Only, no one stood on the small porch. She looked around, then caught sight of a brown paper bag at her feet. Inside were bread, milk, eggs, butter, jam, peanut butter, and a few other essentials that she’d listed not long ago. Once again, she couldn’t believe how kind her brother and his wife were when they barely knew her and Noah. A box of Frosted Flakes made her smile. Noah would appreciate that—she didn’t usually let him have sugared cereal.
Glancing around again, her gaze halted at the pulse-jarring sight of Colton’s car over by the barn. Her gaze narrowed. He could take a few lessons from Joel.
She picked up the groceries and carried them inside to put them away. When the phone rang, the unexpected noise jarred, but this time she controlled the initial urge to go straight into panic mode.
“Hello?” she answered, her voice soft and hesitant.
“Good morning,” Joel greeted. “We saw lights on and guessed you were up; wanted to know if you and Noah would like to come over for breakfast since there’s nothing in your fridge.”
“Um, didn’t you leave the groceries on the back step just a little while ago?”
“Groceries?”
It struck her then that Joel would’ve waited for her to open the door. That left one person.
“I heard Colton’s car not too long ago, must’ve been him,” Joel guessed at the same time she did. “You’re still invited for breakfast.”
The gesture of the groceries didn’t go with the knock. Suddenly, she was too nervous to eat, knowing she’d have to face the man behind that knock in a very short while. “I appreciate it, but I usually just eat toast,” she told Joel. “I bet Noah wouldn’t mind, though. He’s not fond of my cooking.”
Joel laughed. “Send him over. Also, Cody and Dustin are back in school today, maybe Noah would like to go with them?”
“Can he do that?”
“Sure, kids do it all the time,” Joel said. “If he wants to go, he can tell us at breakfast. Send him over when he’s awake, the bus picks them up by seven forty-five.”
“Oh, he’ll go. He loves school.”
Another one of Joel’s warm chuckles came across the line. “You said that like you didn’t.”
“I didn’t,” she confirmed. “He’ll be there, though.”
“Great, I’ll see you at the barn a little later.”
She drew in a deep breath and tried to sound enthusiastic. “See you there.”
Kendra sank into a chair and buried her head in her hands. She sure hoped she could pull this horse thing off; she was starting to feel guilty and not a little scared for the desperate lie she’d told.
Anxiety persisted as she forced down a couple pieces of toast, woke up Noah to send his excited little self over to the main house, and finally, entered the barn five minutes before seven. Despite her apprehension, she was determined to follow through with the situation she’d gotten herself into.
A half-dozen bales of hay littered the cement aisle below an entrance to the second level of the barn. Footsteps above her head drew her attention seconds before Colton appeared in the opening with another bale.
Show time. She pasted a smile on her face and called up, “Good morning.”
The bale he released bounced off the others in the aisle at an odd angle and landed against her legs with enough force to send her sprawling backward onto the cement floor.
“Son of a bitch,” Colton muttered, leaping from the loft onto the other bales.
She was attempting to push the heavy bale off when he grasped the strings holding it together with one hand and tossed it aside. He reached for her arm and hauled her to her feet. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, a bit dazed, but otherwise fine.
“Never know when one will try to escape.”
Was that an actual joke? She brushed her hair back from her face and tucked it behind her ears. “It’s a good thing I was here, then.” As she twisted around to brush off her jeans, she added, “I think.”
Backside free of dust and hay leaves, she turned back to face him. He stared at her with a frown that deepened as his gaze swept the length of her. His mouth tightened and his jaw clenched. Just as her stomach began to sink, his expression cleared and he gave her a surprisingly cordial smile.
“Let’s get you started, shall we?” He turned for the opposite end of the barn without waiting for an answer, leaving her to trail after him. His smile and friendly tone did nothing to alleviate her nervousness. Not only did she worry he’d discover her lie, but his kindness was too much of a one-eighty from the day before. And the groceries made absolutely no sense. He hadn’t stayed to claim responsibility, should she even thank him now?
