Eleven
‘Everyone, this is Mia Dixon.’ Cap swallowed hard as he stood on the edge of the farmhouse verandah in the late afternoon, with Mia beside him. He’d never been so nervous for his brothers to meet a girl before. Which was dumb when they weren’t even dating.
Some grown-up man he was, for fate’s sake. Cap wasn’t like his younger brother, Ash, who used to go through women like flipping the pages of a magazine, easily setting them aside for the latest release that walked on by. Until he met Harper, that is. Nor was Cap anything like Dex, who was so mean to women, he’d toss them aside like some sweat rags he’d used after a fight—and yet the women flocked to him over it. Why? He had no idea.
It was just another reminder of how clueless he was when it came to women.
Still, he was here for a reason, all to do with a certain female. ‘Mia, that’s Ryder at the head of the table.’
Ryder nodded. His cold dark eyes narrowed at Mia while remaining expressionless as always. Ryder hadn’t trusted Harper when she’d first arrived at the station, and he’d been proven right. Sort of.
‘That’s Dex.’ Cap glowered at Dex in warning as he spoke through clenched teeth. ‘No betting, Dex. I mean that.’ The protectiveness he had over Mia was strong.
‘I lost the last bet. Bree fleeced me for a couple hundred already.’ Dex tilted his head, wearing that evil smirk. It was either a smirk or a scowl, rarely anything else in between when it came to Dex. ‘Mia.’ Dex gave a curt nod.
‘Hi.’ Mia jammed her hands into the pockets of her baggy overalls, that she looked comfy in. The bruising was fading to a yellow. Her hair was a wavy mess, but it beautifully framed her delicate features. With the touch of dirt on her cheek blending with her smattering of freckles, she looked like a very pretty farmer, he hadn’t been able to stop watching while working with her these past two days.
‘Hey, I’m Ash.’ Still wearing the baby carrier, he wore on the days he had Mason with him on horseback, Ash carried five beers from around the corner and offered one to Mia. Like the rest of his brothers, Ash’s deep tan blended with the layer of dirt they all wore from working in the yards all day.
‘Here, give me this.’ Cap took Mia’s beer bottle and popped the cap using the edge of the table, then held it out to Mia.
‘Thanks.’
‘While you’re there, brother.’ Dex nodded at his unopened beer resting on the table.
Cap rolled his eyes and opened Dex’s, Ash’s and his own beer, tossing the caps into the large coffee tin on the table.
Mia pointed her beer at Ash. ‘Are you Harper’s partner?’
‘That I am.’ Ash gave a goofy lovesick grin, as he unclipped the baby carrier, before flipping his chair around to sit on it like a saddle at their outdoor table.
‘I met your son, Mason, earlier. He’s adorable.’
‘He doesn’t look so adorable now, covered in dirt. But he’s happy, messing up the house.’ Ash sat taller to peer inside the open windows.
‘Hey, Mason called me Uncle Cap this morning.’ Cap pulled out a chair, even dusting it for Mia to sit at the table beside him.
‘Little mongrel calls me Dick,’ complained Dex, tilting back to balance on the back legs of his chair.
Cap chuckled with Ash, because Dex could be a prize dick.
‘Is that your latest rescue?’ Ryder pointed at the kelpie sitting at Mia’s feet. Willow kept close to Mia, while the rest of Cap’s dogs lazed on the lawn. He’d trained the muster dogs to avoid the farmhouse verandah, which belonged to Sarge, the big shepherd, who kept guard at the far corner of the house facing the driveway. While inside the house were the other two ex-police dogs Ruby and Scout, lapping up life as house pets.
‘She’s a stunning pure bred.’ Cap patted Willow, who’d surprisingly taken no time to trust him, like most dogs.
‘Are you going to use her for mustering?’
‘She’ll need to build up some stamina for that first. But I’m keen to try her out in the drafting yards. Mia has agreed to help. She used to help her dad with his sheep.’ Cap was grateful at how eagerly Mia got involved with the work, considering what she’d been through.
‘Kelpies are a good breed.’ Ryder gave a brief nod as he twisted off the beer cap from his bottle and tossed it into the tin on the table, where the bottle cap clinked among the others.
‘Has anyone asked Charlie or Bree about the branding iron?’ asked Ash. ‘We could also use their help.’
‘Charlie’s in, said so yesterday,’ replied Ryder, before taking a deep pull of his beer.
‘What about Bree?’
‘I asked her this morning,’ said Cap.
The lines in the middle of Ryder’s brow deepened, as did his voice. ‘When?’
‘While we were looking over the demountable.’
‘ We , huh?’ Dex smirked behind his beer, while rocking on his chair’s back legs.
Cap frowned at his brother. ‘Harper was there too, with Bree.’
