Page 13 of Stealing Kisses

“And what about mice? Or snakes?” he asked.

“We have barn cats to take care of the mice, and it’s too cold out for snakes this time of year. Nothing to worry about,” she said, flashing a happy, reassuring smile his way. The fact Baylinwas happy all of a sudden, maybe evengleeful,did the opposite of reassuring Teddy.

He held his tongue for the rest of the drive.

In reality, sleeping on the ground, under the stars, with all God’s creatures, wouldn’t have worried Teddy. He’d grown up in Watson, Louisiana, a small town not unlike Green Hills, Oklahoma, where boys hunted and fished and ran around the countryside with their brothers and buddies every chance they could.

The only difference between where he’d come from and where he stood in that moment? Alligators…there weren’t any alligators to wrestle in southeast Oklahoma.

Were there?

“Baylin?”

“Yeah?”

They’d arrived and parked the truck in the garage. He’d grabbed his bags and moved to follow her into the house.

She stopped on the stoop, blocking his path, and turned an innocent, yet inquisitive eye his way.

“Are there alligators in Oklahoma?”

“Sure, in some rivers and streams, but they tend to stay south and east of here.”

“Great,” Teddy muttered under his breath.

“Barn’s that way,” she said with a little head tilt toward the massive, rather hard to miss, red building about thirty yards from the house. “Goodnight.”

Baylin went inside and closed the door.

He heard the deadbolt lock click into place.

And then she turned out the lights. All the lights.

Is a sassy red-headed vixen more dangerous than a cold-blooded reptile?

He chuckled at the thought.

No tour of the barn, noI’ll see you tomorrow,no anything at all.

Standing on the stoop of her side entrance in the pitch dark of night, Teddy tried to remember the last time he’d felt such an encouraging wave of anticipation.

As he trudged to the tall red barn, a smile planted itself on his face.

Baylin O’Casey was just his type of challenge, the kind of puzzle he liked to solve.

Thinking back on their encounters throughout the day, his smile grew to a full-fledged grin.

However long it took to see Boxy repaired promised to be an interesting, unpredictable adventure.

The barn turned out to be the first curveball…

Teddy rolled back one of the heavy doors to reveal a first-rate barndominium.

A gigantic green tractor monopolized the center of the building, with a couple of smaller tractors and two ATVs parked down the left side. An office, an equipment and supply room, and open tack storage lined the right side.

Teddy followed the sound of gentle nickers and neighs to discover three horse stalls and a series of working pens, each with doors opening to the pasture behind the barn.

“Your owner is something else,” Teddy told the first horse, the chestnut mare Baylin had been riding that morning. Feisty — like her master — the ginger-coated beauty gave an annoyed sigh as Teddy moved to her side so she could see him better. When she’d settled, he lifted a gentle hand to pet her neck and shoulder. The iron nameplate on the front of her stall introduced her as Penelope. “Are you a loyal and faithful steed?” he asked the horse. “I bet so,” Teddy cooed to the beast. “I bet Baylin instills that in everyone she meets, man and farm animal alike. She really issomething else.”

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