insisted on bringing along these inexperienced women had his eyeballs wanting to roll back in his head for good. Come on, this wasn’t a tourist trail ride, it was a muster. It was a job. Simple.

But his younger brothers couldn’t bear being one night away from their ladies. They’d even brought along a toddler and that much extra baggage they had to borrow some stockhorses to carry it. Come on, this was for just one night—he’d hate to see how much junk they’d pack for a weekend at the pub.

‘Will we be doing any scary riding like the Stoneys trail?’ Harper slid on her new stockman’s hat. The woman had more hats than they had space in the farmhouse’s hallway, which was overrun with the kid’s toys and pampered house dogs.

‘I dunno?’ Ash peered back at Ryder.

‘Doubt it. It’s all flat country.’ Ryder had spent days in the chopper, pushing the cattle closer, with his chatty passenger, Charlie, who’d predicted they’d all be heading for the waterholes.

‘No muster chopper today?’ Again, Sophie zoomed that camera at him.

Ryder scowled at the blonde. ‘You take another photo of me, and I’ll snap that lens off.’ Sophie was as annoying as a buffalo fly.

‘Touchy.’

He narrowed his eyes at her, his voice deep and laced with warning. Ryder only ever gave one warning shot. ‘Dex.’

‘Yeah, I know.’ Dex rode up beside Sophie. ‘Hon, I’m agreeing with Ryder. Put the camera away. You’ve only had a few riding lessons, and you need to concentrate. And none of us appreciate a camera in our face.’

‘I’m sorry, I’m just so excited.’ Sophie slipped the camera band from around her neck to slide the camera into her backpack.

‘Where’s the cat?’ Cap asked, helping to hoist the tiny Mia into her saddle. Mia was a farm girl who worked hard, was good with the dogs and their land, and she made Cap happy. Cap deserved it.

Ryder didn’t mind Mia, and he was getting used to Harper, who was an excellent mother to Mason. The bonus was Harper was helping Ash become a man to be proud of.

As for Dex, he had Sophie, as the latest addition. Even if she irritated Ryder, Dex was smitten by the blonde in the most embarrassing way. The once-fierce fighting man was whipped.

‘Mr Purrington is happy hogging the couch,’ said Sophie. ‘Don’t worry, he’s got plenty of food and water to last him a year. And Dex left the TV on for company.’

‘For a cat?’ What the hell? Ryder arched his eyebrows at the ex-bare-knuckle champion pandering to a cat. Even Charlie loved that big ginger cat, walking it around like a dog on a lead.

‘Mr Purrington likes watching the fights as much as I do. The animal.’ Dex grinned as he settled into his saddle.

‘Babe, are you ready?’ Ash tapped Harper’s denim thigh.

‘I am.’ She flexed her fingers in her riding gloves.

‘They’re new?’

‘I learned my lesson on the last muster. Gloves and neck scarf, just like Bree wears. And this trip, Charlie’s going to show me how to use a stockwhip.’

‘Lord help us all,’ muttered Ryder. Dex nodded in agreement.

‘As Charlie would say, it’s good to see you having a go, Harper.’ Cap climbed into his saddle, steering his horse next to Mia. His entourage of a dozen cattle dogs shook the dust off their coats where they’d been lying. The kelpie, Willow, was the newest addition to Cap’s muster-dog pack, who was about to be broken in on her first muster.

‘Well, don’t you look like a mob of trouble?’ Charlie trotted up on his grey stockhorse, with Bree behind him, bringing up their packhorses.

Ryder just froze, staring at Bree who had the gun in her saddle, with the blanket—that damned green blanket—wrapped around her shoulders like a shawl, highlighting her red hair. When she nodded with those green eyes locked on his, he was sucker punched.

‘So, what’s the plan?’ Dex asked.

Ryder dropped his head to focus on his boots, the dirt, the job. ‘Charlie, you’re the man with the plan.’ They’d already discussed it at length. But having Charlie in charge allowed them to have Bree on board, and she was a better stockwoman than all of them put together. Plus, she knew the land, and the cattle knew her, because of Charlie’s clever little concept of stock school.

