Baby's First Homecoming

She eyed him suspiciously. “With what? I was an assistant sales rep for a medical-supply company. I haven’t been on a horse since…three years ago last Christmas.”

Like the rest her family, Sierra had grown up on and around horses, but she had abandoned the cowboy lifestyle at seventeen when she’d left for college. What possible job could there be at a rodeo arena that didn’t involve knowledge of livestock, expertise with a rope and excellent horsemanship skills?

“Office work mostly,” Clay said. “Answering phones, correspondence, paying bills and depositing checks, livestock-rental contracts, maintaining liability waivers and promoting jackpot events.”

That actually didn’t sound too bad and like something Sierra might even enjoy, especially promotion. She was good with people and liked working with them. It was what had once made her the go-to assistant sales rep.

She could be that kind of worker again.

Wait a minute! Even if she could leave Jamie all day, she wasn’t working for Clay. Not in this lifetime.

“You’ve thought of everything, haven’t you?”

“I haven’t. Which is why I need to run this by my attorney so he can draw up an employment contract.”

She almost laughed. “You not only expect Jamie and I to live with you, you want me to sign a contract?”

“All my employees do.”

She gaped at him. “How long are these contracts for?”

He didn’t miss a beat. “One year.”

“I can’t put my life on hold that long.”

“I’m not going to chain you to me.” One corner of his wide mouth tipped up as if he were about to smile.

Did the idea appeal to him?

“What if I want to take a trip?”

“You can leave Jamie with me.”

“Leave him?” Impossible. Clay was chaining her to him. “This is ridiculous.”