Chapter Twelve
“Thanks for coming,”Liam said after he and Connor started work on the foaling box. “When you didn’t get here earlier, I figured you were blowing me off.”
They finished bringing all the lumber and other supplies to the area where the new box would go. “Why would you think that?” He’d been tempted, he had to admit. “I wouldn’t blow you off over something like this.” Besides the fact that Liam worried about Val, Connor knew how important the ranch and the horses were to Liam, and he also knew that he never had as much help as he needed.
Liam gestured at Val who was introducing Sierra to the horses who were in the barn instead of the pasture. “I don’t know how I’m going to keep Val from doing too much. The doctor made her stop riding but now she thinks she can do everything else. I caught her lifting the heaviest saddle we have. She’s making me crazy.”
“It must be hard for her not to do what she’s used to doing.” Val had been a rancher all her life. She was accustomed to hard, physical work. “I mean, going from working hard to doing nothing would drive anyone crazy.”
Liam nodded. “The doctor hasn’t put any limits on her yet, other than not riding, but I don’t think the doctor realizes how physical Val is. I can’t help worrying.”
“Let me guess. She was getting ready to help build the new box.”
Liam rolled his eyes. “Thank God you showed up before she did.”
“Couldn’t she just do some of the hammering?”
“She could. But every time I turned around, I’d find her carting lumber around.”
“Is she having a problem pregnancy?”
“No, but I am.”
Connor laughed and they got down to business.
The women walked by and Connor couldn’t help watching the way Sierra moved. He wondered when they could leave and he could—
“You didn’t hear a word I said, did you?” his brother asked.
Connor managed to tear his gaze away from Sierra’s backside. “Nope. Was it important?”
“Thankfully, no. You’ve really got it bad.”
“Yeah, but you already knew that.”
“Does Sierra?”
“I don’t know.”
He thought about that. He hadn’t told her how he felt but she wasn’t stupid. She almost certainly knew he was in love with her. Problem was, he didn’t know how she felt about him. He knew she liked him. Knew she liked the sex—a lot. But did she love him?
He didn’t know and he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer to that question.
*
“Want to helpme up at the house?” Val asked Sierra. “I’m going to bring some lemonade down for the guys. I know it’s cold but they’ll be sweaty by the time we get back.”
“Sure. I could do with some lemonade too.”
Once at the house, Sierra discovered that Val didn’t do anything as mundane as fixing lemonade from a mix. First she mixed water and sugar together and set it on the stove to cook. “Can you stir this while I get out the other ingredients?” Val asked.
“Sure. How long do I do this?”
“Until the sugar is dissolved. This is my mom’s recipe. You can use bottled lemon juice but Mom swears it’s better with fresh squeezed.” She got out an electric juicer and several lemons and began slicing and juicing them.
“So, you must like to cook.”
Val laughed. “Hardly. This is pretty much my one claim to fame. Luckily Velma does the majority of the cooking.”
