Smooth-Talking Cowboy

“I care about her. But sometimes she looks at me like...” Bennett shook his head. “I told her father that I would take care of her. After he had his heart attack, I promised I’d look out for her.”

“Does Olivia know that?”

“She knows that her father wants us together. Hell, the whole town wants us together.”

Luke couldn’t deny that. They were definitely the golden couple of Gold Valley. The entire town took great delight in the idea that they would someday get married.

Like they were watching a favorite soap opera, using real people as characters.

“True enough,” Luke said. “So why aren’t you with her?”

“She wants things I don’t think I can give. I’m not sure I can put her through any of that.”

“Bennett Dodge, I’ve known you since you were ten years old. I don’t know why the hell you wouldn’t be able to give Olivia exactly what she wants. Exactly what she needs. You’re perfect for her.” For some reason the words burned a little bit on their way out. But they were true.

“You don’t know everything about me, Luke,” Bennett said, shaking his head and walking past him.

“You want to talk about it?” Which was the world’s most ironic question since nobody knew everything about Luke, and he aimed to keep it that way. But Bennett was truly like a brother to him.

“No. If I talk to anybody about it, it has to be Olivia.”

“Then talk to her, bonehead.”

Bennett gave him a strange look. “Stay out of our relationship, Luke.”

“You asked me into it, Bennett. You asked me what I knew, I gave you my opinion.”

The expression on Bennett’s face turned hard. “I asked you if there was anything going on with her.”

“You did. That doesn’t mean I owe you an answer.”

He shook his head and turned and walked away from Bennett. He wasn’t going to get in a fistfight with the guy over a girl he had barely ever touched.

He figured he would go muck some stalls. At least that would clear his head. Shovel shit to clear the shit and all that.

He walked into the barn and grabbed a pitchfork from the hook on the wall.

As he started on the first stall, he kept thinking of the comment Bennett had made about Olivia’s father. About how Cole Logan was the one who wanted them together. Not exactly a declaration of passionate love, but Olivia said she loved Bennett, though as far as Luke could tell they didn’t have enough chemistry to light a birthday candle.

But if Cole Logan wanted them together...

He shook his head, and shoveled another pile of manure up out of the stall, chucking it into a wheelbarrow.

He had some decision making to do.

He really hated change.

But it was starting to look like it was time to make one.

* * *

IT WAS LATE and Olivia was tired and cranky, feeling more than a little burned out after a long day at Grassroots. She missed having Bennett come pick her up. It had made her feel important, that she had a boyfriend who would come get her after work. That he was so solicitous and protective of her.

She missed it a lot.

She had missed it especially today when she had gotten into the car feeling exhausted and put upon, with the drive back to Gold Valley ahead of her. And now she had to make a stop at Get Out of Dodge.

Lindy had checked that it was okay. But Olivia hadn’t seen the point in being difficult about it. It was late, and Bennett probably wouldn’t be at the ranch anyway. He would either be at home or off on some veterinary emergency. Or, out at the bar. But it was very likely that the only person at the ranch would be Jamie. Even though things with Jamie were a little bit awkward, they weren’t insurmountable.

Lindy wanted pamphlets dropped off, and for Olivia to nudge Wyatt about what he was thinking about the partnership with Grassroots. Once Lindy got something in her mind, she was headstrong. She was incredibly independent. In Olivia’s opinion, the way that Lindy had left her husband and taken control of the winery, started from scratch, was admirable.

Not something that Olivia was certain she would have been able to do. She valued security and the opinions of other people too much.

She knew that Lindy’s divorce had impacted how people thought of her. Which wasn’t fair. Her ex-husband, Damien, had been cheating on her with one of the winery employees; it was hardly Lindy’s fault.

But people were hard on women. Exceptionally hard.

Olivia took a deep breath as she turned into the familiar drive that led up to the ranch. She had been up here countless times. As a family friend, and then as Bennett’s girlfriend. And it felt different now. Because it didn’t feel like it was part of her anymore. Didn’t feel like it belonged to her in any way.

It had. Like she was going to be part of this family. Part of this ranch that they had here. This legacy.

She felt sad about that.

There was a light on in the barn, and she stopped there. Jamie was probably putting the horses away.

She grabbed the pamphlets that Lindy had sent with her, clutching them in her hand as she headed into the red building.

When she saw who it was inside, she froze. It was not Jamie. Instead of her feminine, wiry frame, it was a masculine, broad-shouldered body. He was wearing a long-sleeved shirt, dark blue, and those sleeves were pushed up, which was providing her with quite an interesting show. He was bent down, the muscles in his forearms flexing with each pass of the push broom over the cement floor.

There was a black cowboy hat hanging on a hook, over the top of a bridle and lead rope.

She knew exactly who she was looking at. Because she had been fixated on those hands last night.

Her throat was dry. She couldn’t remember why she had come in here in the first place.

She looked down. Right. The pamphlets.

“Luke,” she said, his name coming out scratchy.

He stopped, midsweep, and then looked up at her, his green eyes hitting her with the force of a punch to the stomach. At least she assumed it was a similar sensation, though she had never been punched in the stomach before. But then, she had never felt anything quite like this before. Not since the last time he had looked at her, anyway.

“Are you looking for Bennett?”

“No,” she said. “I was looking for Wyatt.”

“I think he went out. Trying to drag Grant out of his hermitage, or something.”

Olivia nodded. She worried about Grant. But she also wasn’t surprised that he was still alone, even after all this time. She couldn’t imagine him with anyone other than Lindsay. They had been together for so long. She had been the love of his life. She didn’t know how you moved on from something like that.