Jesse burst through the run door, nearly tripping over himself as he slammed it shut and bolted it as if the hounds of hell were after him. Behind the wire, chickens still squawked and flapped their outrage, feathers and straw floating in the air like the aftermath of a battle.
What the—Matt hadsomesympathy with the chickens because God knew Jesse was frustrating at times, but this was—actually, this was damn funny, was what it was. Especially when Jessebecame aware of his presence and turned. A feather was caught in his hair, floating slightly upward with each breath he let out.
“Damn devil birds,” he complained. “What the hell d’you feed them? Manflesh?” He pulled up his jeans and inspected his calf. “Think I just lost half my leg.”
“But did you get the eggs?”
Jesse’s eyes brightened and he brandished the basket at Matt. “Hell, yeah, I got the eggs. Might be easier just to go to the store in future, though.”
Matt had to fight not to grin—he’d never thought to ask Jesse if he’d been on a ranch before, and he thought he might have just gotten his answer—and reached out to disentangle the feather from Jesse’s hair.
His fingers brushed Jesse’s hair, plucking the feather free, and Jesse froze. Heat shot down Matt’s spine, pooling low in his gut.
No, God damn it.No.
“Barn,” he said, and strode away from Jesse.
He’d snatched himself back from the brink of losing control by the time Jesse joined him in the barn. Jesse’s cheeks were touched with color, though Matt wasn’t sure if that was from exertion at keeping up with the pace Matt had set or something more.
Climbing up to the hayloft, he started pitching hay down to Jesse to fill hay nets. He needed the distance.
As he worked in the peace and warmth of the barn, breathing in the scent of horse and the sweet smell of hay, he slowly calmed. Jesse wasn’t exactly a natural with the nets, but he was working hard, no complaints. Seemed like all that griping was reserved for when nothing serious was at stake. And the way he moved—smooth, easy, bending without hesitation—it looked like that bite on his side had healed.
“That’ll do,” Matt said at last. “Just need to top up the trough, then we can get a drink.” The heat of the day was building, andthe seeds from the hay had dried his mouth. He was willing to bet Jesse would be the same.
As he joined Jesse, he noticed the pieces of hay that were now in his hair, but he wasn’t going to touch him again. He’d make sure Jesse looked in a mirror before he left the ranch. He bit down on the snarl from his wolf, who was becoming more and more unsettled as the time for Jesse to leave drew closer.
“Oh.”
It wasn’t a sound he’d heard from Jesse before, his voice holding a softness he hadn’t known Jesse was capable of. When he saw what Jesse was looking at, he understood.
In the far corner, where she wouldn’t be disturbed, Missy was in the mare-and-foal pen with her new arrival. He was midnight black with a white star on his forehead, and from all Matt had seen of him the night he’d been born, he was a little beauty. But Missy was bad-tempered at the best of times, and when protecting her foal was added into the mix, no one who valued their skin would try to get too close to have a look. Matt had done this dance with Missy before. He fed her and cleaned her stall without ever glancing at the foal, waiting for her to settle down and remember that Matt wasn’t an evil monster intent on taking her new baby away.
Jesse was rooted to the spot. “He’s just a baby,” he said wonderingly. “Look at him, such long legs and he don’t hardly know what to do with them.”
Something in Matt softened at Jesse’s enchantment with the foal. “He’s something, isn’t he? All legs and no balance. Takes after his mother—she was the same when she was born.”
“You bred her?” Jesse asked, his eyes lingering on the mare and foal. “How long’ve you been here, then?”
Matt had to pause an instant to tally it up. “Eight years, more or less.” In some ways, it felt like a lifetime, like the past hadhappened to someone else. In other ways, it still felt like a dream that could disappear, be torn away from him, at any moment.
“I’ll fill the trough,” he said, and made his way into the sunshine. He rested a foot on the lowest rail and leaned against the corral fence as the water ran, looking out across the hillside to the mountains. God, he loved that view, but today, there was something even more special about it. Unaccustomed warmth filled him.
A strange, dangerous warmth, that was tugging him back toward the barn. Toward Jesse. Oh,hellno.
His immediate impulse was to yell Jesse’s name to get him out here. It would be safer than following the instinct drawing him back to his mate. But then he thought of Missy startling and trampling her baby, and he knew he couldn’t risk it.
He moved back quietly to the barn, where he leaned against the doorjamb and watched Jesse for a while. He’d intended to watch Missy and her foal, to be sure Jesse’s presence hadn’t disturbed her, but his eyes were drawn to the man who was now sitting on the floor.
His long legs in frayed jeans were stretched in front of him, his blue plaid shirt was open over a faded black t-shirt, and there was a piece of hay in his mouth like he was some kind of cowpoke rather than someone who’d never met a chicken in his life.
“Not gonna hurt you, pretty lady,” Jesse was murmuring softly. “Just want to see your baby.”
Matt didn’t know what magic Jesse possessed, but Missy had allowed the foal to come to the stall door, his soft nose questing the air. Jesse was watching them with the kind of devotion Matt had only seen in church. It didn’t matter that Jesse’s face was on the angular side, his cheekbones a little too sharp—Matt looked at the peace in his face, the wonder in his eyes, and he wasbeautiful.
“Hey,” Matt said softly after a while, and had to clear his throat. “You want a drink?”
Jesse startled as if he hadn’t realized Matt was there. That showed how much Missy must have relaxed him, because up till now, Jesse had been tracking every move Matt made.
