Chapter Five
Kate wasn’t Travis’s boss—or his anything, for that matter. But she’d sure as hell make sure he was off this farm come Sunday morning. Chelsea was due home around suppertime, and no way could the two of them meet.
But was that really what was best for her daughter? How many times had Chelsea asked about her dad only to be told he was a fellow college student who had been out of the picture by the time she was born? Kate’s stomach knotted. Was that really fair to Chelsea? To Travis?
She just didn’t know if she could upset life as she knew it. While Travis still seemed like a good man, and a responsible one, she knew next to nothing about him. He could have a wife and children down in Nashville. Then again, he’d given her looks no honorable married man would.
Again, none of her business, and she had no intention of bringing up the subject with him. She needed to think of him as the unpaid handyman he wanted to be—nothing more, nothing less.
Melissa and Miss Pickles worked tirelessly in the morning session. Her top student had hopes of winning at their third qualifying event in Ohio and going on to the Junior League and maybe even Louisville this summer.
Next came Abbie, one of her infrequent students. Having Travis watch Kate put the girl and her horse through their paces after he returned from the store to get the window pane was intimidating at first. But Kate found her focus, and they had an intense session working on a bad habit Abbie had developed of allowing her horse to duck out, or cut corners, in the arena. At the end of the session, Abbie’s mother indicated that she wanted her daughter to start showing Moonbeam this summer.
“I’ll work out a training schedule and see if there are some beginner’s classes in any regional shows for her to enter.” Kate would ask Travis to install tailboards in Moonbeam’s stall to prepare for the horse’s tail training. After all, one of the hallmarks of Saddlebred horses in the arena was their long flowing tails standing erect. She didn’t want to undo all her hard work in bracing their tail muscles by having them rub them against the walls of the stalls.
Abbie and Moonbeam had a long way to go, but with determination, they’d make it. Chelsea wouldn’t be happy to hear a riding friend close to her age was going to be doing performance competition. Kate wished she could afford a decent show horse, too, but it wasn’t going to be possible unless Kate trained or bred a world champion and her reputation went through the roof.
When Abbie led her horse out of the arena, Kate turned toward her office.
Travis stepped away from the fence rail he’d been leaning on. “You’re very patient.”
She’d somehow managed to block out thoughts of Travis during Abbie’s lesson. She’d had a lifetime of experience in shutting out things she didn’t want to deal with or face. She turned to him and smiled. “Thanks. It takes patience by the boatload some days.”
“Melissa worked hard to please you during that first session.”
“She wants to win her class in two weeks so badly I think she’d walk through fire if I asked her to.”
“When’s your next lesson?”
“Not until two. We should have plenty of time to repair the rails in that fence beforehand.”
“Sounds like a plan.” He placed his hand on his stomach. “That omelet is sitting here like a rock right now. I can use a workout.”
No doubt his abs were rock hard, too. Stop picturing his abs.
“Hey, if you think we can spare a few minutes first, I’d love a quick tour of the arena before we get to work, unless you need to eat something now.”
“I was just about to go test.” She pulled a protein bar out of her pocket. “I keep these with me when I’m on the go. I can grab one for you, if you’d like.”
He shook his head. “I couldn’t eat another bite. But if we have time after doing the repairs, how about we head to Midway and grab some lunch? I don’t want you missing any more meals on my watch.”
The last thing Kate wanted was to be seen hanging around with Travis in Midway. “Please, yesterday was a rare lapse in control. Stop worrying about me. Besides, it’s best if I eat at home, at least until my sugar’s stable again.”
“Oh, I didn’t think about that.”
“Restaurants can be a minefield.” She’d long ago grasped what to avoid when eating out, but he didn’t need to know that. Drive-through was one thing as far as visibility, but sitting in a local eatery would be too risky. Chelsea had a lot of friends from church and school as well, and she didn’t want to embarrass her daughter by having anyone asking nosy questions about the man Kate was with.