Before she could decide, he started explaining what he expected her to do. “Each horse has a sheet tacked to their stall. It tells their name, how much grain, and how many flakes of hay.”
He opened the door and stepped inside a stall with a big tannish colored horse. A quick glance at the sheet told her the animal’s name was Nobel. The horse pushed its nose against Colton’s chest as he reached up to rub its forehead. Kendra’s feet rooted to the cement.
Colton turned, eyebrows raised in silent challenge.
Okay. I can do this. One foot in front of the other.
She lifted her chin and stepped inside. The horse stretched its nose out toward her, too. The moment it made contact, it made a loud huffing sound and she took a hasty step back out into the aisle.
“I can see fine from here.”
Thankfully, Colton didn’t push the issue. He indicated a metal contraption with bars and a bin underneath it attached to the wall just inside the door. “Hay goes here, grain here.”
Kendra looked down the aisle to see more than half the animals had their heads extended over their doors and many were looking at her with wide brown eyes. A few of them neighed and bobbed their heads with obvious impatience.
“Can’t I just feed them over the doors?” she asked, remembering Britt’s instructions to Cody the day before.
“Not the grain,” Colton said. Next he showed her a wheelbarrow to use for grain and how to fill it so she could go from stall to stall. “Each barn has its own wheelbarrow. I’ve thrown down enough hay in here, but you’ll need to get eight bales from the hayloft in each of the other two barns—and sweep up when you’re done. It should take you about an hour for all three, so come find me when you’re done, and then I can show you where everything is for cleaning the stalls. Any questions?”
Yeah, what will you be doing?
She shook her head, wondering if she could handle this; she’d barely been able to budge that hay bale before. And, it was bad enough she had to go into the stalls with the huge beasts, but clean them, too?
She couldn’t.
She opened her mouth, fully prepared to tell him to forget it, but one look at his face stalled the words. A gleeful sparkle in his eyes told her he fully expected her to give up before she even began. Game revealed, his expression challenged her more than if he’d told her outright that he didn’t think she could handle it. She swallowed her doubt and strengthened her resolve.
“I’ll see you in an hour.”
The light in his eyes dimmed as he turned to stride away. She sent up a brief prayer for strength—and not just the physical kind, either.
After filling the grain wheelbarrow to a manageable level, she started with…she looked at the sheet again…Nobel. Filling the scoop three quarters full, she fortified herself to open the door.
The horse came forward eagerly, and she forced herself not to back away. He hadn’t hurt Colton. She peered into the stall, only to jerk her head back when the animal blew into her hair. Eyeing him, she muttered, “What? Give me a minute.”
She stretched a shaky hand toward the grain bin. The horse backed up and stood in front of the box, waiting. Relief welled up, and she dumped the grain. The horse dove his nose in and started munching, completely ignoring her. Maybe he wasn’t so scary after all.
By the third
stall, she gained some confidence and zipped right along. The hay proved to be a bit more difficult when she discovered she had no choice but to enter each stall. Still, there was only one incident where her foot got stepped on for about three seconds. Making sure it only felt broken, she fed the last horse and limped for the broom to sweep the aisle.
In the second barn, she saw with dismay that she’d used half her allotted hour already. Remembering Colton’s expression, she resolved to work faster and climbed the ladder to the hayloft in record speed. Getting the hay down was a whole other matter. She lifted on the strings of the first bale. It rocked a bit, rose about an inch, then gravity won the battle with her arm muscles.
A picture of Colton tossing the bales one handed flashed in her mind. If she’d had time, she would’ve pouted about the unfairness of it. After two more tries, she took a step back and considered her dilemma. Maybe she could roll it end for end.
That worked, but after the fourth bale, she sat down, huffing the hair out of her eyes and cursing her vanity that had prompted her to leave it loose. She now knew better for tomorrow, and who the hell cared what the ‘boss’ thought. She already needed another shower anyway.
