by Ariel Tachna
“Are you sure you don’t mind?” Caine asked. “She’s your dog.”
“I’d rather be helping too, but Mr. Armstrong reminded me that everybody is helping even if they aren’t herding the sheep themselves. Even Kami, who isn’t anywhere near the pens, helps.”
“He certainly does,” Caine agreed. “I’d have a lot harder time going back outside if he hadn’t filled me up with that chicken curry.”
“My favorite is his pad thai,” Jason said, “but he doesn’t make that as often in winter. In the winter, he does stews and curries and thick sauces that stay with you and help keep you warm.”
“I’m sure his pad thai is as good as everything else, but I’m glad for the curry. I can feel my toes again finally.”
“Wear an extra pair of socks,” Jason said.
“I’m wearing two already,” Caine replied. “Next time I’m in Boorowa, I’m going to look for fleece-lined boots.”
“Good luck with that,” Jason said. “Eat fast. Mr. Armstrong is already heading back outside. You don’t want to make him wait.”
Caine used the naan to wipe the last of the curry from his plate and hurried outside after Macklin. “Come on, Caine,” Neil called when Caine reached where the other men waited. “Let’s get started.”
Neil whistled for his dog, a grizzled old shepherd Caine didn’t know. Caine turned to look for Polly when Jason came running up. “Go with Caine, girl.”
“Come on, Polly,” Caine called. “Let’s show these jackaroos what a couple of pups can do.”
The afternoon passed far more quickly than the morning, with constantly moving after the sheep, cutting them off from the flock a few at a time, and then separating them the way Macklin ordered. Caine and Polly didn’t work as seamlessly as Neil and his dog, Max, but Caine was pleased with how well they did. Neil only had to send Max to correct them once, and Caine figured if the sheep he and Polly moved weren’t quite as orderly or tightly bunched as the ones Neil handled, it still wasn’t bad for a first day’s work.
“We’ll make a jackaroo out of you yet,” Neil praised when they finished for the day and headed in for dinner.
“You did great today!” Jason gushed when he came in to the canteen a few minutes later. “You look like a real jackaroo out there!”
“Polly did a great job,” Caine demurred. “All I did was tell her what to do.”
“But you obviously told her the right things,” Jason insisted. “Will you tell Mr. Armstrong I taught you? Maybe he’ll let me help tomorrow.”
“I’ll tell him,” Caine promised, “but I can’t promise it’ll make a difference in what he has each of us doing tomorrow. He assigns the jobs, not me.” Maybe someday Caine would have the confidence in himself and the trust of the men enough to help with the decisions, but for now, he’d be satisfied with Macklin explaining his own decisions as he did each evening while they talked about the plan for the next day. His comments had given Caine insight into the personalities and abilities of the crew.
Macklin still hadn’t come into the canteen when Caine finished dinner, so he filled a plate for the foreman and headed toward Macklin’s little house. He found the foreman in the living room, poring over the breeding records. “You didn’t come to dinner.”
“I was still full from lunch,” Macklin replied, not looking up when Caine walked in.
“I brought dinner anyway,” Caine said. “I’ll put it in the kitchen. You can have it for a midnight snack if you want. Do you want a beer or some tea?”
“Beer,” Macklin answered absentmindedly.
Caine rolled his eyes and carried the plate into the kitchen, sticking it in the refrigerator and getting two beers. He opened them and carried them back into the living room. “So what’s so important in that book that you didn’t even look up when I came in? It’s no different than it was last night.”
“I’m looking at the record of the ewes that didn’t lamb successfully last year,” Macklin explained. “The ones we brought in today were the youngest ewes, the ones we haven’t bred before. For the older ones, if we had miscarriages or the breeding didn’t take at all, I want to try breeding them with a different ram. We might have better results.”
“And are those ewes going to start coming in tomorrow?” Caine asked.
“They’re all mixed in with the rest of the mob,” Macklin explained. “We keep the yearling ewes separate after they’re weaned, but the rest mingle at will during the summer. I want to flag them in the database now so I’ll remember them over the next few days.”
“Can I help?” Caine took a sip of the beer and settled on the couch next to Macklin.
