Love Inspired January 2014(7)

                He chuckled deep in his chest and her insides curled like a kitten in response. “We aren’t talking about my love life. We’re talking about me helping you out.”

                Lucy could not get her foot out of her mouth. She should never have mentioned anything to do with dating. Talk about getting into someone’s business!

                “Well,” she faltered, still stuck on that chuckle.

                “Look, like I said yesterday,” Rowdy continued, “my nana is going to have you over to dinner next week and if she finds out you need help and I didn’t do the neighborly thing and help you, believe me, it won’t be pretty. So help a fella out and put me to work.”

                Despite everything, Lucy found herself wanting to smile. But the past reared its ugly face—this was so like Tim.

                How many times had he cajoled her into doing something he wanted? Too many. The fist of mistrust knotted beneath her ribs.

                “I’ll think about it,” she said, having meant to tell him no. She repositioned her goggles.

                He frowned. “Fine. I’ll let you get back to your work, then.”

                Irritation had his shoulders stiff as she watched him leave. She almost called out to him, but didn’t. She’d given in to Tim too many times in her life. Why did men believe women were supposed to just stop thinking for themselves whenever they were in the picture?

                Lucy wasn’t going down that road again. The screen door slammed in the other room, and a few seconds later she heard his truck’s engine rumble to life. Drawn to the window, she watched him back out onto the hardtop. But he didn’t leave immediately. Instead, he sat with his arm hooked over the steering wheel, staring at the house. Though he couldn’t see her, she felt as if he were looking straight at her.

                She stepped back and he drove off. Her heart thumped erratically as she watched him disappear in the distance.

                It’s better this way.

                It certainly was.

                Then why did she suddenly feel so lonely she could scream?

                * * *

                “Women,” Rowdy growled, driving away. “They drive me crazy.” She could just knock her whole house down for all he cared. He had things to do and places to be and being the Good Samaritan was obviously not his calling. It was his own fault—he should have minded his stinkin’ business.

                After only a short drive down the blacktop road, he turned onto the ranch, spinning gravel as he drove beneath the thick log entrance with the Sunrise Ranch logo overhead.

                Dust flying behind him, he sped toward the ranch house in the distance, its roof peeking up over the hill that hid the majority of the ranch compound from the road.

                The compound of Sunset Ranch had been divided into sections. The first section was the main house, the ranch office and the Chow Hall, where his grandmother, Ruby Ann “Nana” McDermott, ruled the roost. For sixteen boys ranging in age from eight to eighteen the Chow Hall was the heart of the ranch. But Nana was actually the heart.

                Across the gravel parking area, the hundred-year-old horse stable stretched out. Most every horse he’d ever trained had been born in the red, wooden building since the day his grandfather had bought the place years ago. Beside the horse stable stood the silver metal barn and the large corral and riding pens. Making up the last section was the three-room private school the ranch provided for the kids. It sat out from the rest of the compound, within easy walking distance, to give the kids space from school life. This was home.