Page 110 of One Kind Soul

A single tear slid down from Shelly’s left eye, but the rest of her was like a statue. She stayed huddled over her coffee cup until more tears chased that first one and eventually her shoulders shook.

Nicole slid closer and gently put an arm around Shelly. When the woman rested her head against Nicole’s shoulder and Nicole pulled her into a full hug, it became clear all hunches about Shelly had been true.

Stroking Shelly’s hair and sensing the woman wasn’t quite ready to talk about the details, Nicole said, “Do you want to go horseback riding with me?”

Shelly sat up and swiped at her face, a faint smile on her lips. “Yes.”

“Great. Zip and Clover are always ready to go for a stroll.” Nicole stood and Shelly followed her.

The walk back to the barn was quiet while Nicole thought about her instincts—the ones that had allowed her to sense Shelly’s pain. She’d gotten similar vibes off resort guests when serving them. Even though those people had been on vacation, she’d still been able to feel their sadness and pain. As if she had a talent for it.

Right before they reached the barn, Christian came out of it with a shovel resting on his shoulder. Nicole would never get tired of seeing him in those faded jeans, T-shirts, and work boots, looking so much the part of hot cowboy farmer.

“Hey.” He paused to meet up with them and nodded a greeting to Shelly.

“Shelly,” Nicole said, “why don’t you head into the barn and see which horse you’d like to ride? Zip and Clover are both super friendly and I introduced you to them before, right?”

Shelly nodded, gave Christian a little smile, and scurried off into the barn.

When she was out of earshot, Christian asked, “Were you right?”

“Definitely.”

Christian frowned. “How can other people be such assholes to nice people? She seems sweet. Why would anyone want to hurt her?”

“Power. Hate. Lynda was fueled by both of those. I want to help Shelly though and . . . I think I want to help other people like her. Like me.”

“Like become a counselor?” Christian set the shovel down and leaned against the handle.

“Yeah. Would you be cool if I looked into going to school for that or something?”

Christian beamed a smile at her. “Of course, Nixen. You’d make an excellent counselor and you could help so many people.” His grin deepened. “I also think I’d enjoy watching you be all student-ish, studying and stuff.” His blue eyes darkened. “Yeah, I’m picturing a pencil behind your ear and books all around. I’m liking this.”

She shoved him and he laughed.

“Seriously, Nicole.” He tugged at the ends of her hair. “You know I’ll support whatever you want to do.”

“Even if I want to run a therapeutic program for abused women right here on the farm?” She held her breath as she looked up at him.

Christian squinted. “That’s a perfect way to do that something more I’ve wanted to do here, Nixen. We can make it happen. We can make anything happen together.”

Nicole threw her arms around him—her husband-to-be. “You are the greatest man to ever live.”

“Oh, God, don’t tell him that.”

She turned around to see Jackson, the youngest Henley brother, standing behind her.

“You can’t fill his head with false information,” Jackson said.

“Shh, you,” Christian said. “It’s not polite to tell a lady she’s wrong.”

“Excuse me,” Jackson said. “I don’t know the rules. The last date I had was with fragments of Viking artwork uncovered on my last dig.”

“That couldn’t have been romantic,” Nicole said.

Jackson rocked back on his heels. “I don’t know much about romance either.”

The way he said that made it sound as if he might want to learn. “You could ask your romantic brother here for a crash course.”