LITMIR.BIZ

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in ages from four to ten, were taken care of. Sometimes her dad would say he cheated her out of a childhood, but Amberley never felt that way. She had her horse, Montgomery, and her family, and until she’d turned eighteen, that was all that had mattered.

      Amberley understood why she was nervous about this new guest. The city guy had rented a danged Ford Mustang to drive around in this rugged Texas landscape. She could see the sports car parked next to the guest house that Clay had assigned him.

      The Flying E was a sprawling ranch built in the heyday of Clay Everett’s Professional Bull Riding career. He’d been at the top of his game until a bull named Iron Heart had thrown him. Clay had had a few ups and downs, but landed back on his feet and started a new career as CEO of Everest, a company that provided ironclad cloud infrastructure to companies. Amberley was the first to admit she had no idea what that really was, but it made Clay a nice fortune and enabled him to employ her as his full-time horse master.

      She took care of the stables on the Flying E, provided lessons to locals from Royal and the surrounding county and made sure any guest of the Everetts had access to horses. The ranch itself was sprawling, with a large mansion for the main house and several smaller guest houses. Amberley lived in a cottage that suited her to a T. She’d always wanted her own place and lots of ranch land, something that was beyond the budget of a simple barrel racer like herself. So living on the Flying E and working for Clay gave her the best of both worlds.

      She took another look at the sports car.

      City guy.

      As a teen, she’d watched shows like Gossip Girl and longed to be in Manhattan, though she’d have stuck out like...well, a sore thumb, but she had liked the fantasy of it.

      So perhaps it wasn’t quite so surprising that this man was making her curious before she’d even met him.

      “Are you going to knock or just stand here all day?” Cara asked as she stood in front of the guest cabin that had been assigned to Will. The cabin itself was really a sprawling three-bedroom cottage that was all natural wood and glass.

      Cara was seventeen and also worked on the ranch with Amberley, as her apprentice. She’d brought the teenager with her to meet Clay’s new guest to be sure Amberley didn’t do anything...well, stupid.

      “Yeah. I was just waiting for the music to die down a little.”

      “I don’t think it’s going to,” Cara said. “I thought he had a baby. You’d think the old dude would put on some headphones.”

      “You think he’s old?”

      Cara raised both eyebrows at Amberley. “Most def. He’s got a kid, right? So, I’m guessing he must be old—”

      “Geez, kid, back in my day we had to boot up a big old DOS machine and wait half a day for our computers to start working.”

      The voice was deep and rich, like the faux bass line in White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army,” and Amberley felt a blush starting at her chest and working up over her cheeks as she turned to look at him. Their eyes met. His were forest green and made her think of the meadow she rode past each morning on her dawn ride on Montgomery.

      There was a sardonic note in his voice that she totally got.

      He wasn’t old.

      He wasn’t old at all.

      He wore a faded MIT T-shirt that clung to his shoulders and lean stomach. He had on a pair of faded jeans that hung low on his hips, and as she glanced down at his feet she noticed he had on Converse sneakers.

      He was exactly what she’d been fearing and, if she was honest, secretly hoping he would be.

      “You don’t look too bad for your age,” Amberley said. “I’m Amberley Holbrook, horse master, and this is my apprentice, Cara. Clay asked me to introduce myself and let you know that the stables are available for your use.”

      “Thanks,” he said, holding out his hand to Cara. “Will Brady. Ancient one.”

      “Geez, dude, I’m sorry. I was just being mouthy. My mom has been warning me about that forever,” Cara said.

      “It’s all right. I probably do seem ancient to a high schooler.”

      Cara shook his hand. Amberley wiped her hands on the sides of her jeans and took a deep breath and then their hands met. His skin wasn’t dry and rough, the way so many of the hands of the men on the ranch were. They were soft, and as she looked down she noticed that his nails were neat and intact, not split from accidentally smashing one with a hammer.

      She rubbed her thumb over his knuckles and then realized what she was doing and dropped his hand.

      “Anyway... Come over to the stables anytime. I’ll have to observe you riding before I can clear you to ride alone.”

      “No problem. I’ll probably stop by this afternoon,” he said. “I have a conference call with the sheriff this morning.”

      “Is this about Maverick?” Cara asked. “I heard you were in town to stop him.”

      Will shrugged and gave her a self-deprecating smile. “Just going to see what I can find on the internet to track that SOB down.”

      “I know we will all be glad for that,” Amberley said. “I’m pretty much always at the stables, so stop by anytime.”

      Cara arched one eyebrow at Amberley but kept her mouth shut, and they turned and walked back toward the stables. She tried to tell herself that he was just a guy...but she knew that he was so much more than that.

      * * *

      Amberley wasn’t the kind of woman who had time for gossip or staring at hot guys. Yet she’d found herself riding by his place for the last two mornings hoping for a glimpse of him. Instead she’d had a conversation with Erin Sinclair, Will’s nanny, and she’d even cuddled his cute daughter, eleven-month-old Faye.

      Will had called down to the stables earlier to say he was going to come by for a ride, but he wasn’t sure when the computer program he’d been running would be done. So it could be anytime between now and sunset. She was trying to focus on the work she had to do. There were horses to tame to the saddle, and she liked it that way. She’d always preferred animals over people. They were easy to predict, she thought. She’d grown up in a very large family, and the thought of having her own, well... She liked kids and men, but having to take care of her own brood made her break out in hives.

      “You have to admit he’s hot,” Cara said. “Not old at all.”

      “He’s a city slicker who probably can’t tell a horse from steer. Who has time for that?” Amberley asked.

      She and Cara were both grooming horses for the newcomers so they’d be able to take a ride around Clay Everett’s ranch and get the lay of the land. When Cara had asked Amberley if she could help her out at the ranch, her gut instinct had been to say no. After all, what exactly did she have to teach the high school girl, but Cara had been insistent and one thing had led to another, and now she was in the barn grooming horses with a chatty seventeen-year-old.

      “I’m just saying if a guy like that looked at me—”

      “Your boyfriend would be jealous,” Amberley said. Cara was dating one of the varsity football players.

      “Yeah, he would be. For now. Next year he’ll be gone and I’ll be... I don’t know where I’ll be. Did you ever wish you’d gone to college?” Cara asked.

      Amberley thought about it. At seventeen she’d wanted to get as far away from Texas, her siblings and the ranching life as she could. She’d wanted a chance to be on her own. But her family hadn’t had the money for college and, to be honest, Amberley had only been an okay student. No one had been offering her any money for school and this job with Clay had come along at the right time. She’d met his foreman when she’d been rodeoing during her early teens and he’d offered the job.

      It hadn’t

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