get the groceries,” she insisted and escaped from the small cabin before Sophia could protest. Broken eggs she could handle much more easily than broken bones and broken lives.
* * *
“This is nice,” Sophia said as she glanced around the cabin once they’d settled in at the small kitchen table for a cup of coffee and a shared strawberry Danish from Debbie’s bakery. She held her son so easily, so naturally in one arm, and true to his mother’s earlier words, little Kyle had fallen into an innocent, trusting sleep. “I knew with Drew being involved in the construction that the workmanship on the cabins would be to his usual high standard, but Jarrett did a lot of the finish work himself.”
“Really?” Theresa asked, only to immediately wish she hadn’t sounded so interested. “I mean, I wouldn’t have thought a former bull rider turned ranch owner would be all that handy when it came to construction.”
The spark in her cousin’s eyes only deepened, and Theresa snapped her mouth shut so fast, her teeth clicked together. Way to overexplain. The last thing she wanted was for Sophia to pick up on her unwanted attraction to Jarrett Deeks.
Recalling her shock at her first glimpse of the man in question, Theresa said, “You could have warned me, you know. From what I’d heard about Jarrett, I was expecting this old guy and not someone—”
“Someone so gorgeous?” her cousin filled in.
“Someone so young, that’s all. I was just surprised.”
“You’ve got to watch him at work, Theresa. I had to stop by the stables to ask which cabin was yours and saw him with one of his horses. It’s...breathtaking.”
“So says the happily married woman.”
“Yes, to her gorgeous and single cousin.”
Theresa rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well, don’t pin your matchmaking hopes on me and Jarrett Deeks.”
Or on me and anyone else.
Her heart was still reeling from her breakup with Michael. The car crash had shattered nearly everything in her life—personally, professionally...and emotionally. When she first woke in the hospital, her first thoughts had been of Michael—and of his daughter, Natalie. She’d loved them both and wanted to be there for them in any way that she could. Just as she’d needed Michael to be there for her. She’d counted on him being there. Instead, he’d walked away.
Now that she’d gotten back on her own two feet physically, Theresa wasn’t about to start leaning on another man. Wasn’t about to trust one again. And no matter what crazy emotions Jarrett might have inspired in her the day before, without trust, those heated thoughts would stay in fantasyland, where they belonged. At least until she could find a way to get the man off her mind altogether.
“I was not matchmaking,” Sophia insisted. “Merely commenting that you and Jarrett have something in common. I know how much you like to ride.”
“Liked,” Theresa stressed. “Past tense.” When her cousin would have argued, she continued, “Besides, Jarrett and I didn’t exactly get off on the right foot, so I think we’ll both just keep our distance.”
Sophia frowned. “That doesn’t sound like Jarrett. I mean, he doesn’t talk much, but I’ve never known him to say something inappropriate—”
“No, it wasn’t anything like that.” Theresa wished she’d kept her mouth shut, but now that she’d stuck her foot in it, she was going to have to explain. She couldn’t let Sophia think Jarrett had done something wrong when he hadn’t. “He was just being polite in offering to show me around the stables, but I’m not interested. I told him I want to be left alone, and it came out a little sharper than I intended.”
“So you’ll go down and apologize and ask him to give you the grand tour.”
“Sophia—”
“Look, I meant what I said about Jarrett being a good guy, but he’s not exactly the type to make an offer like that simply to be polite.”
“No, he did it because the stables are one of the perks of staying here.” She was a guest and nothing more. Theresa didn’t want to think that his offer may have been a personal one.
“If you say so,” Sophia answered in a singsong voice.
“I do.” And whatever it took, she was going to force herself to believe it.
“Um, no.”
Make that hell no, Jarrett thought as Nick Pirelli dogged his heels as he walked down the narrow aisle of the stables. The local veterinarian had offered his services as soon as Jarrett started the rescue operation, and a part of him had been waiting for this moment. Well, not exactly for this moment, he thought, still feeling the jolt of surprise at the request, but for the moment when the other man would call in his chips.
Oh, sure, Nick had told him pro bono work was something he did on a regular basis. That he respected the rehabilitation Jarrett did with the rescue horses and wanted to be a part of it. But Jarrett had learned long ago that nothing in life was free, and once you owed another person, they owned you.
So he insisted on paying for the vet’s services, though he suspected the bills were greatly deflated from what Nick would normally charge, and the year before he’d taken on an abandoned horse as a favor to the other man. Not that he would have turned the horse away under any circumstances, but it’d been a way to try to even the score.
His muscles were tight, his movements jerky as he stripped off his scarred leather work gloves while he waited for Nick to turn his request into a demand. He was the only large-animal vet in the area, and they both damn well knew it. Jarrett couldn’t run the rescue or the ranch without Nick’s services, and that dependency—that need—to rely on another person twisted his gut. How many times had life slapped him down with the lesson that the only person he could count on was himself?
“Look, Jarrett,” Nick began, and Jarrett braced himself for the ultimatum he knew was coming. Do this or the horses suffer. “I know it’s a big favor to ask, but I’d really appreciate it.”
Stuffing the gloves into his back pocket, Jarrett met the other man’s gaze and waited. Then waited some more. That was it? Just the simple request? No blunt demand...no subtle insinuation of what might happen if Jarrett didn’t fall in line?
The realization had him slowly lowering his guard. Truth was, he admired the work Nick did. Their love of animals gave them a common ground and was enough for Jarrett to think he might be able to call the other man friend. And friends did do favors for each other.
But not this. Pretty much anything but what Nick had asked.
“I know Theresa seems like she’s doing okay.”
Jarrett sighed. “That’s what she wants you to think. Truth is she’s far from okay.”
He’d seen the pain in her expression when she thought he wasn’t watching. Seen how hard she’d pushed
