“What, so he blames me because he can't have everything he wants? Well, life is tough, and we don't always get what we want.” That was something she knew all too well. “I deal with it, so should he.”
“It gets just a little bit more involved than that, Libby.” Tom leaned back in his chair. “Your uncle had already promised him he could buy the farm when he died. Maybe he didn't know about you when he made that promise, I don't know. But I figured that was the reason he was kind enough to return stock rather than shoot it.”
“Great, so now he thinks I've stolen his farm by right.” She sighed and ran a hand over the back of her neck, aghast at the idea she'd somehow cheated Nathan out of the land. “I guess that makes him think all of us city folks are all tarred with the same brush then. How dare we try to better ourselves at his expense.”
“I don't think that's the thing bugging him the most though. Something made him angrier than he used to be. His fiancée up and left him just before their wedding with some fancy city salesman, and he hasn't ever gotten over it. Blames all city folk now, I guess.”
“Surely he can't blame me for that?” Libby rolled her eyes. “God, life goes on, deal with it. What's the point of being all bitter and twisted about it?”
“Don't see the point myself, but Nathan...well, he never so much as looked at other women. Until you, that is.”
The knot in Libby's gut tightened even more. He hated her because of his ex-fiancée, and when he looked at her with his smoldering, dark eyes it was with disdain, not lust as Libby had thought. How could she have been so damned stupid?
She pushed herself from the table and leaned over the sink while she drank a glass of water. “What do you have planned for me now?” She squaring her shoulders, determined not to let things get to her so early in the process.
“We need to keep at it with the fencing for the next couple of days. I called the shearers while you were out. They want to come and do the crutching next week. That'll give us time to round up the sheep before they get here. No luck with getting any extra hands though.”
“We'll just have to do the best we can then.” Libby sighed and looked out the kitchen window before turning back to Tom. “You've managed to keep the place going so far, one step at a time.”
“Well let's go do some more repairs before you head back to town for the kids.” He pushed his empty plate to one side and looked at his watch as he stood to leave.
“They're on the bus starting tomorrow morning.” Libby followed him out of the kitchen to the shed, grabbing her hat off the sideboard as she passed. “That will give us more time.”
“Don't let what Nathan said get to you, Libby. He's bitter for a number of reasons, and they're nothing to do with you personally. You just hold your head up high and carry on.”
Libby squared her shoulders and resolved to concentrate of the farm. No good would come of getting het up over Nathan and his issues. If he looked at her thinking she was like his ex, it was his problem, not hers. Her priorities lay with her kids and the farm. This was the only time someone had given her a chance, and there was no way she was going to let it go, no matter what. Who cares if they couldn't find another farmhand, she'd just work harder. She would never get this opportunity again, and even though she hated the conflict between them, she wouldn't give Nathan the satisfaction of turning tail and heading back to the city and the life she'd left behind. She wouldn't do that to her kids, not with him waiting in the wings to take over, not for anything.
Chapter 4
By early afternoon, sweat dripped down Libby’s back and her muscles burned. “I need a break.” She groaned, dragging her sore hands across her face, picking at the stray hairs stuck to her hot cheeks
“I need to go back to get some more posts for here anyway. These are too far gone. Take a break and sit for a bit in the shade.”
“Is every paddock this bad?” She poured another mug of water, letting some of it run out the side of her mouth and down her throat, sending a cooling trickle of water between her breasts.
“Yeah, pretty much. I’ll be back in a jiffy.” Tom gave her a nod and left her standing there.
She looked at the fence line they’d already done and grimaced at what lay ahead. There were so many posts to replace and wires to retighten, it was depressing. But it had to be done, and Libby couldn’t see the point being negative about it.
I’ll bloody well show you, Nathan Miller. You can jump up and down all you want, but you won’t scare me off.
Libby ran a fingertip along the blisters forming on both of her palms. There would be many more before they had the place up to the high standards her ehaviour demanded. The only way to keep her stock away from his top-line breeding cattle was to fix the fences. She would do it to keep the peace and deal with the blisters as best she could.
If that was one of the hurdles she had to conquer to claim her inheritance, then so be it. She wouldn’t let a pesky little fence-building project derail her. Not if the arrogant Nathan—he of hot body, lush mouth, and hard, sexy eyes—was going to reap the benefits should she fail. No, sir, her libido would be put back into hibernation if it was the last thing she did. Lack of sex was not
