Page 34

Indy swung her legs back and forth beneath the tailgate of the truck as she popped another grape into her mouth.

She cast her gaze across the rolling hill that made up the paddock they were in.

When they were this far into the middle of the property with natural bush patches surrounding them and nothing but the sounds of happy stock and birds calling, a person could be forgiven for thinking they’d fallen into heaven.

At least, that’s how Indy felt about it.

She considered the Windale Station employees to be the envy of every country music singer-songwriter, with the grass rich and green after all the rain they’d been fortunate enough to have, the creeks and dams fairly full for this time of year and the tall gum trees that reached so high into the sky it wasn’t hard to imagine them disappearing into the big blue.

The dangers of the cliff drop were a few kilometres away—along with its breathtaking view—but the smells of summer were beyond evocative.

Emery was beside her, sharing their morning smoko after delivering another lot of rams out to meet their mates.

The back of the truck wasn’t the comfiest place to sit but they’d swept off as much manure as they could, and the smell of lanolin was comforting.

This mob of ewes had shown a lot of interest when they’d pulled the truck into the paddock and started unloading their mates.

They mulled around in front of them, pulling at the grass and flocking together.

One of the rams decided he was ready to get the job done.

‘Look at that horny one,’ Emery said, waggling her brows suggestively at Indy with a giant grin on her face. ‘No taking her to dinner first.’

‘Why are you looking at me like that?’

‘I think that ram’s been taking lessons from you, with all the ramming you’ve been getting lately.’

Indy laughed loudly to cover the heat in her cheeks. Thoughts of last night sent her into a complete gooey meltdown. The memories had been coming constantly. Carter’s tenderness and thoughtfulness were her new favourite things about him. And those abs. She nearly sighed with satisfaction.

Instead, she cast a side eye at Emery. ‘Don’t be jealous.’

Emery made a show of glancing over each shoulder and Indy rolled her eyes. As if there were anyone out this far to hear them. ‘So, Carter, eh. Is he good at the ramming ?’

‘You’ve really gotta stop calling it that. It might be the reason you’re not getting any.’

‘Whatever,’ she said, knocking Indy’s shoulder with hers. ‘But seriously, is he?’

Indy popped another grape in her mouth and gave Emery a smug look. ‘Let’s just say I’ve never been with anyone like him and there’s a very good reason I keep going back for more.’

Emery’s squeal echoed around them, making Indy shoulder-knock her back.

The growl of a motorbike stopped any sharp comment Emery might’ve thrown at her. Indy shoved one of Theresa’s yoyo biscuits into her mouth as they watched the rider come closer.

‘Well, well, look at you, allowed to ride solo on the quad,’ Emery said when Mara pulled up in front of them and diligently switched the motor off. The newfound responsibility looked good on her.

Mara grinned with pride, something else that was new. Good for her. She got off the quad and came to stand between them at the back of the truck, plucking up a biscuit before Indy could swat her hand away. Cheeky brat.

‘What brings you and your four wheels all the way out here?’ Indy asked. ‘Long way to pinch our smoko.’

‘Nova sent me. She got a call from Louisa, the lawyer. The auditor from the council wants to come out on Friday to take a look around the property.’

Indy’s heart sank. ‘Friday?’

‘That’s only two days away,’ Emery said. They’d been expecting this might happen but not while they had guests here.

‘Nova said to tell you that she wants all the rams out today, and then we need to run maintenance around the buildings and equipment.’ She climbed back onto the quad. ‘I’m on paint touch-ups. I’ll see you guys back there.’

Mara rode in a couple of circles, sending the stock scattering, before she headed for the gate. Indy wanted to laugh at her glee, but fresh apprehension was lodged in her throat for everything Nova was going through.

‘This isn’t fair. The camps are a huge profit for the property. What’ll happen if we lose them?’

‘You can’t think like that, Indy.’

‘We have to. Barty’s a chauvinistic pig but he has sway in this town and with the council. They all kiss his arse. How can we go up against that? He’ll probably pay the auditor off to not pass us.’

‘Stop it. He’s never done anything that corrupt before.’

‘That we know of.’

Emery shot her an exasperated look. ‘Normally it’s me catastrophising things.

