“Come on then, missy. Let’s get you saddled up before you drive me crazy.”
With an excited squeak, she followed him around the table.
“See you later, Lucrecia,” she said as she passed her sitting on the cage.
The pretty bird responded with a squawk and her obligatory head bob.
A few minutes later, they were out at the corral. Mr. Miller had gotten the saddles and bridles out of the tack room and had each of their horses tied to the rail next to the corral.
Sam hefted her saddle onto Brolga’s back. She took hold of the girth, and various other leather straps, and looked from one to the other in confusion. Seeing the baffled look on Sam’s face, Daniel wandered over to her rescue.
“Here,” he said running his hand over Sam’s to take the buckle from her. “Let me.”
Sam glanced up, the look in Daniel’s eyes making her stomach flip flop. She allowed her hand to linger under his for a second before letting it slip from under his palm. She brushed the back of her hand across her forehead. “Thanks.”
After her horse was correctly tacked up, Sam gave Brolga a pat on the neck and whispered a quiet word in her ear. “Look after me today, girl, won’t you?”
To Sam’s surprise, the horse nodded her head. Sam smiled, realizing it was probably more to do with the fact that she had just breathed warm breath in her ear while whispering to her. It made her feel good all the same.
When the horses were ready, Daniel gave Sam a leg up and she mounted Brolga. She watched Daniel mount Humphrey with ease, tall as his horse was. Mr. Miller was already on his mount and waiting impatiently for the both of them.
By this time, the sun was starting to wake up and make its appearance for the day. The sunrise that morning was almost as spectacular as the sunset the night before. They walked their horses towards the shearing shed and holding pen where the cattle would be delivered. There was no access for the road trains to get close enough to drop the cattle near the watering hole, that was why they had to be driven there by the horses from the shearing shed.
As they got closer to the shearing shed, Sam began to hear a rumble in the distance. As the sun rose in the sky, she could make out a cloud of dust a long way in the distance.
“That’ll be them,” Mr. Miller stated before turning back to address his team. “Now, when they off load the cattle, I want you to herd them over to that side of the holding pen. We won’t open the gates to the paddock until they are all off loaded. Sam, you follow Daniel’s lead; he will show you what to do.”
Sam nodded.
They were using the same holding pen that the sheep were in the first day she worked there. It was big enough to hold several thousand sheep at one time so she assumed it must be big enough to hold nine hundred head of cattle. Although, the enormity of it all didn’t hit her for a few more minutes.
She didn’t really have any comprehension of why a road train was actually called a road train. She just assumed it was the Aussie way of saying ‘lorry’, as you would in England, or ‘semi-trailer’ in America. She couldn’t have been more inaccurate.
These colossi of the roads pulled onto the property and slowly lined up one by one next to each other as they crawled to a stop in front of the horses. Yet again, Sam was found staring. Sam was also surprised that the horses didn’t flinch. They stood solid and calm before the giant machines that now towered above them. This was not a sight they saw every day, but she was guessing from their demeanor, it was a sight they had seen more than once during their careers on this station.
Laid out in front of the three riders, were four Mack type trucks. Two of them were each towing four double-decker cattle trailers. The other two were each towing two double-decker trailers. Sam gawped at them, never having seen anything quite that big on the road before.
Within minutes, the drivers had gotten out of their cabs and were off loading the cattle in droves.
“Ready?” Daniel asked, snapping Sam from her awe-struck stupor.
“Hmm?” she responded.
“Earth calling Samantha.”
“What? Oh, yes, sorry. All present and correct.”
Daniel had given her some pointers on driving cattle on their ride over to greet the trucks. It was much like mustering sheep. Only cattle moved a lot slower, so it sounded like a breeze.
They moved around each batch of cattle that were being unloaded, herding them to the side of the pen they were to exit from. It took a good couple of hours to off load them all. Daniel and Sam worked well as a team, sending the cattle over to join the herd. Mr. Miller sat at the other side of the trailers to catch any stragglers that accidentally went in the wrong direction. He would push them towards the main herd if they did.
