“What’s wrong with my clothes?” She was dressed smart-casual and thought it was appropriate for a day on the farm.
“You look like you're in the city. Seriously, you can't wear those shoes here. Crikey, they’ll be buggered before you get down to the sheds. Go find something else.” His mouth turned down, and he shook his head as if he was disgusted with her choice of footwear.
The children walked over and stood behind him, Lilly with her thumb in her mouth watching her.
“I don't have anything else.” She glanced down at the bright red pumps and sighed. “Oh, well. Can't be helped now, can it?” With a smile on her face, she talked to the children. “Do you want to show me the frogs again? I wasn't ready when you came in this morning and you gave me a fright, but I really do love the little green suckers.”
They watched her with wary eyes, not moving until Bluey pushed them out. “Go on now. Then you better get yourselves down and feed those noisy lambs.”
“Weren't you afraid?” Royce glanced up at her, his face guarded with a small frown.
“Not really. I was asleep and you woke me up. Not a good move at the best of times, I'm afraid. Now show me, and then I can give you a hand with the lambs.” Del smiled at them, aiming to ease the tension they seemed to be feeling.
“Have you ever fed lambs?” Lilly stuck her thumb back in her mouth as soon as she’d spoken the words.
“Never. I have a lot to learn and I'm kind of hoping you guys can help me out here.”
They led her outside to a large corrugated iron tub in the garden and stood by while she checked out the collection of frogs and tadpoles. Making the appropriate noises, Delilah trailed her fingers in the water and watched the small tadpoles swim away from her. “I would never have thought there would be so many of them out in this kind of country.”
“You get them in the desert too. Just ask Dad, he’ll tell you.” Royce spoke with the certain knowledge only a seven-year-old could.
“How about showing me those lambs? I don't think they’re going to stop that noise until they have full bellies, not from what Bluey was saying.” She looked toward the shed were the bleating grew louder by the minute.
They walked down to the shed where the noise was now almost deafening. Bluey was making up bottles and had half a dozen lined up on the bench already as he filled a seventh. “Bout time you guys got here. Listen to that racket.”
Del peered over the fence into the pen of noisy lambs crying to be fed. They were all pushing to get to their breakfast. Bluey thrust two bottles into her hands and gave the children two each before grabbing the last one and slipping open the gate.
“Push your way in. Hurry up before they get loose.” He shoved her from behind, and together they all stumbled into the pen.
Lambs pushed against her legs and stamped on her feet, their dirty little hooves marking her red suede pumps. “Oh, hey, take it easy.” She stumbled back against the fence and cried out when they continued to push her.
“Jam the damned bottles in their mouths. Hurry it up.” Bluey shook his head and went back to feeding the lamb he had.
Del leaned down and held out the bottles, not prepared for the strength behind the small woolly bundles. She landed on her butt in the dirty hay as the lambs latched on, dropped to their knees, and sucked with a force that surprised her.
Within seconds the bottles were drained. They bleated again, searching for more, pushing against her in the vain hope she was hiding more milk. Strong hands grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet. She stumbled into Blake's chest and gripped his shirt to stop from falling down into the jumble of eager lambs.
“Holy heck, that was an experience.” She blew a stray strand of hair from her face before moving back slightly and looking down. Her clothes were smeared in dirty marks and she grimaced, imagining the worst. “Oh dear, is that what I think it is?”
“Probably.” Blake grinned and stood her up, holding her shoulders until she was steady. “Cute little things, aren't they?”
“Very.” She wiped her hands on the once clean shorts and sighed. “May as well get used to it, I guess.”
“Don't you have anything else to wear apart from pretty city clothes?” He held the door open for her and nudged her out before the lambs escaped.
“No. I wasn't actually planning on this, if you remember.”
“I have some old stuff in the house one of the nannies left behind in her rush to leave. You can help yourself. Might save what you have from being ruined.” He stood with his hands on his hips, watching her pick the dirty straw from her once clean shorts.
“Thanks, that would be great. Has everyone had breakfast already?” Her stomach rumbled and she laid her hands across it, hoping to quell the noise.
“Yes. Just help yourself to whatever you want. The kids will be fine here with me for a while, but Bluey and I have to go out shortly and round up some more sheep for the shearers. You will have to give me a hand then, okay?” He glanced down at her, a small smile flitting across his lips, and she quickly looked away.
“Sure. Give me half an hour and I'm all yours.” Damn, that didn't sound right. “I mean, I'll be back as quick as I can.” With as much dignity as she could muster and her face flaming, Del hurried to the house away from Blake's gaze.
In the kitchen, she leaned against the kitchen counter, and cursed herself. How easy was it to turn to mush around him? There was something about the man that threw her
