Page 9 of Unforgettable Cowboy
“Good.”
Remembering her lecture that morning, he added, “I met with the staff arranging care.Someone will travel to the ranch to help him with rehab and bathing and such for a couple of weeks.”
“Full-time?”
Hayes shook his head.“A couple hours a day.”
“Areyougoing to handle the cooking and cleaning and be on call while working the ranch?”she asked dubiously.
Hayes had an answer to that question—he hoped.“I’m going to hire a housekeeper-caretaker.Before he gets home.”
“That will be interesting.”She cocked her head.“Are you staying like you said?”
She was surprisingly protective of old Wade.
“I don’t have anything waiting for me.”
Her eyebrows lifted, but instead of asking questions that Hayes didn’t care to answer, she reached for the tool bag.“I’ll put this away, then head home to engrave some silver.”
“Bailey?”She turned, a faint frown drawing her eyebrows together.He tilted his head toward the palomino mare sunning herself next to the barn.
“This mare.”
He didn’t think he imagined the way her cheeks paled, or the husky note in her voice when she asked, “What about her?”
“You wouldn’t happen to be a horse thief, would you?”
Chapter Three
How?
Bailey had the oddest feeling of the world swirling around her.Her knack for thinking on her feet deserted her, as did her ability to attempt a lie.
“Is that Chance Meyers’s missing horse?”Hayes asked matter-of-factly.
She lifted her chin as she faced off with the man.“You don’t want to get involved in this, Hayes.”
“I don’t want my uncle involved in it, either.Does he know?”
“He knows that I want to keep the horse out of sight.”
“And he didn’t ask questions?”
Bailey met his gaze dead on.“No.”
Hayes let out a silent breath.“Sounds like Wade.”His mouth flattened.“You need to tell me what I’mnotgetting into, Bailey.Either that or move the horse off this property.”
Bailey shifted her weight, glancing down as she sucked in a breath through her teeth.It was important that she explain this in a way that made sense to him.If she couldn’t do that, then she very well may be finding a new place to hide the mare in short order.The tricky part was that she couldn’t read him, had no idea which way he might sway on this matter.
“My college roommate married Chance.She owned a pregnant mare at the time.Dakota was born after the marriage and, as you can see, she’s a pretty amazing animal.Chance and Jenna have split up, and he’s trying to claim Dakota as part of the settlement.”
“Shouldn’t lawyers be handling this?”
“In a perfect world, but Jenna is afraid that Chance—”
“Will do what she did?”
Bailey scowled at the interruption.“She owned the pregnant dam when they married.She paid the stud fee, and therefore she owns the foal.”
