Summer Days (Fool's Gold #7)

Instead of going out to restaurants with beautiful women, he found himself in the ranch house’s old dining room, across from Heidi, with Glen and his mother at the table. But the conversation flowed easily. Glen had a hundred stories about life in the carnival. Heidi had a few of her own, and Rafe enjoyed listening to them. He also enjoyed the sound of her laughter and the anticipation he felt when she smiled at him.

Some days, after he’d finished his work and headed for his shower, he thought about dragging her along with him. About her being naked with him, under the spray, his mouth on hers, his hands everywhere. The thought of slick soap and wet skin and the things they could do to each other. Then he reminded himself that she wasn’t who he was looking for, and getting involved would be a level of stupid he wouldn’t allow.

But a man could still dream.

He finished his bottle of water and dropped the empty container to the ground below. The repair work on the barn was going steadily. He figured they would be done by tomorrow. Of course, by then his mother would have a whole new list of projects. When he’d gone in for lunch a couple of days ago, she’d been ordering a new stove.

He wanted to remind her that getting the ranch wasn’t a sure thing, but he knew he would be wasting his breath. Better to just work his way through the chores.

He’d barely picked up his hammer when a large animal transport truck pulled into the ranch. Rafe watched the vehicle slow and then stop. He hadn’t spent much time with Heidi in the past couple of days. Not since the night she’d gotten drunk. He figured she was embarrassed and avoiding him. Even so, he was pretty sure he would have heard about any new goats showing up.

He made his way to the edge of the roof and carefully climbed down a ladder. His mother burst out of the house.

“They’re here!”

In her jeans and T-shirt, she looked closer to thirty-five than fifty. She clapped her hands together and practically danced with excitement. Rafe felt something sinking in his stomach.

“Mom, what did you do?”

“You’re going to have to see for yourself.”

She met the driver. His helper came around back and started unlatching the trailer’s big door and lowering a ramp. Rafe heard sounds from inside the transport, but couldn’t place them.

He didn’t think she would have ordered more goats without talking to Heidi, and he doubted she would get a horse without Shane’s advice.

His mother signed the last of the paperwork and joined him. Just then, Heidi came out of the house.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“We have to wait and see,” Rafe told her.

“It’s a surprise.” May hugged him. “I’m so excited.”

“Really? I couldn’t tell.”

The two men went into the trailer. The helper came down the ramp first, leading…

“A llama?” Rafe asked, staring at the tall, off-white, fuzzy animal.

“Isn’t he beautiful? At least, I think that’s the boy. I can’t tell for sure. It always seems so rude to look. But yes. A llama. Three, altogether.”

Rafe glanced at Heidi, who looked as surprised as he felt.

“Are you going to raise them for their hair or fur or whatever it is?” Heidi asked. “Aren’t they related to camels?”

“They’re social herd animals,” May told her. “And so beautiful. I saw them on eBay and couldn’t resist. Plus, they’ll protect the goats. I read an article, and several ranchers are using llamas to protect their livestock. Especially with the pregnant goats. We’re so close to the mountains. There could be a coyote or wolf. We wouldn’t want anything happening to one of the girls.”

“Of course not,” Rafe murmured. Llamas? What was his mother going to do with them if the judge ruled against her? Her condo in San Francisco wasn’t llama-friendly.

Heidi drew in a breath. “Okay, where are you putting them?”

“I was thinking of that section of the ranch.” May pointed west. “It gets plenty of light. There are trees and that hillside for them to climb.”

And running water, Rafe thought grimly, remembering his mother had insisted he run a pipe out to the area.

May moved toward the llama. “Hello, sweet one. You’ll be happy here.” She glanced back at Heidi. “They’re a little older, so I thought they could use a good home.”

May moved off with the helper and showed him where to put the animal. The driver appeared with a light brown, slightly smaller llama, and followed the first.

“Old llamas?” Heidi murmured, moving closer to Rafe. “I kind of admire her philosophy.”

“Sure. She bought them to protect your pregnant goats. What’s not to like?”

“Feeling a little stressed, are we?”

“Someone needs to rein her in.”

“She’s your mother.”

“Someone other than me.” He glanced longingly toward the west. Somewhere in San Francisco was a meeting he should probably be attending.

Once the three llamas were in place, two elderly sheep were led down the ramp. They went in the fenced area next to the llamas.

“Anything else?” Rafe asked, almost afraid to look in the trailer.

“That’s it,” the driver said, and handed over the receipts.