When she walked through the house to the kitchen, Libby could hear the bleating of hungry lambs coming from the direction of the stables.
Humming to herself, Libby made two cups of coffee and took them outside. “Morning, you two.” She smiled at the sight of her baby playing mother to the orphaned lambs.
“Hi, Mum.” Holly grinned up at her. “They’re so hungry. They nearly knocked me over when I came in the door.”
“I bet they did. They look starving.” Libby spoke to Tom. “I have a coffee for you, Tom, when you’re ready.”
“Thanks. I’m sure this young lady has it all under control.” He stood and accepted the mug from her. He leaned on the fence by Libby, watching as Holly fed the remaining three lambs.
“I promised Holly she could ride Puddin’ today if that was okay with you, Libby. You don’t have any plans that need me, do you?”
“No, that’s fine. I was thinking of going over those figures on the stock and trying to make sense of it all before I had some me time in the garden.”
“The boys want to go out and scout around for any stray sheep.” He took a sip from his mug before continuing. “I’ve told them if it’s okay with you, they can go.”
“No worries.” The figures in the stock record books were starting to get under her skin, so she left Tom and Holly to their plans and headed back inside to sit at the old office desk. She proceeded to pull out the ledger he’d had given her last night when Nathan had shown up. Libby tried to concentrate on the figures again without letting him intrude into her task.
Basic business skills, she had. It was the whole stock-running she didn’t quite understand, but with Tom’s help, she was learning. She ran over the last five years’ figures, and wrote herself out a chart so she could understand it better in her own way.
It seemed that every year, less and less sheep were being shorn at shearing time and fewer lambs were being born and sold. He’d informed her the bulk of the sheep were too old for breeding and needed to be replaced, and he’d shown her the figures to back that up. The station hadn’t had any new rams in ages, and it was getting to the stage the herd was unviable. He wanted to cull out the old ewes and old rams and start again. They’d know by the end of crutching how the numbers stood. Then Libby would have some figures to talk to Aaron about.
She took a look at the cattle file as well and decided to make herself a chart for them too, since Tom had mentioned it to her. She may as well get prepared and learn something. There were only about 300 listed in the book as at last year’s drenching date. About half of those were cows. The rest were steers and old bulls. She divided them into the right categories and filled in her chart.
Getting interested, she fired up her computer. She Googled Brahmans and when a list of sites came up, she hit on the first one. There were some pretty impressive bulls on line, especially if you were a cow. Most were up for auction, so she couldn’t get an idea of prices but was sure Tom would know how much they would have to pay.
She heard Tom come into the house a couple of hours later and called out to him.
“Down here in the office.”
“Just going into town to get my lotto tickets.” Tom cast a gaze over her charts. “Want anything?”
“No thanks, Tom. This will keep me busy for a while.”
“Holly wants to come for a ride. Is that okay?”
“Sure; if it’s no trouble.” Libby turned to look up at him.
“No, no trouble at all. See ya soon.”
It would appear they weren’t the only ones this move was benefiting. Tom has found himself a little sidekick. Smiling, Libby went back to her charts and computer.
She lifted her head when she heard a vehicle come down the drive. Time tended to fly when one was enjoying oneself. And she was. She was really getting into the whole “sorting out the breeding” idea. She wanted to have better stock if they could afford it because, at the end of the day, it was to their benefit. The whole idea was to make a profit and keep the farm.
She heard the gate and then the bang of the back door screen. Loud footsteps sounded in the kitchen, and she jumped up, her heart thudding.
That’s not Tom.
She bolted out of her chair, her breath caught in her throat. Creeping out of the office, Libby slid along the wall down the hallway on bare feet, pausing at the door to the kitchen. Sneaking a quick look around the opening, she came face-to-face with Nathan. She let out a small scream before she could stop herself, then the humiliation started to rise as she glared at him.
He stood by the table, his hands on his hips and a scowl on his face.
“What are you doing here?” She inwardly sighed with relief.
“Is that any way to greet a ehaviour? Shouldn’t you offer me a cup of coffee or something?”
“You’re kidding, right?” Her heart still raced with the scare he’d given her. “Every time we see each other, you have a go at me. You have the nerve to creep in here and scare the crap out of me, and now you’re asking for coffee?”
He pulled a chair out from the table and turned it backward before straddling it. It was obvious he wasn’t going anywhere. She moved over to put on the kettle.
Her body reacted uncomfortably to him being so close to her after
