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He glanced over at the Ford and whistled low and long. “Your dad would flip if he saw you drivin’ that thing. He swore he’d have troopers from here to Oklahoma on your tail if you ever took it out.” He laughed.
“Yeah, well. He shouldn’t have died and left this place in shambles if he wanted me to stay out of his truck.”
“Maggie—”
“No. I’m sorry. I just don’t have time for flowers, even though, yeah, they’re beautiful.”
It wasn’t his fault she was in a sour mood.
“Well, that’s why I brought this.” Bennett waved the staple gun and shook a box of staples he’d had tucked in his back pocket. “I heard you won’t have help for a few days, so I decided this was better than daisies.”
Maggie couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face. Almost immediately, it fell, though.
“You wondering about my intentions?” he asked. His smooth shave from the day before was grown over with sandy-brown stubble, but his smile hadn’t changed since they’d been kids laughing and splashing in the creek. It held the magic of a time machine for her, bringing her back.
What else hadn’t changed? He knew her as well as anyone on Earth.
“Yep. Caught me.”
“Well, at the risk of Grace Marshall tanning my hide, I’m just here to help. No strings.”
“No strings, huh? Well, I can’t turn that down.” Even though her heart screamed that he was probably helping her out to get the land he wanted in selling shape. Her pride had dried up along with her father’s land.
“It’s this stretch and then two more down south, by the creek, right?”
She nodded and they headed to the start of the damaged area.
“Black bear?” he asked, stringing the wire around the wooden post and securing it like he’d done it every day of the past fifteen years.
He probably had. Regardless of what he’d accomplished, Bennett kept his hands in the dirt and that said more about the man than anything else.
She let her gaze pass over his strong frame, toned and sculpted by the land. Heat roared in her stomach at the sheer strength wafting off him. His crooked smile sent the heat racing south.
“Seems that way. I found hair tufts and some prints on the south fence line.”
“Hmmm. It’s been dry up in the Guadalupes, so they’ve been more frequent down in the valley. Probably trying to get to the creek.”
She held up the wire on the lowest rung so he could staple it back in place.
“They’re not the only ones.” He looked up at her with his wide jade-green eyes, and she laughed. “Sorry. I couldn’t resist.”
“Ha-ha. You got a sense of humor while you were down in San Antonio, did ya?”
She pretended to scoff, her hands on her hips and eyes downcast in a forced frown. “I’ll have you know I was plenty funny back then, too.”
“Ah, maybe. But it was more than just your sense of humor that had me fallin’ at your feet.”
He smiled, but her heart lurched and sent her thoughts careening. What was she thinking just sliding back beside the man who’d taught her how to love and be loved like it all wouldn’t come crashing back into her like a grizzly through a new fence?
No. She couldn’t do this.
The way Bennett shifted on his feet, hands fidgeting with a rusted chunk of fencing said she wasn’t alone.
“Sorry,” he muttered. “I don’t know how to do this thing between us. It’s too…”
“New?”
“Hard,” he replied.
