in Bozeman, Montana, and its surrounding areas. She’d also heard his bachelor status was something he valued with no plans to relinquish.
It was her opinion from their first meeting a little over two years ago that there was a quiet and innately controlled nature about him. Although he shared a rather close relationship with her cousins, there was still something about him that gave the impression that not too many others got close to him. He picked those he wanted to be associated with and any others he kept at a distance. Whenever she was around him she always felt he was watching her, and she could always feel his gaze on her like it was some sort of a physical caress.
“Are you going to state your business or just stand there?”
His words, spoken in a deep, cutting voice, caught her off guard and made her wonder if he had eyes in the back of his head. She was certain she hadn’t made a sound, yet he had sensed her presence anyway.
“I know how important grooming time is and didn’t want to intrude,” Casey heard herself saying after a moment, deciding to finally speak up.
It was only then that he turned around and she forced herself to continue breathing—especially when a surprised glint shone in the dark eyes that connected with hers. “Casey Westmoreland. Durango mentioned you were here visiting your dad,” he said in a voice as intense as the eyes looking at her.
Your dad. That term in itself was something Casey was still getting used to since discovering she had a father who was very much alive after being told he had died before she was born.
“I’m not visiting, exactly. I’ve decided to move to Bozeman permanently,” she said, wishing he wasn’t staring at her so intently.
She watched as he hooked his thumbs in the pockets of his jeans—a stance that immediately placed emphasis on his entire muscular physique. Surprise once again lit his eyes. “You’re moving to Bozeman? Permanently?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He all but snapped the question and she wondered why he would care one way or the other. “Corey…I mean, my dad, is hoping that moving to Bozeman will give us a chance to get to know each other better.” Even after two and a half years it was still somewhat difficult to call Corey Westmoreland “Dad” as her two brothers had begun doing.
McKinnon nodded and she noted that the eyes studying her were more intense than before. He had a close connection to her father since Corey was the best friend of McKinnon’s father. In fact, to her way of thinking, it was a deeper connection than the one she herself shared with Corey if for no other reason than because McKinnon had known her father a lot longer than she had.
“That’s what Corey thinks, but is that what you think as well?” he asked, his voice breaking into her thoughts.
What I really think is that it would help matters tremendously if you’d stop looking at me like that, she wanted to say, suddenly feeling like she was under a microscope. Whether he intended it or not, his gaze was provocatively sensual and was sending a heated rush all through her. “I think it wouldn’t hurt. I’ve lived in Beaumont, Texas, all my life and when the lease expired on the building holding my clothing store—and I wasn’t given the option of renewing it—I considered the possibility of relocating elsewhere. I’ve fallen in love with Montana the few times I’ve been here and agree that moving here will give me the chance to develop a relationship with Corey.”
“I see.”
Casey doubted that he did. Not even her brothers fully understood the turmoil existing within her after finding out the truth. From the time she was a little girl her mother had painted this fairytale image of the man who’d fathered her and her brothers—the man who’d supposedly died in a rodeo accident while performing, leaving her mother pregnant with triplets.
Carolyn Roberts Westmoreland had made it seem as if she and Corey Westmoreland had shared the perfect love, the perfect marriage and had been so dedicated to each other that she’d found it hard to go on when he’d died. According to her mother, the only thing that had kept her going was the fact that Corey had left her with not one, not two, but three babies growing inside her womb. Triplets who would grow up smothered in their mother’s love and their father’s loving memory.
It hurt to know her mother had weaved a bunch of lies.
Corey Westmoreland had never married Carolyn Roberts. Nor had he known she was pregnant with triplets. Legally, her mother had never been a Westmoreland. And to make matters worse, Corey had never loved her mother. For years he had been in love with Abby, a woman he had met years before meeting Casey’s mom, and Abby was the woman he’d been reunited with and eventually married just a couple of years ago.
“And there’s another reason I wanted to move here,” she decided to add, getting to the reason for paying McKinnon a visit. “I felt a career change would do me good, and by moving I can do something I’ve always loved doing.”
“Which is?”
“Working with horses—which is why I’m here. I understand you’re looking for a horse trainer and I want to apply for the job.”
Casey tried ignoring the sensations that flooded her insides when McKinnon’s gaze moved up and down her five-foot-three petite physique. His gaze glittered when it returned to her face, as if he was amused by something. “You’re kidding, right?”
She lifted a brow. “No, I’m not kidding,” she said, crossing the floor to where he stood. “I’m dead serious.”
She watched as his jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed and immediately resented herself for thinking he looked infuriatingly sexy.
“There’s no way I can hire you as a horse trainer,” he said in a rough voice.
“Why not?” she asked with as much calmness as she could muster. “I think if you were to take a look at my résumé, you’d be impressed with my qualifications.” She offered the folder she was holding in her hand to him.
He glanced at the folder but made no attempt to take it from her. “Maybe I will and maybe I won’t, but it doesn’t matter,” he said, giving her an intimidating stare. “I’m not hiring you.”
His words, spoken so calmly, so matter-of-factly, sent anger coursing through her veins, but she was determined to keep her cool. “Is there a reason?” she asked, still gripping the folder in her hand, although she no longer offered it to him since he’d made it blatantly clear he wasn’t interested.
After several tense moments he said, “There’re a number of reasons but I don’t have time to go into them.”
Casey steeled herself against the anger that swept through her body but it was no use. His words had assaulted her sensibilities. “Now wait just a minute,” she said, her eyes clashing with his.
He crossed his arms over his chest and to Casey, his height suddenly seem taller than six-three. “Don’t have time to wait either,” he said smugly, glaring down at her. “This is a working ranch and I have too much to do. If you’re interested in a job then I suggest you look someplace else.”
Casey, known to be stubborn by nature, refused to back down. McKinnon had effectively pushed her anger to the boiling point. And when she saw he had gone back to grooming the horse, as if totally dismissing her, her anger escalated that much more.
