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“Like I told you,” he retorted, “it’s not that kind of feeling.”
She gave him a long, dubious look that clearly said she didn’t believe him. As she went back into the rear shed to finish doling out breakfast, he put her irritating reaction out of his mind. Right now he had more important things to worry about.
Pulling out his phone, he thumbed down to the number he needed and pressed Dial. A crisp, professional voice answered, and he grinned. “Harley? Is that you? You sound like some rich guy’s uptight butler.” That got him a less than charitable reply, and he chuckled. “Hey, I need a favor, unofficially. I don’t know—cover your monitor or something. Here’s what I need.”
Once he explained, Harley put him on hold to do a quick search of some mystical police database that would at least reveal whether or not Bekah was on the most-wanted list. Subjected to an instrumental version of a creaky old ballad, Drew strolled around the lobby until Harley came back on the line. “Your girl’s clear as far as I can see. Not even a parking ticket.”
“Awesome. Thanks, man. I owe you one.”
“I’ll add it to the list,” his childhood friend assured him with a chuckle. “Take ’er easy.”
“You, too.”
Clicking his phone off as he walked through an unmarked door, he found Sierra measuring out antibiotics for some patient or another. She held up her index finger for him to wait, and when she was finished, she looked up at him. “I can tell by the delighted look on your face that you got the answer you wanted to hear.”
“From what Harley could tell, Bekah’s record is clean as a whistle. I’m way overdue at the farm, but I’m gonna head out back and see how that old plumbing looks. I wouldn’t want to overstay my welcome and step on your pretty little toes.”
“Oh, you’re a real prince. You owe me one, Kinley boy.”
Echoing what he’d told Harley, he shot back, “Just add it to the list.”
“Don’t worry. I will.”
* * *
Bekah didn’t have a watch, but the sun was directly overhead when she and Sierra finally finished taking care of all the animals and their pens. Everything was clean, everyone had been fed and dosed, and at one o’clock they had a family coming in to take home the adorable black lab puppy they’d chosen to adopt. Not long after that, Sierra had told her, it would be time to do it all over again and get everyone tucked in for the night.
Never a dull moment at the rescue center, Bekah thought with a grin. She loved it.
“Okay, rookie,” Sierra announced briskly. “Lunchtime.”
“I’m fine.”
“There are laws in this state, and one of them says I can’t work you to death. Unless I feed you first,” she added with a wink. “Fortunately for you, it won’t be my cooking you have to stomach. Maggie Kinley’s the best cook in the county, and she’s always got room for one more. If you don’t mind walking over to the house, we can chat on the way.”
That sounded promising, so Bekah agreed and quickly washed her hands at a nearby utility sink. Outside, a mild autumn breeze rustled through the trees behind the center, shaking more leaves loose to float lazily down to the ground.
Leaving the cluster of barns where she’d spent her morning, she followed Sierra onto a dirt lane that wound through acres of white-fenced bluegrass with horses of every size and color peacefully grazing in the sunlight. At the other end she saw a rambling white farmhouse surrounded by well-tended gardens. With wide porches and baskets of flowers hanging along the roofline, it had a welcoming look that invited people to stop in and visit for a while.
“You’ve done great today,” Sierra began in her brisk, efficient way. “I threw every job I could at you, and you handled them better than anyone I’ve ever seen. You’ve got a real way with animals.”
Unaccustomed to being praised for simply doing as she’d been told, Bekah felt prouder than she had in a long time. She didn’t want to come across as being needy, though, so she kept her response simple. “Thank you.”
Sierra gave her a sidelong glance and shook her head with a smile. “You’re welcome. I know you’ve only been with us part of a day, but were you serious about wanting something more permanent?”
Excited beyond words, Bekah clamped her mouth shut before she could make a complete fool of herself and destroy Sierra’s positive view of her. Taking a deep breath to steady her voice, she said, “What did you have in mind?”
