he started, considering the best plan of action, “we should probably take a walk along the perimeter, see where the fence needs to be fixed or replaced.”
Brock wasn’t sure if he really thought the entire fence needed to be checked or if he was just torturing himself with a long, private stroll with Cassie. He didn’t need to worry about the latter, though, because Cassie immediately stood and said, “I’ll go get Zach and Carter. They’ll be happy to get out of the house,” before disappearing down the hall toward the boys’ room.
* * *
CASSIE WAS GLAD FOR the twins’ company as they all walked out into the late-morning sun. The hours she had spent with Brock already that day made her very aware that she needed chaperones, if only to keep herself from doing something stupid like kissing him.
Luckily, her children were excellent distractions.
As soon as they were out of the house, the boys were tearing around like two tiny dust storms, creating havoc wherever they went and only stopping occasionally to ask Brock questions about life as a cowboy.
Through his answers, she learned that he was visiting his parents for two weeks and that he worked on the circuit—though she wasn’t entirely sure what that meant. The boys were thrilled to discover that he owned a truck and a motorcycle. And that he liked horses and owned lots of cowboy hats and boots.
From the way he answered each question without a sign of irritation, she also realized that Brock was patient, good-natured and kind. She wished he was just a little bit worse of a human being, so she’d have something to grasp to that might help her get over her overwhelming attraction to him.
Finally, she cut into the questions, both because she wanted to save Brock from the unending list the boys seemed to have, and because she was curious what he was doing as he examined a fence post.
“Boys, why don’t you race each other to that tree?” she suggested, pointing out a small oak a hundred yards or so in the distance. Zach and Carter ran off, their excess energy seeming to burst out of every seam.
Cassie turned to Brock. “What are you checking for?” she asked, wondering if she sounded like the young boys.
“To see if the wood is rotten or not. If you have rot, you’ll need to replace those sections, or they might come down not long from now. It’ll be a lot of extra work, though.”
“And money, I’m sure,” Cassie said, biting her lip.
She would need to get her doctor’s office going, and soon, or at this rate she and the boys would be living off peanut butter sandwiches for the foreseeable future.
Brock nodded. “But the fence can wait, if you aren’t planning on keeping animals out here, in which case we could just fix the paddock and barn.”
Cassie gazed across the land covered in tall grass the color of gold. What would she do with the crops? She had just wanted a ranch with some horses, but it was becoming more and more obvious that she didn’t know the first thing about ranching...
Maybe her mother was right: she was getting in way over her head. She was just a city girl playing rancher, and she didn’t know the game.
“Everything okay?” Brock asked, pulling her out of her reverie.
She started to nod but couldn’t bring herself to pretend. “There’s just so much I need to figure out,” she answered, looking at him.
The sympathy in his dark blue eyes made her heart thump heavily, and she had difficulty keeping control of herself.
He looked out over her ranch and she took the chance to catch her breath. After a few moments, he nodded. “It’ll be a lot of work, but it’s a good piece of land. Do you have a buyer for the hay you won’t use?”
She shook her head, feeling stupid. She didn’t even have any idea how to turn the grass waving in front of her into hay bales, let alone what to do with it. “I don’t—”
Cassie stopped talking, her voice catching in her throat. She had been told that the farm was growing grass to turn into hay, but she hadn’t thought about what to do with it until she’d actually gotten here and seen it.
The enormity of the tasks before her threatened to overwhelm her. She could only imagine what Brock must think about her, purchasing this whole place without knowing how to do a single thing.
“This is my lucky day,” Brock replied.
Cassie looked at Brock, surprised at the enthusiasm in his voice. Was he being sarcastic?
Brock hitched his thumb back toward his parents’ ranch. “Pop could use a good chunk for their horses, and my brothers would be happy to buy the rest, I’m sure. And they’ll pay to get the baling machine out here, too, if you don’t already have one lined up. It’s my lucky day because this means almost my entire family will owe me, which can be useful in the McNeal house.”
Cassie laughed, more out of astonishment than anything. “Do you really think your brothers would do all that?” she asked, trying not to get her hopes up too high, but unable to suppress the grin that came to her lips.
Brock nodded, smiling back. “They just started a business working with rodeo stock, and I’m sure they could use it. They’ll give you a fair price.”
A weight lifted off Cassie, and she felt some of the tension in her shoulders ease. She would be able to sell the hay. If she could do that, start seeing patients, mend the fence and make the barn livable for her horses, maybe everything would be all right. It was a big if, but it was something.
“You’ll want to keep a bit of it for your own horses, right? I know the Wilsons had a couple.”
She nodded, picturing Rosalind and Diamond, the two mares that had come with the property. “If I can get the barn and fencing in shape enough to keep them here, yes. For now, they’re being kept at a place a few miles away.”
“Well, we can figure out what lumber you need for the fence and paddock, but mend the paddock first. That way, you can move the horses here sooner. They don’t need a perfect barn in this weather, so those little fixes can wait.”
She didn’t say anything about the boarding costs, yet another worry on her plate. Cassie suddenly felt embarrassed, as if every shortcoming and difficulty of hers was being laid bare in front of this man she’d known less than twenty-four hours.
Despite how much she appreciated his help, she also felt slightly uncomfortable with how much she needed it. She’d always been self-sufficient, smart and able to do whatever she put her mind to. This whole thing wasn’t great for her ego, that was for sure.
Still, she’d gotten herself into this mess, and right now she just needed to worry about surviving it with as much of her dignity intact as she could manage. As long as nothing else landed on her plate, she would be able to handle it.
She hoped.
Brock looked at Cassie, his heart going out to her. He could tell she was anxious, with her lips pinched so tightly together. It
