“Yeah?” Sam wiped his hands on his napkin. “How’d she do?”
“Okay, I guess. She sang him a lullaby.”
Chad erupted in laughter. “You’re kidding.”
“He’s not kidding,” Sam said. “It’s an old Irish lullaby our mama used to sing. It seems to work on bulls. At least it works for her.”
Chad rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say.”
Zach continued. “She did well with him actually. He seemed to respond. Truthfully, I was the one who got a little nervous. She reached out to touch him, and I freaked.”
“Dusty has good instincts,” Sam said. “You don’t have to worry about her with the bull. After all, he’s in a pen, and she’s not stupid.”
“I know she’s not. She’s not afraid, either.”
“Nope. There’s not much that scares Dusty.”
“Why is that?”
Sam fidgeted, but said nothing. Zach sensed a story there, but Sam wasn’t going to offer it.
“She seems intelligent, too. She did an amazing calculation in her head yesterday,” Zach said.
“Yeah, she’s a whiz with numbers,” Sam said.
Zach touched his napkin to his lips. “Tell me, why didn’t she finish college?”
“She told you about that?”
“Yeah, she said she only went for a year. Was it money?”
Sam cleared his throat. “I think it’s best if you ask her about that. It’s not my story to tell.”
“Are there problems at your ranch?” Zach asked.
“Nothing we can’t handle.”
“Look, I care about your sister. I only want to help her.”
“Care about her? You hadn’t seen her in seventeen years until yesterday.”
“I…like her.”
“Aw, geez,” Sam said. “Not you too.”
“What do you mean by that? She said she didn’t have a boyfriend.”
“She doesn’t.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“I’m just tired of chasing away her potential suitors, that’s all.”
“You mean there’s a lot of them?” A wave of possessive jealousy punched Zach’s gut.
“More than you can imagine. My baby sister’s a regular stud magnet. And she’s usually not interested, so I’m the one who has to get rid of the persistent ones.”
A thrill tingled through Zach. So she wasn’t interested in most of them, but she definitely seemed interested in him. Then again, she had run away from him twice now.