Chapter 13 #2
She longed to share a moment like that with Ty.
They’d cover up with blankets and share a carafe of hot cocoa.
.. Leaning her head back against the wall, she sighed and let her eyes drift closed.
It would be idyllic. Except for the fact that Ty would know their driver.
No fooling around for them, then. Maybe they could go out together, just the two of them.
She’d driven a team before, and the smooth pull over snow wouldn’t jar Ty’s neck.
He’d probably appreciate getting some fresh air and a firsthand look at the ranch.
Heck, he might even enjoy taking the reins.
If she could figure out who to ask... Maybe Eli? She’d get on that this after—
“You’re fired.”
The deep voice shocked her out of her romantic reverie.
She shoved off the wall and spun toward the voice, knocking the shovel over in her haste.
The handle snagged on the side of the stall trolley with a wood-to-plastic thwack that made her wince.
But it failed to dislodge her heart where the stupid organ had welded itself to her larynx and wasn’t giving up ground.
“We Covingtons run a tight ship, Ms. Malone. Daydreaming isn’t allowed.”
A slow, sensual smile on familiar lips made her knees weak.
Ty tipped the brim of his hat up, those mirth-filled dark eyes ringed with even darker lashes peering down at her. “Unless, of course, you were thinking of me. Then, I’ll not only keep you, I’ll see that you’re promoted for exercising stellar judgment and exceptional taste.”
She should have issued a witty reply, should have told him she didn’t work for layabouts, should have said...something. Anything. But all she could focus on was the last sentence.
He’d keep me.
Throat inexplicably tight, she knew with the certainty that darkness always yielded to light that her grief had yielded to hope.
Somewhere in the recent past, at a time she hadn’t been wise enough to recognize, her heart had tipped the scales from “like” to “love” where this man was concerned.
It changed nothing because he didn’t know. Not yet. But for Kenzie?
It changed everything.
TY WATCHED KENZIE struggle through a string of emotions, her eyes darkening even as the color leached from her face only to come back in a rush, her cheeks flushed and rosy.
Her eyes didn’t lighten, though, and he wondered what had gone through her mind.
Half of him wanted to ask while the other half shied away from anything powerful enough to steal the voice of such a straightforward woman.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You came,” she said. How she packed two simple words with so much weight he’d never understand.
“I did.”
“I didn’t think you would.” She rubbed her nose and glanced away. “Not really.”
“I wanted the answers you promised me.”
Her shoulders sagged a bit. “Fair enough.”
“You okay?”
“Fine,” she said, the lie evident. She met his hard stare, but her gaze lacked the emotion that had filled it only moments before. “Great.”
“Liar.”
“Prove it.”
“You promised to answer any question I asked if I hauled my bedbound backside down here. I did, so hold up your end of the bargain.”
Her short bark of laughter could have shattered glass. “Sure. Let’s get right to that.”
“I’ll ask again, Kenzie, and don’t feed me some line of bull. Are you okay?”
“I’ve been better and I’ve been worse.” She shifted her gaze to the stark white landscape, squinting as the sun reflected off the smooth surface of the snow. “This morning was full of surprises.”
Michael.
He should have realized discussing her brother’s loss would leave her a little raw. “Look, about that. I’m truly sorry.”
She offered him a shallow smile. “Sure. Thanks.”
Setting that aside because he wasn’t sure what to do with it, he couldn’t help but poke at her a little. “So which is it? Are you fired, or you moving up the food chain here at the Covington family dude ranch?”
She started to answer only to stop, clear her throat and start again. “Did you actually say, ‘I’ll not only keep you’?” she deadpanned. “With lines like that, it’s a wonder you Covington men aren’t single forever. ‘I’ll not only keep you...’ Idiot.”
He laughed, the sound stirring the horses and bringing large heads over stall doors. Except for Gizmo. Kenzie had left his stall open as she worked. Now the grullo stud nudged her aside as gently as a twelve-hundred-pound animal could and made straight for Ty.
He had dreaded this moment for months now, truly facing Gizmo again with nothing between them.
Heart pounding brutishly and with no finesse whatsoever, Ty fought to ignore it all—the heart that beat too hard, the sweat itching between his temple and hat band, the giant animal he’d loved from birth, the way his neck ached a bit without his brace, the woman watching it all.
