“Yeah...” No big deal. The ranch had an ATV with a snow blade attachment. All Jim had to do was drive the damn thing around the yard, clearing paths and around the barns. Nobody had asked him to clear sidewalks and porches, too. That could have waited.
“Cass came out, said she wanted to help.” Ben grinned when Jake shot him a look. “She had Jim show her how to drive the ATV, then they took turns. After that, Cass went in to help Anna fix dinner for everyone and when she was finished, she came back out to help Jim clear the sidewalks and porches.”
“Been busy around here.”
“Yeah,” Ben said wryly. “And I never did see her laptop today...”
“Funny. Real funny.”
“She’s a nice girl. Helpful. Seems to know how to enjoy herself, too.” Ben paused. “Maybe she could teach you.”
Jake didn’t know about that, but there was plenty he’d like to teach her. He shifted his gaze back to her in time to see Cass slip on some ice and fall over into a drift of knee-high snow. Her laughter pealed out into the cold, still air and something inside Jake ignited. Then that heat became a blistering fire as he watched Jim reach one hand down to pull Cass up and then turn her around to brush the snow off her back and butt.
A rumble of disquiet rolled through Jake, though he couldn’t have put a name to the feeling. It cost him, but he ignored Jim’s presence and focused on Cassidy. She was wearing a jacket that was too big for her, and a borrowed knit snow hat in blazing orange that boasted a pom-pom on top of her head. Heavy leather gloves covered her hands, and her jeans were stuffed into knee-high boots. Her cheeks were red from the cold; her hair, dusted with snow, hung down around her shoulders, and even at a distance he saw the joy on her face and knew her smoke-gray eyes would be sparkling.
She was having fun.
Working.
Outside.
Hell, Lisa had never left the confines of the house until all snow had been brushed aside for her. She had never taken the time to get to know the men who worked on the ranch, either—let alone work alongside them. All right, maybe Jake had judged Cassidy too harshly. But wasn’t that the safest way to handle her? Knowing how she made his body react, keeping her at arm’s length seemed the wisest decision.
“Not much like Lisa at all if you ask me,” Ben mused.
Jake slanted his grandfather an impatient glance. Hearing his own thoughts voiced aloud wasn’t helping. “Nobody asked you.”
Ben only chuckled, which had Jake gritting his teeth. A hell of a thing, for a man to be thirty-four years old and still have his grandfather see through him so easily. He turned his back on the view of Cass and headed back into the barn. “How’s the new foal doing?”
Another snort of laughter. “Nice change of subject.”
“You know as well as I do we’ve got to watch a late foal—winter’s a hard time for a horse that young.”
“We’ll get her through.” Ben rubbed one hand across the back of his neck. “She’s got a warm stall, plenty of feed and her mama to keep her safe.”
“Think I’ll take a look at her just the same.”
“Thought you might.”
Jake stopped dead and looked over his shoulder at his grandfather. “This has nothing to do with avoiding Cassidy. This is about work. Responsibility.”
“Real handy then that it also gives you a reason to stay put rather than face that laughing woman out there.”
Jake scowled but didn’t bother answering, mostly because he couldn’t argue with truth. So instead, he walked along the length of the barn. Most of the stalls were empty as the cowboys hadn’t come down off the mountain yet. But there were a few horses tucked away from the winter storm.
He took the time to stop and check all of them, starting with the stallion that was his prize stud. People paid big money to have their mares impregnated by Blackthorn. The big horse huffed out a breath in welcome, then nosed at Jake’s pockets, looking for treats. “I’ve got nothing for you right now, but I’ll be back with an apple later, all right?”
Jake would swear that the horse understood him when he talked, and the stallion gave him a disappointed shove with his big head as if to underscore that. “Okay,” Jake said, laughing a little. “Two apples.”
He locked the stall behind him and walked on, stopping to check on a mare with a strained foreleg. She was healing well, but Jake wanted to see it for himself. The horse continued to eat as he pulled up a stool, plunked down on it and began to unwrap the binding around her leg. This was what he needed to do. Focus his thoughts, his energies, on the animals who needed him. On the ranch that had become his world.