One to Leave (One to Hold 5)

“Careful around Freckles.” The familiar voice stopped me in my tracks. I spun around to see Stuart coming out of the brown and white horse’s stall. “She spooks easily.”

“Thanks for the warning.” I tried to keep my voice calm as I waited for him to close the door. He held an oval-shaped brush and a comb, and he seemed to be keeping his eyes on those items and not me. “Were you grooming your horse?”

“Just checking him out.” He continued past me into what I assumed was the tack room. I followed. He nodded in my direction. “That’s some hat.”

“Elaine loaned it to me.” Inside I was flying, and I was far less freaked out than I’d been last night. At least now I was welcome, and I wasn’t lying to everybody.

He put the brush and comb on a shelf and turned back to the door. Looking up, he seemed surprised I was behind him. Was it possible I threw him off balance, too? Doubtful, but it was encouraging to imagine.

“Patrick said your uncle had something for me to do in the barn?”

Stuart’s did a fast, tingling sweep of my body, and got caught momentarily around my legs. Now those smoky hazel eyes held mine, flooding heat to my lower half.

“Bill went into town.”

“Oh. I must’ve misunderstood him.” Or not. I had a pretty good idea what my new bestie and her fiancé were up to sending me in here. “Do you need help?”

Stuart cleared his throat and straightened, rubbing his palm across his toned midsection. The grey tee he wore stretched across his broad shoulders, and his faded jeans hung sexy around his waist. The same tan cowboy boots were on his feet as from last night, and I wished he had a hat to complete the outfit. He looked so good, my mouth watered.

“I was just brushing down the horses, checking their coats for any lumps or swelling.”

I picked up an oval brush the size of my hand. “Which ones are left?”

“I’m finished.” He looked at me only briefly before averting his gaze to the wall and taking a turquoise halter off a peg. “Ranger was the last one.”

Looking over my shoulder, I counted eight horses in the barn. “What time did you get out here?”

He stepped out of the small room, and I caught the scent of soap and cedar in his wake. It was a warm, masculine scent I immediately loved.

“I wake up early, so I came out and got started.”

He was headed to the Appaloosa’s stall, and I noticed the slightest hitch in his gait. Frowning, I hurried to catch up with him.

“Did you hurt yourself?”

My question seemed to irritate him. “No.”

“Sorry. I just... you’re limping.”

He stopped and leaned against the stall, looking down on me. His expression seemed angry, and a mixture of fear and excitement tickled in my stomach. “I’m not limping,” he growled.

My mouth dropped open. Why was he lying to me? I studied his back as he entered Freckles’s stall and slipped the halter over her head. His muscular lines appeared and disappeared through the thin fabric of his shirt as he moved around the horse. Chewing my lip, I stepped back as he led her out and toward the tack room where we’d just been.

“Come here, and I’ll show you how to scrape the hooves.”

I followed him to where he left the horse standing while he retrieved a metal hook from inside the small room. Then he stood beside the large animal and patted the front of her shin. Her leg bent in response, and he caught her foot in his hand. My lip caught in my teeth at the deep line in his triceps.

“Get closer and look at this.”

Stepping closer to him, I could feel the heat of his body against my torso. Shimmers of electricity seemed to pass between us as I tried to concentrate on what he was saying.

“This triangle here is the frog.” He pointed with one long finger that I could only imagine touching me in very naughty ways. I suppressed a sigh. “If you hit that, it’ll hurt her and she’ll kick you.”

I straightened beside him, and he glanced up at me with a look that melted my insides. “I don’t want to get kicked,” I said softly.

He scraped the hook down the horse’s hoof along the sides toward the rounded front then he stood in front of me again. His back was to the horse, and we were so close our breathing seemed in sync.

“Never mind, I’ll take care of this.” He spoke low, and longing moved through me. I wanted to step forward into his arms.