Slow Ride Home by Juliette Duncan

Author:Juliette Duncan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Juliette Duncan

Chapter 13

Joshua sat on a log and nursed the beer he’d been drinking for the past hour. After Stella left, he and Sean finished preparing for the following day’s drive. It was a five-nighter, and he wasn’t looking forward to it. The group who’d booked it was in for a shock if tonight’s party was anything to go by. He doubted some of them would be able to sit in a saddle for an hour, let alone a whole day, or five. And there’d be sore heads tomorrow with the amount of alcohol that was being consumed. His dad and Julian would be furious if they knew what was going on. They’d clearly stipulated from the beginning that the drives were to be alcohol free. That stipulation had deterred some people but pleased others. They hadn’t stipulated about the night before the drives began, though. That was a grey area, since most people arrived on the day the drive began. When they arrived the night before, Sean usually offered to host a party, especially if the group comprised single girls, which this one did.

Joshua wasn’t in the mood to party. He normally was the one who cooked the burgers and kept an eye on things while Sean mingled, as he called it. But tonight, after he’d finished cooking, Joshua moved to the outskirts and watched from a distance. If they ended up leaving later in the morning, what did it matter? They’d make the first camp easily enough, even if they left at lunchtime. The drives were never overly strenuous, especially on the first day, as he and Sean and the other hands helped the guests with their horses and ensured they were comfortable in the saddle. The second day, when they began driving the steers, was when most of the fun was had. Some guests even tried their hand at roping. Joshua couldn’t imagine any of this group having success with that.

The other thing niggling hm was that he’d missed dinner. He couldn’t blame Sean for that, although his cousin had continued to make pointed comments about Stella. He considered her a prude and couldn’t understand why she didn’t want to party. It didn’t matter how much Joshua told him that she was entitled to her chosen lifestyle and shouldn’t be judged for it, and that perhaps partying wasn’t the be all and end all that Sean made it out to be, he continued to put her down, telling Joshua to forget all about her.

But Joshua couldn’t. Something about Stella had slid under his skin and wrapped itself around his heart, and despite her faith, she was all he could think of. Today he’d seen a vulnerability in her that he hadn’t seen before, and it only made him want to help her get Indigo back, although he had no idea what he could do.

He’d probably wrecked any chance he might have had with her, though. Not turning up for dinner would have put a nail in his coffin. Confirmed he was just like Sean.

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