“Hold on,” he demanded, a low rumble in his voice. “Chris Cole is your uncle?”
“Yes, he is! Who did you think he had out here gathering his eggs? Some stranger?”
Holy shit, it was her. That spitfire kid who used to show up every summer and raise hell.
A smirk grew on his lips. “You wouldn’t happen to be that wild little girl who had a habit of leaving her muddy boots and overalls hanging across the horse stalls every summer, would you?”
She gasped. “How would you know that?”
Justin gave her a sideways grin. “Well, back then, I was the guy in charge of cleaning up the barn, and your mud covered boots and denim were my nemesis. I lived at the bunkhouse with the boys, so you never saw much of me, if at all, when you came to visit. Besides, all the hands here probably looked the same to you. Though, I did save you from being trampled by a steer once.”
Blythe rolled her eyes and shot him a large dose of sarcasm as she yanked her arm from his grasp.
“Oh, I remember the steer. But I don’t rememberyou,cowboy.” She rolled her eyes and glared into what felt like his soul. “Don’t worry, I won’t be troubling you with muddy boots or jeans or my presence any more. If you’ll excuse me?”
She spun around one last time, gathering the rest of the eggs, and marched back to the house, leaving Justin to lock up the chicken coop himself.
He watched her walk up the steps and slam the screen door behind her. It’d been nearly a decade since he’d worked full time at Silo Springs, and it may have been then that he saw her last. Maybe longer than that. He didn’t even think he’d caught her name way back then. He wasn’t sure he’d ever heard such aunique one before. When another name sparked in his memory, he connected the dots.
Lythie.
Chris and Claire had called her Lythie.
Damnit. Oh, well, how was he supposed to recognize her all matured and filled out, and in all the right places, too? Shit, maybe he was a perv.
He looked around the yard, his thoughts turning from the woman who’d just snubbed him and lingering on his time there. From the moment he’d started shoeing, the other hands called himthe horse whisperer.Justin just knew how to calm them. He knew how to make them comfortable, and he always made them feel safe. Changing their shoes was a service to the animals; it built trust between the two souls, and there was nothing else on earth he’d wanted to do with his life. So at the age of twenty-two, he got his first LLC forForge Farrier Co.
A flood of emotions hit him as he turned to the memory of how he’d arrived at Silo Springs. He stared off at the dirt road that led to and from the ranch. As much as he hated his father, he was the reason Justin was standing where he was—literally in the moment, and in life.
Justin shook his head and snapped out of it. He had work to do, and Chris needed those horses ready to move before noon. He could ponder his trauma later, and the pretty little thing he was sure considered him an enemy—or, at the very least, a nuisance after what he just did. If anything, it was payback for the nuisance she’d been to him all those years ago. Though, she had grown up, and she wasn’t a nuisance to look at…that was for damn sure.
He whistled to his hound, who’d run off to chase a rabbit earlier. Bear came running up without a rabbit in tow, and Justin chuckled.
“No luck then, boy? Well, let's go.”
The horses were waiting for him. Two chestnut brown mares with the prettiest coats and tails Justin had ever seen.
“Hi, girls,” he whispered to them, reaching both hands out to stroke their noses at the same time. He placed a kiss on each of the animals and softly told them what he would be doing.
“A new set of shoes for you both. Chris wants you ready to ride this morning. There’s a group of calves that need you to bring ‘em in so they’re ready for branding tomorrow. Sound good?”
Each horse looked at him, and he knew they understood.
Justin was quick and had both mares shod and ready before high noon. It’s why Chris always used his services. He was dependable, fast, and an expert craftsman.
“Hey, Justin!” Chris called, walking into the barn. “Man, you’re fast. Never ceases to amaze me.” Clicking his tongue in his cheek, he gave a whistle.
“Well, sir, I learned from the best. Without you and this ranch, only god knows where I’d be.”
The two men gave each other a knowing smile. The day Justin Forge came to live with Chris and Claire was the day that saved his life. He would never forget their kindness.
“I may have upset your niece this morning.” Justin nodded toward the house. “I was walking up and saw her tucked into the nesting boxes. I must’ve been really quiet. When I asked who she was, I scared the living tar out of her, and she fell down. I also may have used my hat to dust off her back pockets afterward.”
Chris was grinning.
“It wasn't until after that I realized who she was, and then it was too late.”
Chris looked at his feet and kicked some dirt before looking back up at Justin. “Well, that girl’s been through hell and back in the city. She had a shit fiancé, and she doesn’t have himanymore. Barely happened a week ago, and she’s still got a lot of feelings about it. But she’ll come around.”
