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“Her name is Marigold. And she’s a mini horse. She belongs to Rita Mullins, one of the women you met yesterday who brought in all the books to sign.”
She nodded, her focus still enraptured by the charming creature. “Yes, I remember who Rita is.”
“She lives up the way and when I called her this morning, she was thrilled to loan us Marigold for the day. She said to tell you, no pressure, but she thinks she’d be a perfect addition to one of your books. She even sent along a pan of her famous cream puff dessert and a baked ziti to sweeten the deal.”
“A baked ziti? When did she have the time?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know, but I think she was trying to outdo Carol’s prize-winning jam.”
“All this competition is gonna make me as round as Gladys.” Kaylee giggled as the mini horse sniffed her hand. Gladys, who had been hanging behind her, slowly moved closer to check out the new arrival. The two animals sniffed each other’s noses then Gladys rubbed her ear along the horse’s cheek.
“Speaking of food,” Luke said, pulling a baggie from his front pocket. “Rita also sent along a few treats. She said the carrots are Marigold’s favorite. You want to give her one?”
Kaylee nodded. “I’m a little nervous, but I’m trying to think of her as a big dog instead of as a little horse.”
“Smart. Except giving a horse a treat is much different than the way you hold one out for a dog.” He held his arm out straight, his palm up. “Hold out your hand like this, keep it flat so she doesn’t accidentally nibble on your fingers.”
Kaylee held out her hand, mimicking what Luke was doing.
He set a small chunk of carrot in her palm. “Now keep your hand flat. Lethertake it from you.”
Kaylee held her breath as the little horse snuffled her fingers then delicately took the carrot in her teeth. “I did it.”
Luke chuckled. “You sure did. Here’s another one.” He tossed a piece of carrot to Gladys and one to Cooper, who had jumped out of the truck earlier and just finished his rounds of sniffing all around the ranch and returned to Luke’s side.
Kaylee fed the horse another carrot then reached up to gently pet her nose. “She’s so soft. Her skin around her mouth and nose are like velvet.”
“See? Not scary at all.” Luke stood next to the horse and scratched her ears. “I thought we could take her into the barn, and you could brush her.”
“Yes, I’d like that.” Summoning her courage, Kaylee reached out and put her hand on top of Luke’s. “Thank you. For doing this for me. And for not making me feel like an idiot about being afraid of horses.” She couldn’t believe he’d gone to all this trouble. Forher.
“Lots of people share that fear,” he said quietly, not moving his hand from under hers. “You helped me yesterday, so I wanted to do something for you today. And I knew you couldn’t help but fall in love.”
She sucked in a quick breath.Fall in love?
“With Marigold, I mean,” he said, pulling his hand away and stuffing it into his pocket. “She’s such a cute little thing. You can’t help it.”
He was pretty cute, too. The way he suddenly seemed almost shy and like he wasn’t sure where to look.
He picked up Marigold’s halter and led her toward the barn. Kaylee followed, pretty sure the mini horse wasn’t the only one she was falling for.
