by Em Petrova
The barn came into sight first, and his heart gave a hard lurch at the thought of walking in and receiving her glare. Too late now—he’d arrived—and he couldn’t let her work all alone. Whether or not the stubborn woman believed she needed help, he was giving it.
When he walked into the barn, she was already there, fiddling with some tack and humming softly. As he entered, she tossed him a look.
A look that stabbed right through him. He stopped dead in his tracks to stare at her. “Hi,” he said after a long minute.
“Would you mind giving me a hand with this?” She held up a bridle.
“Uh, sure.” He moved forward, not even feeling his legs, let alone his feet inside his boots. He didn’t know how he was staying upright after that look she’d given him. It was pure come-and-get-me.
Oh, he’d come and get her—and show her just how good he could make her feel. Over and over and over again. His balls throbbed.
He stood next to her at the small workbench where she had several pieces of a new bridle spread out.
“I just conditioned all the pieces, but now I’m having trouble getting the straps into the keepers.”
He nodded, taking up one of the metal parts the strap fitted into. “New parts are tough sometimes. Did you just buy this today while you were in town?”
She paled a little. “How did you know I was in town?”
What had he said to take the roses out of her cheeks? She looked like she’d seen an unearthly spirit. “Shelby came by the field and whisked my cousin away. Said she had something important to give him.”
She nodded, a curious look on her face that he couldn’t read.
He reached for a hoof pick and gently stretched the keeper so he could wiggle the strap through.
She leaned over to look more closely. “Ohh, I never thought of doing that.”
“Had enough experience with it in the rodeo. If you just try to force it you end up wrinkling the tab and then it never wants to go through or lie flat.”
He finished the task and handed her the bridle. “It’s good quality.”
“Yes, a gift. Thank you for your help.”
Their gazes met and he felt that same dark desire rise inside him. Only this time it was accompanied by a blossom of warmth to his heart. Damn, he didn’t need to feel that again in his lifetime, not after Gabby.
But… if there ever was a worthy woman, it was Susannah Ryan.
A dog barked, alerting them that her client had arrived. She dropped the bridle to the table and rushed to the barn door. He watched her pause and draw a deep breath before stepping outside.
Meanwhile, he went to the stall of the horse he had in mind when she’d discussed this client with him. The child had walking difficulties and used a support device similar to a baby’s walker. So he had to make sure the noise of the wheels on the plank floor didn’t spook the horse. And this was one of the most gentle and generous horses he’d ever worked.
He reached into the stall, offering a treat of apple on his palm. After the horse nosed it and plucked it from his hand with its lips, he patted her nose. “You’re going to be nice to this little one, aren’t you? I know you are because you’re a good girl.”
Susannah and the little girl entered along with the mother and father. The child looked around shyly but if Ford recognized the eager gleam in her eyes of a horse lover, Susannah would too.
It was hard to keep his stare off the beautiful woman as she talked about the horses and showed the family around the barn. Then the child moved her hands in sign language.
They all looked to her.
Her mother spoke up. “Kallie wants to ride. She doesn’t speak out loud but knows how to ask for things.”
Susannah slid her gaze to Ford.
“I admit I wasn’t prepared for clients to make such a request since the brochure is clear on the services I provide and we didn’t discuss riding. If you’ll give me some time to think about how to go about accommodating you, and all the things like insurance and such…”
Her mother nodded. “Yes, we understand completely. I will say that Kallie has ridden before lots of times on my aunt’s ranch. We have her helmet and special saddle if you’d like to use them. We’re more than willing to walk beside her and support her as well. My aunt doesn’t have a lot of time to let Kallie ride, and we hoped you would be able to fill in those gaps since she’s always ready to go,” her mother said with a wide smile at her child.
“Ford and I will discuss your request and let you know.”
Ford reeled from what she’d just said. Including him in the decision was the highest flattery he could ask for. And it warmed his heart like never before. He gave her a nod. “In the meantime, maybe we can show Kallie how the horse will walk, how we lead it. Would that work?”
“Definitely,” her father said.
Ford spent a minute getting the mare out of the stall and took it by the bridle. He smiled at the child, who looked down.
“This here is my favorite horse. Her name is Donut.”
The girl’s head snapped up.
“We call her that because one day one of my cousins was munching on a donut in the barn and the mare came all the way across the paddock to swipe it from his hand.”
Kallie’s face lit with a smile and then she giggled.
Her parents exchanged a look that said they didn’t hear that sound very often. Susannah crouched by the child. “Are you ready to get to know Donut?”
She didn’t speak but it was clear she was ready. She reached up and the horse nosed her fingers as if searching for the treat it was named after.
Ford hung back while Susannah and her parents situated Kallie so she had a perfect view of the paddock outside the updated barn gate. Taking up the reins, he led the mare outside and began to walk, talking all the time to Kallie in a voice loud enough to carry.
“You grip the reins like this. Then you look out between its ears,” he pointed between them, “like it’s a windshield in a car. Now I’m going to walk Donut over to that orange cone, what do ya think?” he asked Kallie.