“It’d be great to find someone who could be at the clinic when I’m not. Sometimes things come up after I’ve left for the day, and I don’t know anything’s happened until morning.”
Bekah heard what she wasn’t saying and frowned. “You mean an animal might take a turn for the worst, and by the time you find out, it’s too late to help them?”
“Yeah,” Sierra acknowledged sadly. “I live in Rockville and take night classes, so it’s not possible for me to be at the center 24/7.”
The regret in her voice made Bekah want to do something to ease her mind. Beyond that, working at the clinic would let her keep an eye on Rosie while she healed. Despite Drew and Sierra’s assurances, she felt a deep sense of responsibility for the wounded hawk.
Still, she hated to make a commitment she couldn’t keep, so she chose her words very carefully. “I’m not sure how long I’ll be in town, but I can cover the open hours at the clinic until you find someone else for the job.”
“Fabulous.” Sierra named an hourly rate a few cents above minimum wage, punctuating that with an apologetic shrug. “I know it’s not much, but that’s honestly the best I can do. The good news is rooms in town aren’t expensive, so you should be able to find a place to stay.”
Once her car was fixed, anyway, Bekah thought grimly. Shaking off the pessimism that had become an ugly habit for her, she decided to start focusing on the good instead of the bad. “I’ll take it. And thank you for giving me a chance. I’m sure I’m not your first choice.”
“Honey, you’re my only choice,” her new boss confided, wrapping an arm around her shoulders in a quick hug. “If we both put our minds to it, we’ll figure out a way to make it work.”
“I’m good at that.”
That comment got her a long, appraising look from the upbeat woman who’d just unwittingly saved Bekah from an uncertain future. “That doesn’t surprise me in the least.”
They chatted pleasantly the rest of the way and stopped at the foot of the back porch steps. The door was open, and through the wood-framed screen Bekah heard what sounded like an army talking, laughing and generally making a ruckus. Over it all, she barely heard a woman’s voice shout, “Lunch is ready!”
Sierra climbed up to the porch, but Bekah’s feet refused to move even an inch. “Sierra?” When she turned back, Bekah asked, “How many people are in there?”
“Oh, usually ten or fifteen, depending. There’s no school today, so there might be some kids, too. Why?”
Bekah didn’t want to seem ungrateful, but the thought of facing so many strangers just about paralyzed her. While she was trying to come up with a polite way to decline, she heard footsteps approaching from behind her.
“Hello, ladies,” Drew’s mellow voice drawled. “Glad you could make it.”
Turning to face him, she felt an unfamiliar hitch in her stomach. His hair was damp, and he’d changed from his running clothes into jeans and a pale green T-shirt that made his eyes glitter like emeralds. A full head taller than her, he had the solid look of someone who’d worked outside his entire life. As he approached her, she was vaguely aware of Sierra continuing up the steps, effectively leaving her alone with the best-looking man she’d ever met.
Why hadn’t she noticed that before? she asked herself. Oh, right, between Rosie and her whirlwind morning at the clinic, she’d been too busy to do much more than glance at him. Now that she had a chance for a better look, it was pathetically obvious she’d missed a few details that morning. Quite a few.
When she realized he was waiting for her to say something, she felt her cheeks warming with embarrassment. She hadn’t paid much attention to the niceties lately, and apparently her social skills had withered a bit. Hoping to cover her slip with a bright smile, she said, “Thanks for the invitation. I didn’t have breakfast this morning, so I’m famished.”
“Then we better get you inside before you drop,” he teased, going ahead to open the door for her. When she didn’t follow, he nudged her. “After you.”
Coming from him, the old-fashioned gesture caught her by surprise. Mr. Jennings had behaved that way toward her, but he was old enough to be her grandfather, and she’d assumed that was the explanation for his gallant treatment of her. Apparently, it was a Southern thing, she mused with a slight grin. Definitely something a girl could get used to.
