by Sarah Barrie
He folded his arms and bit back a grin. ‘You missed me.’
Jordan scowled. ‘I did not.’
‘Admit it.’
He stood there, she thought, like he owned the damned world. With that ridiculous smug smile that said he knew exactly how she was feeling. It was bound to annoy the crap out of her, especially this afternoon, and the fact she knew that he knew it and did it anyway suddenly and unexpectedly, made her laugh.
‘Go away.’
Instead, he moved purposefully toward her, and she found herself moving quickly back. ‘I mean it. I’m in a bitch of a mood and I’m carrying sharp implements.’ She held up the clippers to make her point.
‘And you’re not afraid to use them?’ Reid grinned wickedly in challenge. ‘I could use a haircut.’
In two more steps he was close enough to wrap an arm around her waist and snag her. Pressed against him, she didn’t object in the slightest when his mouth captured hers for a hard and fast kiss. He lifted his head and looked down at her with a cheeky, self-satisfied grin.
‘Back off, Tallon.’ She gave him a playful shove, then moved a few steps away to get her breath back. ‘I’ve got work to do.’
‘Afternoon, Reid,’ Joel greeted on his way past them, lugging a bale of hay.
‘Joel. How’s everything?’
‘Great. Got to keep moving, this thing’s heavy.’
Reid saw the expression on Jordan’s face change from playful to worried as she chewed on her bottom lip. ‘Jordan?’
‘Are you going to do anything…about what we told you? I told myself I wouldn’t bring it up but I keep thinking about it.’
‘I told you not to worry about it.’
‘But what does that mean?’
‘It means you need to trust me.’
She thought about that and decided she wanted to trust him — and that made her more intrigued by his evasion than concerned by it. So she gave him a half smile and began oiling her clippers.
‘So, you need some help with this cow or what?’
‘Um…’ Really? She cleared her throat, focussed. ‘Think you can do it?’
‘How hard can it be?’ He took the clippers from her and put a hand on the heifer’s back. When he turned them on, it moved restlessly, but he stood his ground and looked at Jordan expectantly.
‘Oh what the hell, it can’t be any worse than the job I was doing.’
For the next few minutes, she instructed Reid as he did her work. He kept away from stomping feet and chewed his lip as he concentrated on clipping neatly. She relaxed, laughed with him, admired his determination, appreciated his attempts to help her. And knew, for the first time in her life, she was totally and madly in love with someone. Not maybe, not a little bit, but the whole big deal.
But where could that go? It had to mean something that he was here, didn’t it? But why was he here? She didn’t doubt he cared about her…but in what capacity? What if he was simply enjoying a bit of an on-the-side flirtation, while she was building up feelings that were going to wreck her when he left.
‘Jordy?’
‘What? Oh, hi Matt.’
‘I said I can take over from Reid.’
‘Oh.’ Both he and Reid were giving her bemused stares. ‘Okay. Thanks.’
Reid handed Matt the clippers, took Jordan’s hand and led her out of earshot. ‘You were a million miles away. What’s going on in there?’
‘Sorry, I was just…thinking.’
When she didn’t elaborate, he smiled and squeezed her hands. ‘I’m sorry I had to take off. I had some things to take care of so I could be around this weekend.’
She wondered again at his mind-reading capabilities. ‘Why are you here?’
She thought she might have caught some surprise on his face, then he touched a hand to her face and lightly ran his fingers over her cheek. ‘Why do you think?’
Jordan pressed her eyes closed. She knew what she wanted to think. For reasons she couldn’t explain, tears unexpectedly welled at the back of her eyes. ‘I have to, um…I have go.’ She nearly barrelled into Joel as he appeared behind them.
‘Where’s the fire?’ Joel asked, then when Jordan just shook her head and took off, he frowned and looked at Reid. ‘I interrupt something?’
‘I don’t know,’ Reid frowned. ‘She was fine…then she wasn’t.’
Joel sighed and nodded. ‘She’s dog tired and under a lot of pressure. Everything rides on the next couple of days. And no matter what she tells you, she’s in pain with that shoulder. Where’ve you been, anyway?’
