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“Later, sport. I’ll be out in a minute to help.”

Cody swung his legs and jumped down from the counter. “Mom?”

She turned on the water. “Yeah?”

“So where does this Chase guy fit in?”

“I wish I knew,” she admitted, squirting liquid dish soap into the sink. She’d wondered the same thing all night long. Her feelings for Chase were hard to define but the tangled web of her emotions was frightening, very frightening. For seven years she’d known exactly what she wanted from life and in just two weeks, he’d upset everything she’d been so sure of.

“Well, I wouldn’t trust him,” Cody said with authority. “Anyone working for Caleb Johnson is trouble.”

“Is that what Isabelle Reece’s pa says?” she asked, looking over her shoulder at her son.

Cody grinned at his mother. “I guess I’ll have to ask.”

“Don’t bother,” Dani said, slinging her arm around the boy and giving him a hug. “Somehow I have the feeling that once school starts, Isabelle will let you know.”

“Yeah. She probably will.”

Cody was laughing as he walked out the back door and called to Runt. The black dog stretched his legs and then followed Cody outside.

Once she was done with the dishes and the kitchen was straightened, Dani took off her apron and grabbed her gloves as she shouldered open the back door. As she walked toward the barn, she glanced across the fence to the spot where Chase and his men were working. Chase was easy to pick out. Taller than the other two men, he was shirtless and bare headed, his blond hair shining with sweat in the summer sun. He was leaning against the side of a dirty dump truck, ignoring the work going on around him and watching her every move.

Dani’s heart leaped unexpectedly and vivid memories of the night before flashed in her mind. She could still smell the rain, taste Chase’s lips, feel his hands sliding between the lapels of her robe....

“Mom?”

Dani nearly jumped out of her skin. She hadn’t realized that she’d stopped walking toward the barn. “Oh, what?”

Cody was sitting on the fence post. He cocked his head in the direction of the barn. “If ya don’t mind?” Hopping to the ground he reminded her, “You’re the one who wants the animals fed early.”

“So what have you been doing?”

“Waiting for you.”

“Cody—”

“It’s hard for me alone,” he said, looking suddenly contrite.

The boy was only nine. “Sorry,” she apologized quickly. The she jerked on her gloves and walked into the darkened interior of the barn.

The cattle were already inside, lowing loudly and shuffling for position at the manger.

“Why were you staring at Johnson’s land?” Cody asked.

“I was just thinking.”

“I know that much.” Cody frowned as he climbed the ladder to the loft and began dropping some of last year’s hay bales to the main floor below. “I saw.” He looked down at her from the loft above and his brows were drawn together in frustration. “You were looking at that guy again.”

She cut the strings on the bales with her pocketknife and began breaking up the hay before tossing it into the manger. “I just can’t figure him out.”

“If I were you, I wouldn’t try.” Cody leaped down from the loft, his boots crunching on some spilled grain as he landed on the dusty floorboards.

Dani shook her head. “Next time, use the ladder—”

“Aw, Mom.”

“I just don’t want you to break your neck. Especially in front of me,” she added, trying to lighten the mood.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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