Carol Lynne

Looking up at the sky, Lochlan took off his Akubra hat and wiped his brow with the ever present rag from his pocket. He looked down at the blue heeler dog at his feet. “Going to be another scorcher today, mate.”

The heeler jumped into the back of the ute as Lochlan climbed in. It took a couple of tries to get the modified, four door truck to start. He headed toward the far paddock in hopes that he could start harvesting in the next couple of days. Without help he’d be working sunup to sundown as it was. Lochlan cursed as he thought of one more harvest alone. He should be used to it by now. He’d been on his own for going on ten years. Thinking about his dad had him cursing again.

“Dammit.” Stop feeling bloody sorry for yourself. As he drove along the graveled road, he looked from side to side. As far as his eyes could see, tall sunflowers raised their heads toward the punishing sun. I’ve a damn good crop this year. It’s no one’s fault but my own I can’t find anyone I want to work with.

He’d heard from everyone around him that he’d become a selfish bastard, and he was starting to believe it. How had he let himself get to this point? He was lonely. So what. A lot of people in the world were lonely. Didn’t mean he had to take his mood out on everyone around him.

As he drove, the suffocating air inside the vehicle prompted him to shrug out of his shirt, leaving him in only a navy singlet. He wiped his face and chest with the shirt in his hand before throwing it to the back. Lochie reached over his shoulder to rub Blue’s head. “You like me, don’t you, Blue?” The loyal dog licked his ear in reply.

Around the bend he spotted a man standing in the middle of the road. “What the…” Lochie slowed down and stopped several yards from the stranger. The large pack at the man’s feet told him the guy was a tourist. “Looking for work, I’d reckon,” he said under his breath as he turned off the engine. The stranger looked toward him and smiled. Lochie’s breath hitched in his chest. “Bloody hell.”

He’d never seen a more gorgeous specimen than the one who stood in front of his battered ute. The guy was young, with black hair just long enough to curl in shiny ringlets around his face. He had the face of a god. Long black lashes with piercing blue eyes. When Lochie’s gaze roamed down the man’s body, he had to put a hand to his own filling shaft. He’d always preferred a lean sinewy body to those more buffed, like his own. He was brought out of his lustful haze when the guy waved and spoke.

“Hi. I’m sorry I was standing in the middle of the road. Didn’t figure a whole lot of traffic came through here.” The stranger walked toward the driver’s door. He put his hand through the open window toward Lochie. “Name’s James Pattrick. Someone told me I might be able to find a bit of work at the farm down the road.”

This close, the guy was even more breathtaking. Lochie inhaled and reached for the stranger’s hand. “G’day. Lochlan McBride. If you’ve come looking for work, I’d be the one to talk to.”