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Cord Behr had plenty of other things he should be doing. But he dipped his head, wondering how much of the electricity arcing through his bloodstream Jane had been able to feel. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Do not call me ma’am,” she barked at him, and he simply scurried for the stables. This woman was off-limits, and she always had been. He hadn’t been interested in her when she was younger, but he’d been a big flirt. In most regards, he still was.
He’d gone out with a woman here and there over the years, but he’d wanted to focus on becoming the man he wanted to be. He’d lived here on the Hammond Family Farm for just over fourteen years now, and he loved Gray Hammond like a father.
“And she’s his daughter,” he muttered to himself as he picked up the stool she needed. “Keep your cool. Donotflirt with her again.”
He couldn’t help it if her skirt made him smile. It wasn’t tight at all, but it did end at her knees, with plenty of swaying fabric he’d perhaps admired as she’d gone into the stable to get her hat. That was a hideous thing that didn’t match her blouse or skirt or ankle boots, but somehow, the mismatch was totally Jane.
“Here you go, Miss Jane,” he said when he arrived back outside. He positioned the stool for her, and she put her hand on his shoulder to boost herself up.
“Like this?” she asked.
“When’s the last time you rode a horse?”
“It’s been a while,” she said.
“And you’re going to go out on your own?”
“My mother knows I’m going,” she said, plenty of venom in her voice. “Why does everyone act like everything I do is wrong?” She pushed off with the wrong foot, but he kept his mouth shut, and that meant she put far too much pressure on his shoulder.
He grunted, held his position, and couldn’t help seeing a little too much leg as Jane flopped herself into the saddle. She quickly pulled the dark blue fabric over her thighs, her face nearly the color of a ripe tomato.
“There.”
There indeed. Cord wanted to ask her out, and he hadn’t felt like that about anyone in…ever. He’dneverfelt like that about a woman. The few he’d been out with had come about because someone had set them up, or the woman had asked him or suggested they go out, and he’d flirted on back and taken her to dinner.
But Jane Hammond—yes, he wanted to ask her out. He crowded into the horse, pretending to check the reins, and looked up at her. “I think maybe someone should come with you.”
“I’ll be fine. Hershey won’t get lost.”
Cord moved back and said, “All right,” just as Keith said, “Hey, there you are.”
He bent to get the stool and round the horse. “Hey, you done?”
“All done.” He looked at Jane sitting on the bay. “Hey, Jane.” He grinned at her. “Where you goin’?”
“Just around,” she said. “I needed to get out of the house until I hear about Mikey.”
Keith sobered, but Cord couldn’t look away from Jane. Her nearly white-blonde hair spilled down her back and over her shoulders, making her angelic as she hovered above them on the horse. She had blue, blue eyes, almost like she hadn’t come from her daddy at all. Her two brothers had gotten more of him than she had, and Tucker came outside at that moment too.
“Oh, you’re going riding? Can I come with you?”
Jane flicked her gaze over to Cord’s for a brief moment. He knew she’d been avoiding him for the past few weeks since she’d returned to Ivory Peaks. She claimed she wasn’t staying on the farm for long, that she just needed time to find an apartment in the city.
He wasn’t sure how hard she was looking, though, because she left the farm every weekday to work at the Hammond family company, and Cord hadn’t seen her for longer than a few minutes at the big party they’d had in the backyard last night.
“I guess,” Jane said. “But I just want it to be quiet, Tuck.”
“Fine by me,” he said. “You’re the one who talks too much.”
“I do not talk too much.” Jane looked at Cord again, and he only smiled at her.
Tucker left to get his horse, and Cord stood there, utterly transfixed by Jane. The connection between them felt like it was made of steel, and it wasn’t until Keith stepped right in front of him and said, “I’ll help you finish up so we can get going,” that Cord realized time had slipped away from him.
“Yeah,” he said, the tether between him and Jane broken now. He and Keith left her sitting on Hershey so they could go get the pasture combed, because Gloria didn’t like it looking like horses lived there.
“So,” Keith said, not casually at all. “You like Jane Hammond?”
