Page 9 of Rough Stock

‘Behave,’ scoffed Craig, with that frown returning.

‘You can’t risk it.’ Izzy nodded in agreement.

‘What I do is none of your business.’ He scowled at Izzy.

‘I’m agreeing with Izzy.’

‘It didn’t take long for you two women to gang up on me again. You’re meant to be my friend, Bree.’

‘And you know I love you like a brother.’ Seated opposite Craig, Bree leaned her forearms on the table. ‘If Charlie was around, he’d tell you it’s time to stop doing rodeo, too. Do I need to remind you of Charlie’s last rodeo ride?’

‘No.’ Craig dropped his head, suddenly all surly.

‘Can you remind me?’ Izzy asked quietly.

‘My grandfather got gored by a bull during a rodeo. You were lucky.’ Bree pointed her wineglass at Craig. ‘You never got stabbed seriously.’

‘I have stitches.’ He lifted his shirt, to show the bandages, only to wince at the effort it took to do so.

‘And my darling grandfather got a punctured lung, broken ribs, legs, hips, collar bone—’

‘Okay, okay. Spare me the details.’ Craig scowled behind his wineglass.

‘You saw the scars. They covered Charlie’s chest. He couldn’t climb onto the saddle to ride for a year.’

‘I know. I remember. But I’m still not retiring from rodeoing.’

‘Well, you’re an idiot. What do I have to do to slap some sense into you?’

Izzy giggled at Bree’s straightforwardness. ‘I missed you, Bree.’

‘I don’t,’ Craig grumbled. ‘You can go home now. Don’t you have a new husband to annoy?’

‘I do. You know, I never thought I’d say those words again…’ Bree even gave a dreamy smile behind her wine glass.

‘Oh, hey, congratulations on the nuptials.’ Izzy raised her glass at Bree. ‘I look forward to meeting this Ryder Riggs.’ Who’d have to be something special to capture Bree’s attention.

Bree positively glowed, with her rosy-cheeked smile so bright. ‘Thank you. But I’d better warn you—when you do meet him, Ryder will want to hire you, Einstein.’ She turned then to Craig. ‘But back to you, cowboy. You do realise that with the damage to your leg, you won’t be riding bareback on bulls or horses for a while. If ever.’

‘I will recover, and I will be fine.’

Craig didn’t seem fine to Izzy. Where was that cheeky, handsome stockman with blond curls, sparkly blue eyes, and easygoing smile? Sure, he seemed happy when chatting with the locals, but it was just a mask to hide his grumpiness, now well and truly on show.

‘You won’t be going on any musters for a while, either,’ said Bree. ‘Which kind of sucks, because the mustering season has just started. I was going to talk the Riggs brothers into letting you run one of the mustering teams.’

‘I’ll be there.’

‘Not for a long time. And you know it.’ Bree patted his hand in a sisterly manner. ‘So, what are you going to do for work?’

Craig shrugged.

‘You were a good stock inspector,’ said Izzy. ‘You can always go back to the stockyards.’

‘I quit that job for a reason. I hated doing all that paperwork and dealing with the office politics in that place, it sucked.’

‘Well, I might have a job for you.’ Bree smiled as she took a sip of her wine.

‘Not when you’re smiling like that, you don’t.’ Craig shifted in his seat, wincing at his ribs.

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