Page 101 of The Cowbears of Curvy Bear Ranch

Before she’d met him, she’d considered school her sanctuary. But he’d destroyed the last safe place she’d had in her life in the span of ten minutes. She’d gone from being invisible at school to being known as the girl who wore her mom’s 1970s moth-eaten wedding dress to prom. It was the only dress they owned. If she never saw him again, it would betoosoon.

As she plodded through the snow, she found a fresh pair of boot prints leading to the barn. Mack must have run over at dawn to take care of the horses. Regardless, she needed to check on them. If nothing else, she’d have a better idea of how many she’d havetosell.

Large red paint chips were peeling off of the dilapidated barn. Wood rot had claimed a good portion of the left side. She hoped she wouldn’t find the same condition on theright.

She circled the building. Nope. Justasbad.

The sound of a latching gate drew her into the barn. She peered into the relativedarkness.

“Hello?”

“Overhere.”

A few yards down, a man popped his head over a stall. Her stomach dropped. She’d recognize that tousled chocolate-brown hair anywhere. Logan Grant—hot, cocky, and atotaljerk.

She wanted to turn and run, but she steeled her spine instead. She wasn’t sixteen anymore and wasn’t going to let him intimidate her. She wiped her damp palms on her jeans before stuffing them into herjacket.

A long breath later, she approached the stall. She couldn’t let him see how much she still hated him. He couldn’t know how scarred she’d been by his callousprank.

“Thanks for taking care of the horses,”shesaid.

“No problem,” he called over hisshoulder.

Through the bars, she watched Logan bend down to touch a gray mare’s knee. When the horse picked up her hind foot, Logan placed it on his bent knee. With a hoof pick, he dug mud and manure out of the animal’s foot. She briefly contemplated opening the stall and shoving Logan into the mud as payback for being so mean to her when theywerekids.

“You don’t have to do that,” she said. The sooner she got rid of him, thebetter.

“It’s no bother.” After finishing the second hind leg, Logan brushed his hands across the front of his pants then looked up. He froze, his eyeswide. “Wow.”

“What?” She self-consciously glanced at heroutfit.

“Nothing. You’re just not a beanpoleanymore.”

“I gained a bit of weight afterIleft.”

More than a little bit, but who was counting? She didn’t give a shit what he thought about her now. The fluttering in her gut had nothing to do with him and everything to do with her hatred of being back on theranch.

His gaze raked down from her face past her breasts, across her hips, and down to her toes before returning to her eyes. “Being away has been goodtoyou.”

“Thanks.”

“God, I’m sorry. Where the hell are my manners? I’m sorry about your dad. He was agoodman.”

“Thanks.” She stiffened but didn’tcorrecthim.

“Are you back for good now?” heasked.

“No. I’m just clearing out his stuff and then I’m selling the ranch. I’m going back to Boise as soon as Isellit.”

“Oh, I thought maybe you’d bestaying.”

“Have you seen this place? It’s a wreck. I’m half-tempted to just burn down the house and sell the land as-is,”shesaid.

“Don’t do that. It just needs some help. Things are somewhat slow at the ranch right now. I could come over and fix a few thingsforyou.”

“That’s not necessary. I’m going to sell it as-is. The sooner I can leave, thebetter.”

“This place will fetch a good price if you make a few improvements. It shouldn’t take me longer than a week to fix up the windows and level the porch,”hesaid.

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