“It’s pretty much a one-man job,” Macklin said, “but I wouldn’t mind the company.”
“Then I’ll stay,” Caine said. He hadn’t planned on leaving anyway, but the acknowledgement warmed him. He liked the idea that Macklin wanted him around.
They sat together in comfortable silence, Caine almost dozing as Macklin worked. Eventually Macklin closed the computer, the movement jostling Caine awake. “Sorry, I haven’t been very good company tonight.”
“You worked hard today,” Macklin said. “You should be tired. Why don’t you get some rest?”
“I’ll go in a few minutes,” Caine said, stretching slowly. “I’m not quite ready to say good night yet.”
“Why not?” Macklin asked. “Something on your mind?”
“Someone,” Caine corrected, tugging on Macklin’s hand until the foreman scooted closer. “I’ve wanted to kiss you all day.”
“Caine,” Macklin said, his voice discouraging, but Caine didn’t relent, leaning forward until he could kiss Macklin lightly.
As with their previous kisses, Macklin took charge instantly, the kiss turning hard and rough and passionate. Caine gasped beneath the onslaught, letting Macklin claim his mouth, but eventually he pulled away. “You always k-kiss me like you’ll d-die if you don’t get m-more of me right now.”
“Is that bad?” Macklin asked. The vulnerability in the question struck Caine to the very core.
“Not bad at all,” Caine replied quickly. “It makes me feel incredible, but it’s nice not to rush sometimes too.”
Macklin flushed beneath his tan, making Caine feel bad for bringing it up, but it was too late to take it back. He’d just have to show Macklin what he was missing. “I suppose there isn’t a lot of t-t-time for slow and tender if you’ve only g-got a w-week a year, but things are d-different now. We don’t have to rush, r-r-remember?”
“Nervous, pup?” Macklin asked.
Caine shook his head, pushing on Macklin’s shoulders until he relaxed against the back of the couch. “T-t-turned on.” He straddled Macklin’s thighs, not sitting down yet so he could lean over Macklin and brush their lips together lightly. “It’s hard t-to concentrate when you’re this c-close.”
“Do you need to concentrate?” Macklin asked, leaving control of their kisses in Caine’s hands.
“If you w-want m-me to t-talk, I do,” Caine replied, moving his lips across Macklin’s cheek to his ear. “Or I c-can just k-kiss you.”
Macklin’s arms wrapped around Caine’s back. “Just kiss me.”
Caine didn’t need to be asked twice, nibbling on Macklin’s earlobe before blowing lightly along the delicate whorl, probably the only delicate spot on the man’s entire body. It made the shiver that ran through him all the more arousing to Caine. He followed the line of Macklin’s jaw, rough with a day’s growth of whiskers, to the strong chin with its intriguing cleft. He licked the slight indentation, tasting the lingering soap from Macklin’s shower. The moment their lips touched again, Macklin grabbed the back of Caine’s head, holding him in place and devouring his mouth.
Caine relaxed into the kiss, settling onto Macklin’s thighs as the foreman kissed him until he could barely breathe. Head spinning, he took the initiative again, pushing up so Macklin’s head tilted back to maintain the kiss. Instead of passively allowing Macklin’s invasion of his
mouth, Caine sparred with him now, his tongue vying with Macklin’s for dominance. To his surprise, Macklin retreated, allowing Caine to deepen the kiss and explore his mouth for a change. Impossibly aroused, Caine lifted his head, his breath sawing in and out of his chest as he stared down at the man beneath him. “You m-m-make me c-c-crazy,” Caine panted.
Macklin tugged on Caine’s hips until he settled across Macklin’s thighs again, feeling the foreman’s erection against his own. “The feeling’s mutual.”
Caine bucked his hips against Macklin’s. Macklin met him thrust for thrust, pulling him back into the kiss. Caine offered his mouth willingly, already envisioning his fantasies becoming flesh, when the lights suddenly flickered and went out.
“Bloody hell,” Macklin cursed, stilling Caine’s hips with his hands. “We have to get the generators running.”
“Can’t someone else do that?” Caine asked, reluctant to move now that Macklin had actually let him close.
