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“Other than he knows about proper storage and shipping, I’m not really sure.”
Erin didn’t believe that for a second. Not with the way Rachel purposely avoided eye contact. Good to know she was trustworthy or simply not the type to gossip. Either way, she’d earned Erin’s respect.
“Hey, do those chocolate chip cookies have nuts in them?” Erin asked as they reached the porch of the well-kept two-story house with green shutters.
“Of course.” Rachel looked insulted. “If I’m going to cheat and pass them off as my own, why on earth would I skimp?”
Erin grinned. A woman after her own heart.
5
AFTER A TWO-HOUR tour of the Lone Wolf, Spencer decided he liked Gunderson. They’d met twice before, once by chance, the second time to size each other up. But today was the day of reckoning. Spencer could tell a lot about a man by the way he treated his animals, his hired men and his wife. Matt Gunderson excelled in all three areas, and if he wanted Spencer’s help, he was inclined to do what he could.
“I wish I could give you more assurance. Frozen semen has an indefinite shelf life as long as it isn’t thawed. On the downside you have to have the facility to properly store it,” Spencer said, his arms propped on the door of King Arthur’s stall. The handsome black stallion looked to be in perfect health. “I hear there’s a big demand in the overseas market. Chilled semen is only fertile for one to three days after it’s collected. Too many variables can eat up the time real quick before it gets to its destination.”
Matt nodded. “On the other side of the coin, the semen doesn’t always survive the freezing process. I read that roughly 25 percent of the stallion population freezes well. Would you agree with that?”
“I’m reading the same research you are,” Spencer said, shrugging.
“Yeah, but I’m guessing you understand most of it better than I do.”
Spencer smiled. Besides Dusty, Gunderson was the only person in Blackfoot Falls who knew anything about Spencer. So maybe Rachel did, as well. His thoughts skipped straight to Erin, who could be grilling Rachel right now, looking for a way to convince him to lease her Moonlight Mountain. Matt knew to be discreet, and Spencer hoped Rachel followed his lead.
And if not, nothing he could do about it at this point. It wasn’t as though he harbored some horrible secret—he just didn’t care to revisit that less than shining moment that cost him everything. And the pitying looks...yeah, he could do without those.
“Look,” Spencer said, “you can probably expect another 50 percent to freeze acceptably. You have prime animals, and if you make sure you’re offering only the highest quality semen, you’ll have more customers than you can handle.”
King Arthur neighed loudly and shook his mane.
Matt grinned. “This guy is something else. It’ll break my heart if I can’t keep some viable semen.”
“He sired any foals yet?”
“Two. I sold one, and my friend Ben has the other. The next one I’m keeping.”
“I wish I could’ve helped you out today.” Spencer glanced at his watch. “I know you’re more interested in bulls, but it’s a different story trying to get them registered.”
“I only want the semen for my own breeding purposes, so that’s not a problem. Basically, I’ve got to figure out if I want to move forward and build a facility and find the right personnel to handle that portion of the business. Hell, I wasn’t even interested in any of this until a few months ago.”
Matt stepped away from the stall and headed for the pot of coffee he’d started. “You want some?” Matt asked.
“Sure.” Spencer’s thoughts wandered back to Erin. Time had flown by. He hadn’t expected to be here this long, and he was a little surprised she hadn’t come looking for him. Unless Rachel had given her a ride to town.
He didn’t like that idea, even though he should. Sometimes she was a bit hard to read. Damn, he wished he knew if she was serious about sex being nonnegotiable. Maybe it was part of her strategy to get him to come around. The plan had merit. Not that he’d admit it.
“There’s another way I’d consider getting into this business.” Matt held out the mug of black coffee. “Go in with a partner—50/50 investment, 50/50 profit.”
Spencer smiled. “I figured this discussion might be headed in that direction.”
“You interested in that route?”
“It’s possible.” Spencer took a sip. “Are you looking to breed strictly rodeo stock?”
“For me, personally? Yeah, mostly.” Matt gestured to King Arthur. “But when a stallion like this comes along, I’d be stupid not to consider other options. A guy I know, lives about twenty miles east of town...he trains racehorses. Trent’s good. He’s got several major wins under his belt. He’s expressed some interest.” Matt sipped from his mug, his expression thoughtful. “So, here’s another question for you.”
“Shoot.”
“What’s your opinion on cloning?”
Spencer almost spit out his coffee. “Are you serious?”
Matt laughed. “I’m just curious. Hell, I’d have to clone myself to take on any more work.”
“You must be following all that Quarter Horse Association business down in Texas. That fight’s been going on for a long time, and I don’t see it ending soon.”
“I agree with you there,” Matt said, then they both turned when someone entered the stable.
It was Erin.
Her hair was mussed and her cheeks flushed. She’d taken off the hoodie and was down to a red T-shirt that fit snugly across her breasts and showed off toned, lightly tanned arms. Whether or not she was wearing a bra wasn’t clear, but Spencer could see her nipples poking at the worn material.
“Speaking of trouble,” he said when she was close enough to hear.
“Ah, you missed me. How sweet.”
Matt chuckled just as his phone buzzed. “Excuse me a minute.”
As they watched him walk away, Spencer noticed some hay in her hair. “Where were you?”
“Horseback riding. It was amazing.”
“With Rachel?”
“No, she had to run over to the Sundance and drop something off, so Bobby took me.” Erin hunched her shoulders and rubbed her arms. “It was warm out in the sun, but now I wish I’d put my hoodie back on.”
Spencer shrugged out of his jacket.
“What are you doing?” She leaned away when he tried to drape it over her shoulders. “You’ll be cold.”
“I’m fine.”
“Bobby said he has an extra jacket if I need it.”
“Look, you’re shivering. Can you just put the damn thing on without arguing?”
She pressed her lips together, her jaw clenched as he settled the heavy suede jacket around her. “Oh.” She relaxed as he overlapped the front. “Wow. This is nice. Fleece-lined and everything. You might not get it back.”
The jacket dwarfed her, hitting just above her knees. She turned her head and buried half her face into the collar, closing her eyes and inhaling deeply. A soft smile lifted her lips. She looked so damned sexy. Did she even realize what she was doing? She could be purposely taunting him, but he didn’t think so.
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