Nineteen
‘No. And I mean no. N. O. No.’ Harper scowled at Ash seated across from her at the outdoor table covered in assorted plastic containers, glass domes cut from beer bottles, thick tape, and paint. ‘It’s bad enough you’ve got me helping you do your arts and crafts session—’
‘We’re making fake cameras to help protect this place.’
‘Is that normal?’
‘No.’ Ash sighed heavily. ‘We’ve ordered more, but they won’t be here for a while. I told you I want to use them for stock monitoring. I have so many ideas for this place, but it’s all shoved aside for this …’ He held up the painted box in his hands. ‘Aren’t I the lucky one,’ he said sarcastically, ‘delegated to making these things, cleaning troughs, or digging holes for poles to hold up these fake cameras.’
She felt sorry for Ash, who seemed to be overlooked by the older siblings. ‘Have you told your brothers this?’
He shrugged. ‘They look at me like I don’t have the experience, but I know what I’m talking about when it comes to tech.’
‘I believe you.’
He blinked at her, as if he’d misheard her.
‘I can relate, too.’
‘How?’
‘I worked in a very male-dominated area. So when a woman, who isn’t even thirty, starts telling them what to do, you should see them puff out their fat chests. Half the time I expect them to light a fat a cigar while telling the little girl to run away.’ She playfully mimicked their action of shooing at a fly over their drying paintwork.
Ash’s lips flickered to a grin, but only briefly as he carefully cut off the base from one of the dark beer bottles, revealing the dome shape of glass, which he lined up with the others. ‘What did you do to get past that?’
‘I had to earn their respect by proving to them I could do the job. If you want to gamify the station, you need to show your brothers.’ She pointed to the many squares of tin foil wrapped around the timber frame to replicate a solar panel. ‘I’ll admit this is clever. But will these fake cameras survive a storm?’
‘No. But they don’t need to. It’s only a temporary measure while we’re out on the muster.’
‘Why?’ She narrowed her eyes at him.
‘Nothing to worry about. It’s quite normal for places to have security cameras. Especially when no one will be here, because Harper, I want you to come with us.’
‘I’m sorry, do I have I’m a gullible idiot tattooed across my forehead?’
His laugh was a surprised rough sound, which was hot. ‘You sound like Bree.’
‘I did, didn’t I?’ She adored Bree. The sassy redhead was the ultimate fixer, from how to change nappies, fix a washer in the kitchen sink, bake a tray of shortbread, while mixing a wicked gin concoction. Bree was Harper’s hero. She’d never have coped without Bree’s help. ‘In my normal world, I’d never meet anyone like Bree, or you, and I wouldn’t be making fake cameras.’
‘In your world, did you ever see a sky so big you’d feel like the only person on the planet?’
From under the lip of the verandah, she cautiously peered up at the colossally enormous sky as a wave of heaviness made her slump in her seat. ‘That sounds lonely.’
Ash tilted his head, his gaze serious. ‘You won’t be left alone out there, Harper. I’ll be there for you. I promise to keep you safe.’
Her heart stuttered at his words, making her stomach turn with a heated desire. Yet, it felt like she’d just given away her deepest secret.
She inhaled sharply, snapping her spine straight, lifting her chin to force her inner armour back in place. ‘Go on, finish your pitch.’ She had to think of Ash as just another politician asking for something, so he’d better make it worth her while. Big skies and horsehair weren’t going to cut it with this indoor girl.
‘How am I doing so far?’ His lips shifted into that easy-going smile, the one with the dimple. Not fair. Why did he have to use that smile?
Again, she lifted her chin and rolled her shoulders, fighting her attraction to the dreamy guy sitting on the other side of the table. ‘You haven’t scored enough for the win.’
‘Fine, I’d better up my game then.’ He shuffled in his seat, the amusement sparkling in his eyes. ‘Have you ever swum in a waterfall that’s so exclusive, it’s not marked on any map for the tourists to find.’
This time she rolled her eyes pretending to be bored. ‘Can’t swim. Plus, there are these things called crocodiles.’
‘Not out there.’
His taunting tone did pique her interest.
‘How about sitting in a saddle to watch an endless sunrise? Or to hear the crackle of a campfire, beneath a night sky so clear you’d see galaxies behind galaxies, you’ll catch the clear flame of a falling star.’
‘It sounds like you love it out there.’ She could hear it in his voice, which was chipping away at her inner armour.
What’s worse was his smile. It was so soft and yet so sinfully attractive.
‘It’s the best thing in the world, Harper, and apparently Wombat Flats is pristine. I’m really looking forward to it. You should come and see it, too.’
‘Can you take a child?’
‘Charlie says Bree has something for Mason to sit with me.’ Ash then dropped his head and mumbled, ‘I’m hoping we might bond, or something.’
She paused, with paintbrush dripping in one hand. ‘Do you really mean that?’
His jaw hardened, as she took in the details: the straight nose, the strong jaw, his delectable mouth. The denim of his jeans tightened around his impressive thighs as he leaned back, to sip from his water bottle that he made seem so tiny in his strong hands. Then there were the tanned forearms that led to even stronger arms in a tight T-shirt that hid the perfect set of abs he had beneath it. But he kept his eyes on hers as he lifted the water bottle to his lips. Somehow, it was weirdly fascinating and kind of arousing, watching him wrap his lips around the mouth of the water bottle and drink.
She rubbed her brow, internally pushing down her desires, because she was only here for Mason. ‘Going on some bush ride—’
‘Muster.’
‘It will be a lot of work to keep Mason contained, he can run now. Will you be there to help?’ She plonked her elbow on the table and pointed her paintbrush at him. ‘And I mean you. Not your brothers. You.’
He eyed her for a long beat as if waiting for her to crack. But she’d been taught the art of negotiation by her father for as long as she could remember and wasn’t going to back down on this.
Finally, he gave a nod. It was small, but it was enough for her to hope for the boy’s sake. She dipped her paintbrush into the tin.
‘Can you ride a horse?’ Ash asked.
She shrugged, brushing the paint in smooth strokes along the side of the cardboard box. ‘I did pony club as a child, which went for a few hours at a time. But you’re talking days, camping, with no indoor plumbing or running water.’ Where was she going to plug in her hair dryer?
‘Have you ever been camping?’
‘I tried hiking. Once. Got talked into it because I’m not adventurous at all. I only did it for the job.’ Hiking up a hill with a politician and his staff for a photoshoot. ‘I’ll admit the view was good, but the effort to climb a hill … Meh.’ She made sure she hired a helicopter the next time that happened. She did that to protect her shoes.
‘Yeah, I hear you. I’d rather ride a horse up a hill.’ He then leaned over, pinning her with his dark eyes. The intensity of them made her skin prickle and her blood pump just that little harder with heat. ‘You might not think you have that sense of adventure, Harper, but you do.’
‘How? I’m an indoor person who walks on a treadmill in air-conditioned comfort while the gym plays photoshopped images of the outdoors.’
‘You’re an Aussie girl working in Belgium. And when I met you, you were on your own driving on an outback road. Very few people have the guts to do that, but you did.’
She blinked at the realisation.
‘This adventure will be special, I can promise you that. It’s a story you’ll tell for the rest of your life, because going on an outback cattle muster, it’s the stuff people dream about. So, what do you say, Harper? Are you in?’