for us,” Freddie Jo said. “We need a man around here.”
“We need a man? Have you even heard of feminism?”
“Deny it all you want to, honey, but a little testosterone goes a long way. Aren’t you getting a little tired of lugging around hundred-pound sacks of horse feed?”
“Luke can’t lug horse feed. Not with his knee.”
“You heard what he said. Give him a few weeks, and he’ll be able to do just about anything. In the meantime, he’ll be the eyes and ears you say you need around this place.”
“No. No way. I am not hiring Luke Dawson. We have history. It wasn’t pretty. And I’d rather not go there again.”
Freddie Jo let out a weary sigh. “Okay. I hear you.”
Shannon looked away.
“No. Really. I’m sorry for pushing so hard. I know there’s bad blood between you and Luke. I don’t know the details, but I do know that just thinking about going to his daddy’s funeral freaked you out.”
And it shouldn’t have. Good heavens—eleven years had passed. She could have gone, acted like an adult, expressed her condolences, and left. Instead, she’d shied away like some kind of scared kid. It wasn’t like her not to stand up to her feelings, no matter what they were. But like it or not, even after all these years, Luke still put a twist in her tongue and a knot in her stomach.
“So forget everything I’ve said up to now,” Freddie Jo told her. “If you say it’s a bad thing to have him around here, it’s a bad thing. Send him on his way, and I won’t say another word about it. And you know I mean that.”
She did. Freddie Jo was nothing if not sincere. Still, while Shannon knew she didn’t mean to lay a guilt trip on her, that was what it felt like just the same.
“I’m going to head on back to the office,” Freddie Jo said. “You talk to Luke. Whatever you decide, I’m behind you a hundred percent.”
As Freddie Jo walked back up the path to the office, Shannon went back into the barn. Clancy had finished his grain, and Luke was standing by his stall. Clancy nudged his shoulder, and he turned and gave the horse a couple of solid pats on the neck. Light slanted through the dusty windows, bathing the side of Luke’s face in soft sunlight. Shannon’s gaze drifted involuntarily down his body. It seemed to be nothing but bone and muscle, with biceps and thighs sculpted from years of trying to stay on board animals that were doing their level best to dump him in the dirt.
“Seems like a pretty good horse,” Luke said. “What’s keeping him here?”
“We got an anonymous phone call that he’d been abandoned, and when we found him, he had a bad cut on his foreleg. Probably barbed wire.”
Luke leaned over the stall door and looked at Clancy’s front leg. “How deep is it?”
“Right down to the bone. I hate barbed wire. I’d love to get rid of it around here, but there’s never been enough money in the budget to put new fence around all this acreage.”
Luke flipped up the horse’s lip and looked at his teeth. “He’s young. Looks like a two-year-old. Saddle broke?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“Give him a week or two to heal, and then I’ll saddle him up. If he doesn’t object to that, he’s likely broke. Then I’ll hop up on him and see how he does.”
“You’re assuming you’re going to be here in a week or two.”
“That’s right.”
She walked over to where he stood. “Tell the truth. Why do you want this job? Really?”
He faced her. “Why are you considering giving it to me? Really?”
“I’m not.”
“Yeah, you are, or you would have sent me on my way already.”
“I tried to. You refused to go. I already said you didn’t get the job.”
“How long has it been vacant?”
She paused. “Almost two months.”
“How many people have applied?”
“What difference does it make?”
“How many?”
“One. He didn’t work out.”
“How many hours a day do you work?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“Ten? Twelve?”
She just stared at him.
“Okay. At least twelve. Aren’t you exhausted?”
“Not in the least.”
“Then you must be partying all night long to get those dark circles under your eyes.”
“Knock it off, Luke.”
“It’s hotter than hell in this barn, and it’s supposed to be over ninety degrees every day for the next week. Too bad these horses still have to be fed.”
“I said that’s enough.”
“I hear that bed is a sack of rocks. I’d hate for you