Free The Girl in Steel-Capped Boots by Loretta Hill Page A

exactly out of the loop when it came to gossip. Being the bus driver put her front row and centre to most site dramas. The boys seemed to forget her presence when they rode up and back from the wharf. She heard many a private conversation without even trying, much to Radar’s professional disgust.
    ‘Geez, you look guilty.’
    Sharon’s voice jolted her back to the present and Lena felt her cheeks heat. ‘Do I?’ Her voice sounded squeaky even to her own ears. Lena cursed silently and tried to swallow her nerves, without much success.
    ‘I wouldn’t show that face around town,’ Sharon continued. ‘You’ll have the boys talking more than they already are.’
    Lena licked her lips. ‘They can’t really be that interested in the comings and goings of my boring life.’
    ‘Are you kidding?’ Sharon snorted. ‘Next to Bulldog you’re the most talked-about person on the project.’
    Embarrassment forgotten, Lena started. ‘I am?’
    ‘Hell yes. But you must know that.’
    ‘Well, not really,’ Lena replied, just a little stunned. ‘I mean, I know being female makes me a bit of a novelty, but surely they must have got over that by now.’
    ‘Not so much. You’ve got quite a few admirers, you know.’
    ‘Well, so do you.’ Lena shrugged. ‘The odds are in our favour, aren’t they?’
    ‘Uh-huh,’ Sharon returned cryptically.
    ‘So what’s the rumour?’ Lena prompted, fingers tapping on her knee. ‘You can’t lay it on the table and not tell me.’
    Sharon grinned. ‘Well, let’s just say some of your admirers are pretty pissed off because you haven’t shown an interest in any of them.’
    ‘They’re not my type.’ Yeah, only people who are strictly off limits make it into that category.
    ‘Well, the boys are beginning to figure that out.’ Sharon was still talking. Lena looked up and caught the mischievous twinkle in her friend’s eyes via the rear-view mirror and knew Sharon was holding something back.
    ‘What are they saying?’ Her voice was low with resignation.
    ‘Well, they’re not all saying it. But a group of guys in Tony’s yard have a theory.’
    ‘What sort of theory?’
    ‘They’re laying bets that you’re batting for the other team.’
    ‘I’m batting for the –?’ And then realisation dawned. ‘ Really? ’
    ‘Well, some of the guys seem to think that you and Ethel have a . . . thing .’
    ‘Me and Ethel?’ Lena gasped.
    ‘You do know she’s gay, right?’
    Lena’s mouth fell open. ‘No way.’ She thought back over the past week and groaned. ‘It’s the tip-offs, isn’t it? They think we’re an item because she keeps being nice to me.’
    ‘Well, let’s face it,’ Sharon said, ‘Ethel isn’t nice to anyone. I’ve got to admit that even I’ve been a little suspicious.’
    ‘You have not ,’ Lena protested.
    ‘Okay,’ Sharon smiled. ‘Maybe I haven’t. But seriously, if not Ethel, there’s gotta be somebody you’ve got your eye on, what with the smorgasbord of choices and all.’
    To Lena’s great annoyance, Bulldog’s enigmatic countenance once more floated before her eyes and she said just a little too thickly, ‘Nup, no one.’
    ‘Okay, dish.’
    ‘Dish what?’
    ‘Lena,’ Sharon retorted, with the patience of one who had the wisdom of the world sitting on her shoulders. ‘I saw that guilty look earlier and now it’s back. You can’t pull the wool over my eyes forever.’
    ‘What wool?’ Lena prevaricated. ‘There’s no wool.’
    All the same she kept her eyes downcast. Truth be told, she was an expert on wool. In university she’d practically had her own flock of sheep. It was shameful, really.
    After a few seconds, Sharon turned her attention back to the mountains of iron ore stacked around them and Lena thought with relief that she wasn’t going to question her further. She was wrong.
    ‘What about Gavin?’ Sharon’s tone was just a little too casual.
    ‘Gavin?’ Lena screwed up her nose.
    ‘What?’ Sharon