“Why, you...” Libby spluttered, stunned at his aggression. “Don't you believe in giving anybody half a chance?”
“I already have. For over two years, I’ve sent the stock back so I wouldn't upset the old man.” He spoke quietly with a hard edge to his voice. “Now he's gone, and it's your turn to be kind to me. Fix your bloody fences and do it now.”
Nathan turned, jammed his hat back on his head, and stormed back to his four-wheel drive. He slammed the door before reversing back to the side of the shed, doing a U-turn, and raced back down the drive in a cloud of dust.
Libby stood rooted to the spot, shock leaving her speechless. She heard a noise and looked over at the house. Holly stood at the gate with the boys, her face ashen as she shook, ragged gasps coming from her little body.
Libby raced to her, threw open the gate, and pulled her daughter into her arms. “Oh, baby, I am so sorry you had to see that.” She stroked her daughters hair as she whispered in her ear. “It will be okay. Shush now.” Libby held her tight against her chest. Josh and Winton stood to the side, watching. Tom walked past, pushing the boys into the house.
Her body folded down on the footpath with Holly in her arms until the girl stopped shaking. Libby pushed her gently back so she could see her face. Kissing the tip of her nose, she smiled at her daughter.
“It's okay, Holly.” She kept her voice to a whispered. “He didn't mean it. Honestly, baby, he's just trying to scare me into do what he wants. I promise he won't shoot the cows.”
“He looked like he meant it, Mummy.”
“He was just trying to act tough.” Libby wanted to chase after him and pound him into the dust for scaring her little girl. “Don't you worry your pretty, little head over it. Now I desperately need a cuppa, and someone is looking like they need a cuddle from you.”
Henry sat on the footpath, giving Holly a pathetically sad look. She quickly scooped him up in her arms and followed Libby up the back steps to the kitchen where Tom had tea on the table.
Libby drank her first cup of tea and started on a second one while she found bread and leftovers in the fridge for sandwiches. She kept shooting Tom glances from under her eyelashes, wondering how well the old man got on with the neighbor from hell.
The nerve of the bastard. Huh, I thought country people were supposed to be welcoming and kind. Guess I drew the short straw with him.
* * *
Nathan let out a long breath as he drove from Libby's place. Damn it all, he shouldn't have been so hard on her. The look on her face and the way her kid reacted. Shit. He needed to get the whole “city-bred female chip” off his shoulder. Letting his ex get the better of him after so long rankled, but he couldn't get past it.
He'd been besotted when he met the tiny blonde at his mate's wedding in the city. A couple of days later when he had to return to the farm, she’d shed tears and told him she would make the move to the country if he felt the same as she did. After months of long-distance phone calls and a couple of quick trips to town, Eliza had decided she couldn't live without him. Initially, she'd tried to fit in, but over time it became harder, and the more she complained about the lack of shops and his hick friends, the more he had dug in his toes about staying on the land. His whole life was in the country; it always had been. It wasn't until the week before their wedding day that she'd announced she was couldn't handle the isolation and was leaving him.
He slammed his hand on the steering wheel and cursed his lack of manners. It wasn’t his fault Libby was silly enough to come to the country. She’d just have to wear his bad mood. She may be cute under that snappy attitude, but business was business, and he had invested way too much money to have the whole breeding program fall apart because of her scabby mongrels. I might get the fences fixed in record time now; maybe it was worth getting up her after all.
He drove out of Quincy Station's driveway, shaking his head at the amount of work she had in front of her. If he were any other neighbor, he’d be offering to give her a hand until she found her feet, but if she hadn't fallen in with his uncle's plans, the farm would belong to him right now, and all his problems would be solved. Besides, he wanted to keep his distance if he could; no point in tempting fate, but he’d been without a willing female for too long and something about Libby intrigued him.
He pulled into his yard and slammed on the brakes. Nathan jumped from his truck and stalked into the tractor shed to work off some of his frustrations on something mechanical that wouldn't fight back.
* * *
After lunch, Tom invited them to go down to the stables so he could show the kids the horses and other animals. Winton leaned on the fence rail and whistled for his bay. The strong-muscled gelding came running to the fence, throwing its head around, talking loudly to Winton when he held out a carrot. He showed Holly how to hold a piece flat on her hand so the horse didn't bite her fingers when he took it. Josh stood back,
