“Sure,” she answered. “I wouldn’t mind a little backup. Just in case.”
“Want me to follow in my Jeep so you don’t have to bring me back?”
She shook her head. “No. It isn’t that far. I’ll bring you back.”
“Great.”
While Grant went to the right, Skye rounded the left corner of the trailer, headed for the cab of her pickup. She stopped when she saw Chet standing not far off, a knowing smile curving his mouth. She’d completely forgotten he was there.
“Looks like you’re all set,” he said. “I’ll get those papers to you by next week.”
“Thanks. I’m not worried about them. Whenever it’s good for you.”
Was she blushing? Her face felt warm. Oh, how she hoped she wasn’t blushing.
“Well.” Chet’s smile grew a little. “Good luck to you and Grant when you unload the horse.”
She gave him a quick nod before opening the door to the cab and climbing in. Grant was already on the passenger’s side, but she didn’t look in his direction. Her plan was to wait until her embarrassment cooled.
She kept her speed under fifteen miles an hour on the long dirt driveway. No point jostling River around any more than necessary. No point filling the cab with dust either, since both of their windows were open.
When they reached the highway, she stopped and looked both ways. This was a quiet stretch of road, but she never took chances when it came to her horses.
“Clear this way,” Grant said as he stared north.
“Thanks.”
The road was clear to the south as well. She stepped on the gas and pulled onto the highway.
After a few minutes of silence, Grant said, “Buck told me you put on quite a shindig for Charity last weekend.”
“I didn’t do all that much.”
“Not what I heard.”
They were simple words that felt like a huge compliment, and her heart fluttered with pleasure. She decided to change the subject. “Is the town where you grew up as small as Kings Meadow?”
“Definitely. A wide spot in the road is more like it. Care to hear how I walked to school through the snow, ten miles and uphill both ways?”
She laughed. “No.”
“Shucks. I thought that story might impress you. It worked for my dad and granddad.”
“You’ll have to try something else to impress me, then.” Like kiss me.
The thought made her go tingly all over. She’d never felt like this about a guy. She’d had boyfriends, of course. But this was different. Did Grant feel it too?
What was it about being in Skye’s company that made Grant feel like a million bucks? Since meeting her, she’d been his first thought when he awakened in the mornings and his final thought when he fell asleep at night. And ever since their dinner together, he’d thought of her most of the hours between waking and sleeping as well.
His dad had told him once that when Grant met the girl, he would know it. At the time Grant hadn’t believed there was such a thing as the girl. At the time he hadn’t thought he’d ever want to settle down with any woman. Why limit himself to one entrée when he could try every choice at the all-you-can-eat buffet?
But once again, the man who’d thought that way was BC Grant. He’d changed, and the way he looked at women had changed. And something about Skye Foster was changing him even more. For the first time in his life, marriage wasn’t a remote possibility.
Hold your horses. You hardly know her.
He looked over at Skye as she slowed the truck before turning onto a narrow, winding road that took them closer to the mountains. A few minutes later, she pulled into an area where the wild grasses had been flattened by truck and trailer wheels. Not exactly a parking lot, but the next best thing.
When Skye got out of the truck, a couple of horses in the nearby pasture came trotting toward the wood and barbed-wire fence. Arriving at the gate, the brown-and-white paint nickered a welcome.
“Snickers?” Grant asked as he closed the passenger’s door behind him.
“Yes.” She went to the gate and stroked the gelding’s head. “I’ve brought you a friend, boy. Think you can show him the ropes?”
The Appaloosa thrust her head over the top of the gate too. Skye moved to the mare and repeated the stroking motions. “You’ll be nice to him. Right?”
Grant slipped his iPhone from his shirt pocket. It didn’t make calls most anywhere in Kings Meadow—no cellular company thought it worthwhile to invest in this area off the beaten path—but that’s not what he wanted it for. The phone had a great camera. He held it out in front of him, pointed it toward Skye and her horses, and snapped several pictures.
She looked at him, smiling. “What are you doing?”
“Taking pictures.”
“I know that. But why?”
He strode over to her and held the screen so she could see the last photo. “Because you are in your element.”