So with Drew standing solidly behind her, she waded into the most chaotic scene she’d ever experienced outside of an after-Christmas sale. A quick glance around showed her that Sierra hadn’t been exaggerating about the number of people. She saw everyone from dusty farmhands to an adorable blond girl sitting at the table with a slender woman, coloring pictures in a book as if there wasn’t a storm of activity swirling around them.
An older woman was mixing a salad on the huge prep island, and she looked up when the screen door slapped closed. Instantly, she put on a huge smile and wiped her hands on a towel as she came around to greet them.
“You must be Bekah,” she said warmly, shaking her hand and beaming as if she’d just come across a long-lost daughter. “Drew called to tell me you might be coming in for lunch. I’m Maggie Kinley, and on a good day I’m in charge around here. Today I’m not so sure.”
Dredging up her rusty manners, Bekah did her best to smile back. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“Mom’s the ringleader of this little circus,” Drew explained with a chuckle. Pointing to a tall man at the head of the table, he said, “That’s my big brother Mike, baby brother Josh...”
“Who wishes you’d quit calling him that,” a slightly slimmer version of the older two protested. “I’m twenty-five, y’know.”
“Whatever.”
Josh growled, and Drew grinned back, clearly not concerned in the least. He went on to introduce the little girl as his niece, Abby, and the lovely woman beside her as Mike’s wife, Lily.
After that, the names and faces blurred together in a mishmash of strangers Bekah was fairly certain she’d never be able to keep straight. But she doggedly smiled and nodded at each one, trying to look more confident than she felt. “It’s nice to meet you all.”
“You look dead on your feet, honey,” Maggie clucked, patting the end of one of the long benches flanking the table. “Can I get you something to drink?”
“I got it, Mom,” Drew answered, opening the fridge to take out a humongous pitcher. “What would you say to some lemonade, Bekah?”
In reply, she held out an empty glass, and he laughed. “Yes, ma’am.”
While he filled it and added ice, it struck her that she’d actually done something he thought was funny. After spending months skulking from one town to the next, doing everything in her power to keep from drawing attention to herself, she was pleased to discover she hadn’t completely lost her sense of humor.
This bright, comfortable feeling might not last, she acknowledged, but for now it felt good. And that was enough for her.
* * *
In a stroke of rare genius, Drew took the end seat, leaving Bekah next to his bubbly sister-in-law. They talked easily enough, and his worry about her ebbed a bit. As a kindergarten teacher, Lily was used to dealing with all kinds of personalities in her students, and she was as accepting a person as he’d ever met. She’d have to be, he mused with a wry grin. Mike was a good guy, but he wasn’t exactly Mr. Congeniality.
“So, Drew, are we gonna see you here on the farm sometime today?” the ogre in question asked from the other end of the table.
Drew recognized that he’d been pushing it all morning, even though he believed he’d been doing something more important than whatever Mike had planned for him. But he didn’t want to start one of their notorious arguments in front of their skittish guest, so he brushed away his annoyance. “I got a few more things to finish at the clinic, but they can wait till tomorrow. So I’m all yours.”
“We’re almost done with the hay,” Josh informed him around a mouthful of salad. “Then we’ll be out fixing the line of fencing those crazy ponies took down during yesterday’s thunderstorm.”
“We should replace that wire with board fences,” Drew commented to no one in particular.
“If we could afford it, we would,” Mike reminded him with a scowl. “Since we can’t, we can’t.”
Bold, blatant logic, and an everyday fact of life at Gallimore Stables. Someday, Drew hoped they could manage the farm the right way, instead of barely holding things together with their bare hands.
When Dad had been alive and training racehorses, they’d never worried about money or how they were going to keep the place going. Now, it seemed like they never quit worrying about it. As much as he loved the farm, sometimes he got tired of the constant pressure they were all under to keep the numbers from sliding too far into the red.
Those were the times he couldn’t help wondering if there might be a better life for him somewhere else. Then his innate loyalty kicked in, and he plastered on a smile while he kept trudging along, waiting for things to improve enough for him to strike out on his own.