After excusing herself to go to the arena kitchen to test, she returned to his side with two bottles of water in hand, giving him one. “Thanks.” He opened it and took a drink while she watched his Adam’s apple bob.
“Your sugar okay?”
“Hmm?” She needed to stop ogling the man. “Oh, yeah. Fine.” Wanting to steer the conversation away from her health, she said, “I guess you’ve seen most of the arena while watching me teach students this morning.”
“Yeah, but I’d love it if you’d tell me about how it all came about, in case I someday have a client wanting one.”
As they walked through the arena Katie gave Travis a quick overview of the construction materials used, her choice of footing, and time frame. She even offered to show him the blueprints and specs, if he wanted that much detail.
He could talk about construction for hours, but she needed to begin the work on the fence repair. Time to move the tour along. “Let’s go up to my arena kitchen slash office slash award room.” She led him to the opposite end of the arena and up the stairs to the multifunction area. “Some of the parents with children wait here during lessons.” She pointed toward the table and chairs, but he was drawn to the trophy case.
“Impressive awards.”
“I’ve had some fine horses come out of these stables—both in breeding and training—and a number of my students have gone on to be regional winners. One even made it to the World’s Championship Horse Show last August, but didn’t ribbon in her class.”
They moved toward the case. “Who’s Chelsea?” His question caught her off guard, and she stumbled, nearly falling. “Whoa, there!” Travis caught her by the elbow to steady her, which didn’t help the alarm bells going off in her head.
“Why do you ask?” What had she missed? She hadn’t come out here yesterday when she’d been eradicating evidence in the house, but the trophy case didn’t have anything identifiable as Chelsea’s. Besides, he was still too far away to read anything in the case if by chance Chelsea had put something in there.
“Yesterday, the dispatcher asked if Chelsea was okay when I called 9-1-1. I’ve been meaning to ask you ever since who she is.”
“Oh, she’s another student of mine.” That wasn’t a lie because she had been giving Chelsea lessons since she was four. She hoped he wouldn’t wonder why the dispatcher—no doubt Sally, a friend since middle school—would only ask about Chelsea.
Breathe, Kate.
“Is she good?”
“Very. But…her mom can’t afford a competitive show horse, or the costs of competing at the level she deserves. But she’s shown at the county fair and done well. I don’t think she’s developed the fire in her belly, either, to train at the level she’d need to in order to do the show circuit.” Still, Kate trained Chelsea as hard as the others who had better horses. If Kate could ever sock away enough money to keep an excellent horse for Chelsea to compete on, not to mention pay the exorbitant costs associated with showing it, Chelsea would at least be prepared.
While Jasmine was a wonderful companion horse, conformation issues with her forelegs toeing out would never make her competitive beyond the 4-H or academy beginner’s levels. She could let her show on Chula, perhaps, but the last time Kate had sold one of Chelsea’s training mounts, it had led to more hostility from her daughter than Kate wanted to deal with.
“It’s frustrating to desire somethin
g that’s out of your reach.” His eyes smoldered as he stared at her, his gaze dipping to her lips.
Her skin started to tingle, and her mouth went dry. She knew that look. Was no topic safe between them? “Let’s load up the supplies in my truck and head out to fix that damaged section of fence.”
“We can take mine, if you’d like.”
While his truck must be a dream to drive and certainly was half a dozen years newer than hers, she balked. “I have half the supplies and my toolbox in the backseat already. And I need to be back in time for my next lesson.” Without waiting for him to argue, she started toward the house.
“Sure thing.” He fell into step beside her.
“I’m just going to grab my hat. You might want one, too, given how high the sun is.”
Twenty minutes later, they had loaded up the treated rough-cut rails and topper boards she’d creosoted last Sunday. Her cordless power tools and drill bits were already in the truck. Minutes later, they were surveying the damage. All three boards in this section had been split in half by the falling branch.
He wore a blue Kentucky Wildcats ball cap, which shaded his face somewhat. She’d picked up her straw cowboy hat to keep the sun off her face and neck.
