The Rancher Meets His Match (The Millers of Morgan Valley #4) - Kate Pearce Page 0,19
now it’s my fault?” He squared up to her.
“No!” She met his gaze. “I’m sorry!”
“You’re welcome.” He tried to fight the smile tugging at his lips, knowing it was going to infuriate her, and then let it go anyway. “Have a great day.”
She stepped forward, poked him in the chest, and recoiled, clutching her finger. “Ouch! Why are you so hard?”
“Can’t help being fit and hot, Julia.” He flexed his muscles and tried to look modest. “And please don’t touch what you can’t afford.”
She started to splutter and he stood back to enjoy the moment until she finally ran out of steam.
“I shouldn’t have touched you without your consent,” Julia said firmly as she made herself meet Kaiden’s amused gray gaze. She wasn’t going to let him wind her up again and say things she really didn’t mean. “If you truly are okay with my apology, and things are fine between us, then I’ll get out of your way.”
She stepped back and waited for him to walk the horse past her except he didn’t move.
“Have you been out on the ranch yet?”
“What’s that got to do with anything?” Julia asked suspiciously.
“I think you should saddle up a horse and walk me down to the boundary fence where you can make sure I get off your land.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re wound up tighter than a coiled spring. Sometimes things feel different from the back of a horse.”
“I’m not—” She went to deny it, and then sighed. “Okay.”
“Good woman.”
Julia raised her chin. “Just because I am agreeing with you doesn’t mean you’ve won or something.”
“Why would I ever think that?” Kaiden murmured as he walked his horse out to the yard. “I’ll wait for you out here.”
She saddled her old horse, sent a text to her father to tell him what she was doing, and went out of the barn to find Kaiden already mounted while he texted on his phone with his thumb. He looked great on a horse. All the Miller boys did. Legend had it that Jeff had thrown them up on horseback before they could walk.
He glanced up as she mounted and ran his eye over her. “Looking good, Ms. Julia. You ready to go? I’ll take it nice and slow.”
“You’d better,” Julia replied. “Or you’ll be fishing my ass out of Morgan Creek.”
His low laugh made her want to smile. How come he’d managed to talk her out of her anxieties so quickly? He specialized in making her spitting mad at one moment, and then disarmed her with his charm the next. The real question was why she was allowing herself to fall for it again?
Her attention was drawn to the ragged fence line along the drive up to the ranch.
“This all needs replacing.”
“I guess it does.” Kaiden cut across the sparsely graveled drive and out toward the open pasture. “Do you have any idea how many head of cattle your father has right now?”
“Not really,” Julia confessed. “I’ve spent the last three days reorganizing the house.”
“That’s a job in itself.” Kaiden angled his horse’s head toward the longer grass and the downslope.
“I’m expecting a truckload of deliveries I’ve ordered online to turn up tomorrow,” Julia added. “It was quite fun picking out all the new stuff.”
“I bet.”
They rode in companionable silence for a few minutes. Julia’s shoulders lowered, and her breathing slowed as the familiar scenery rolled past her. She’d always loved riding and she missed it in the city. She’d tried to keep it up, but there was nowhere to really let go and just ride for miles.
“Has your dad been out on the property recently?” Kaiden asked as the ground sloped toward the gentle curves of Morgan Creek.
“Only in the truck. Jose and Andy, the retired hands, have been keeping an eye on what cattle there are left. From what they’ve told me, we don’t have the manpower to round them up and make a proper count.”
“If your dad decides to get rid of them, let me know. I’ll tell Roy over at Morgan Ranch. He’s usually the person who helps round up the strays and redistributes them to other ranches rather than your dad having to sell them to market off season or too young.” Kaiden paused. “Or tell your dad to call Roy himself. I don’t want to get in the way.”
“Dad doesn’t want to change anything right now. I asked him.”
“Yeah?”
Julia waited for a follow-up question, but Kaiden seemed quite content to ride alongside her and study the view. She couldn’t believe she