The Stockman's Secret by Mandy Magro

Author:Mandy Magro
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mira
Published: 2020-04-25T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

14

The Davis estate, perched high up on a hill, dominated the view and Joel, for the life of him, couldn’t bring himself to drive past it. Instead, he’d opted to go into town along bumpy old tracks that eventually led to the side gates of the estate, a stupid decision. Desperate to lay his eyes on her once more, just knowing Juliette was on the other side of the pristine fence line drove his pulse wild. Should he just drop on in to say g’day? Isn’t that what friends and neighbours did? Isn’t that what they were striving to be, typical mates in a small country community? Slowing before he could talk himself out of it, he turned and stopped at a set of gleaming white gates that worked on a sensor. Before they’d swung open all the way, he’d squeezed his LandCruiser through, rattled over a couple of cattle grids, and then started up the long tree-lined driveway that would lead him past Lachlan’s parents’ overstated home – his mother had filled him in on their latest display of extravagance – and then, hopefully, from what he’d gathered from what Zoe had told him, to Juliette and Lachlan’s home.

He idled past immaculately kept paddocks, impressive outbuildings and manicured gardens and lawns, even more stately than he recalled. Not a cent had been spared on the upkeep of this place over the years. He’d stepped foot on the property only once before, many years ago, to drop off a parcel that had accidentally been left by the postman at the Hunter homestead’s front door, and it was neither a friendly nor inviting kind of place – exactly like the arrogant Davis family. Old family plus old money equalled pompous attitudes that drove him up the wall and made his blood boil. Never one to care about materialistic things, or how much money a person had, just how Juliette had fallen for a man like Lachlan Davis was beyond him. Maybe she’d gone and changed while he’d been away. Damn, he’d changed, a hell of a lot, so it was possible, but still envisioning her as the sweet innocent girl he’d fallen deeply in love with, and had never fallen out of love with, he didn’t want to believe for a second she’d become like the family she’d married into.

Cruising past the main homestead with his window down, he caught sight of a curtain moving aside upstairs, but couldn’t see who was peeking out at him. It would be Margery, he suspected. Nothing went past that nosey, gossiping woman. Shortly after – way too shortly for someone to have to live beside their in-laws – another, smaller, two-storey homestead, with wide wraparound verandahs both downstairs and up, appeared. A small timber sign hung from the picket fence, with Lachlan and Juliette Davis written upon it. He was at the right place. His jaw dropped. This was a far cry from Juliette’s humble childhood home. But what had he expected, given the

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