Page 14 of Waiting for Devon
“Take it easy, today. Keep your eye on Dark Mist and her colt. I’ve got accounting to tend to in my office.”
When Reed wasout of earshot, Smitty, another ranch hand, joined Harry. “Why’d you lie to the boss?”
“Why’d you think? I sure as hell ain’t gonna tell him I got jacked up by a couple of Digger Sharpe’s goons.” Harry groaned as he mucked out a stall.
“Maybe he’d help.”
“Yeah, right out of my job,” Harry drawled. “I’d rather the boss believe I got into a barfight. You think I want him knowin’ about my gamblin’ habit?”
Smitty grabbed a bale of fresh hay. “What are you in for?”
“More’n what I make, that’s for damn sure.”
“Man, you made a mistake gettin’ mixed up with Digger Sharpe. He’s bad news.”
“The guys outta Las Vegas are worse.”
They worked in silence a few minutes before Smitty remarked with a thoughtful expression on his homely face, “Shane Barrington brought home a fiancée.”
Harry grunted. “Big fuckin’ deal.”
“Shut the fuck up and listen. I saw her with the boss.”
“So?”
“So, he had his tongue down her throat, and she wasn’t protestin’.”
Harry leaned against his rake. “Interestin’.”
“She’s a real looker, too. See where I’m goin’ with this?”
“Maybe. I ain’t sayin’ nothin’ about it right now.”
“I’m thinkin’ about being on easy street. Tired of this shit.” He pointed at a pile of horse manure in Prince’s stall. “Tired of being ordered around by the Barringtons.”
“We ain’t got it so bad here. Could be worse.”
Smitty snorted. “Yeah, right. You could be swimmin’ with the fishes.”
Harry grimaced and focused his attention on his tasks while Smitty’s comments festered in his mind.
Shortly after breakfast,Blair disappeared, and Devon found herself at loose ends. Teased by the image of the wild, exquisite, forbidden kiss she shared with Reed, Devon was tempted to wander down to the stables where she would, no doubt, run into him. As quickly as the notion entered her head, she resisted the urge to be alone with him again.
There’s no telling what he would do this time.
Releasing a soft sigh, Devon made her way to the extensive library where she found an interesting novel and read for the remainder of the morning.
Bored by the inactivity of a leisurely life, Devon looked forward to Shane and Jasper returning home at six-thirty. When Blair joined them for dinner, she reeked of alcohol. Devon assumed she had spent the day drinking in her room. Jasper frowned his disapproval but refrained from commenting.
As he made his entrance in the dining room, Reed bent low next to Devon and murmured,
“Still here, Miss Brooks?”
She offered a sweet smile. “Yes, much to your annoyance.”
“I’m not worried. You’ll show your true colors in due time.”
“As you have. Beneath that suave veneer beats the heart of a true barbarian.”