‘Working. Why?’
‘No reason. I was going to borrow Matt. Looks like he’s got his hands full.’
‘Is there a problem?’
‘There’s no one at Jordy’s. Hal and his goons have taken off somewhere. With the steers still there, I’m concerned.’
Reid weighed up chasing after Jordan or heading out there himself. ‘I’m on it,’ he heard himself saying. ‘Can you give me the format of the next few days?’
‘Tomorrow’s just more prep and a dinner, Saturday’s the show and Sunday’s the sale. Saturday Jordy’s on early — Herefords are first up at eight-thirty. Sunday her first heifer’s through at two, bull’s at the end of the line.’
‘Right.’
‘Planning on being around?’
‘I’ll do what I can.’
‘It matters.’
‘What?’
‘It matters — to Jordy. She won’t ask you, but it matters.’
He appreciated the comment, caught the concern behind it. ‘Joel, I’m not going to hurt her.’
‘Good to know.’
It was difficult not to have his thoughts moving backwards and forwards between work and Jordan when he was surrounded by her things. The house was like a giant reminder, drawing him in and distracting him from his investigation.
Restless, he got up from his report to stretch and move around. He picked up a stack of papers from her cabinet and saw a scrawled note. Jordan had been doing her sums. He saw that she needed a hundred and twenty thousand for the mortgage, and she’d deducted forty thousand underneath the neatly written sum. He deduced that meant she had eighty-odd to find. Further down, he saw she was counting on thirty thousand for the steers, another thirty from the stud females and there was a question mark next to her bull. If she was hoping to pay out the mortgage from this she was going to be cutting it fine. What was a stud bull worth? He knew it was a pretty valuable one. People around town had been talking about it.
The noise of an approaching vehicle turned his attention to the window. The truck turned around slowly in the driveway, paused, then drove halfway down the long drive to where the steers were grazing. Two men climbed out. They looked around, discussed and pointed. Their movements were unsure, hurried, nervous.
Reid moved quickly, calling Harry on his way out of the house. By the time the men saw him, they’d already begun throwing bales of hay into the paddock. One warned the other then they were in the truck and barrelling down the driveway.
Reid was stuck with a decision. It wouldn’t be too hard to catch the truck, but his first instinct was to protect the cattle and he didn’t know what they were eating. He headed for the fence, leapt it, and began fighting the hay off the steers, hurling the semi-intact bales back over the fence. As he threw the last of it out of reach, sweat saturating his shirt and dripping from his face, his phone rang.
‘Tallon.’
‘Reid, it’s Harry. I’ve pulled them over just outside of town.’
‘I’m on my way.’ He headed to his car and made another call.
‘Joel. How much do you know about hay?’
‘About hay? I’d say a fair bit. I’ve been growing it and selling it for thirty years.’
‘I need you to look at some for me.’
There was a tense pause. ‘Is there a problem?’
‘I hope not. How long will it take you to get to the station?’
‘I’ll com
e now. Give me half an hour.’
It only took a few minutes for Reid to catch up with Harry, but both the men from the truck were seated in the back of the police car, and Harry appeared to be grilling them. When he saw Reid he waved, straightened and headed over.
‘All these blokes’ll tell me is they were paid to deliver some hay to Jordy’s. Carter’s orders. They’re part of the transient mob. They swear they’ve done nothing wrong.’
‘Yet they took off at speed when they saw me coming. Could they possibly be that stupid or do they think we are?’
Harry took a speculative look at them. ‘I guess it could go either way.’
Reid smirked. ‘Joel’s going to meet you at the station. Let him know where to find me. I don’t want to leave the truck.’
‘Good thinking. I don’t know that I can charge these two with anything at this stage, but I’ll bring them in and delay them until we sort this out, give Joel a chance to take a look.’
As Harry drove away, Reid called Tony and filled him in. ‘I want to bring them in — shut them down. Now.’
‘And risk the entire operation?’