Clearly, she said, “Orange cone.”
“Oh my God,” her mother cried. Her father gasped in shock, and Susannah’s face blanked as if she couldn’t believe the child would have a breakthrough so quickly.
“Kallie, baby, what did you say?” her mother asked.
“Orange cone.”
“Okay, then let’s take her there.” Ford exchanged a happy look with Susannah. “To get her moving, you say ‘move on.’”
“On!” Kallie’s cry wasn’t exactly the command, but Donut was a good enough horse to obey.
Tears flowed down her parents’ faces and Susannah brushed at the corner of her eye. Even Ford’s vision blurred momentarily until he blinked quickly to clear it.
After ten spins from to the cone and back, Kallie let out a squeal of delight. They all laughed.
“This is definitely her thing,” her mother said.
“You can go ahead and book us for two sessions a week from now on,” her father added.
Ford brought the mare back into the barn. While he tucked Donut up in her stall again, he heard a gasp.
He spun, heart in his throat, prepared to see the little girl or Susannah bleeding or with a broken limb.
He raked his gaze over Susannah. She was standing with her arms out and her top drenched. Kallie was holding a juice cup and somehow the lid had fallen off and Susannah had taken a splash square on her breasts.
Ignoring the pang to his groin over a wet T-shirt on the woman he couldn’t stop fantasizing about, he hurriedly closed the stall door and rushed to the group.
“I’m so sorry,” Kallie’s mother said.
Susannah waved a hand. “It’s fine. No harm done, just a bit of juice. I’ll smell like apples and the horses will love me more.”
They laughed and apologized again on their way out to the car. Ford fiddled around the barn a bit longer, and then Susannah entered wearing a clean T-sh
irt. It was loose and worn, obviously belonging to a larger male and bearing the logo of a Texas university.
“That your brother’s shirt?” He eyed her breasts in the loose garment, longing to move in and touch her again.
She looked down as if she didn’t realize what she was wearing. “No, it’s an old boyfriend’s.”
Annoyance ripped through Ford, and he clamped his hand into a fist. Now he wanted to shred the cotton off her for another reason. Jealousy burned like a hot coal. Why?
Because he despised the thought of Susannah being with any man before or after him.
And that spoke volumes about how he felt about her.
Question was—what was he gonna do about it?
* * * * *
Susannah watched Ford begin to reverse his truck, getting ready to head back to Paradise Valley, when she remembered the chocolate.
“Ford!”
He heard her through the open window and poked his head out.
“I forgot something. Hold up.” Running back inside, she tried to think of a way to tell him how sorry she was that she’d gotten upset when he wanted to help with the therapy sessions. She really had needed the extra set of eyes and hands while working with the kids, and she was going to have to sit down and think hard about how she could afford to pay a helper. She couldn’t expect Ford to volunteer forever.
Especially since he had a home to return to sometime.
She grabbed the packet of chocolates and ran back outside, leaping the bottom two porch steps. When she arrived at his door, he gave her that crooked grin that melted her insides. She might as well be the chocolate and he the Texas sun.
Holding out the packet, she said, “This is for you.”
His gaze fell on what she was holding and his eyes registered that he was familiar with the packaging. Around the Daltons, she imagined he’d seen Shelby’s confections many a time.
He reached out to take it. “What’s this for?”
“A thank-you.” She met his gaze steadily. “I was wrong in thinking I didn’t need the help with the horses. I couldn’t have managed today without you.” She put the pack into his hand.
His gaze softened, and he gave a familiar cowboy shake of his head as if to say it was nothing. A movement she’d seen from all the men in her life, and the simple action felt a bit like a homecoming.
“And I’m sorry that I wasn’t very nice about it,” she added.
“That was on me, Susannah. Things I mean to say don’t always come out right.”
“But you meant well, and I want to thank you for it.”
His gaze roamed over her face and hair and then dropped to her top. A scowl crossed his rugged features, and she could only imagine he didn’t like being reminded of touching her that night in the truck.
Turning for the house, she threw him a wave. “Well, I’ll just grab some dinner. You’d better head on home and do the same.”
She went inside, listening to the waning sound of his engine as it got farther away. She wrapped her arms around herself and stood there a long minute, just processing everything that had happened today, from start to finish.
“Hey, twerp. You comin’ to eat?” Lee appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, looking freshly scrubbed.
“Yeah. What’s up with you? Date?”
He shot her a look as they made their way to the table. “Why would you ask that?”
“There’s gotta be some reason you took a shower and put on clothes that don’t look like you rolled in manure.”
He plopped into his seat around the long oak table, between Parker and Ryan. She was beside Rip on the opposite side with their parents at each end of the table. For as long as she could remember, this had been the seating arrangement, but she felt bad for the three boys squashed on one side, a wall of muscle covered in plaid and hair a bit too long around the collars.
“You look like three good-natured dogs.”
Next to her, Rip grunted in agreement.
“I could eat like a dog,” Parker said, digging into the bowl of potatoes.