Luckily, her hat hid her face somewhat, too, as heat crept into her cheeks as she remembered the time Travis visited one weekend at the end of spring break. They’d gone to the springhouse, ostensibly to check on fence damage from another storm. Instead, that night they’d dipped into the apple-pie moonshine her roommate Lidia had made and that Kate had stored in the springhouse. And then…
Don’t think ’bout that night now.
As they worked together carrying the boards, supplies, and equipment off the bed of her truck, Kate couldn’t help but notice the way Travis’s biceps strained. When he walked back to retrieve her drill, she was riveted by the curve of his butt filling out his tight Wranglers. She nearly stumbled twice in the next few minutes because she couldn’t take her eyes off him coming or going, but caught herself before he could wonder why she was so clumsy.
They removed the broken rails and screwed the first of three replacement ones into the creosoted posts. He insisted on setting the screws while she held the board. Her breath caught in her throat when his elbow brushed the side of her breast. She took a step back, knocking over the box of screws.
Sweat trickled between her breasts from the intense early afternoon sun, but Travis hadn’t even broken a sweat. How could he look so cool in this muggy weather?
“Sure is a scorcher today,” he said. He unbuttoned and removed his shirt, totally short-circuiting what was left of her brain. Oh yeah, he’d definitely spent some quality time in the gym. Hard, flat pecs gave way to a ripped eight-pack of abs, and all that taut, rippling muscle was covered by smooth, lightly tanned skin she longed to touch. “I didn’t bring an endless supply of shirts. Can’t have it getting too sweaty before I can do laundry,” he explained as he hung it over a post away from the area where they were working. He grinned at her wickedly as he strutted back to where she stood, fully aware she was staring.
“Feel free to use my washer and dryer if you need to. They’re in the garage.”
“Thanks.”
Travis was well-tanned so probably had little chance of getting a sunburn out here. Watching him work was a thing of beauty, but why was she acting like a teenager ogling a hunk’s beefcake poster? For all she knew, he had a woman back home who got to enjoy this sight every night. Was he divorced? Single? Of course, no harm in her looking as long as she didn’t touch. And no problem there because she had zero intention of acting out her mind’s runaway fantasies.
She tried to limit her staring and chose to cast sidelong glances his way instead. A sheen of sweat finally glistened on his chest as he measured and cut the last board. So he wasn’t superhuman and was equally affected by the heat and humidity. She held one end of the board for him as he screwed it into the post, trying not to notice the way his pecs bunched. Her battery-operated boyfriend might need some replacement batteries tonight. When was the last time she’d even had a desire to release any sexual frustration? Despite her feeble attempts to look away, like steel to a magnet, she was drawn back by his asking her to hand him another screw, a new bit, the tape measure. Every time their fingers touched, electricity sparked between them.
The sooner he put the topper boards on to finish off the repair, the better. While he didn’t need her to stand so close, Travis insisted that she hold the board long after he’d placed enough screws in it that the board wouldn’t possibly budge an inch. Again, his arm brushed against the side of her breast, and her nipple tightened in response. She prayed he couldn’t see the effect he had on her.
Kate held her breath, waiting for him to finish before she filled her lungs again. He seemed to be taking his sweet time, and she finally let go. “I’ll start packing up.”
Half a minute later, he set down the drill. “There. All done.” Travis picked his shirt off the post but didn’t put it on.
Why didn’t he wipe off the sweat, or at the very least cover his bare chest? “I have some clean, dry towels in the truck.” She picked up the saw and loaded it into the backseat of her pickup before handing him a towel.
He grinned at her in a way that told her he’d caught her looking more than once and was well aware of the effect his body had on women.
On the drive back to the house, he said, “I’ll need to take a shower while you’re giving your next lesson. I didn’t see one in the barn apartment, though. The claw-foot is nice, but I’m not much on tub baths.”
