pushing thirty.”
He raced toward her, grabbed her around the waist and spun her in a circle. “I can’t help it,” he yelled, before putting her down and laughing. “Do you know what this is going to mean? We have a stallion from the El Baharian royal stable, right here in Happily Inc. It’s incredible. It’s more than incredible—it’s a miracle. Do you know how rare it is for the king to sell one of his horses? It almost never happens, and if it does, it’s usually a mare. We got a stallion.”
His sister shook her head. “You’re this excited about horse sex? I’m sorry to have to say this, but you need to get out more.”
He swung her around again. She shrieked to be put down, then started laughing with him.
Cade released her. “I’ve been working on our breeding program, but Rida changes everything. He’s going to put us on the map.”
“Technically, Happily Inc has been on the map for a while,” Pallas said sweetly. “You should Google us. We’re right there.”
“Ah, sis, it’s a great day.”
“Then I’m happy for you. And I brought everything you asked for. Although you should have told your fancy housekeeper to take care of the guest room.”
“This is important. I need it to be right.” He shrugged. “You have great taste, Pallas, and I trust you.”
She groaned. “Don’t be sincere. It makes it too hard to mock you.” She led the way to the back of her car and opened the trunk. “All right. Let’s get this stuff inside.”
The “stuff” consisted of several boxes, along with shopping bags. The trunk was full, as were the backseat and the front passenger seat. Together they carried it all inside. Pallas sorted through everything, then took charge of telling him what went where.
When Cade had found out King Malik was willing to sell him Rida, he hadn’t thought much past getting the stables ready. Three days ago the royal stables master had informed him that Rida would be accompanied by one of the horsemen familiar with the stallion. A not-unexpected occurrence. Cade had known someone would tag along to make sure the horse was comfortable, the surroundings acceptable—that requirement was in his contract with the king. What he hadn’t expected was that the horseman being sent would be a woman. Then he’d panicked.
The farmhouse at the ranch was nearly a hundred years old. It had been remodeled a couple of times, but the kitchen hadn’t seen much improvement since the 1950s and the bathrooms weren’t a whole lot better. He doubted many guys would care, but a woman might be different. Women tended to pay attention to their surroundings and have higher expectations. Not knowing what else to do, he’d called his sister and begged for help, and Pallas had come through.
They carried a couple of boxes and a half dozen shopping bags up to the guest room. His sister stared at the purple-and-green wallpaper, then sighed.
“You weren’t kidding when you reminded me how bad it was,” she said. “This is some serious ugly.”
“They’re due later today. There isn’t time to take it down.” Would the wallpaper upset Rida’s handler? Would she want to take the horse home because of it?
“Not to worry. I’ve got the problem if not solved then at least managed.”
She had him strip the queen-size bed and carry all the old linens downstairs. Together they put on freshly laundered sheets in a pale sage color, topped with a thick cotton blanket. A light beige comforter went over all that.
She pulled out two decorative blankets and had him fold them across the foot of the bed, then added about a hundred pillows. She had him put together a couple of small lamps for the nightstand while she fussed in the bathroom. Thirty minutes later, they were done.
The en suite bath was big, but old-fashioned. The floor was octagon-shaped white tiles, with more tiles going halfway up the wall. A claw-foot tub stood at one end of the bathroom. The cleaning service kept it scrubbed, but it looked like what it was—a tub from another era.
Pallas replaced the old shower curtain with a new one done in sage and beige. A small white shelving unit held stacks of towels in various shades of green. The top shelf had a blow-dryer along with a basket filled with tubes and bottles and creams. She’d tucked a small room heater into the corner—a thoughtful touch someone used to warmer temperatures might appreciate. Happily Inc was in the California