do with a little extra time.
“Did my sister give you any assignments?” he asked as he started cinching buckles and such on the horse’s equipment. “Trust me, I know better than to put ranch work above the real purpose here.”
There was something adorable about the way he’d said that, and it made Brynn wish she was closer with her brothers. “No,” she told him as she laughed. “Someone had a bit of a breakdown in group session, so she just suggested we leave and give them space.”
Even that didn’t seem to take Ryan by surprise. “Fair enough. Well, do you want to do some sightseeing on the ranch? You can check out one of the ATVs if you want. Or you can help me and my cousin Holt with those new horses. Which are actually here already, we just haven’t started prepping them for tomorrow’s auction.”
“I won’t be in your way?” Brynn indicated the barn and the pen behind him. “I don’t know a thing about horses, you know.”
“Most of the guests who come here don’t know a thing about horses,” Ryan assured her. “Trust me, we’re used to dealing with that. If you want to do it, I’d be happy to have you.”
Brynn considered that, then nodded. “I’d probably get lost trying to take the ATV out. Horrible sense of direction without landmarks.”
Ryan chuckled. “We have landmarks.”
“Right,” she retorted, gesturing to the land around them. “Turn left at the anthill?”
“No, you turn right at the anthill,” he shot back. “It’s the snake hole where you turn left.”
Brynn shuddered, making a face. “What is it with you guys and the snakes? Nobody wants to know about that.”
“Perks of the ranch, darlin’.” Ryan grinned and waved her over. “Come on, we’ll give you a quick intro.”
It didn’t take long for Ryan to make her comfortable around all of the horses, considering all she was really going to do was lead the horses around the pen while Mr. Prosper figured out a starting bid for each of them. She wouldn’t be great when he wanted to see how they ran, but Ryan told her not to worry about that. One of them could switch over to riding if they wanted to check that out.
It occurred to Brynn that she might be a completely unnecessary part of this process, but it was sweet of Ryan to pretend she was doing something to help.
“Okay, great!” Ryan called out to her. “Holt is just pulling up, so I’m gonna go meet him. You okay with hanging out in there until we get back?”
“Sure!” She waved him away, patting the nearest horse.
Ryan disappeared and Brynn turned to the horse beside her. “What are we going to do with these guys, huh? Like standing here with you is going to give me a heart attack.”
“I might have a heart attack, I don’t know.”
There was nothing to do but smile as Ford’s mellow voice reached her. She turned to see him leaning on the pen’s fence, grinning at her in the most disarming way she’d ever seen.
Good grief, the man was gorgeous.
She swallowed with some difficulty, given how dry her mouth went at the thought. “Why’s that?”
He shrugged. “Beautiful woman hanging out with a bunch of horses. The way to my heart, right there.”
“I thought that was ribs,” Brynn replied with a small smile, more to try and settle her heart while they talked about nothing.
“That, too.” He winked and straightened at the fence. “What are you doing?”
She stroked the soft, sun-warmed coat of the horse. “Pretty much babysitting the horses until Ryan and his cousin get back. I think I’m parading them around so Mr. Prosper can decide on a price.”
Ford nodded his understanding. “Makes sense. Stock auction is tomorrow, and he stands to make a lot of money, if he does it right.”
“But these are his horses, right? Wouldn’t he already have an idea of a price to ask?”
“Sure, but you can’t submit a price that far in advance. So there’s a drill of doing a pre-auction evaluation by the seller. Pretty routine, and not everyone does it. Holt’s about as honest as they come, though, so he always does one.” Ford hopped over the fence and came over to her, almost sauntering. “I thought I’d help with that.”
Brynn bit her lip as he came closer. “I thought Ryan was just taking pity on me because I wanted something to do. Helping with this is a real thing?”
Ford laughed softly, reaching out to tuck a lock