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I clicked away from the pictures and scanned the mare’s pedigree. “All good lines. Some world champions up close here. Huh. How much is he asking?”
“Too much. That’s how you know it’s a good one, right?”
I snorted as I passed his phone back. “I wish it worked that way. What do you need another heading horse for? You have three in various stages of training already, and we have fifty out there you could pick from when you’re ready to retire Dozer and start a new one.”
“We don’t have any of these lines. Figure I can breed her to Bud Wilkins’ nice stud someday and get us some fresh blood.”
“Do what you want, I guess. Has she been vetted?”
“No.”
“Any videos of her working?”
“No.”
I shook my head and laughed. “So you could be buying a lame bronc for all you know?”
“I’ll have a vet check done before she gets on the trailer. I’m not that stupid.”
“But you don’t know if she can do the job. The guy really has no videos of her?”
“Naw. His wife just died, and he’s selling everything off. He’s got the mare boarded like fifty miles from his house and just needs to get her homed.”
“So, it’s a charity buy—assuming he’s telling the truth. I don’t know, Luke. You’re paying top dollar for a horse you can’t be sure of unless you ride her.”
“Well, I hope she works out. I already gave the guy a deposit.”
I dropped my head on my desk. “It’s a good thing I do the ranch books and not you. You’d have us all driving new trucks and behind on the bills.”
He shrugged. “At least I know it. You about ready to wrap up?”
“I would be if you hadn’t blown in here to interrupt me.” I closed my laptop and turned off the desk light. “Heck with it. Let’s go get some food cooking.”
“Now you’re talking.”
I pulled my coat on, and we came out into the barn’s balcony together. The big roll-up door was open at the end of the aisle, and it was starting to get dark outside, save for the thick white carpet of snow that had fallen while I was in working.
“Boy, you weren’t kidding,” I said when we got to the bottom of the stairs. “We might be snowed in by tomorrow.”
“Yeah. Hey, you know what? We should go out the back door.”
“Why?”
Luke stuck his arm out in front of me and jerked his head toward the window that looked out into the arena. There was someone out there, and it wasn’t Cody on one of the show horses.
“What the… is that Marshall and Kelli Mason?”
“Search me. I couldn’t see either of their faces when I walked by before.”
I leaned a little closer to the window. “Saturday night, they were bickering like a couple of toddlers. And now they’re… well, what do you call that?”
“Interesting is what I’d call it. Wish a woman would kiss me like that.”
I swallowed and kept my gaze low. “You didn’t get a kiss on your date the other night?”
“Me? Bro, I’m not talkin’. You know the rules.”
I’d been holding my breath, and I let it out slowly. So, he’d kissed her and probably held her and run his fingers through that flaxen hair. Luke and the girl I’d been dreaming about since middle school. My heart squeezed so hard I had to pound on my chest. “You… you had a nice date, then?” I choked.