Ryder also had the sneaky suspicion that his brothers were going to be too busy watching over their women to do the job when Ryder was counting on them.

Did he need to drag them back to the drafting yards for another meeting to remind them of the job they were all investing heavily in to create a lifestyle and a legacy for generations to come?

Charlie clambered off his horse, leaving Bree to hold the reins. He dragged out a map from the back pocket of his worn jeans, and spread it over their new bar where everyone could view it from their saddles.

He loved their new bar, catching the grin from Dex, who too enjoyed the fact they could ride up with their horses, open the fridge to steal a coldie, and give the horse a quick drink, then ride off again.

Bree was a genius with her plans, dragging up furniture and metal sheeting, even slabs of wood from one of the back sheds to cleverly repurpose materials, saving Ryder thousands.

‘We’ll ride out to Emu Plains, where we’ll make our stock camp this side of Koala Creek. It’s a pretty place on the plains.’ Charlie pointed to the map. ‘We’ll then muster up those stragglers from One More No More Corner and Scary Forest, pushing them towards Koala Creek. Then tomorrow we’ll begin the long walk to the fencing channel to the drafting yards.’

‘Are there any crocodiles in Koala Creek?’ Mia asked.

‘Always.’ Bree sat on her fierce black horse like an amazonian warrior, with her thick red plait trailing over her shoulder. ‘Unless you want me to start writing your obituaries, treat every waterhole, every creek, and every river as a hunting ground for those sneaky river puppies.’

‘So why are we camping near that creek, if there are crocodiles?’ Harper held out a small hat to Ash, who put it on their son’s head, Mason, who was strapped to his father’s chest in his carrier, ready and raring to go. That fast-growing boy was a future stockman in the making.

‘For Rijidij Dugout, of course.’ Bree let rip a playful grin that sparked in her eyes. If anyone knew how to play it was Bree.

‘The what?’ Dex asked.

‘Pop, you like telling stories.’ She nodded to her grandfather, always letting the old man take the lead.

‘Well, lemme see…’ Charlie pushed back the brim of his well-worn hat. ‘Darcie’s dad gave those hot springs the name, Rijidij Dugout. And it’s a good one too. Over the years, the stockmen of Elsie Creek Station kept digging it deeper, while building the small wall of river rocks to surround the natural hot springs where we’ll be camping. Darcie’s dad swore by it, whenever his arthritis played up.’

‘So it has healing properties?’ Sophie reached out to hold Dex’s hand. ‘That might have helped you, and me, after that last fight?’

Didn’t that remind Ryder that even though Sophie may be irritating, she’d earned her place at this station. In fact, all of his brothers’ ladies had helped save this station, one way or another.

‘After being in the saddle all day, Rijidij Dugout’s hot water is the best place to wallow while cracking open a cold beer, with Emu Plains spread out before you showing off the sunset.’ The old man sighed wistfully as if picturing it in his mind.

‘It gives the term being rock bottom new meaning,’ said Bree with a devilish grin, ‘it’s like a heated spa under the stars you won’t regret.’

‘Oh, I’m in. I love spa days. Good for the skin,’ said Harper, who was flawlessly dressed as always, having turned their farmhouse bathroom into a make-up studio. Their shower was filled with shampoos and conditioners, while assorted painful-looking electrical hair gadgets congested the bathroom bench. It was safer for Ryder to use the outdoor shower, because if he moved the wrong way inside the farmhouse bathroom, he’d cause an avalanche of hair care products and make-up.

‘But I’m going to cook, right?’ Harper may be politically savvy, and good with the books, but she couldn’t cook to save herself. She’d try, but it always ended up as muck that only the pampered house dogs would touch. No wonder they were getting fat.

‘I’ve told Bree to let you lot cook for a change,’ announced Charlie.

‘Aww, really?’ Dex screwed his nose up as Ryder frowned at the news. ‘That’s the only reason we wanted Bree to come, for her cooking.’

Sophie thumped his arm. ‘I can cook.’

