quite right to her, but she assumed she’d get used to it. Eventually.
“The more the merrier,” she said.
“My mom always says that,” he commented as he joined them, closing the door to keep anyone from escaping.
“Mine, too,” Heather told him with a smile. “That’s how my dad ended up starting out his retirement touring Europe in an RV with her, a Pomeranian and four parakeets.”
“Sounds loud.” Josh chuckled, taking a bottle from the counter before sitting on the floor beside the kittens. His long legs stretched out in front of him, he lifted a bawling tiger and cradled it against him in a practiced motion.
The small room didn’t have much space for spreading out, so Heather resigned herself to settling next to him with a bottle of her own. “I’m guessing you’ve done this before.”
“Everyone in the family likes to help out down here when we can. Except Mike,” he added with a grin. “Our Kentucky cowboy’s got his hands full wrangling all those horses.”
“I noticed them in the fields when we were driving out here. It looks like you have everything from Thoroughbreds to Shetland ponies.”
“My great-grandfather started out training horses for the military in World War I, then Dad trained racehorses. After he passed away, that business disappeared and we came pretty close to losing the farm. Mike’s kind of a horse whisperer, and he came up with the idea to school retired racehorses and sell them to folks for riding.”
“What about the others? I saw a Belgian in the front pasture, grazing next to an Arabian.”
“Mike rescues some from bad situations, others come from owners who can’t keep ’em anymore and want them to have a good home. If they don’t get adopted, they stay here with us,” he added, grinning down at the slurping kitten. “We’re just a bunch of softies around here, aren’t we?”
Heather smiled at the sight of the tall, brawny farmer cuddling the helpless animal, speaking to it in the kind of gentle tone most people reserved for children. While she had no intention of complicating her life any further right now, she couldn’t deny that he had a special brand of bright, sunny charm.
It was a good thing she’d already committed to staying single for the sake of Bailey and her career. Otherwise, Josh Kinley might have proved to be impossible to resist.
* * *
“Hello?”
It was Thursday afternoon, and Josh was buried underneath the oldest tractor in the county, trying to wrestle the drive belt back into place, when he heard a now-familiar voice. Hauling himself out hand over hand, he looked up to find Heather staring down at him with an amused look on her face.
“Hey there, Doc. What brings you out here?”
“It’s my lunch hour, so I decided to go exploring.” She looked around her at the overgrown field, out toward the neatly plowed acreage in the distance, and then back at him. “I’m not an agricultural expert, but this looks like it’s pretty far from where you’ve been working. Do you mind if I ask what you’re doing?”
The crop portion of the farm was his domain. His brothers and their few hired hands were fully occupied with the horses, so Josh was used to doing his own thing without anyone questioning him. As much a part of him as his blue eyes, these rolling hills were the legacy Josh hoped to pass along to his own children someday.
Lately, though, the red numbers had been sinking lower by the month, no matter how hard they all worked. If they didn’t come up with something brilliant to bring in some cash on a regular basis, they’d be forced to sell off chunks of land for the first time in the farm’s long history. And that would be the beginning of the end for Gallimore Stables.
Josh was known as the upbeat one in the family, and for their sake he kept his outlook rosy. But even a determined optimist like him had to acknowledge that something concrete needed to be done, and quickly. So he’d devised a plan but hadn’t told anyone, not even Mom. But he’d been dying to share it with someone, and since it didn’t impact her directly, Heather seemed like a good choice.
“Well, I could tell you,” he said with a grin, “but you have to keep it to yourself.”
Enthusiasm sparkled in her eyes, and she nodded. “I promise.”
After describing the circumstances to her, he explained what he was up to. “So, I did some research and found out that a lot of corn in Kentucky is sold to the ethanol market. To be made into gasoline.”
“I know what ethanol is,” she informed him tartly.
Smothering a grin, he went on. “I got the idea when my nephew Parker built a biodiesel engine for a science fair. I had let this section go fallow to rest, so it was ready for planting this year. I’m just putting in a different kind of corn this time, and then I’ll pray the prices stay where they are till harvest time.”
“That’s a good idea. I hope it works out the way you want it to.”
Her cautious tone made him frown. “You sound like someone who has some experience with plans going awry.”
“More than I’d like,” she admitted softly, as if she hated to confide that to him. Uncertainty darkened her eyes before giving way to the cool look he’d noticed earlier. “When I saw you over here I thought I’d come see if I could help somehow.”
Josh glanced over her neat blouse and trousers, down to the sensible but pretty shoes she was wearing. “You sure about that?”
“I might be a city girl, but I’m no stranger to dirt. Besides, I owe you for the time you spent with the moving van and all those kittens the other day. What can I do?”
She seemed bound and determined to lend him a hand, so Josh hunted for something she could do that wouldn’t leave her either filthy or hurt. “Well, I guess you could brace this for me—” he grasped the shifter “—while I rethread the belt onto the pulleys.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she admitted with a cute half grin, “but I understand the bracing part. Just let me know when I should let go.”
“Will do.”
As he slid back underneath the ancient machine they called The Beast, Josh couldn’t keep from wondering if a walk was all that had brought her so far from the center. While he maneuvered the pieces back into alignment, he asked, “So how’re you getting along down there?”
“Fine. I’m learning about the animals a few at a time. Bekah’s wonderful with them, and Sierra’s very knowledgeable about everything.”
Josh picked up on the annoyance edging her tone and chuckled through the clanking of his wrench. “Yeah, she’s kinda bossy. I think that’s why Erin hired her. They’ve got the same charge-ahead approach to stuff.”
“So, you’re the youngest in your family?” When he grunted a reply, she went on. “I was, too. It’s not easy, is it?”
She was getting at something, but Josh had no clue what it might be. Distracted by his fascinating visitor, he lost his grip on the belt and the entire pulley system let go, jamming his hand against