‘Two of Carter’s men are in custody. As soon as he finds out, he’s got to believe Harry’s going to be over there giving him grief over this. He might panic. Tony, we’re close enough. We stall, we could miss our chance.’
‘What are you suggesting?’
‘We’ll bring in Carter, make him talk. Offer him a deal to make the delivery under surveillance.’
Reid could almost hear Tony thinking it through. ‘No. Get that truck empty and back to Carters. Have Brett feed Carter some story about the two you’ve got in custody. He needs to believe everything’s still going to plan.’
‘Tony —’
‘Look, I get it. You want Carter to go down every bit as much you want whoever it is he’s supplying. So you take him down as soon as the truck is on the road. But I’m telling you: we need that drop to take place and we need to catch Carter with his fingers in the pie. You want that bastard arrested drugs in hand, beyond any doubt. You know this. Otherwise he’ll stall us in politics and play dumb to the whole deal. He’s a retired judge. He knows how to play the game. And don’t forget that no matter what sort of a personal vendetta you’ve got going against this guy, we can’t risk the operation. When you strike, you’re going to have to take them all down fast. Carter can’t be given a chance to warn his contacts.’
Reid knew he was right, but he didn’t like it. ‘Damn it…I’ll meet with Brett, give him the heads up.’
‘She must be one hell of a lady.’
Reid grinned into the phone. ‘She is.’
‘I’ll get things moving at this end and catch Rita up. Reid…I realise you have two agendas working here. Just…be careful.’
‘Yes sir.’ Reid went through his strategy in his head, worked it around a few different ways until he was satisfied, then put in a text to Brett.
Joel pulled up behind the hay truck fifteen minutes later.
‘Harry filled me in. Bloody hell, look at it all.’
Reid scanned the loaded truck again. ‘I have. Unfortunately I don’t know what I’m looking at.’
Joel reached into a bale and pulled out a handful to study. ‘This is not feed. It’s noxious weed sweetened with a touch of lucerne.’
‘Dangerous?’
Joel nodded. ‘Strong possibility she could have lost a few if they’d ingested large quantities. Some places around where this stuff grows, but could just as easily have been brought in from outside. No reason to bale it up like this — except to kill cattle.’
‘I got it out pretty quick. They didn’t get much into them.’
‘A little bit won’t hurt. Mostly it has a cumulative effect anyway.’
‘Any chance Carter’s men wouldn’t have known what it was?’
‘Considering what those blokes do for a living, I find that hard to believe.’ Joel sighed heavily and shook his head. ‘Guess I’ll return Hal’s truck. Pay him a nice, neighbourly visit.’
‘I don’t want you alerting Carter just yet. And I need your help.’
‘What have you got in mind?’
‘Is there a way to sell Jordan’s steers without them turning up at the showground?’
‘I know someone who’ll give her market rate for those steers immediately. Jordy was hoping the price might push up at the sales but after this I can probably talk her around that.’
‘Good. You said Hal and company had left the showground?’
‘Hal and that Brett character were back with a truckload of Limousins when I left. Gary and Jonno are there too. I’m surprised Brian hasn’t showed his head yet.’
‘Brian’s gone.’
‘Where the hell would he go?’
‘You haven’t heard anything about it?’
‘No.’
‘Alright. Go back to the showground, talk to Jordan.’
‘Will do. But Hal’s going to know something’s going on when his two goons don’t come back.’
‘I’ve got that under control.’
Joel sent him another considering look but didn’t ask. ‘What am I supposed to tell Jordan about why Harry can’t go after Hal for this latest stunt?’
‘He’s gathering evidence. Tell her that Harry wants to hold off until he’s talked to Hal’s goons and traced the hay back.’
‘Right. All going to plan, I’ll call Macphersons and have Matt bring Jordan back to meet with him and sign over those steers, see if we can get them picked up today.’
Reid nodded. ‘I’ve got some things to do. I’ll be back at the showgrounds in the morning.’
By the time Jordan and Matt arrived back at the showgrounds it was after dark. They’d made the trip home, finalised the sale of the steers, and now she was more than ready to sleep. ‘Thanks for today,’ she told Matt. ‘I’m going to give Mack a quick walk then get some sleep.’
