sure the kids were back in the truck. “And thanks for the kitten.”
At that, Doris smiled. “Oh, Dylan, kids need animals. It keeps them smiling, and don’t we all need to smile?”
“Yeah, I guess we do.” He really didn’t like cats. But it was pointless to mention that.
Doris touched his arm. “I’m going on in to see about Bill. Will you help her find someone to haul that horse out of here? And if you want that round pen, take it.”
“Sure thing, Doris.”
Harmony stood at the corral trying to coax that skinny horse to her with a few blades of grass she’d plucked from the yard. The horse trotted to the far side of the round pen, wanting nothing to do with her or that fistful of grass. He waited until Doris entered the house, then he walked up to the round pen. It didn’t make sense to have the horse in that pen. Bill had land. He had cattle. The whole situation smelled of grief and pain.
“I’ll haul him over to your place.” The offer slipped out, because it was the right thing to do. Harmony turned, smiling as she brushed hair back from her face.
“I can find someone.”
Argumentative females. He sighed. “Harmony, I’ll haul the horse.”
Harmony held her hand out and the horse brushed against her palm and then backed away. He didn’t think the animal had been worked since Terry left for the military a couple of years ago.
“He’s a lot of horse,” he cautioned. “He isn’t even halter-broke.”
“I’m not worried about it.”
“I’d hate to see you mess around and get hurt.”
She shot him a look, and he realized she was holding on to the fence, holding herself up. Stubborn female. He didn’t have time for stubborn.
“Why don’t you get in your car and head back to your place? I’ll get a trailer and bring him over to you this afternoon. You’ll have to pen him up for a few days because in this condition he’s likely to founder if he gets too much green grass.”
“I’ll put him in the small corral by the barn. It has plenty of grass for now.” She smiled at him. Man, that smile, it was something else. It could knock a guy to his knees. “And I’ll take that offer to haul him for me. If it isn’t too much trouble. The kids—”
He cut her off. “How much did you pay for him?”
“That’s a business deal, Mr. Cooper. I don’t sign checks and tell.” She turned away from the horse and made slow, painful steps back to her car.
He opened the car door for her. “That was real nice of you.”
She slid into the seat and looked up at him. “Why not do something for someone if you have the chance? That’s what you’ve been doing, isn’t it?”
He rested his arm on the top of her Audi and looked in at her. He knew she was referring to Cash and Callie, Katrina’s kids. “Yeah, I guess we’re all grown-up now.”
“Right, of course we are.” She started her car and reached for the door, forcing him to back up. “I’ll see you this afternoon.”
He watched as she closed the door, and took off down the drive. Bill Tanner was standing on his front porch. The old guy walked down the steps, a little bow-legged from years in the saddle. He’d been a saddle bronc rider back in the day, one of the best.
He’d taught Dylan a thing or two about the sport. Dylan and Terry had both ridden saddle bronc, before Terry had signed up for the army. Dylan glanced at the rangy horse and smiled, because Terry had bought the animal from a stock provider who had intended to use him in rodeos and then decided the horse didn’t have enough buck.
But he still had plenty of buck, and if Harmony Cross gentled the animal down, she deserved a medal.
“Well, I guess Terry’s horse is going to have a good home.” Bill walked up to the round pen. “I should have sold him a long time ago. I’m just a stubborn old man who doesn’t like to deal with reality.”
“It isn’t easy, this reality stuff,” Dylan admitted.
“Take the girl her check back.” Bill held out the check with the flowery signature and four digits.
“Nah, Bill, I think she’d be real upset if you sent that back. Keep it and take Doris to the beach.”
Bill grinned. Probably one of his first real smiles in a long time. “It don’t seem right, to have this much money in my hand. But the beach would sure be nice.”
“Go. Have a good time.” Dylan adjusted his hat to block the sun. “She ain’t gonna miss the money, Bill.”
“No, I reckon she won’t. She was sure determined to get that animal. I guess she’ll be good to him. I just didn’t want to sell him and have someone put him back in the arena. Terry thought there was more to the horse than that. Something about his eyes.”
“Maybe she sees it, too.”
“Maybe.” Bill wore a baseball cap with a big fish emblem on the front. “Guess I’ll go fishing.”
“Don’t forget to do something with Doris.”
“She won’t let me forget.” Bill started to go back inside but stopped, and looked from the truck to Dylan. “You’ll get through this, Dylan.”
“Yeah, I guess I will.”
When he got in his truck, he looked at the two kids in the backseat. Cash was in his car seat. Callie was sitting in her big-kid booster seat. She reminded him often that she was four and Cash was just a baby.
She was holding tight to her kitten and the thing looked like it might be about ready to let loose with its claws.
“That kitten isn’t happy, Callie.” He grabbed a jacket and handed it back to her. “Wrap him up before you get scratched.”
“He’s happy,” she insisted as she wrapped the jacket around the hissing feline.
“Of course she is. You know I don’t like cats, right?” He glanced in the rearview mirror as he pulled onto the road. And he also didn’t like getting involved in Harmony Cross’s life. He had enough on his plate.
“You’ll like this one, Dylan,” Callie informed him with a big smile.
“What do you think, Cash? I need a guy on my side.”
Cash, not quite two, responded with one of his drooling, toothy grins and said, “Cat.”
“Yeah, cat.” Dylan shook his head and headed for town. One of these days he’d have to figure out how his ability to say no had gotten broken to the point of no repair.
If he’d figured it out sooner, he might not have offered to haul that horse for Harmony Cross.
The one thing, actually two, that he didn’t regret were