Eventually, the last cow was off loaded and ran towards its buddies. The drivers closed up the trailers, turned their trucks around and drove off down the road, much lighter than when they had arrived.
A large, dark brown moving mass lay before the three riders, mooing and calling. Sheep could make some noise, but, Sam realized, they had nothing on cattle. Mr. Miller dismounted and climbed over the other side of the holding pen to open the gate. The cattle spilled through it like a knocked over bottle of cola.
By the time they were all through, he had climbed back and mounted his horse again. The cattle were spreading as they moved through the gate, wandering in all directions. To the untrained eye, it would seem unlikely that the three of them on horseback would be able to get the heaving mass under any kind of control. They followed patiently behind the brown mass, pushing the last stragglers on until they were all through the gate.
Once on the other side, Mr. Miller told Sam to stay at the back, pushing the cattle forward, while he and Daniel would split to either side of her and round up the strays, pushing them back to the bulk of the herd. Sam watched in awe as her two co-horts maneuvered their horses with ease. Zigzagging to and fro, bringing all the cattle back to the herd.
Daniel looked especially masterful on the back of his horse. She had no idea he knew how to ride so well. In what seemed like minutes, they were both back at her side.
“We are going to drive them to the fence line and then you two can push them forward on your own after that.” Mr. Miller told them. “I want to go up in the plane and see what this looks like from the air.”
That was perfectly fine with Sam. Being out in the middle of nowhere, on horseback, behind a load of cattle with Daniel. She could think of nowhere else she would rather be. A smile curved her lips at the thought.
The brown mass eventually resembled an organized herd and a while later they had the cattle moving along the fence line.
“Right, then,” Mr. Miller announced. “I’m off. You two can handle it from here. I’ll see you at dinner.” With that, he kicked his horse on and cantered across the paddock towards the house.
Sam was mesmerized by the sheer volume of cattle that stretched ahead of her and Daniel. After a few minutes, though, she became aware that she was being watched. She looked over to where Daniel was riding beside her, relaxed and totally at ease on the back of his horse. He was eyeing her intently. Probably just checking to make sure she was comfortable on her horse.
The slow rocking movement of Brolga underneath her as she moved had made Sam relax, also. She did feel very comfortable on the horse. Daniel didn’t need to worry on that score. Sam’s horse hadn’t given her any reason, so far, to think she may do anything silly.
“I can’t believe I’m actually doing this,” Sam blurted after a length of silence. She was grinning from ear to ear. “I’ve wanted to do this for as long as I can remember. You don’t get much call for cattle drives in England.”
“No, I can’t imagine you do,” Daniel replied with a smile, getting caught up in Sam’s excitement.
Several minutes passed them by before they heard the sound of the plane engine. A few minutes later, they could see the plane taking off in the distance and circle around behind them.
They
both looked up and waved as Mr. Miller flew overhead. He did a few circles over them. Sam waved, keeping her fingers crossed that he had kept his promise and was taking some pictures with her camera. Otherwise, no one back home was going to believe her. After a couple more fly overs, the plane made its way back to the airstrip.
Daniel and Sam kept the herd moving forwards. It turned out to be quite easy. The cattle did most of the work. They just had to push them on from behind and, occasionally, persuade the odd straggler that broke ranks that it was a much better idea for them to stay with the herd.
Daniel made sure they added the odd whooping noise now and again for
good measure, and to make Sam feel like she was on an honest to goodness cattle drive. As they relaxed into the steady pace the cattle were setting in front of them, Daniel let his reins hang loose and rested the hand holding them on the horn of his saddle. His other arm hung loosely by his side.