Their momma watched them all fill their plates, a smile on her face. She loved seeing her kids fill their bellies, and it was good that she did because the boys’ appetites never seemed to die down since the day they came out of the womb demanding to be fed.
“So, Susannah, tell us all about your day. How did it go?” Her father scooped a bunch of spring peas onto his plate, and they rolled around the edge into his gravy. It wouldn’t matter—as soon as he filled his plate, he’d scoop it all into a pile.
“I caught her hugging herself. It musta been dreamy.” Lee wrapped his arms around his middle and rocked back and forth in imitation of her, and Susannah threw a spoonful of peas at him.
“You’re picking those up, Susannah,” her mother said without a beat. “So was it dreamy?”
“It was a dream come true, if that’s what you mean.”
“Maybe it was the helper who was dreamy. Oh Ford…”
For that, Lee was splattered smack in the face with a spoonful of peas. One rolled down the neck of his shirt.
“Dang it, Suz.”
She waved her spoon at him. “Ford’s just a friend and someone who helped me out. That’s all.”
“Sure, that’s why you made him your special coffee,” Ryan muttered under his breath.
“That was my way of saying thank you for lending the horses.”
“You weren’t making all the Daltons a coffee.”
“No, that would be silly.” She changed the topic. “The clients today were amazing, and one had a breakthrough already!”
They all looked to her as she excitedly recounted the afternoon with Kallie. When she looked to her daddy, he beamed at her, adding to her happiness. She’d always been a little worried that he didn’t approve of her therapy program but was just going along with it because her mother told him to.
She went on to tell her parents about the request to ride and the liabilities involved. They agreed to discuss it further.
Feeling completely happy, she polished off her plate of food and helped her mother clear the dishes. After that, the boys piled in the truck to go into town and prowl for girls. At least that was her guess at what they did there, since it was a one-stoplight town and all the businesses closed early.
Then her parents retired to the porch to share the newspaper like they always did and that left Susannah on her own.
She counted herself a strong woman, but times like these she didn’t really know what to do with herself. She stepped onto the porch, and her momma looked up over her reading glasses.
“I think I’m going to take a ride,” Susannah said.
Now that the words were out of her mouth, she realized what a good idea it was. She tucked her shirt more securely into her jeans.
“Be careful. If you’re not—”
“I know, I know,” she cut her mother off. “If I’m not back by nightfall, my brothers will come looking for me. Fat chance of that. They’re woman hunting.”
Her father chuckled and turned the page of the newspaper to the sports section. “Not a lot of selection for them. Every woman in town is married, old or under fifteen.”
“I wouldn’t put it past Parker to snatch up a child bride.” She dropped a kiss to her daddy’s scruffy cheek and then her mother’s. She jumped the porch steps again and landed on both boot heels before taking off in long strides for the barn.
With all these nice horses at her disposal, she should choose one of them to ride. But she headed straight for Wanna-Bea’s stall. The horse gave her a disgusted look, but in minutes Susannah had her saddled and moving into the open field.
At first, the stubborn horse wouldn’t do more than meander, but after some stern handling, Susannah got her head straightened out and urged her down the trail. She’d ridden it a few times since Ford had smoothed the rough spots. But never with Wanna-Bea, and the horse wasn’t very cooperative even with more solid footing to travel.
When S
usannah’d had enough of her horse’s antics, she dismounted and let her graze while she dropped into a spot of sun to relax. She stretched out her legs and tipped her head back to look at the sky.
Instead of blue and puffy white clouds, she saw stars popping out. She was sure a few were part of the constellation Taurus, which Ford had pointed out.
She groaned. The man was more like her stubborn horse than anything, so why was she so fixated on him? She definitely wasn’t desperate for male attention—she was good on her own, confident in herself and her plan in life right now.
But spending time with Ford—or catching a glimpse of one of his rare smiles—sent her into a tizzy every time. She wondered if he’d eaten his chocolates yet, and if so, if he’d come back to the ranch asking for her to take a ride with him…
She lay back on the grass, hooked her arm under her head and listened to Wanna-Bea crop grass nearby. The evening birds were in full song, and the wind sowed through the high grasses.
Her horses gave a loud snort right before something plopped onto Susannah’s chest.
She opened her eyes to find a shadow over her, the huge man blocking out the sky.
She bolted up and grabbed at whatever Ford had tossed at her. “What are you doing here?” She held up the item, a piece of cloth, and unrolled it to see it was a T-shirt.
Her stomach tingled. “What is this?” Her throat dried out on the words.
He squatted, bringing his face close to hers—dangerously close. So close she could lean in and kiss him with barely any effort.
“Now you can get rid of your old boyfriend’s T-shirt.”
“Who…” She wet her lips and tried again. “Whose is this?”
He looked deep into her eyes. “It’s mine.” Then he slammed his mouth over hers. Delivering the taste of man and desire, he swept his tongue over hers again and again.
Oh God.
He’d come back to give her a T-shirt to replace her ex’s and to kiss her senseless? Okay, not only senseless—until she was gasping. Burning.
She clutched at his shoulders, angling her head and accepting all the passion he would give.