We won’t lose the camps. We have today and tomorrow—and all night if we have to—to fix anything that needs fixing, but Nova’s no slacker.

I’m sure the station’s already up to code and we’ll just exceed it. First A plus of our lives.’

‘I hope you’re right.’ No camps meant Carter and the Scorpions could never come back. But the lack of income could also mean that someone might have to leave Windale.

Panic rose in Indy’s chest and she tried to squish it.

What the heck was she going to do if she couldn’t be on Windale?

She’d never survive off the mountain. She thought of her mother.

No. Indy wasn’t her mother. She wasn’t going to let her mother’s life become hers. She’d gotten away from all that.

‘Come on,’ Emery said, jumping from the back of the truck and reaching for the lid of the smoko container. ‘We’ve got two more loads of rams to get out. Let’s do it.’

Indy shifted the ladder around the far side of the equipment shed, placing it in the middle of the two-metre wall.

She spun her hair into a bun on top of her head and secured it with a hair band before climbing the ladder one rung at a time with weary legs.

Her late night, as joyous as it had been, was catching up with her, along with the physical exertion of the day.

She and Emery had moved the rest of the rams, tightened screws on railings, secured loose tin on the second bunkhouse and whipper-snipped until there was no blade of grass longer than her thumbnail in the area around the buildings.

Now, she was scooping out handfuls of twigs and leaves from the sports shed gutters as part of the risk management against bush fires.

She was just grateful there weren’t any snakes making a home in there.

A smile crossed her lips at the memory of the snake in Carter’s bed.

‘Lucky snake,’ she muttered. She’d much rather be in his bed than balanced on top of a ladder, cleaning gutters.

She continued to work, reaching out on either side of her then aiming for the bucket that sat at the foot of the ladder. She impressed herself—her aim was fairly true.

‘Drats.’ She couldn’t reach the very ends.

Rising onto her tiptoes, she reached further, her gloved fingertips hitting the edge of the loaded-up gutter, and the ladder swayed.

Indy gasped and leant back quickly. The ladder went too far the other way.

She used the momentum to throw herself at the roof, the top half of her body hooking onto it as the ladder met the ground like a fainting goat that’d been startled.

Her legs dangled and she kicked at the tin wall, trying to find something to use as footing.

Her boot clunked against something jutting out from the wall.

The shower head. Relief swamped her as she pushed off it and slid her body over the gutter and further onto the roof until she could sit up.

Rolling her eyes at her misfortune, Indy crawled along the tin to get the debris from the gutter. She may as well finish the job now that she was up there. She aimed for the bucket and tossed the chunky leaves, wanting to give herself a high five when they swooshed in.

‘Bullseye.’ Why couldn’t she do that with a dart?

Crawling to the other side, she froze when a cacophony of Tarzan calls rang from between the trees.

She ducked down as the footy boys ran out of the bush, dressed again in brightly coloured budgie smugglers and heading straight for the showers.

What the hell was on their skin? She tried to peer closer, until Beau joined them.

She really wasn’t in the mood to deal with any flirty banter.

‘Out of the way, rookies.’

Indy pressed her back against the hot tin, cringing when it dinted and pinged.

This could only get worse if she fell straight through or it started raining.

A glance at the sky told her the former was more likely than the latter.

The yells, taunts and sounds of slapping and shoving continued below her as water spurted out of the showers.

Indy lay there, trying not to move too much and just enjoy the break.

She also tried not to listen too closely to what the men were saying.

Some taunts were mild while others had her ready to jump down and slap the mouth they’d come out of.

Thankfully, she couldn’t hear Carter’s voice amongst the folly.

Eventually, the noise died down enough for her to take a peek.

A few men remained, then Carter came jogging from the trees in a pair of bright orange budgie smugglers that no one should look good in, yet he pulled off with ease.

He waved to someone and Indy stretched her neck to see over the other side of the roof.

She caught sight of the head coach walking towards the field.

‘You right, Hendrix?’

‘Yeah, mate. You guys go. I’ll wash this shit off and catch up to you. There’s still a few more coming.’

Indy risked another peek to see the other men around the shed. Sitting up, she quickly grabbed the handful of leaves left in the gutter and dropped them down on Carter as he reached for the shower knob.