Once again, they fell into easy conversation. It was hard to imagine that in a split second everything could turn into turmoil. Sam’s eyes widened with fear as Humphrey reared and then spun around. Out of nowhere, Daniel’s horse did a perfect one-eighty. Its rider didn’t stand a chance, especially, as he was not really holding onto the reins. Humphrey caught him off guard and threw him off balance. A second later, Daniel fell to the ground with a resounding oomph. Sam cringed and watched helplessly as Humphrey galloped off down the field, stirrups and reins flailing in the wind.
“Daniel!” Sam cried jumping off Brolga’s back without hesitation. Daniel groaned. He started to push himself up onto his elbows as Sam ran over to where he lay. Not looking where she was going, she tripped on a rock and landed squarely on top of him, pushing him back to the ground, her nose hovering a fraction above his.
“Sorry,” Sam muttered, shooting him a bashful smile for good measure.
“Sam, you really are the clumsiest person I have ever met,” Daniel stated.
Sam dropped her eyes, feeling ashamed and stupid. A feeling to which she had become accustomed. A feeling she hated.
After a heartbeat, Daniel started to chuckle. Sam returned her gaze to see his eyes sparkling with amusement. Her smile returned.
“You have ‘disaster waiting to happen’ written all over your face,” Daniel said, his body vibrating underneath her as his laughter grew.
Sam rolled her eyes. “I know,” she agreed. “My mum used to call me a fairy elephant.”
That made him laugh even more. He brought his hands up and cupped her face.
“What am I going to do with you?” he asked.
“Love me?” The words escaped before she even knew she had thought them. Sam felt her face flush as the gorgeous man lying beneath her stilled.
There was a pause. It was probably only a few seconds, but seemed like an eternity. Daniel didn’t move his hands away and push her off, as she was expecting. Instead, he kept them there, reading the unspoken words in Sam’s eyes with an intensity she couldn’t pull away from.
“Do you mean that?” he whispered.
Sam gave a noncommittal shrug. She’d taken herself by surprise and had no idea how to react to her own revelation. Daniel pulled her face down and kissed her. It was tender at first, almost hesitant. When Sam didn’t pull away and flee on her horse down the paddock, Daniel deepened his kiss. The desire his kiss provoked inside of Sam started her heart pounding. She could feel Daniel’s heart thudding in tandem beneath hers. A second later, Daniel pushed her face up, gently lifting her lips from his. He scrunched his eyebrows.
“What?” Sam said, trying to hide the trepidation in her voice. Oh, God. He thinks I kiss like a wet fish, she thought. “Did I do something wrong?”
“No.” He was looking to the heavens thinking about something. He brought his gaze back to stare at her. “No, sweetheart. Of course, you didn’t.”
“What is it then?” she asked.
“Something must have scared Humphrey to spook him like that. I have trained him to be almost bombproof. The only thing he still spooks at is…”
They heard it even before the word slipped from his tongue. An ominous hissing sound resonated through the tall grass.
“Snakes,” Daniel finished his sentence.
Sam and Daniel turned their heads to look at the creature that was creating the spine chilling sound.
“Don’t move,” Daniel whispered.
“I couldn’t even if I wanted to,” Sam whispered back. She was petrified. She wasn’t going anywhere, her whole body had frozen solid. “What are we going to do?”
“Well, I have a gun, but you’re lying on it.”
“And I thought you were just happy to see me,” Sam whispered with a chuckle, trying to hide her fear of what was eyeing them intently just a few feet away.
“Sam, this is serious,” Daniel responded with a hint of panic in his voice.
“Sorry.”
“Let me think,” he said.
Neither of them took their eyes off the snake.
“Well, don’t take too long. I really don’t fancy being bitten by a snake. I’ve just gotten over being kicked by a sheep.” Sam admitted she sounded a tad whiny at that point.
Chapter Eighteen
To their surprise, Brolga came to their rescue. The beautiful mare had decided she didn’t like the snake being so close to her rider and started stomping her hooves on the ground. The snake, distracted by the sudden movement and noise, turned to her, hissing angrily.