“We keep the sheds locked so the kids won’t get in there and mess with them,” Macklin said. “You and I are the only ones with keys. If we don’t go out there, Neil or one of the others will come knocking on that door in a matter of minutes.”
Minutes wasn’t long enough for what Caine wanted. With a frustrated curse, he flopped to the side. “Let’s go. The sooner we get them on, the sooner we can come back here.”
“Not tonight, pup,” Macklin warned. “Once the generators are running, we have to check the power lines to see where the problem is. We don’t want a downed line causing a fire.”
“Start the generators,” Caine said. “I’ll saddle the horses.”
Macklin nodded as he retrieved a flashlight from the closet next to the door. Dusk had not quite given way to darkness, but Caine was glad of the light anyway. He didn’t know the station yet as well as Macklin did. Macklin opened the generator shed and took another flashlight from the shelf inside. “Take this one to the barn with you. You’ll need it to get the horses ready because the barn lights aren’t hooked to the generators.”
“I’ll see you in a few minutes,” Caine said, taking the light and heading to the barn. Several of the other men were already inside, getting horses ready. Caine saddled Macklin’s horse and then got Titan’s tack. He fully expected Macklin to argue about Caine accompanying them, but Caine refused to be left out.
“What are you doing?” Macklin demanded.
“Saddling Titan,” Caine replied, surprised he managed to keep his voice steady. His arousal had faded with the lack of stimulation, but Macklin’s voice sent it spiking again.
“Like hell you are,” Macklin retorted. “You’re going back to the big house and going to bed.”
Caine would have liked to reply that he wasn’t going anywhere near a bed without Macklin, but he didn’t know who else was within earshot, and he didn’t want to ruin things between them by revealing their relationship to the hands without discussing it first. “Why? You’re going out.”
“I am,” Macklin agreed, “and so are Neil and a couple of others who know the station as well as I do. Everyone else is staying safely inside.”
“I’m coming with you,” Caine insisted. “This is m-my station now, and it’s my responsibility to make sure everything is s-s-safe.”
“You’ll do no such thing,” Macklin growled, stalking closer to Caine as if the sheer force of his physical presence could force Caine to change his mind, but Caine refused to be cowed.
“Then neither will anyone else,” Caine said. “If it’s not safe, then no one should do it, and if it has to be done anyway, then I should be willing to take the same risks as everyone else.”
“You don’t know where you’re going. You don’t know what you’re looking for, and you don’t know what to do if you find it,” Macklin shouted, startling the placid Titan into shifting nervously, knocking Caine into Macklin.
“You’re s-s-scaring Titan,” Caine said, his heart pounding anxiously.
“I’ll show you scared,” Macklin muttered. “All right, fine. Come with us if you insist, but you stay directly behind Ned, and you do exactly what I tell you.”
“What you tell me when you tell me,” Caine promised, already familiar with the drill. That had been Macklin’s demand every time they left the main station since Caine had arrived. After the encounter with the snake, Caine had been careful to listen.
Macklin stomped off and returned a few moments later, leading Ned. Caine followed them outside and mounted Titan. Macklin shouted orders, sending Neil and two other hands along the power lines to the south. “We’ll take the northern lines,” Macklin told Caine. “We’ll keep in touch with the radios, and Kami will radio from here if the power comes back on.”
“It’s not storming,” Caine said as they rode out, following the power lines that connected Lang Downs with Taylor Peak in the south and Cowra in the north. “What else could cause the power to go out?”
“A transformer might have blown,” Macklin said, “or a tree may have come down on a line. It’s not storming, but the winds are blowing hard. And it may not be a problem on Lang Downs’s land, but we have to check. I hope you dressed warmly underneath your drizabone, pup. It could be a long night.”
“I’ll be fine,” Caine said, although he could already feel the cold seeping into his feet again. Two hours later, Caine wished he hadn’t been so insistent on coming with Macklin. Even with the drizabone, the cold had moved up his legs and arms, leaving him shivering.
The radio on Macklin’s belt crackled to life. “We found the problem, boss. There’s a transformer out near the Taylor Peak fence line. No lines down.”
