To Tempt a Cowgirl by Jeannie Watt Page B

know.”
    “Halters can get hung up on fence posts or other objects and if the horse goes down, it’ll strangle them.”
    Gabe grimaced and reached for the buckle on the halter. “So noted.” He removed the halter and then rubbed the horse’s nose where the band had been.
    She looked up at him, a serious expression in her eyes. “What’s going to happen to her when you leave?”
    Gabe simply stared at her for a moment. “I may be here for a while.”
    “What happened to the forced vacation?”
    “I’ve been working from here and you know what?” He smiled a little. “Must be the lack of distractions, but I’ve been getting more done here than I do in my home office.”
    “So you’re staying.”
    “For a while. Longer than I expected.”
    “Open-ended return.”
    “That pretty much sums it up,” he agreed.
    “But what then?”
    So Dani didn’t get easily sidetracked. All right. “She’s going to a good home...nothing like what happened to your mare.”
    Dani nodded. “I’m used to people making more of a commitment, rather than buying a horse because they’re on vacation and want to ride.”
    “It’s more than that,” he said quietly, and realized that what he said was true. He felt like he was touching a part of his past that he’d buried deep, maybe because it hurt to think about it. Not that he hadn’t already dealt with all the shit that was his past, but apparently there were still things he needed to contend with. Outliers.
    It struck him then that Jenny Carothers’s horse had looked a lot like Molly. A gelding rather than a mare, but he’d been dark brown with white legs and a kindly expression in his deep brown eyes. The corners of Gabe’s mouth lifted at the memory.
    “What?” Dani asked and he glanced over at her.
    “Just thinking about a horse I used to know.”
    “Known many?”
    “Only one.” A blast of wind hit them and Dani turned her back to it, wrapping her coat around herself more tightly. “Damn, that’s cold,” he said, pushing his hands deep into his pockets. “I feel bad that she doesn’t have a shelter yet, even though Paul assured me that horses have lived outside through most of their evolutionary history.”
    “She’ll have shelter soon.” Dani glanced over at her place. “Do you want to start tomorrow? I can bring the trailer to pick her up.”
    “I’ll walk her over.”
    Dani’s lips twisted into a wry smile as she hunched her shoulders against the cold, making him wonder if he should take a chance and invite her inside. “It’s a good mile.”
    “I think I can manage.” He smiled at her again.
    “I’m curious,” she said. “Why didn’t you book Marti?”
    “I was hoping you’d change your mind.” He regarded her candidly. “I didn’t think you would, but thought I’d give it a day or two just in case.”
    “Because I’m close?”
    “That’s part of it.” For a moment their gazes held and he could see that she was working over possible interpretations of his words. He decided to clarify. “I trust you because you went out of your way to rescue that paint mare. You care about horses.” The words came out on a low note.
    “I see,” she said in a way that made him wonder if she saw more than he intended. She cleared her throat then, tearing her gaze from his. “I’d better get back. I still have evening chores to do. You can either walk your mare over tonight or tomorrow morning. I start working the horses at five.”
    “That’s about what time I go to bed.”
    “I know.” She flashed him a quick look, as if realizing what she’d just said and how it could be misinterpreted. “Your lights...I can’t help but notice.”
    “I figured.”
    “I’m not keeping tabs on you or anything.”
    “You don’t look like the tab-keeping type,” he agreed easily.
    Dani shifted her weight. “What I meant to say was I see your lights when I can’t sleep.”
    “Why don’t you sleep, Dani?”
    “I do, usually, but I worry about