Page 11 of Whispers of Sweetwater

As Hayden stepped to Bella’s side, his weathered hand moved with a gentle touch, caressing the mare’s flank. Brianna watched him bonding in a way that only a person who understood horses could.

‘I’m relieved she’s going to be okay,’ he murmured softly, as if confiding a sacred truth. ‘Bella’s my favourite, not that I should have one.’

‘She’s a beauty, and a tough cookie, that’s for sure.’ Brianna nodded. ‘And she and her little guy are a perfect example of why I love this job.’

‘You have to own a big heart for this work. Not everyone does.’ Hayden’s voice echoed softly in the quiet of the stable.

Brianna couldn’t help but smile at the gentle way this intriguing man communicated with Bella and Maverick. It was one thing to know your job. It was another entirely to pour your heart and soul into it, and as she considered this, a feeling of kinship stirred within her as she recognised in Hayden the same endless well of empathy that she had.

‘I’d better get going,’ she said, more to herself than him. ‘Got another farm visit in half an hour.’

‘Yup, righto.’ Hayden nodded, stepping back but not away. ‘Thanks for checking in on them.’

‘Any time.’ She smiled in a very professional manner. ‘I’ll add the visit to the monthly bill.’

‘Yeah, that’s a given,’ he replied with that same easy smile as he walked her to the sunshine-lit doorway.

As she strolled back to her Hilux, boots crunching softly on the gravel, Brianna resisted the tug low in her spine, the urge to glance over her shoulder. She didn’t need to. She knew he was still standing there. She could feel his gaze like a slow burn between her shoulder blades, warm and steady, pulling at the threads she was trying hard not to unravel.

But she wouldn’t turn around.

Wouldn’t give in.

She had a grip on herself.

A damn tight one.

Even if the night before, in the quiet hours before dawn, she’d dreamed of him – of the moment they’d pulled Maverick into the world together. The urgency, the shared breathless triumph. But in her dream, he hadn’t let go of her hand. Hadn’t looked away. He’d leant into her, and she into him. And when she’d woken, her heart had been pounding like it meant something more. Like he meant something more.

She slammed the door of the Hilux with a little too much force, the sound jarring in the morning stillness. Clenching the steering wheel, she exhaled through her nose, steadying herself.

This wasn’t a storybook. It was real life. Her life. And she was here to do a job.

Whatever that moment had been – or hadn’t been – she’d leave it right where it was.

Behind her.

CHAPTER 4

Brianna couldn’t believe she’d been in Sweetwater almost a week now – time had flown. The kettle whistled sharply from its perch on the gas hob, slicing through the stillness of her cosy kitchen, rattling her wandering mind like a wake-up call to the senses. She shifted her gaze from her fidgeting fingertips to where the late-afternoon sun filtered through the gauzy curtains, casting warm amber stripes across the wooden floor. Pushing from the dining chair, she hurried over to the kitchen bench, grabbed the incessant kettle, flicked the gas off, then poured steaming water over a teabag. The air floating through the louvred windows had the slow, mellow quality of a day’s end, thick with unsaid things, the kind that tugged at her attention as the shadows grew long.

Beside her, Sherlock pawed impatiently at the back door.

‘Okay, buddy, hold your horses.’ She leant over and opened the door, letting in a gust of late-day country air.

Sherlock darted out with purpose, nose to the ground as soon as his paws hit grass, then with his initial mission complete and the deed done, his tail wagged like a flag of contentment as he continued his doggy adventure. Brianna watched him out the window with an affectionate smile before she followed him out with her steaming tea. She was not quite ready to let the evening claim her, to surrender to the quiet hours ahead, but no longer felt the need to cling to her hectic day either – a cow with colic, a dog with what she’d discovered to be a false pregnancy, calls from anxious owners that never seemed to stop, and endless demands on her attention. Not that she minded a bit – she thrived on the demands and was happy that her mobile business was booming, and she was taking each day in her stride.

With the world slowing, and the day slipping into the arms of twilight, she sank into a wicker chair, allowing the stillness to wrap around her like a warm coat. Yet beneath the peace, the air still felt charged with that same unresolved tautness that had lingered since she’d met the very tempting, hazardously attractive, Hayden Pierce. Flashes of Bella and her labour, her own hands working desperately to guide Maverick into the world, and the tense silence breaking with that first unsteady breath filled her mind. And it was in that pivotal, magical moment, with Hayden’s gentle assurances helping to steady the chaos, when he’d looked at her with his eyes full of things she’d tried to pretend she didn’t like, that she felt the world beneath her boots shift. Even now, the stillness of the hour carried emotional weight, the sensation of it pushing on her chest. And as much as she wanted the feeling to go away, she also liked it. It made everything feel impossibly close and distant at the same time. Real, but also not. Reachable, but also inaccessible.

A slow exhale escaped her lips.

She really needed to stop fantasising over some horse trainer.

So, taking a long sip of her sweet Earl Grey tea, Brianna tried to push those swirling thoughts aside. They weren’t helpful, not when she’d come to Sweetwater to focus on her future. And the foreseeable future, she reminded herself firmly, didn’t involve a man. She was just hitting that thought home, driving it into place like a fence post, when a sharp, unexpected knock rattled the front door.

Her heart jumped, then steadied.

Molly?