The horse stopped in front of him, those pale, long-lashed eyes considering Ty with wisdom far too vast for a horse. He nodded his head in short, slow movements, a silent demand of sorts.
Ty raised a trembling hand toward Gizmo.
The horse stepped into the touch. Dropping his head, Gizmo pressed his broad forehead into Ty’s chest and let loose a sigh of heartrending contentment.
Ty swallowed repeatedly, trying to force down the emotion that flooded his throat, alternately squeezing it tight and filling it so full he couldn’t breathe.
His eyes burned. Damn if he’d cry, though.
The only tears he’d shed over this whole thing had been shed in private, and he wasn’t going public at this point. No way.
Instead, he gritted his teeth and raised both hands, resting one on each side of Gizmo’s face. “Brought you something.”
The horse didn’t move.
He leaned in closer. “Candy.”
Gizmo raised his head and then, without warning, reached out and pulled Ty’s hat off his head. With a toss worthy of a California beach bum spinning a Frisbee out over the sand, the horse launched Ty’s hat to the side before beginning to mouth the pocket on his shirt.
Ty felt it happen before he could control it. He burst out laughing. Digging out the Blow Pop, he unwrapped it, used his pocketknife to snip the stem and offered the confection to the horse.
Gizmo snatched it up, bit down and grunted, nostrils flaring. Flicking his tail, he chewed and chewed, the crunching unnaturally loud. Then the treat was gone and he was nosing at Ty with more intent.
“One more, you giant addict, but then I’m cutting you off.” Ty pulled out a jumbo-size Tootsie Roll, unwrapped it and broke it into three pieces. He fed them to Gizmo one at a time.
As if he understood this was it, the horse savored these more, actually drooling as he chewed.
“I take it no one fed his sweet tooth,” he said quietly, running his hands all over Gizmo’s face and neck.
“That is...” Kenzie gestured to the horse and then to Ty. “He’s addicted and you’re his dealer. I mean, you realize that, right? And I did give him sweets, just not quite as many. I mean, sugar cubes and apples and—”
“Sugar cubes are child’s play and apples don’t count.”
“I did the best I could.” Her voice was stiffer than her spine, which was poised to shatter.
He realized then that she’d taken his teasing as criticism.
That hit him harder than having stirred up her old grief.
He needed to keep things light between them, needed to ease the pall that seemed to hover over her like a dark cloud.
“Darlin’, you know I’m yanking your chain.
” He glanced around. “So what was it you wanted my help with?”
She watched him closely, her gaze guarded. “You up for it?”
He wasn’t about to admit he was wearing down, and fast. He needed to get the answers he’d come for. “Bring it on.”
“I’ll put these tools away. You get Gizmo back in his stall.” She retrieved the pitchfork and tossed it into the little trolley.
“And then?”
“Then you’re going to drop your drawers. The rest should be pretty self-explanatory.”
Tyson stood stock still for a split second. “You going to inoculate me?”
She grinned, but the gesture was off. Her words, however, weren’t. “Not exactly. But if you want to be patient to my nurse, that’s fine with me.”
Mouth dry, he struggled to issue the command that would direct Gizmo to return to his stall. Took two tries, but he managed.
“Hurry up, you giant slug,” he whispered harshly. “Your buddy here has a date with a cowgirl-cum-nurse he hopes will be even half as naughty as she just sounded.”
He shut the door behind the horse and latched it before slowly facing the interior of the room.
..and Kenzie heading toward him. The look on her face was impossible to interpret, divided as it was between forecasting personal injury and powerful pleasure.
But when she caught him staring, she smoothed her features and blinked slowly as she licked her lips.
Something was clearly wrong. He wasn’t sure what it was, wasn’t sure she’d own it even if he pressed.
The one thing he knew, could relate to, was the mind’s desire to cede control of the issue to the body’s ability to find a simpler solution.
Whatever hurt she bore or anger she harbored would be soothed by this, this thing between them.
And her reaction in this, her need for him, was the part of her he understood with startling clarity because her needs mirrored his—for touch, taste, companionship, comfort, home. Each other.
He reached for his belt buckle long before she was within arm’s reach.