‘What the flip?’ Dex grimaced as if tasting something horrible in the air. ‘Did you have some all-female intervention this morning?’
‘I wanted their opinion on the place.’ Cap was so glad he had asked for Bree’s opinion. He could picture the new deck, the new rooms, the roof, the outdoor kitchen, the Mexican heater, everything. It was as if Bree knew exactly what he needed.
‘It’s brilliant what Bree suggested.’ Mia wriggled on her seat beside him, the grin growing with the excitement he could feel himself.
He’d never bothered with a house before, but he was keen to start by getting Mia settled first.
‘You’ve seen the place?’ Dex pointed his beer towards the kennels. ‘I’ve heard Bree call it the dogbox.’
‘At least I’m not squatting in a tent.’ Cap glared at his snarky brother.
‘So. I’ve been busy.’
‘Me too. And well, bro, I’m hoping you’ll do some grading for me. Bree warned me that the area has a major run-off problem in the wet.’
‘Bree said Charlie called it Kennel River.’ Mia’s hands were so small around the beer stubby she timidly sipped from.
‘How bad?’ Ryder’s deep voice was loaded with concern, shutting up Dex’s smart-ass responses, which was normal for those two. Ryder was the only one to take Dex head-on and beat him, because of some sneaky military moves.
‘The water looks like it runs right under my place and through the kennels. Dex, I’ll pay you a carton to create a channel towards a new reticulation pond.’
Dex shrugged. ‘I don’t mind playing with the grader.’
He grinned, glad his brother was on board.
‘I heard those dingoes again last night.’ Dex lowered his forehead, as a sign of trouble, which was dangerous coming from Dex, who wasn’t scared to fight or load his rifle to deter wild dogs. ‘How long before we get those guardian dogs?’
‘They’re at the vets, getting checked over. Hey, do we own the tractor? Or does Bree?’
‘What tractor?’ asked Ash.
‘Big sucker. Bree used it as a forklift to drop off some steel girders and dig holes for the framework of my new deck.’
‘Hold up.’ The front legs of Dex’s chair landed with a thud, as he leaned closer to point his beer at Cap. ‘Are you saying that you’ve talked Bree into building a deck? For you?’
‘I think she’s doing it more for Mia. Bree is suggesting we have a working bee on Saturday to do the floorboards for the deck.’
‘We have the drafting to do first. And without Bree—’
‘Who’s agreed to help with the mustering, and she can get us a stock agent, too. And no, Bree didn’t laugh in my face.’
‘Bree laughs in my face all the time,’ mumbled Dex behind his beer. ‘I’d really like that woman if she didn’t scare me so much.’
‘I thought Bree didn’t want to get involved in our business,’ said Ash.
Cap shrugged. ‘I practically begged her to help with the mustering. But I don’t know how we’ll get her to do the drafting; I don’t think she likes that job.’
‘We’ll talk to Charlie. He’s the one who suggested we enlist Bree’s help in the first place,’ said Ryder.
‘Or you can ask her, Ryder. Oh, wait, she’ll tell you to rack off, too.’ Dex chuckled behind his beer.
‘Me three.’ Ash raised his beer the same way Harper held her hand in the air when asking a question.
‘Bree’s done so much for me,’ said Mia. ‘I have no way to repay her. I mean, today, Bree found me a single bed. The mattress was brand new, still in its plastic, and everything. Bree said she never had time to use it. It came with these cute little boy’s sheets.’
The brothers looked at her sullenly.
‘What did I say?’ Mia gave a meek shrug.
‘That would’ve been for Liam,’ Cap explained quietly, as Ryder and Dex’s frowns deepened.
‘Who?’
‘Bree’s son.’
‘Excuse me.’ Ash dragged himself off his chair. The screen door to the farmhouse creaked open, as he slid off his boots by the front door mat. ‘Mason? Where you at, son?’ The door clanged shut behind him.
‘Bree has a son?’ Mia whispered to Cap.
‘She lost him to leukaemia.’ It was so freaking sad.
‘Oh no…’ Mia clutched her throat. ‘I didn’t know. I feel terrible. I was laughing at the kids’ sheets with sheep on them. Bree said nothing.’
‘She doesn’t. And she won’t.’ Ryder’s sturdy Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he sculled back the rest of his beer. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, dumping the empty bottle on the table. ‘I’ve got some paperwork to do. Make sure you keep your receipts on the materials for the renovations, Cap. Call me when dinner is ready. It’s not my turn to cook.’
‘I cooked last night. It’s someone else’s turn.’ Dex’s chair scraped across the deck as he stood. ‘I’ll go take a look at the grading you want done at the kennels.’ Dex jumped off the verandah.
So much for his brothers being hospitable, and all that worry over them meeting Mia had been for nothing. Or were they going to give Mia the cold shoulder like they did when Harper had first arrived? They’d better not!