Page 3 of A Rancher's Bride
Luke blinked, not sure where the conversation had gone. “Help? With what?”
Kelli slid the rest of the way around to stand beside him, smirking as if she knew a secret. “Is it past your bedtime?” she teased. “Awfully late for somebody old like you to be up.”
He folded his arms over his chest and glared. “Don’t be rude. What’re you talking about?”
Pepper chose that moment to complain. While he and Kelli were still standing in the pen with her, neither of them was giving her any attention. Like horses the world over who wanted to criticize, she made her point by shifting her balance and pressing her considerable weight toward them.
Luke twisted out of the way before he could be trapped against the stall boards. Kelli ducked under the horse’s belly, popping up on the other side and climbing until she sat on the top divider.
They grinned at each other.
Then Kelli got that look in her eyes. The one that said she was getting ready to ask for a favour—also known astormenting him until he gave in.
“I want to help with Pepper. You know I can do it. I bet she’d love for me to train her.”
Luke examined Kelli closer. The petite woman was perched on the wooden barrier like some kind of barn pixie. After eight years of working at Silver Stone she was as much a part of the place as the rest of the crew, and as familiar as his brothers. Shewasgood with the horses. Damn good.
Considering the goal of training Pepper was to make her a good mount for the owner’s daughter, who probably weighed about what Kelli did—
Only he was still responsible. “Yes, you can help, but not yet.”
The excitement on her face flashed and faded quickly as he spoke. “What does that mean?”
“It means you have work to do for Ashton, so you’re not going to be available all the time, anyway. Plus, as much as you insist Pepper likes you, she’s not ready for different people to be getting on her back.”
Kelli nodded, thoughtful agreement in her expression. “But you’ll let me help when she hits the next stage?”
“I’d love your help,” he told her honestly.
“Super.” She flipped backward into the empty stall behind them and once again his heart did this strangestop-startjolt.
“Dammit, woman,” he muttered, patting Pepper farewell before rejoining Kelli in the main walkway.
“I promise I’ll do good job,” Kelli assured him.
“Just don’t go skipping out on your other tasks trying get to helping me sooner,” he warned.
The eye rolling commenced again.
“As if,” she snarked. “You really think Ashton would let me get away with that? Even if you think I’m dumb enough to try it in the first place, which I’m not.”
He wouldn’t have been surprised to see her stick out her tongue at him like his niece Sasha.
But, no, even though at times she seemed younger than the twenty-six years he’d seen on their payroll record, Kelli wasn’t given to high drama. Probably part of why he liked her so much.
Of all the hands who had been around Silver Stone over the years, Kelli was rock-solid. Good sense of humour, good work ethic—
Damngood with horses. Even now she was blowing kisses at all the stock as she walked ahead of him, pausing to say hello and offer pats and treats to every beast she passed.
Then she was gone, headed off to her rooms on the west side of the bunkhouse. Luke glanced around, but it was pretty much him and the ranch dogs that were waiting to see if he did anything exciting.
He offered them a pat on the head and a scratch behind the ears but kept walking, headed away from the main ranch house and toward the place he’d been building for the last couple of years. The house that had taken so long because his fiancée Penny had been shit at making decisions and sticking to them.
Their relationship had finally fallen apart back in late August, to his unconfessed relief. He still didn’t know what Penny really thought about him calling their engagement off, but he doubted she was pining for him or anything. They hadn’t had that type of relationship.
Still, it felt weird to think he nearly had a finished house of his own. Over the past four months, since he hadn’t needed to spend time with his fiancée, or get everything approved by her, or change things because she’d changed her mind, he’d been able to get tons done on the place.
Funny how that worked. Time on his hands, no one else to have to run decisions by. It made the work go a heck of a lot faster.