By the time she finished with the bales, her time was almost up, and she wondered if Colton would come looking for her. She didn’t want to see his mocking grin. Deciding on another new approach, she fed the hay and grain at the same time which cut the feeding time in half. One more barn to go.
Leaving the aisle as clean as when she’d first come in, she continued to the final barn. Only after she’d rolled the hay down and loaded up the wheelbarrow did she notice Colton sitting behind a desk in an office near the entrance. As she wheeled past, he looked at his watch and a moment later she heard the scrape of his chair.
Great. She steeled herself for his criticism, but was granted a reprieve when Britt entered the barn.
“Good morning.”
Colton’s heavier footsteps slowed, then stopped as he greeted Britt. Kendra’s relief was short lived as Britt joined her. What if Britt saw her helplessness with the horses? She’d managed everything okay this far, but with her luck of late, things could change any moment.
“How’s the first day so far?” Britt asked.
“Fine,” Colton answered before Kendra could. “She’s almost finished feeding.”
“Great, I’ll help.”
Britt picked up a bale without apparent effort and carried it halfway between two stalls. It infuriated Kendra that she couldn’t do that, though when Britt glanced in her direction, she smiled. After her fib about having worked with horses before, she couldn’t let Britt see her frustrations.
“So, how do you like our horses?” Britt asked.
“They’re the best I’ve ever seen.” That was the truth. She’d never really looked at horses much before today. She was a city girl, through and through.
When they were almost done feeding, Britt halted Kendra, a piece of string from one of the hay bales in her hand. “You look like you’re getting warm, would you like me to tie your hair back for you?”
“I was planning to do that at lunch,” Kendra admitted. “Thanks.”
When Britt left to check on some mares in the client barn, Kendra gave a wistful sigh. The company while she worked had been nice. When she’d dragged out the aisle clean-up as long as she dared, she headed for the office to tell Colton she was done.
He didn’t look up until she gave a light rap on the door. She forced enthusiasm into her voice. “All done, what’s next?”
He rose without a word and joined her by the door. After a silent, critical assessment of her work, she was pleased by his frown. Because he couldn’t fault her on anything but the time.
“Follow me,” he said shortly.
Back in the first barn, he led a horse from its stall. Kendra backed to the far side of the aisle without thinking. She kept her distance, watching from the doorway as he put it in a pen outside. Then he proceeded to show her where the cleaning supplies were, filled a different wheelbarrow with the gross stuff from the stall and started out of the barn with it. Her nose wrinkled at the smells he’d stirred up.
A cough from Colton drew her gaze to his face. The jerk was trying to hide a grin. Well, what’d he expect? The stalls were disgusting! She looked down at her three hundred dollar pair of suede leather boots and wanted to cry. In about five minutes, they’d be covered in horse shit like Colton’s.
“I’ll show you where to dump the manure.”
She heard the satisfaction in his voice and made a concentrated effort to smooth her expression into indifference. The sacrifice would have to be made; she wasn’t about to quit now. After her birthday, after she inherited her trust fund, she’d make a trip to Fifth Avenue to buy a new pair.
She followed Colton as far as the door as he pushed the heaping wheelbarrow outside through two muddy puddles before reaching a pile of the gross stuff.
“Dump as close to the manure pile as possible. Let the stalls air out as you clean, then add the clean shavings at the end. I’ll take the horses out while you get started.”
At least he didn’t expect her to do that. He turned around, and she hoped the distance between them made her grimace pass for a smile of acknowledgment. Back inside the barn, she loaded the wheelbarrow as he had, then set the fork thingy aside. Pitchfork, he’d called it. And I know just where I’d like to pitch it, she thought, lifting on the handles of the wheelbarrow.
