Page 77 of The Cowgirl's Secret Love
“Thank you for my bit of wilderness,” she said. “It’s really sweet you’ve picked that up again. Bringing me flowers.”
She settled into his lap, hands on his collar.
“I still remember you telling me how not being able to ride meant not getting to see some of your favourite parts of the ranch as they went into bloom.” He pulled her closer and nuzzled against her neck.
“The first morning, when I found that crocus on my second-storey windowsill, I thought the pixies had come to visit.” She breathed in slowly, eyes closed as she brushed their lips together. “I’m not prone to flights of fancy.”
“Damn near needed to fly to get up there,” Finn told her. “That apple tree still outside the window at Whiskey Creek?”
“Don’t think you’d be paying me any visits the way you are right now, Hopalong.”
He stared at her lips, hunger for more than lunch rising. “You’d be surprised what a motivated man can accomplish.”
She laughed before giving him the sweetest kiss for his labours. Sweet that turned into a full-out, enthusiastic Karen kiss which involved full body contact between her breasts and his chest, distracting him hard.
Dear God. That wasn’t the only thing that was hard.
“I’m game to retest this kitchen table for stability,” he offered.
She skipped out of reach, digging into the refrigerator and placing items on the counter for lunch. “Hold that thought. I’m starving.”
“Me too,” he growled with as much innuendo as possible.
That triggered a laugh. They fell into the rest of the meal with an easy companionship. Karen seemed a lot more lighthearted than she had been lately, and he was glad.
They headed to Silver Stone, and she caught him up on what he’d missed that morning in the yard and gave an update on one discovery. “You know the supplies we were short on when the last shipment arrived? The stuff the construction crew has been complaining about?”
“Did they show up?”
She shook her head. “Not the missing stuff. The replacement order came in. Zach and I got to chatting with the delivery guy. He was trying to figure out what on earth we were doing that required so many support joists and toilet seals. He swears he dropped them all off. Said someone would’ve signed for them.”
Finn nodded. “We already checked that. That’s one problem with having so much going on at the same time. Somebody did sign, but we can’t read the signature. What the heck would they have done with all that stuff, anyway?”
A gentle shrug lifted her shoulders. “I don’t know. Sell it on the black market?”
“I never knew there was such a call for toilet seals,” Finn said dryly. “I suppose it’s possible we got somebody with sticky fingers with the rapid hiring we did. We’ll get Cody to keep a closer eye on things.”
She turned down the driveway at Silver Stone, parking expertly in a space right outside the barn. “In the meantime, Zach estimates we’re closing in on a third of the way done. Most of the outbuildings are to lock up, which means the entire place looks like some bad Western B movie, without the false fronts on the plain-board buildings.”
“Somebody else gets to decide how to make them pretty,” he reminded her as he pushed open his door and gingerly lowered himself to the ground.
“Zach said he got some good ideas when he talked to Julia a while ago.” She motioned him toward the arena. “I’ll go grab Ashton and tell them we’re ready. Oh, and I’ll find Dandelion.”
She took off with a skip in her step.
He tried not to dwell on the fact he was tottering along at a snail’s pace. By now the whole crutch thing should be getting easier, and it was, in terms of balance and his muscles not aching like crazy.
Having to use them in the first place was getting old, and he still had three weeks left before the doctor said hemightbe set free.
Finn looked around the yard for a while, activity in all the nooks and corners like any well-run operation. Voices echoed along with the sounds of animals, and over it all lay a thick sense of peace. The familiar noises soothed something inside him.
He missed having a working ranch.
“You look ready for a drink.” Josiah Ryder stepped from the barn, a small white bundle of fluff cradled in his arms. He leaned on the railing beside Finn as he looked him over. “Maybe a double.”
“Feeling better than I have in a while.” Finn motioned for Josiah to pass over the kitten. “What are you doing here?”
Josiah gestured toward the three horses being led from the barn. “A bunch of tasks for Ashton. Then Lisa and I are staying for dinner. Her dad’s in town tonight.”
