“I am for the moment.”
“Thanks for hooking up the trailer for me. I guess you have another rodeo you’re heading out for?”
“No rodeo.” He shook his head. “I’m going to Perryton with you.”
Oh, no, no, no. That would be a disaster.“No. I don’t need help. Thanks anyway,” she added hastily.
“Damaris’s orders,” he said, opening the driver’s door. “Get in and throw your bag in the back. I’ll drive first then you can drive.”
She didn’t move. “Since when does Damaris order you around?”
Leaning on the open door, he laughed. “How long have you been working here? You know who runs the place.”
Speechless, she stared at him. Finally finding her voice she said, “Why does she want you to go?”
He shrugged. “She thinks you could use some help and neither she nor Marshall can do it. That leaves me.”
“I’m perfectly capable of picking up a horse by myself.”
“I imagine you are.” Chase shrugged. “Now don’t go gettin’ your feelings hurt. I’m sure she has her reasons.”
“I can’t believe this.”
“Why? What’s the big deal? Do you hate me so much you can’t even be in the same truck with me?”
“I don’t hate you at all. That’s the problem.”
He smiled, that panty-melting smile of his. Damn it.
“Chicken?” he asked softly.
She gave him a dirty look, opened the truck door, tossed her bag in the back, and climbed into the front seat. Something beyond picking up a horse was going on. Whether it was Damaris’s idea or Chase’s didn’t really matter. She was stuck. Two days—and a night—trapped with only Chase for company. She could only pray she didn’t do something stupid…again.
They passed the first hour silently. Ella pulled out her e-reader and tried to read the book she’d started a couple of days before. Unfortunately it was a romance and since she was determined not to give in to her urges, she looked for something else. She settled on a gritty thriller, hoping murder and mayhem would keep her mind off Chase and sex.
Chase tried to start a conversation a couple of times but when she ignored him he stopped speaking. Some time passed before Chase broke the silence again. “Do you have a dream barn?”
She looked up from the same page she’d been reading for the last fifteen minutes. So far she’d read five pages in an hour. “What?”
“Tell me about your dream barn. You’re bound to have one.”
Ella bookmarked her e-book. Truthfully she was glad to have something innocuous to talk about. And it was childish to continue to ignore him, after all. “You mean a barn for a horse farm?”
“Yeah. Like if Marshall and Damaris wanted to build a new barn. What would be your ideal? And don’t be too practical. It’s imaginary so you can have all the fancy stalls and equipment and anything else you want.”
So she launched into a description of the most elaborate stable she could imagine. Chase joined in, each suggestion more fantastic than the last. Huge stalls, the most expensive flooring, a tack room with a cozy sitting area, a bar area for coffee and a small refrigerator for drinks, and tons of space for saddles and every accoutrement they could imagine needing. She’d want a washing bay, a grooming bay, and a wide center aisle. The barn itself would be made of wood and stone. There would be at least twenty stalls. Maybe more.
“Don’t forget the automatic watering stations in each stall,” Chase said.
“Of course. And also don’t forget, several people to keep it up. Because I sure don’t want to muck out twenty stalls, do you?”
“Hell, no,” he said and they both laughed.
The remainder of the trip passed quickly, especially considering it was a long drive. More than eight hours when all was said and done. They ate a surprisingly good lunch at a burger joint in one of the small towns along the way.
Once they’d exhausted all their over-the-moon possibilities for a new barn, they discussed what they’d want in a new one that was more affordable and practical. She wasn’t surprised to find that Chase had definite ideas about that, but they mostly jived with hers. “You know before you could build it you’d need an idea of how many horses you ultimately planned to have. Are Marshall and Damaris thinking of expanding their operation that much? If so they haven’t spoken to me about it.”
“Well, there is this new mare.”