It didn’t budge. “Stupid idiot,” she mumbled under her breath. Now she’d have to take some off so she could lift the darn thing. Or…she could ask Colton for help.
Not a chance. She reached for the pitchfork.
“Look out.”
Kendra flinched at Colton’s exasperated voice behind her. He shouldered her aside, lifted the weight with ease, and strode away. She clenched her teeth in frustration and stepped back into the stall to scrape the remaining crap into a small mound. When he placed the empty wheelbarrow in front of the stall, she kept her gaze downcast. She had no desire to see his smug satisfaction.
“Maybe don’t fill it so full next time.” His dry suggestion grated on her nerves.
She raised her chin to glare at him. “Ya think?”
He grinned. “Yeah, I do.”
She pictured his face in the wheelbarrow with each toss of manure, but it didn’t make her feel any better. As he led the last horse out, she asked, “I have to do all three barns?” She wished she could’ve controlled the note of misery in her voice, but the question was already out.
“No, just this one and the middle one, today. A bus from the teen center comes every other day. I’ll need something for them to do later.”
He had the nerve to whistle as he sauntered away. Kendra satisfied her violent impulse by throwing herself into the work. When Britt brought her lunch, she ate quickly and went right back at it, determined to finish.
By three-thirty, she spread fragrant pine wood shavings in the final stall. As she walked down the aisle, she looked at the clean stalls that awaited the horses that evening. They even smelled nice, which was amazing all by itself. She paused, surprised by a sense of pride at what she’d accomplished. It was hard to believe she’d done it all.
Lifting her hands palms up, Kendra surveyed the blisters of proof. Just closing her fists a little hurt enough for her to inhale sharply. She closed her eyes and let her breath out with the grim reminder there’d be more to do tomorrow.
****
Colton sat at his desk, tapping his pencil rapid-fire against the surface instead of filling out the schedule in front of him. Nothing was going as he’d planned today. Starting with the groceries he’d dropped off as an excuse to wake her up and make sure she got her butt to work on time to her dogged determination to complete each job he assigned.
When Joel called him last night to explain she’d be under his supervision, he’d groaned silently. After his friend added that he suspected she was stretching the truth about her equin
e experience, Colton voiced his annoyance out loud.
It was busy this time of year, and until they hired some help, he’d taken on the extra work. Not that he minded the work itself, but he sure as hell didn’t need some woman who knew absolutely nothing about horses slowing him down and getting in his way. He’d about lost it when she strutted in with her fancy pants and those ridiculous boots this morning. If they could be called boots. No one with a lick of horse sense wore three-inch heels to work in a barn. The little thief hadn’t stretched the truth, she’d outright lied—just like she had about everything else.
He should’ve told Joel on the phone last night. Had actually opened his mouth to do just that, only to have Joel tell him what a great time they’d all had at dinner. Joel’s enthusiasm told Colton he wanted these sudden additions to his family. And he didn’t want to be the jerk to ruin it.
Then there was Kendra’s please during their confrontation in the guest house. The desperation in her plea sucked him in. In the end, he’d strengthened his vow to watch her every move and kept his mouth shut.
Faced with more dishonesty, he was second-guessing—no, make that triple-guessing his decision. Adding to his frustration was the damn inexplicable magnetism that grew each time he saw her. This morning, one glimpse through the guest house back door at her sitting there in her midriff-baring pajamas gave him a sucker punch right to the gut.
She wasn’t even his type. Yeah, he had a type. Tall women, not short ones that barely reached his shoulder. He liked blondes, not dark-haired little waifs with brown eyes that laughed at him. A woman with noticeable curves, a little meat on her bones, not someone who most likely didn’t even top one hundred pounds from the look of the thief’s slim build.
She’d had one bare foot cocked against the leg of the stool and it disgusted him that he found her ankle sexy. And instead of the greasy ponytail from yesterday, a mass of curls tumbled down the middle of her back. Unfortunately, exactly the way he did like a woman’s hair.
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