Back to the Country by Mandy Magro

Author:Mandy Magro
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mira
Published: 2022-03-25T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

12

By the time she’d shot from her bed, dragged on jeans and a button-up shirt and quickly whipped up some smoko, Indigo hadn’t even had time to gather her thoughts as she rushed out the back door, tugging on her boots. Duck Norris followed her out and waddled across the verandah, stopping to poop before fluttering to the ground.

‘Bloody hell, mister, why can’t you do your thing on the grass?’ she grumbled as she cleared the steps two at a time.

Duck Norris quacked a short, sharp reply, no doubt telling her where to go.

Indigo shot him dagger eyes as she hightailed it across the backyard.

The crisp breeze carried the scent of hay and the whinny of the agisted horses from their paddocks. The golden globe of the sun had risen to its rightful place in the sapphire sky, streaking ribbons of gold over the valley below. Almost twenty-five minutes later than promised, she ran past each agistment stall on her way to the stables – sleeping in hadn’t been on her agenda, and neither had her phone going flat overnight because she’d forgotten to plug it into the charger. Thank goodness Duck Norris had done his usual trick of getting on top of the water tank and tapped incessantly on her window. For once, she’d been happy to let him in.

Sliding to a halt, Indigo poked her head around the stable door. ‘Knock knock.’ Stepping inside, she inhaled the scents of the country. Hay. Dust. Horse. Leather. ‘Yoo-hoo.’ She could hear tinkering, but couldn’t see Harley.

‘Well, good afternoon, Miss Nash.’ Harley’s husky voice carried from the back of the stables. He stepped into the sunshine pouring through the doorway, his handsome, smiling face glowing. ‘It’s nice of you to finally join me.’

‘Okay, smart-arse, I know I’m late.’ She watched him stop to readjust the length of a stirrup on a very fine-looking buckskin horse, and her stomach fluttered. ‘Sorry for being tardy, but to make up for it, I’ve packed us a yummy morning tea.’ Reaching him, she covertly slid her eyes over his tight butt, nestled nicely into his well-worn jeans. She wanted to say wow, but kept her opinion to herself.

‘Sounds like a truce to me.’ Harley flashed her his pearly whites. ‘So what’s on the menu?’

She held up the two brown paper bags. ‘We have ourselves a ham and salad sandwich each, complete with homemade beetroot relish, a packet of butternut biscuits, and,’ she plucked the thermos from underneath her arm, ‘enough vanilla-flavoured coffee to put more hairs on your chest. But hopefully, none on mine,’ she added with a smirk.

‘Yum and yum. Thanks, Indy.’ He ducked as Nutmeg tried to nick his hat from his head. ‘Oi, you, I told you to behave.’ He offered a playful glance in Indigo’s direction. ‘We have company today, buddy.’

Plonking the thermos and sandwiches down on the tack table, Indigo moved close enough to run her hand over the buckskin’s neck. ‘So who’s this handsome man?’

‘This here, is Valentine.’ Harley passed her the reins.

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