“What are you doing here?”
“Just being neighborly.”
“Really, why don’t I believe that?” Libby showed her disbelief with a raise of her eyebrows.
“Untrusting soul, aren’t you?” His gaze followed her as she grabbed cups while the kettle boiled.
“Well, you haven’t exactly given me anything neighborly to go on. You can hardly blame me.” Libby poured the hot water into the cups, and after adding milk, she held one out to him.
“I thought I would catch up with Tom, if you must know.” He reached for the coffee mug and stirred in two generous spoons of sugar from the bowl in the center of the table.
“Why?”
He raised his own eyebrows at her.
Libby shook her head. Now she was starting to get antsy. The guy blows hot and cold, bossy and then apologetic. Now he thinks he can just waltz into my house without being invited, order coffee, and doesn’t want to tell me why he’s here. She wasn’t going to give an inch after the way he’d treated her the last few weeks. Damned if she would, no matter how much Tom tried to make excuses for him. Life throws out curveballs to everyone now and then. I should know. Learn to deal with it, Nathan.
She cocked her head at him.
“McNallys are selling some young Brahman bulls. I wondered if he’d be interested.” Nathan finally relented. “It’s something we discussed a couple of times.”
“You could’ve easily told me.”
“Libby, you’re a city import. You know nothing about cattle.” A resigned look started to form on his face.
“I’m trying This is my farm and I need to learn.” Standing opposite to him was hard when he looked as good as he did, resigned or not. “Tom was going to speak to Jonas at the dance anyway.”
“That old rogue.” Nathan laughed. “Those two go way back, but you’ll still get a better deal with McNallys.”
“I’ll let him know you called.” She put her cup in the sink and stood there, hoping he’d take it as a signal to leave. “You’ve said your piece, and I’ve given you coffee. Now I’d like to get back to my office.”
“Fiery, aren’t we, sweetheart.” He rose and walked over to her, leaning against the kitchen bench, his arm touching hers, his blue eyes twinkling as he gazed at her. “Tell me why you really moved here, sweetheart.”
“Because it was left to me. That’s why.” He didn’t need to know she was at her wits end with her children.
“So was a sizeable amount of money. Why didn’t you just take that and spare yourself and us all the grief of having a city-dweller thinking they can take on the outback and make a go of it?”
“What’re you talking about?” She stood up straight, stared at him.
“Did you even bother to read the will Aaron gave you?”
“No, but that’s none of your business anyway. Aaron never mentioned any money.”
“Really, I find that hard to believe.” He shook his head. “Even I read the damned will, and I know for a fact there’s more than enough money in the bank for the likes of you. You could’ve taken it and lived the life for a while instead of coming out here.’
“What right do you have to read something like that?” She was baffled he knew more about the will than she did.
“Your grandmother was my godmother, and she left something for me, so I have a copy. One of the nicest women you could ever hope to meet, and let me tell you, sweetheart, you don’t even come close. You might think you look like her, and you do to a certain degree, but that’s where the similarity ends. She was one in a million, and nothing was too much trouble. You, on the other hand, are too much trouble.”
“Stop right there, pal.” Libby placed one hand on her hip as she pointed her finger at him. “You know nothing about me, so don’t you dare presume to put me into the troubled, little woman slot. This is my farm, left to me by my family, and I’ll keep it regardless of what you say.”
“How, pray tell?” He mocked her with his smile.
“There’s such a thing as the Internet these days, you know. Surely you’ve heard of it. It’s not like you’re living in the dark ages out here.”
“Oh, so you’re telling me you just Google everything you need to know, and hey, presto, everything’s taken care of. Now that’s interesting.” He scoffed, slapping his hand down on the bench. “It takes more than a damned computer to run a farm. It takes backbreaking work, day in, day out. Something I doubt you’re capable of. You should just take your money and call it quits before you make a proper balls-up of everything. Then whoever takes over won’t have so much of a mess to clean up when you leave.”
“I’m not leaving, Nathan. Get used to it.” She stood her ground as he stared down at her.
“I wish you would reconsider. Surely a couple of hundred thousand in cold, hard cash will be enough to make you feel better about walking away. Think of what you could give your kids with that.”
“My kids don’t need money. They need a stable home and people who care about them. We have that here, thank you very much.” Her voice rose with her ire. “I might be new at this, but I’m learning, and I will get all this up and running with Tom’s help.”
“And that’s another thing.” Nathan seemed to be warming to the argument. “Tom’s been on this farm since he was a young man. Don’t you think it is time you cut him a break? The poor guy should be looking at retiring, and you have him working harder than ever. Do you really want
