His confession ran through her head as she picked up the strap-brush and stroked it through Buck’s mane. Biting her bottom lip from grinning too wide, she recalled the astounded look on most everyone’s face when they came to see her this morning. “I think I’ve shocked them. This morning the town acted as if I were some stranger.”
“You are a stranger, Summer.” He laughed. “And half the time, I don’t understand what you’re sayin’.”
“Why?”
“Because you talk so educated.”
She smiled. “Aunt Lydia taught me to speak proper English.”
He folded his arms across his wide chest. “Well, nobody around here will know how to act with you this way.”
The awkward conversation made her uncomfortable, and she couldn’t meet his stare. “You’re doing just fine.”
“I am?”
“Yes.” She turned and looked at his rugged features again, wishing she’d stop gazing at him as if he were arealman. “It’s almost like it used to be, yet...different somehow.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“You’re being more polite. Before, you didn’t care how badly you insulted me.”
“I was only gettin’ back at you for what you said to me.”
She shrugged. “True. I wasn’t very nice, either.”
He gave her a soft smile, and her heart melted.
“Neither of us were nice,” he said.
She gazed at him a second longer, not believing how incredibly handsome he was. Of course, if the truth were known, she thought he’d been nice-looking five years ago. But now that he was older, he made her heart leap.
She stopped, suddenly realizing the inappropriateness of her train of thought. Why was she thinking of him like this? She was engaged to Mr. Fairbanks.
Straightening her shoulders, she moved away from Buck and set the brush back on the self. “Mr. Slade, if you’d kindly leave, I have a lot of work to do.”
He pulled away from the wall and walked beside her. “Come on, Summer.” He bumped his elbow into hers. “Let me help you, if just for today. I know how much work there is for you, and I want to help you exercise the horses.”
She lifted her chin and challenged politely. “Fine. You can saddle up Thunder, and I’ll take Buck.”
He flashed her his cocky grin before she moved to the tack room and lifted a saddle. Jesse followed behind and copied her actions. She couldn’t believe their conversation had turned sappy just a moment ago, and she promised herself not to fall into his trap again. Suddenly, an idea sprang to her mind that she just couldn’t dismiss.
She flipped the saddle over Buck’s back. “I have a suggestion,” she added. “Let’s not just exercise the horses but have a race. I haven’t been racing for quite some time.”
“I don’t know, Summer. You’ve been out of the saddle for a while.”
She tilted her head and met his eyes. “It hasn’t been that long.”
His grin widened as he stepped closer to her. “Fine. We’ll have a race, but will you promise me somethin’?”
Her heart leaped again from his nearness. Flipping up the stirrup, she grabbed the cinch. “What?”
“That you won’t hate me when I win.”
She did laugh aloud, propping her hands on her hips. “And what makes you so all-fired sure you’re going to win?”
He shrugged. “I just think you’re gonna be a little rusty, is all.”
She laughed victoriously. “Saddle up, Jesse Slade, because I’m going to show you just howrustyI really am.”
