The Art of Husbandry (Mackenzie Country, #1)

by Jay Hogan

“I can imagine” was all he said. No questions. No pressing for more. No platitudes. “It doesn’t matter that I know it wasn’t my fault—” “You second-guess everything you did?” he speculated. I huffed a joyless laugh. “The mind knows, but the heart can’t deal with it. Still, I’m a lot better than I was.”

I was cut off by a lung-crushing hug and the familiar vanilla-coffee fragrance of Opium.

Opium is my all-time fave -- or perhaps the only perfume I like -- but is it a nose thing? I always thought it was a spicy, dianthus scent...

Domestically inclined had never featured high in my Rolodex of traits I looked for in a man. Although to be fair, those usually didn’t venture too far from hot, available, and preferably able to form complete sentences that didn’t contain the word dude.

lol

“A budgie is a small soft bird about this big, right?” She made a budgie-sized shape with both her hands. “And if you shove that sucker down the front of a nylon swimsuit . . . and maybe even imagine it moving—” “Ooooooh!” Alek’s blue eyes flew wide and his mortified expression caused everyone to crack up. He scowled, muttered a string of Russian expletives, and lugged his post driver on to the next upright. “But—” He looked directly at Charlie with his finger pointing downward. “Al-ba-tross, not budgie.”

“Your mother was very clear I wouldn’t have to get up close and personal with the stock.” I landed on the packed earth and the sheep stomped their feet in obvious disapproval. Oh god. Holden leaned sideways, his breath fanning hot over my ear. “Stay close. They hunt in packs.”

tan slices, downing it in two bites before finishing his drink.

Is this actually the name of whatever treat this is? Is this what Maynard is referencing with his "warm slice and some foetal spooning"? Okay, looked it up: shortbread base, caramel layer, shortbread crumble topping. Mmmmmm...

want to do him proud with the station, with his legacy, but it kills me that he’ll never know. That all his brain will let him do is resent me for it.” “Does Emily know?” “No,” he said emphatically. Oh, Holden. “She and Gran would be horrified. Besides, I can handle it, and I do . . . most of the time . . .” He trailed off, his gaze sliding away. I turned his face back to mine. “You’ve got a lot going on, Holden. The muster. Crutching. Your mum heading to the UK. Me arriving. The contract. That’s a lot of stress for one man. Maybe it’s time to think about telling them what’s going on. It’s hard work absorbing the punches. It wears you down.”

“You wouldn’t dare!” I lunged for daylight but not quick enough to avoid the balled-up wad of dried, smelly dags that hit me on the back.

dags 1. Australian•New Zealand a lock of wool matted with dung hanging from the hindquarters of a sheep. OMG Ewww!

“Good.” I looked back to find everyone still standing and watching us. I opened my hands. “Do you all need a kiss goodbye or something?”

rampant zucchinis.

As Dave Barry would say: good name for a rock band. Also, that's a bit of a disturbing image if you take the heraldic meaning of rampant. . 😅

He stole the last of my words with a kiss. “Stop borrowing trouble. If it’s all right with you, I’m gonna stick with the part where you said ‘I love you too’.” I grinned against his lips. “That’s very . . . selective of you.”

This is the section immediately preceding the next highlight and note. Is it just me misreading all this? I fear I may spend eternity reading this group of paragraphs over and over to see if I can make it work.

“Damn right it is.” I got up on an elbow and studied him from above. “But it’s also the only thing that’s certain in what you said. I love you and you love me. We’ll work on the rest. Do you honestly have a better solution?” I didn’t, but I knew it wasn’t as simple as Holden was making it sound either. Then again, I figured he knew that as well as I did.

Can't believe none of your alpha, beta, or other initial readers caught the incorrect pronoun (actually , whole incorrect person placement) at the start of this section. Had to re-read it several times to figure out it was an unfixed glitch. So confusing.