LITMIR.BIZ

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that came for living with a father whose every word was scented with whiskey, who moved around her as if she existed in a different space. As if she wasn’t even there.

      But who needed warm milk and itchy tights and whatever the hell else came with being hovered over for your entire childhood? She’d rather have freedom and the pounding of a horse’s hooves on arena dirt.

      Or on the soft soil of the Garrett family ranch, which was what she had today. Which meant it was a damn good day. She had to be at the Farm and Garden for work in a couple of hours, so she would have to cut the ride shorter than she’d like. But any ride was better than none, even if she’d rather keep going until her face was chapped from the wind and her lungs burned.

      The sun was getting high in the sky and she knew it was time to haul ass back. She grimaced and slowed her horse, Roo, turning sharply, as she would if they were going around a barrel, before picking up the pace again on the way out of the loop and galloping back in the direction she’d come.

      Wind whipped strands of dark hair into her eyes and she cursed her decision to leave it loose. So maybe nobody yelled at her for letting her hair get tangled, but in the end she had to comb it out and that was always a pain.

      She would braid it before work. Because when she’d gotten her horse ready to be put away, she wasn’t going to have time to get herself looking pretty. Not that she needed to be particularly pretty to man the counter at the Farm and Garden.

      She would settle for not looking homeless.

      She slowed Roo as they approached the horse barn, and she dismounted, breathing hard, the early-morning air like a shot of ice to her lungs on every indrawn breath. She led the horse inside and removed her bridle, then slipped on a halter and looped the lead over a hook. She didn’t even bother with tying a quick-release knot on Roo when they were at home. She knelt down and loosened the girth on the saddle before taking it off completely, along with the bright blue blanket underneath. In spite of the chilly air that marked the shift from summer to fall, Roo had worked up a sweat during the ride.

      She pulled the towel off a nearby rack and wiped Roo down, making sure she was dry and that the saddle marks were removed. Then she took her bright yellow pick out of the bucket and ran her hand down Roo’s leg, squeezing gently until the horse lifted her foot. She picked out any rocks and mud that had collected during the ride, humming softly as she did. She repeated that step on the other three legs and was nearly finished when she heard footsteps on the ground behind her, followed by her oldest brother’s voice.

      “You’re up early, Katie.”

      “I wanted to get a ride in before I headed to work. And if you call me Katie one more time, I’m going to stick this pick in your eye.”

      Connor only smiled at her threat, crossing his arms over his broad chest, his wedding band catching her attention. In the seven months since he and Liss had gotten married, it had stayed shiny. It was some kind of metal designed to break if it got caught on anything, since ranch work was dangerous for men wearing jewelry.

      She liked the reminder, though. The reminder that he was happy again. Connor had spent way too much time buried in the depths of his grief, and Liss had finally been able to lift him out of it.

      As an added bonus, Liss had allowed Kate to wear jeans and boots to the wedding. Which was more than her future sister-in-law, Sadie, was letting her get away with for her and Eli’s upcoming mammoth nuptials.

      “Sorry, Kate,” Connor said, his smile getting wider.

      “You’re cheerful this morning,” she observed, finishing with Roo’s last hoof before straightening.

      “I’m pretty much cheerful all the time these days.”

      “I’ve noticed. Which is more than I can say for your wife.”

      “Her ankles are swollen. It’s all my fault,” he said, but he didn’t look at all abashed. In fact, he looked rather proud. Love did weird things to people. It was kind of strange being surrounded by it like she was now.

      Watching both of her older brothers fall fast and hard.

      And she was just alone. But then, she was kind of used to that. And she liked it. She wasn’t beholden to anyone. It was secure. It was familiar.

      Anyway, it made for a lot of free time available to ride her horse.

      “Yeah, she makes a good case for staying far away from marriage and pregnancy—” Kate tucked a strand of hair behind her ear “—what with all the complaining.”

      “Suits me just fine if you stay away from it for now,” Connor said. “Nobody’s good enough for you anyway.”

      “I don’t know about that. But I haven’t met anyone with the balls to keep up.” That wasn’t strictly true. It was more true to say she hadn’t done any serious looking.

       Really?

      She gritted her teeth and ignored that thought.

      “That doesn’t surprise me. What time do you get off?” he asked.

      “Pretty early.”

      “Are you coming out for poker?”

      She was usually invited to the family game these days, after years of them behaving as though her presence stifled conversation. No matter whether she was three, thirteen or newly twenty-three, Eli and Connor looked at her like she was a child. Of course, Sadie and Liss weren’t much better.

      And Jack was pretty much the worst.

      She ignored the slight twist in her stomach when she thought of her brothers’ friend.

      “Isn’t it my night to bring dinner?” she asked.

      He leaned against the barn wall. “That’s one reason I was making sure you’re coming. If not, I was going to have to cook something.”

      “By which you mean opening a frozen pizza box?”

      “Yes. Because that is the extent of my skills and if I ask Liss to cook anything right now, I’m going to end up with a ladle shoved up where the sun don’t shine.”

      Kate winced. “Well, out of concern for your...that, I promise to bring dinner.”

      He pushed away from the wall. “Excellent. See you tonight.”

      She hesitated before asking the next question. But she did need to know. “How many of us will there be?”

      Connor screwed up his face, clearly doing mental math. “Six counting you.”

      So that meant everyone was coming. Which wasn’t all that remarkable. It was more common than not. Considering that, her stomach should not have felt the way it did when she took an extra-sharp barrel turn while riding Roo.

      “I might bring fish and chips from The Crab Shanty.”

      “You don’t have to do that. It’s expensive. And greasy.” He paused for a moment. “You realize that expensive was the negative and greasy was the positive.”

      She waved a hand. “I’m sick of pizza. I’ll spend my money however I damn well please. Anyway, I still have some cash from my last win.” The purse for the last amateur barrel racing event she’d won hadn’t been very big, but it had been enough to continue giving her the luxury of working part-time at the Farm and Garden while she kept honing her skills.

      It was too expensive to jump into the professional circuit without the ability to back it up.

      “Fine. Spend your money on seafood. In which case, I’ll take the lobster, thanks.”

      “Liss isn’t the only one who might stuff things in places, Connor. I’d watch it.”

      He reached out and mussed her hair, like she was a damn toddler. Or a puppy.

      “Watch it, asshole,” she grumbled.

      “Sorry, did

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