Free The Cattleman's Special Delivery by Barbara Hannay

he sent her a wry smile. ‘The cattle can wait for one more day, and the two of us will knock this over in half the time.’
    ‘But you—’
    ‘I’ll show you where the vacuum cleaner is,’ he said, ignoring her protest. ‘And then I’ll collect mops and buckets.’
    * * *
    Cleaning walls and windows didn’t normally rank high in Reece’s favourite activities, but, funnily enough, working with Jess changed his perspective.
    He told himself her enthusiasm was catching, and in a way this was true. It was rewarding to work together and to see the honey-gold timber floorboards emerge from beneath layers of grey dust, or to see white walls and window sills looking fresh and cobweb-free.
    But it was equally rewarding to look up every so often to catch Jess’s smile...or to see the colour of her eyes...the deep green of a tree-shaded creek.
    He didn’t mind catching her in profile either. Seeing the curving sweep of her dark lashes was a minor miracle...or the soft curving jut of her breasts...or the tempting inches of bare, pale skin that appeared when her T-shirt lifted.
    The thing was...he’d sensed an echoing interest from Jess. A certain look, a breathless awareness...small, innocent signals that drove him wild.
    Too many times he was tempted to do something about it. To step closer, certain he’d expire if he didn’t let her know that he was desperate to touch her...to kiss her.
    But such a move would stuff their plans completely.
    This was her first full day here. How hard was it to remember he’d offered her a job, not a relationship?
    The poor woman was still mourning her husband. How could he have deluded himself into thinking she was interested?
    Proximity was his problem. He wasn’t used to having a young woman so close at hand, but that would soon be solved once he started mustering.
    * * *
    Grimy and tired, but exultant, Jess stood back to admire the results of their hard work. ‘These are lovely rooms.’
    ‘It’ll be good to see them being used again.’
    ‘Have they been shut up for a long time?’
    ‘We’ve had no use for them,’ Reece said, answering her question obliquely. ‘Too much housework.’
    Jess wondered if his mother had lived in these rooms, but she didn’t like to ask, knowing from experience that mothers could be complicated, hurtful creatures. But thinking about Reece as a little boy made her heart yearn in a soft, achy way, which was so not how she wanted to feel around him.
    Especially not after the day she’d just spent, surreptitiously sneaking peeks at his behind and his muscles and his handsome jaw line—and generally suffering from lust meltdown.
    She was ashamed of herself. She was here to earn and to save and to do a good job of caring for Reece’s home and his father. She would be grateful when he started on his outdoor work—mustering cattle, or mending fences, or whatever it was that cattlemen did.
    * * *
    Unfortunately...once Reece was distracted by outdoor work, Jess’s gratitude was short-lived.
    He rose early, just before dawn, so Jess, as cook, rose early too, but there wasn’t much conversation as Reece downed a hasty breakfast, grabbed a sandwich and an apple for his saddlebag and disappeared on horseback with two blue-speckled cattle dogs trotting behind him.
    Jess knew he was joined on the muster by a couple of men from a neighbouring property, who then returned to their place each night, but even with their help Reece didn’t get back to the homestead till after sundown, which meant he was gone for more than twelve hours.
    And she missed him.
    Which was crazy considering that her life now surpassed her wildest dreams. The cooking and the housework tasks were dead easy compared with working in a busy restaurant. Her accommodation was divine and it was still a daily miracle that she didn’t have to pay rent. On top of that, she loved being a full-time, stay-at-home mum with Rosie, and her little girl was really happy and thriving, having at last