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“What happened this morning was an accident, and I said I was sorry.”
“You said you were sorry?” he said, so incredulous and rough, his voice as dark as the demons that played in his eyes.
Okay fine, I hadn’t.
But whatever.
“I think we got off on the wrong foot, Mr. Greyson. Let’s start ov—”
“I’ll compensate you for the time it took you to come out here, but this is not going to work.”
Wait.
Was he serious?
“You’re just going to fire me…before I even start? I am the most qualified—”
Anger burst through his expression, so fierce it made me stumble backward into the fence. “I can’t afford for someone as reckless as you to be on my ranch.”
It took me a second to get my bearings before my tongue was lashing out its retaliation. “I’m not reckless. You’re the one who backed into me. If anyone is reckless, it’s you.”
He scoffed. “That is absurd. And on top of it, you’re late.”
“Um, yeah, because you backed into me.”
The challenge had him cocking his head. “Funny, I made it here on time.”
What a freaking jerk—
The snippy retort froze on my tongue when I suddenly sensed the presence to the side. My attention jerked that way.
A tiny girl with a mess of long brown hair that whipped and blew in the breeze stood there. She wore a pink tee shirt and jeans and these pink cowgirl boots emblazoned with crystals.
She was slight, not plump and round like you’d expect a small child to be, almost too thin. Something about her was fragile, her giant brown eyes appearing too big for her face.
Reserved and unsure, she wrung her little hands in nervousness as she watched our encounter.
Poor kid, having a jerk for a dad like this.
Hopefully her mom didn’t suck, too.
“Do I get to see Mazzy now?” she asked, her tone timid and shy. She barely peeked at the man who looked down at her in something that I had to process through.
My stomach fisted when I finally put my finger on it.
Fear.
I had to be imagining it.
Guys like him didn’t fear. They incited it.
He blew out a harsh breath, roughing a hand over his lips like maybe he could rub off some of the snide.
Good luck with that.
“Evelyn, I thought you were with Ms. Sandberg? Where is she?” he asked.
Huh. He’d managed to keep the asshole out.
“I dunno. I wanted to see Mazzy, but I couldn’t find her to ask her to come with me, but I saw you out here through the window, and it’s past ten, so I get to see her, right?”
He moved and knelt in front of her, taking her by the forearm. “I’m afraid that isn’t going to happen today.”
It was more than disappointment that dampened her expression.
She looked absolutely crushed.
The sight of it stung the back of my eyes.
“Can I at least pet her for one second?” she whispered, so sweet that I kind of wanted to punch this guy in the throat, drop him to his knees, so I could run over to her, sweep her into my arms, and give into this little girl’s every whim.
“Please? I’ll be so careful.”
Reservation clenched his sharp jaw when he turned around to glare at me.
There was nothing to do but prop my hands on my hips and glare right back.
Defiance filled me to the brim, and I lifted my chin at him in a clear challenge, daring him to send me away when his poor little girl stood there silently begging to get to pet her horse.
I thought I could actually hear his teeth grinding as he stared at me, but I didn’t back down, well not until the craggy voice came barging into our showdown.
“Evelyn, there you are. I told you not to leave the house without permission.”
I looked into the distance to find the Ms. Sandberg scurrying our way.
This day just got worse and worse.
She’d been a substitute teacher in the Time River School District for my whole life, probably my parents’, too. Let’s just say we hadn’t exactly hit it off when I was in kindergarten. The old hag hadn’t hesitated to hold it against me.
Was she…Evelyn’s nanny?
Revulsion crawled through me at the thought of it.
Gross.
He roughed a hand over the top of his head. “Evelyn, please go with Ms. Sandberg for a moment while I speak with Ms. Dae.”
Warily, Evelyn looked between us before she slowly moved to the old lady who stood about thirty feet away, out of earshot unless we would have been shouting, but it didn’t matter anyway because he strode back for me, grinding out beneath his breath, “Come with me,” as he passed.
He stormed around the side of the barn, riddled with discontent when he tossed a look at me from over his shoulder when I didn’t scramble along fast enough to keep up with him before he disappeared around the corner.