“Oh, God. It’s going to bite Brolga!” Sam cried. She didn’t want to see her horse get hurt either.
“She’ll get out of the way quick enough,” Daniel replied. He used the distraction to get the two of them out of harm’s way.
Daniel grabbed hold of both of Sam’s arms and rolled them over a couple of times away from the snake. When he came to a stop, he was lying on top of Sam. In the blink of an eye, he pulled out his gun and took a shot at the snake. Sam turned her head. The snake lay limp and lifeless on the ground just a few feet away from them.
“Is it dead?”
“Looks like it.”
“Whoa,” Sam breathed when Daniel looked down at her. “You’re pretty good with that thing.”
“County champion,” he announced with an air of smugness. He pulled a blade of grass from her hair. “Now, where were we?” he continued, pushing her hair out of her eyes, his lips finding hers once again.
Sam allowed herself to revel in the desire building within for a moment, until the familiar uncontrollable feeling of sheer terror reared its ugly head and she went rigid beneath him.
Daniel stopped, raised his head and lifted his eyebrows.
“Sorry,” Sam murmured, once again pushing him off, averting her eyes to avoid his look of worry. “We better get Humphrey back. The cattle are starting to roam.” As Sam got up to walk away, Daniel grabbed her hand, stopping her from fleeing.
“Sam?” he said softly. “Look at me.”
Daniel was still sitting on the ground. Sam turned to look down. She saw tenderness filling his eyes and bit back the tears that pricked behind hers.
“I can only help you, if you trust me,” he continued, softly rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb. Liquid warmth flowed from the spot he touched, snaking its way up her arm, threatening to wrap her whole body in the security it offered. She closed her eyes.
“Please tell me what happened. What made you so scared to let anyone near you? Maybe I can help.”
Sam looked at her feet. “I really wish I could... I just don’t think I can,” she stated blankly. “Come on, we need to get Humphrey back.” Sam pulled away from Daniel’s gentle grip. She picked up Brolga’s reins and wandered off towards Daniel’s horse that was now munching grass several yards away as if nothing had ever happened. With every labored step, she kicked herself for being such a coward.
Luckily, Humphrey didn’t run from them when they approached. Daniel walked up to him slowly, whispering calm words as he did. Humphrey gave him a sideways
glance before Daniel picked up his reins without consequence.
Sam hauled herself back up onto Brolga. Daniel did the same with Humphrey, although, with a lot more elegance than the young jillaroo. Mounting from the ground was not turning out to be her forte, but right at that moment, she didn’t have the courage to ask for Daniel’s help. Not when she had just rejected him, yet again, a few moments prior.
They turned their horses and headed back to the herd. The cattle had scattered in all directions in the few minutes they had been unsupervised. Sam was secretly relieved because it would mean they would have to work away from each other for a while, and that gave her time to collect her thoughts and steady her emotions.
She took Brolga behind the herd, rounding up the stragglers at the back until they had once again joined the herd, then she continued to push them forward. Daniel took the side position, rounding up the stragglers there until they also joined the herd. It didn’t take long to push them back into the neat, moving mass they once were, but it was long enough that Sam was able to do some serious soul searching.
Once the cattle had settled back into their relaxed amble, Daniel and Sam fell in behind them. They still had a few miles to go before they would reach the watering hole. At the rate they were moving, it was probably going to take several more hours.
Daniel had gone very quiet. Sam couldn’t blame him. Every time she let him anywhere near her, she panicked and pushed him away again. Try as she might to be just friends, she could feel herself falling for him. That made her face the decision of either telling him what it was that terrified her so much, or lose him. She may lose him, anyway, but decided that was now becoming a risk she was willing to take.
Sam looked over at the handsome profile of the man who had done nothing but try to make her feel good since the first moment she laid eyes on him. It seemed so long ago that she had inched her way down the aisle of the jumbo jet to be greeted by his kind eyes and dazzling smile when she got to her seat.
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