Earth and Sky

for the two foals and twenty for boarding them.”

    “They’re not even born yet and we’re feeding the mares anyway,” Flynn protested weakly.

    “You’ll need extra oats and pellets for the mares once they are sired, and vaccinations,” Hunter lectured.

    “They’re already pregnant. Brenner got out and had his way with three mares, and Bill confirmed that two of them are with foal,” Flynn confessed.

    Hunter smiled. “I would have liked to have seen that.”

    Flynn gave him a look like he wanted to call him a pervert but didn’t. Instead, he just nodded.

    “I’ll have a contract drawn up. Can you get Gable to sign it?”

    Flynn shook his head. “No, but Calley can sign it. She’s got Gable’s power of attorney.”

    Hunter nodded in agreement. “Okay, I’ll let Calley know, then. She’s in on this big secret, I hope?”

    “Yeah,” Flynn admitted. “In fact, it’s partly her idea.” Flynn started to turn toward the door.

    “Will this give you enough money to get through the winter? I know you haven’t had the time to train any of the horses, and since I bought all Gable’s fit ones, there’s nothing more to sell right now.”

    “We didn’t buy any new ones either, so the herd is smaller. I think we’ll manage.”

    Hunter watched Flynn leave. “If you need anything, I’ll gladly help out. Just holler.”

    With one more nod in Hunter’s direction, Flynn walked out.

    Hunter followed after a few moments, walking out in search of Grant.

Chapter 22

    As Izzie had warned him, it was still raining, although it was more of a drizzle now. Hunter wanted time to talk to Grant, preferably alone, and although the thought of climbing into the saddle didn’t feel very appealing at the moment, he knew it would be a sure way to get Grant to himself for an hour or so.

    After saddling Raven and Belle, he trotted over to the woodshed. He dismounted, loosely tied up the horses outside, and couldn’t prevent himself from leaning against the entrance, admiring the sight.

    The woodshed was a dusty place, illuminated by a dirty skylight. There were stacks of sawed wood to one side and whole tree trunks on the other. All around were mounds of sawdust and shorter, leftover planks. And in the middle of it was Grant, wearing just jeans and boots, no shirt or hat. His dark hair was flaked with woodchips, and his skin had a yellowish sheen from the sawdust.

    The shed, like a few other places around the ranch, brought back sensual memories, and combined with the sight in front of him, it made Hunter instantly grow hard. He knew he had to keep hold of himself, though. “So, are you about done?”

    Grant looked up and smiled. “Looks better already, doesn’t it?”

    Hunter couldn’t really tell. It still looked like a mess, but then, this was a place of work and not designed to look neat and tidy. “Want to go out for a ride?”

    Grant scratched his hair. “Still a lot to do in here, I’m afraid.”

    Hunter saw the tuft of armpit hair when Grant raised his hand and found himself practically salivating. He couldn’t believe how his self-control slipped every time he was around the man. “So finish it later. I’m coming to rescue you from death by dust inhalation.” Grant didn’t budge immediately, although he did look like he was thinking about it. “I saddled Raven for you.”

    Grant smiled and seemed to give in. “All right, but let me clean up a bit. I’ll end up with chafing wounds from all this dust if I don’t.”

    Hunter wanted to say he’d prefer Grant to have chafing wounds from rutting him against a tree, but he bit his tongue, which was just as well, as Tim walked into the woodshed just then to see Grant.

    “Hey Grant, do you have a leftover plank about this long to patch up one of the lean-tos in the north range?” He held his hands about two feet apart. “I’ll ride up there this afternoon to fix it. One of the cross beams rotted through, and in this weather, the horses up there don’t have enough shelter.”

    Grant looked briefly at Hunter and then back at Tim. “Hunter and I were riding up there anyway. We’ll take a plank and some nails and do the job.”

    Although Hunter couldn’t see Tim’s expression, it was obviously a puzzled one, because Grant added, “We’re going to check out cougars. Didn’t you say last week that Dave had spotted one up there?”

    Tim nodded.

    “So we’ll take the shotgun and check it out. That way, you can ride to