‘Sure? A few of us are going to have a couple of beers…’
Jordan yawned and smiled. ‘No thanks, I need to sleep. See you tomorrow.’
She wandered over to her truck, heard the excited scratching and barking, and let Mack out. ‘Sorry buddy. I know this is not a lot of fun for you.’
The poor dog had been in and out of the truck most of the day, but she didn’t know what else to do. Hopefully after the sale she’d have enough money to build him a decent yard around the house. Hopefully.
She fed him, then spent nearly half an hour walking him. Still, he wasn’t impressed when she put him back in the truck. Feeling guilty, she dug a bone out of a bag, tossed it in the truck with him and, after a final pat, left him to settle.
The showground’s cattle sheds contained cabins designed for grooms and owners to camp in. They weren’t much longer than Jordan was tall — just small wooden boxes that gave exhibitors enough privacy to sleep and change. They were quiet tonight, with the majority of the exhibitors coming in the next morning. Jordan’s was at the end of her row of stud cattle and, reaching it, she dumped her things inside.
She threw out her swag and laid on it, closed her eyes, sighed happily…and heard it: the howling noise from hell had her leaping to her feet and bolting out the door. It sounded like someone was being tortured.
‘Shit, Mack!’ she swore, noticing the few people already there were cautiously poking heads out of doors and investigating.
At a run she made the truck, grabbed the dog, and dragged him back to her cabin. ‘Happy?’ she enquired as he innocently fell onto her mattress and looked at her sweetly. ‘Good, then move over.’ Not bothering to so much as get comfortable, she closed her eyes, and, blocking every thought from her mind, fell straight into an exhausted sleep.
When she opened her eyes it felt like only minutes had passed, but reluctantly she climbed off the mattress and gently stretched the worst of the kinks and stiffness from her body. Her shoulder was throbbing dully, but she’d expected as much — she wasn’t exactly resting it.
‘
Should be a good day,’ she muttered to Mack, who was sitting hopefully by the door, his tail thumping happily. ‘Let’s get started.’
The morning passed similarly to the last. Jordan worked hard and fast, washing cattle and preparing for the following day’s show. It seemed everyone wanted to catch up with her, which slowed her progress, but at least her body was cooperating more as the day wore on, and her work was more efficient than her previous attempts. Even with Joel and Matt’s help, she’d never attempted to prepare so many cattle for an event, and she was glad of the full night’s sleep she’d somehow managed for the first time in days.
It was close to lunchtime when she stopped long enough to register that her stomach was growling, and she realised that she’d had nothing more than coffee all morning. As there was a portable café open ringside, she grabbed her wallet, intent on finding out what, other than coffee, they stocked. On the way, she ran into a couple of friends from town and they paused, chatted and laughed over the exploits of a runaway steer. Before long quite a crowd had gathered and taken over the scattered tables and chairs.
Reid found Jordan sitting relaxed on one of the bench-style tables. Everyone appeared to be having a good time and, at present, Jordan was the centre of attention. She was telling them something that had them all listening attentively before they broke into laughter. Conversation moved on.
‘Tell me you don’t have a thing for Jordy and I’ll hit you over the head and call you a liar.’
‘Carol.’
She just looked at him with one arched eyebrow. ‘You going to lie to me, Reid Tallon?’
Reid smirked. ‘No ma’am.’
‘No point, the way you were looking at Jordy just then.’
‘Someone’s got to keep an eye on her.’
Carol laughed at that, a huge whooping sound that startled him and drew the attention of the crowd nearby. Jordan had been laughing and the remnants of humour were still on her face as her eyes met his, locked, then lowered self-consciously.
‘Well, well,’ Carol murmured as though discovering something very interesting. ‘That’s promising.’ Then, ‘I’m going to give you some advice, whether you like it or not. You want Jordy, you’re gonna need to stick like glue. Little Miss Independent over there — she won’t make it easy. Here, allow me to interfere.’ Without offering any explanation, Carol popped something into his shirt pocket. ‘See ya, Romeo.’