Page 18 of Sunrise & Serenity

She lets the camera drop against her chest and tucks her hair behind her ear. “You said breeding stock. What sort of horses do you breed?”

“Are you a photographer or a reporter?”

She angles her head to the side and gives me a too-bright smile. “A curious photographer.”

That pretty smile. It pricks at me. I know it’s at my expense, but it’s still damn hard to look away from.

I rest an arm on the top of the fence. “Wild Ember breeds Quarter Horses. Our program is getting up there with the best in the nation.”

She tilts her head. “Really? That’s impressive.”

I nod. There’s no denying it; my family has been doing great things with the ranch.

“And you have cows too, right?”

Cows? I swear I twitch. “You mean cattle.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Cows are females that have had at least one calf. Heifers are young females that haven’t had a calf yet. Steers are castrated males. I’m sure you know what a bull is.”

She props her shoulder against the fence and crosses her arms. “Why, yes, Holden. I do know what a bull is.”

Her tart tone has me swallowing an unexpected chuckle. To hide it, I gesture in the direction of the far pasture. “To answer your original question, we run a mixed herd of Angus-cross cattle.”

She looks that way, but from here, there’s nothing to see.

“Will guests get to go on a roundup?” she asks.

The idea still rubs me the wrong way, but there’s no point bringing that up with her. “Yeah. In the summer, when they bring the herd up into the high country for grazing. And in the fall, when they round them up and bring them back down again.”

Unwilling to continue talking about the expansion, I call out to my brother. “Got a minute, Chance?”

His attention shifts to us and he nods. “Yep. Grady, come take over for me.”

Grady, one of our wranglers, hops the fence and jogs to the middle of the corral. Once he’s taken hold of the long line, Chance saunters over.

When he reaches us, he takes off his hat and wipes the sweat from his brow with his forearm. His lips are curved in the smile he reserves for pretty women, full of the easy confidence of a man who’s never had much reason to doubt his appeal.

It makes me grit my teeth. “This is Sage.”

“Howdy there, ma’am,” he drawls.

“Cut it out,” I grumble. “She’s not a tourist for you to charm. She’ll be working here for the next few months.”

His gaze flicks to me, amusement deepening his grin. “Lucky us.”

He’s enjoying this far too much.

Sage’s smile is sunny and open as she holds out her hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Chance keeps hold of her a little longer than necessary, only releasing her when I clear my throat.

“Chance is my brother. He runs the equestrian side of the operation.”

“If you call the best damn horse breeding and training facility in the state of Colorado the equestrian side of the operation.” With that comment, he gives Sage a wink.

I glower at him. Am I really gonna have to warn him against making a move? We have rules in place about that.