Ace High (Lost Creek Rodeo #6) - Heather B. Moore Page 0,14
but the things that had transpired between him and Kellie. He wasn’t sure how to read into them, or if he should be reading into them at all. She’d hugged him in a moment of duress. But there had been other touches, casual touches. And then she’d taken his hand in the truck at the end of the night. Not to mention her comment about Brad.
Lars could admit, along with any of the Original Six, that the name “Brad” was like a curse word in their small group. Yet, Kellie hadn’t been open about any of the details. He just knew Brad had decided monogamy wasn’t his thing.
Lars didn’t really need to know any more, so he’d been surprised at Kellie’s vulnerability last night. It made him want to track down her ex and teach him a few things. Like how to be there for a woman.
Kellie didn’t deserve this much pain, and Lars had probably only seen the surface of it. He was more impressed with her than ever. She was always giving, always helping, always working, focusing on everyone else around her. Never herself.
His phone pinged with an incoming email while he was nearly finished mucking out the horse stalls. He paused in his work, pulled out his phone, and glanced at the subject line of the email: In Debt? We Can Help!
He was about to send it to trash, but then he read the first few lines. The address of the Montana Ranch was in the email. How did this debt collector have his email and the ranch address? A warning bell went off in his head, so he called his brother.
“What’s up?” Braden asked, his breathing heavy.
“What are you doing? Running a marathon?”
“No, couldn’t find my phone for a second.”
“Hey, I got this weird email from a debt collector,” Lars said. “Know anything about that?”
“Uh, no,” Braden said immediately. “Why would I? It’s spam. Delete it.”
Lars felt relieved. “Okay, good to know. I thought it was weird they had the ranch address on it.”
“The spammers are just getting smarter.”
“True,” Lars said. “How’s everything else going?”
“Oh, fine. Staying busy like usual. Hey, I should go, daylight’s wasting.”
Lars chuckled. “Yep. Talk later.”
From outside the barn, he heard the four-wheelers returning, so he headed out. Kellie and Robyn parked next to each other, then turned off the engines.
“Well, hello there, Mr. Jackson,” Robyn said. “You look like you could use a shower.”
Lars looked down at his less-than-clean appearance. “You might be right about that, ma’am.”
Robyn laughed. “I usually am. Just make sure you clean up before dinner. We’ve got something special planned.”
“Is that so?” Lars shifted his gaze to Kellie.
Her blonde braids had caught the brilliance of the sun, and he tried not to admire the fit of her cut-off shorts too much. But it was hard to ignore her athletic legs and how perfect she looked in her white cowboy hat and brown boots. He kept his focus on her eyes, which matched her light blue shirt exactly. “I guess you remembered your hat this time.”
Kellie’s smile was quick. “Sure did.” She moved with Robyn to the barn entrance.
“Anything else you ladies need before I go hit the shower?” he asked both women, although his gaze wasn’t straying too far from Kellie.
There was something in her expression, something in her eyes, that was beyond their usual, casual relationship. Something had shifted. He couldn’t pinpoint it, or name it, but Kellie’s blue eyes seemed to be looking straight into his soul. He wished to all that was holy that he could read her thoughts right now. Because he was pretty sure they were about him, if her perusal of him was any indicator.
“I can’t think of anything,” Robyn chirped. “You’ve been around all day, though. Don’t you have to train or something before your ride tonight?”
Lars dragged his gaze from Kellie, and focused on Robyn. “I could do the ride in my sleep.”
“Ho boy,” Robyn burst out. “A man with confidence, I like that.”
Lars chuckled. “I think confidence was the number one requirement when I decided to ride saddle bronc.”
“Well, I for one will be cheering you on tonight.” Robyn stepped past him, heading into the interior of the barn, which would offer some shade on the way back to the ranch house. “Good luck, sir!”
“Thank you,” Lars said sincerely.
Robyn flashed a smile and headed through the barn.
It was just him and Kellie now.
“You all right?” He didn’t need to specify what he was referring to.