The Ashtons - Cole, Abigail & Megan

to get out of bed or it’s snowing so hard they can’t find the barn. And most of the time that doesn’t even stop us.”
    “How often do you have blizzards?” he asked when he found his voice.
    He didn’t like the idea of her facing such harsh weather. But he was damned if he could figure out why it bothered him so much. She wasn’t his to worry about, nor would she ever be.
    “A blizzard moves through maybe once or twice ayear,” she said, shrugging. “The rest of the time I’m up well before sunrise tending to my horses, then helping Uncle Grant, Ford and our hired hand, Buck, with the rest of the livestock.”
    “Cattle?”
    She nodded as she bent to wrap a fresh bandage around the mare’s lower leg. “We have a herd of about two hundred Black Angus.”
    “That sounds more like a ranch.”
    “Ranch or farm, whatever you want to call it.” She finished securing the dressing, then stood up to face him. “When my great-grandparents owned it, they only had a few hundred acres. But when Uncle Grant took over, he bought up a couple of farms that were going under and now it’s several thousand acres. We plant the majority in corn every year, as well as a couple thousand more that Uncle Grant leases. Then there’s more than five hundred for pasturing the horses and cattle.”
    Russ couldn’t help but be envious. He loved working the land and would give almost anything to have a place of his own to do just that.
    Untying Marsanne to lead her out to the corral, he asked, “How many horses do you have?”
    “Eight.” She unrolled the sleeves of her jean jacket. “But only three of them are mine. The rest belong to Uncle Grant and Ford.”
    While Abby put the first-aid kit back together, he ledthe gray mare out to the corral in order to muck out her stall. But when he returned, he found Abby already working at the task.
    “Hey, you don’t have to do that,” he said, reaching for the pitchfork she held.
    She shook her head and kept on forking the dirty straw into a wheelbarrow. “I don’t mind. I’d rather be busy, anyway.” Giving him a grin that made him weak in the knees, she added, “This vacation stuff is all right, but after a while it gets kind of boring.”
    Russ could understand her need to stay active. He’d never been able to stand being idle any longer than it took him to find something to do. “Well, if you’re sure.”
    “I am.” There was no hesitation, and Russ was certain that Abby meant what she said.
    “Okay, while you finish up here, I’ll turn the other horses and the pony out into the pasture, then bring back fresh straw.”
    By the time he returned, he found that Abby had mucked out three of the stalls and was ready to start on another one. “You work fast,” he said, taking the pitchfork from her, “but it’s my turn. Why don’t you take it easy for a while?”
    “But I don’t mind,” she argued.
    He liked ambition in a woman, but he wasn’t about to stand around while she did all the work. “I’ll make you a deal. You go up to The Vines and have breakfast.Then, after you eat, come back out here and we’ll take my horses for a ride.”
    Her pretty, emerald eyes lit up, and she gave him a grin that made his heart thump his rib cage. “You’ve got yourself a deal, cowboy. What time?”
    “Time?” How was he supposed to think when she was looking at him that way? Hell, he was lucky to remember his own name.
    “When do you want me to come back out here?” she asked patiently.
    “Whenever you get finished with breakfast will be fine.” He was definitely going to have to stay focused when Abby was around. Otherwise, she was going to think he was a complete fool.
    “I’ll be back in a flash,” she said, hurrying down the wide aisle.
    As he watched her pretty little backside disappear through the open doors at the far end of the stable, Russ let out the breath he was pretty sure he’d been holding since he’d walked in and found her working on the mare. Damn, but the woman could send his blood pressure into stroke range with nothing more than a smile. And that’s what made her dangerous.
    Stabbing the pitchfork into the straw, he gazed off into space. He wasn’t looking for a relationship. Especially not with a woman who lived a thousand miles away. His life was here, working for Lucas and CarolineSheppard. And even though they’d never asked him for anything, and had always tried to make him feel a part of their family, he felt an obligation