“Good work,” Macklin said. “Head back in if you can. Stop at one of the huts if you need to and ride back in tomorrow morning. Don’t take unnecessary risks.”
“Yes, boss. See you in the morning.”
“We can head back,” Macklin said, looking at Caine for the first time since they’d left the main station.
“G-g-g-good,” Caine said, his teeth chattering. “The s-sooner the b-b-better.”
“Of all the stupid, bloody, idiotic…. Come on, pup,” Macklin said. “There’s a drover’s hut about ten minutes from here. We’ll spend the night there, and the next time I tell you to stay home, you’ll bloody well listen.”
“I bloody well won’t,” Caine replied, turning Titan to follow Macklin, “because you won’t, and I won’t have you doing something I’m not willing to do myself. I’ll just dress warmer next time.”
Macklin led them to one of the drover’s huts. It had a lean-to against one wall for the horses. Macklin pulled the saddles off and tossed blankets over their backs. “Get inside and start a fire,” Macklin ordered. He pulled the radio from his belt to call back to the station and let them know his and Caine’s plans for the night.
Caine stumbled inside, using the flashlight to locate the pile of wood next to the fireplace. Fortunately, his parents had a wood-burning fireplace, and he’d learned how to set a fire when he was growing up. He got the wood ready and was searching for matches when Macklin came in.
“Where’s the fire?”
“Where’s the matches?” Caine snapped back. “This is the first time I’ve been in one of the huts. I don’t know where things are.”
Macklin grabbed the matches from the drawer by the stove in the kitchen. “I’ll do it.”
“No, you’ll give me the matches and I’ll do it,” Caine insisted. “I’m not helpless. I just hadn’t found the matches yet.”
Macklin tossed him the box of matches and stood there glaring with his arms crossed as Caine knelt down and worked on the fire. Caine ignored him, striking the match and putting it to the tinder carefully. He fed tiny twigs to the tentative flames until they licked their way up the larger logs and finally caught. When he stood up and turned back around, Macklin’s face betrayed his surprise. “Not bad for a blow-in.”
“Not bad at all,” Macklin agreed. “It’ll be a few minutes before the fire takes
the chill off. There are blankets on the bunks, but I don’t know how clean they are.”
“We’ll take them back with us in the morning and wash them,” Caine said, picking one up and wrapping it around his legs as he sat back in front of the fire. “Maybe I’ll just sleep here. That way I can add wood to the fire during the night.”
“You’ll be more comfortable on a bunk.”
“I’ll be warmer by the fire.”
“Help me move the table, and we can put the bunks right next to the fire,” Macklin suggested. “That way we can be warm and comfortable.”
Twelve
THEY GOT the bunks arranged and the fire built up, but even then, even under the blankets, Caine couldn’t seem to stop shivering. He tried to stay as still as possible in the firelight so he wouldn’t disturb Macklin, but apparently he didn’t do as good a job as he thought he was because Macklin rolled over and sat up. “Still cold, pup?”
“Y-yes,” Caine said.
“Let’s try this.” Macklin pushed his bunk right up against Caine’s and spread his blanket over both bunks. “Come here.”
Caine hesitated only a second before scooting back against Macklin, the foreman’s larger body spooning against his and surrounding him with warmth. Caine sighed and relaxed, feeling the heat begin to seep through his clothes. “How are you so warm?” Caine asked.
“Thick blood,” Macklin replied. “The cold just doesn’t seem to bother me the way it does a lot of people.”
“Lucky,” Caine said, snuggling closer and pulling the blankets tight to keep the heat in.
“Don’t move around too much, pup. You’ll give me ideas.”
Caine pushed back deliberately this time, feeling the growing bulge of Macklin’s half-hard erection. “Maybe I want to give you ideas,” he said huskily.
“Caine.”
“You brought it up,” Caine pointed out, not at all perturbed by the discouraging tone of Macklin’s voice. “If you didn’t want me thinking about sex, you should have just let me fall asleep, which I would have done in about two minutes if you hadn’t mentioned it.” He turned in Macklin’s arms so they were facing one another. “Now that you’ve mentioned it, you have to follow through.”