Page 53 of The Science of Attraction

And just like that I was five again, begging my father to take me with him on the lambing rounds. Zach had never been as interested in lambing season, preferring mustering with the dogs. But lambing had always been my favourite time of year—watching the ewes labour and holding as many newborns as I could. I was always first in line to feed the ones rejected by their mothers, sleeping in a hay-bale hut my father would make for me in the shed, not caring I’d be exhausted the next day at school.

For three weeks every year, I barely slept, and at some point, my father would select a lamb for me to rear for the annual school pet-lamb competition. I’d put in hours of work, grooming and lead training to get him or her ready. Even at only five, I was competitive as hell, and I had a box full of ribbons stashed somewhere in the house to prove it.

Those new fragile beings were almost magical to me, my dad proud of the fact their wool would be worn by people all over the world, the success of the station resting on thousands and thousands of tiny woolly shoulders.

I couldn’t have put words to it at the time, but looking back, it was clear I’d fallen in love with the high country and the merinos who walked its hills from a very tender age. And I’d never wanted to do anything else except take over the station from my father when it was my turn.

I caught Liam’s worried frown and realised with a start that my eyes were brimming.Dammit. I blinked back the tears, thankful my father’s attention had shifted from me to the mob in the paddock.

“You okay?” he mouthed.

I nodded. “Yeah. It just brought back memories, that’s all.”

My father turned a surprisingly soft gaze on me and said in a tone I hadn’t heard in a long, long time, “You... always loved... lambs. Such a... soft... b-boyo.”

I was startled at the term. I hadn’t been called that in decades.

“You had the...” He frowned and screwed his eyes shut, took a deep breath and tried again. “—t-touch. You...havethe... touch.”

Instead of sarcasm, the quiet lopsided smile and swell of pride in his voice almost took my legs from under me, and I had to swallow those tears again. “Thank you.”

He held my gaze and then grunted dismissively and turned his attention back to the ewes.

I held my arms out to Liam for the lamb. “I better get her back to her mother.”

He pouted.

“I’ll make sure you get another chance.”

“I’m holding you to that.” He reluctantly placed the lamb back in my arms, and I carried her to a spot some distance from the gate. The mum was there in an instant and I left them to it.

Back at the gate, my father waved his good hand toward the southern hills. “Don’t... forget... Ba-Bell’s Falls.” He was referring to a small waterfall hidden in a ravine at the base of the foothills. For some reason, a few ewes chose to lamb there even though it didn’t take much rain for the falls to become a raging torrent.

I hesitated before answering, not wanting to ruin the moment we’d had. “I didn’t forget, Dad. I had Stuart fence it off a couple of weeks ago.”

My father shot me a look as if I’d just said we were switching from merino to longhorn cattle. The falls had been a bone of contention between us for years. He’d consistently refused to let me do anything about it, citing unnecessary costs and all but accusing me of only wanting to save myself a bit of legwork. In other words, being lazy.

“No one has the time for daily sweeps this year,” I argued against his forbidding silence. “So, like it or lump it. I’m not apologising. It was the right thing to do.”

“You’re a man down, Paddy, remember?” Liam offered.

My gaze shot up. I was unused to someone having my back. I was the only family member working the station with my father. The others did as Paddy said, they had to. And I’d been treated no differently than them. Paddy didn’t play well in the sandpit and he wasn’t one for rewarding initiative. Tennyson had my father’s respect, but no one made any important decisions except for Paddy, not even me.

This new world order was uncharted territory for my father and me.

They love working for you.Tennyson’s words came back to me and I straightened my spine. I wouldn’t back down. Not this time. Not anymore.

My father’s stare hardened and his jaw worked, but I held his gaze.

Eventually he nodded. “S’pose it was... time.” He grunted and looked to where Stuart was on his hands and knees alongside one of the ewes.

In my father’s world, that amounted to a ringing endorsement and I suppressed a fist pump in favour of a self-satisfied smile.

A throat cleared and I looked sideways to find Liam urgently tapping the base of his neck.Shit.I put my back to my father and zipped my Swanndri as high as it would go. When I turned around, Liam was wearing a sexy-as-fuck grin. He waggled his brows and I discreetly flipped him off.

My attention was then caught by Hopper sniffing around the Mercedes like he was about to cock his leg. I called him back and he’d taken a couple of steps when the familiar roar of a Kawasaki Ninja rumbled through the valley. The huntaway came to an abrupt halt, stood stock-still in the middle of the road, and bayed.

Zach was here.

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