“Then I’ll meet you and Josh out in the back pasture,” he said matter-of-factly. Stringing a mile of fence was the last thing he wanted to do, but he was confident that his brothers weren’t thrilled about it, either. Since there was no point grumbling about what had to be done, he switched topics. “On the radio this morning, I heard Tennessee’s favored against Dallas this Sunday. I’m not sure about that one.”
“Dallas is using a backup quarterback who’s never started a pro game, so they might be right.”
The comment came from—of all people—Bekah. She sounded like she knew what she was talking about, and he eyed her with new respect. “You speak football?”
“I’m from Chicago,” she informed him with a smirk. “Speaking football is a requirement.”
“Is that right?” Fascinated, he folded his arms on the table and grinned at her. “Any thoughts on the San Fran game Monday night?”
“They’ll lose. They’re playing in Seattle, which has the loudest home fans in the country. Opponents can never hear a thing in that stadium, and the San Fran front line is full of rookies who won’t be able to communicate well enough to coordinate their moves. They don’t stand a chance.”
They kept chatting back and forth while they ate, and he was amazed by how much she knew about his favorite sport. At one point, he teased, “It’s too bad you weren’t a boy. You would’ve made a great quarterback.”
“Which Drew would know,” Maggie added, ruffling his hair in a proud mom gesture. “He was an All-State quarterback all four years in high school.”
“Really?” Bekah commented, lifting a curious eyebrow. “That’s impressive.”
Normally, he’d take that kind of praise and run with it, but today something stopped him. He didn’t want her to think he was conceited, so he deflected her comment with a grin. “I had a great offensive line, and my senior year we got some sure-handed receivers. Like Josh,” he added, nodding at his younger brother.
“Won the state championship that season,” Josh chimed in right on cue. “Drew was MVP.”
“Wow,” was all Bekah said, but he picked up on something in her eyes he hadn’t seen before. It reminded him of the way Lily had looked at Mike when they were first getting to know each other, a combination of interest and amusement. Even though he knew that kind of realization should make him nervous, Drew was surprised to find it didn’t.
In fact, it was doing the exact opposite. He knew next to nothing about Bekah Holloway or why she was affecting him this way. Then and there, he promised himself that somehow he’d solve that little mystery so it wouldn’t keep on bugging him.
And then, he’d put it past him, and his life would go back to the way it was before he met her. As someone who’d made a habit of effortlessly moving from one girl to the next, that very pragmatic strategy for handling her should have comforted him.
But it didn’t. And for the life of him, he didn’t know why.
His rambling thoughts were put on hold when his mother caught his eye and gave him a questioning look. He came back with a slight nod, and very casually she said, “Bekah, I think we need to figure out where you’re going to sleep tonight.”
“It’s warm enough,” she replied in a bright tone that sounded forced to him. “My car will work until I get my first paycheck.”
Lily frowned in disapproval, and she added a shake of her head for effect. “Not for me, it won’t. Abby?” The way his niece perked up, Drew guessed her stepmother had primed her for what was coming next. “How would you like to bunk with your dad and me for a few nights?”
“You mean, like camping? That sounds like fun.”
Oh, she was good, Drew thought, barely smothering a grin. He’d have to take her for ice cream later as a reward for being such a great sport.
“I can’t let you do that,” Bekah protested, obviously uncomfortable with the idea. “Abby needs her sleep for school tomorrow.”
“And you need yours for work,” Lily reminded her in the gentle but firm tone Drew had heard her use with the students in Gallimore’s riding school. “It’s only temporary, until you can find a place of your own.”
From the concern in Bekah’s eyes, Drew knew his suspicions about her dire financial straits had been spot-on. Even with the job at the clinic, she might not be able to afford rent, much less the repairs her car needed to be driveable. Tonight when he was done at the farm, he’d go back to the rescue center and pick up where he left off.
Bekah had endured enough temporary situations to last her a while. It was high time someone stepped up and gave her something she could count on.
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