‘You can’t camp cook like Bree, babe.’

‘How do you know?’

‘Can you cook on a campfire?’

‘I don’t mind learning. Like Harper is always having those cooking lessons.’

Ryder rolled his eyes, groaning at the mess he expected, knowing those cooking lessons were just a codename for long liquid lunches attended by Bree, Mia and Harper. He doubted any cooking got done, but lots of cocktails were consumed using Bree’s homemade gin.

‘Bree, please tell us you’ll be cooking?’ Or Ryder was going to drag out his army ration packs.

‘For you, cupcake? Never.’ Her eyes were like fire, and that grin was just as evil—together it was as sexy as sin, it sent his heart into a rat-a-tat spat of gunfire in his chest.

‘Play nice, Bree.’ Charlie folded up his map, before climbing back onto his horse. ‘The lad did fix your gun.’

‘That he pinched like a pickpocketing professional at the Paris Olympics.’

Ryder didn’t expect a thank you. After all, he’d done the wrong thing. Not when she’d done more for him just by wearing his blanket, and she didn’t even know it.

Giving his horse a slight nudge, he rode past Bree, barely catching a whiff of her scent—warm vanilla and pecans complemented that hint of something intoxicatingly spicy underneath.

‘Thank you for cleaning my shotgun, Ryder.’

Ryder, huh? Bree rarely called him by his name. It was always cupcake . Cap had the nickname tiger, or kennel master. Dex was stormcloud. And Ash was snowflake. The girls had their own nicknames too, none of which Ryder cared to remember. But he vividly recalled the day Bree had called him that ridiculous pet name— Cupcake. It made him grit his teeth that someone dared call him that. But that redhead did it with all his brothers, as if poking and prodding to see what they were made of.

Beneath that outlaw attitude and brassy sass was a clever woman who challenged him daily—if he was lucky to see her daily. And if he did, it was rare she stayed longer than ten minutes at a time, passing through to drop her bomb of information and leave.

The only time they’d spent any real time together was when they’d mustered a herd at midnight after a wild dog attack. They didn’t talk much, but listening to Bree sing a soft lullaby to the herd under the glow of a full moon had been truly magical.

Then there was the time when they were sitting in the hospital room watching over Dex, who was strapped to a breathing machine. Bree had been there, holding Dex’s hand as he struggled to breathe, with the noise from the in-and-out raspy machine pumping oxygen into Dex’s lungs to keep him alive. Ryder had never been more grateful to Bree, who had stood by his family—and by him. It was during those moments he’d felt a shift, opening a space in his heart just for her, even if he hadn’t realised it at the time. And after finding someone who had seen him through the darkest of nights, was it any wonder he wanted to hold on to her?

So, this muster he had a plan. Ryder had purposely chosen to park up his muster chopper, leave the satellite phone home, and ride in the saddle in hope of connecting with Bree, while keeping her in his sights. And she was worth the watch as a third-generation stockwoman.

Funnily enough, Bree was the only one Ryder wasn’t paying to work this muster. Originally, he’d paid Harper to be the nanny, but now she did a day in the office as their bookkeeper. Mia was their full-time employee as their nursery manager. Sophie had originally been paid to nurse Dex back to health. Now he was paying for their time on this muster. And he paid his brothers and Charlie wages as stockmen. The only one who refused was Bree, repeating that line: I don’t work for you boys.

Sure, it annoyed him, but he had to respect her for that. Even so, he always made sure he’d given Charlie double the wages, plus a bonus for Bree’s help.

Bree was also the only woman he’d ever handed his credit card to so she could shop for their musters. Not only did she stock up their farmhouse pantry, but she ensured they all had proper equipment, providing the receipts, and not ripping him off once, when he’d given her plenty of opportunity to do so. Without knowing it, Bree had ticked all his boxes.

Now, he was hoping by the end of this muster she realised how much he cared for her—even though he was expecting her to fight him.

With a military past, it’s a good thing he was used to fighting because she was worth the fight, as the only woman fiery enough to melt the ice in his veins.