Why she hadn’t bothered to install a shower, too, was beyond her now. When she’d renovated the bathroom in the house, she couldn’t part with the antique tub and had it installed in the barn apartment. She even snuck out and occasionally took baths in it when she was feeling particularly nostalgic.
Kate tried to remember if any of Chelsea’s things had been left in the upstairs bathroom after her sweep of the house yesterday. “Let me just make sure you have some fresh towels and a washcloth first.”
He nodded. “How many lessons do you have this afternoon?”
“Just one. Melissa’s returning for another lesson to go over some problems she’s having, but it might last a little longer than ninety minutes. I should finish by three-thirty, four at the latest.”
“Great! I thought we could have a cookout tonight, but I’ll need to go to the grocery. What do you feel like eating?”
“I’ll make a list.”
“I have a good memory as long as you don’t go over twenty items.”
Impressive. “I have rib eyes and sirloins in the deep freeze and tomatoes, peppers, and squash in the garden.”
“I’ll get fresh ones since it’s late in the day to thaw them naturally. How about corn on the cob, baked potatoes—”
“I try to go easy on starches, but you go ahead and get anything you’d like.”
“Sorry. I wasn’t thinking.” The cockiness from earlier disappeared.
“I don’t expect you to remember all the finer points of a diabetic’s diet.”
“I didn’t live with my mom when she was diagnosed, but try to be aware of her preferences when she comes to visit. Why don’t we grill some steaks and veggies tonight?”
She was touched that he was so accommodating.
“Sounds delicious.” All the more so because she didn’t have to prepare and grill it. She checked in the garage and found she needed charcoal but not lighter fluid.
He grinned. “Maybe we can take that horseback ride after dinner. I’m looking forward to meeting that stallion you were talking about.”
“Always up for a ride.” He winked, which did strange things to her stomach.
Images of riding Travis flitted across her mind. Why did everything he asked or said come out with a double meaning? Because my mind is on one thing and one thing only.
She brought her focus back to him. “But if you haven’t ridden in a while, are
you sure you’re up to the challenge? Angus is far from well-behaved, and he hasn’t been ridden in ages.”
“I’m always up for a challenge, darlin’.” Somehow, she didn’t think he was talking about Angus at the moment.
Travis left for the store. Kate tested, grabbed another protein bar to tide her over until their early supper, and met Melissa in the arena promptly at two. The lesson went by fast, keeping thoughts of Travis at bay. Her energy level low from not eating a proper lunch, she called it quits promptly at the ninety-minute mark. They had plenty of time to prepare for the Junior League.
While Melissa cooled down Miss Pickles, Kate crossed the yard and came inside the house to find Travis sitting at the table chopping veggies for the grill. “I’m starving,” she said, reaching over his shoulder to grab a scrubbed button mushroom and pop into her mouth.
“Nibble on some cheese,” he said, motioning toward the counter. “You need protein.”
“Perfect.” She nibbled on a few bites of cheddar to curb her hunger. “Let me hop in the shower then I’ll help with whatever you need.” Her clothes had become soaked with perspiration, despite the arena being air-conditioned. “I had to get a little physical with Miss Pickles to show her and Melissa what I want them to do differently.”
Travis chuckled. “Sorry I missed it. I’ll start the charcoal at four.”
Having survived on protein bars all day, she was glad they’d be eating supper early. Kate went upstairs. After her shower, she tested her sugar then dressed in Wranglers and a form-fitting blouse, pausing to check out her reflection in the mirror. When was the last time she’d checked herself out like that?
You’ve got it bad, girl.
Nonsense. She simply wanted to look good for a guest.
When she returned to the kitchen, Travis was nowhere to be seen. She nibbled on some cheese until the door opened and he came in carrying an empty platter that he placed in the sink. Her mouth watered in anticipation. She hadn’t taken time to grill in a long while. She and Chelsea would have to do this more often when she came home.
Kate's Secret (Bluegrass Spirits Book 2) Page 7