Read Heat Wave (Riders Up) for Free Online Page B

Hardly cheap, but barbed wire
fencing was too dangerous for race horses—or any other horse, for that matter.
    Out of the corner
of his eye, he considered the woman sitting on the grass beside him. Maggie
Anderson did not shy away from work. She probably didn’t shy away from much, if
anything. They sat in the shade of a maple tree. Even though it was only
mid-morning, the heat of the day was intensifying. It would be a scorcher, and
it was still only early May. He looked up at the cloudless blue sky. They could
sure use some rain.
    At least he could
get away from her now—well, some of the time. The loft had quickly become his
own personal cave for retreat, and he welcomed that a lot. For the first time
in a long time he was beginning to feel like a human being. His chest filled
with air as he contemplated working with horses. Soon. A couple more weeks, a
month at the outside and they would be ready. He wondered how Ms. Anderson and
her kids would take to caring for thoroughbreds.
    Had they been too
adventurous? Had he?
    “The call of the
mourning dove sounds so wistful this morning,” Maggie said quietly.
    “Huh.” Her voice
startled him. He listened and heard the bird cooing. Sounded like any other
morning, to him.
    Maggie lay back on
the grassy incline. “I wonder if she’s lost her mate. There’s no response. Usually
there’s a response.”
    Ed couldn’t avoid
hearing the sadness in her voice. But they were only birds. “Maybe,” he said,
shrugging noncommittally. Light laughter greeted his ears.
    Maggie sat up
abruptly, watching him closely. “You think I’m crazy, don’t you?”
    Ignoring her
question, he tried to keep his features passive. He might think her crazy, but
he didn’t want her knowing that.
    “Do horses have
feelings?”
    “Of course they do.”
    “Well then, why not
birds?”
    “Don’t know. Hadn’t
thought about it, I guess.”
    “Well, I have, and
I’m certain they have feelings. Losing a mate is hard for any creature.”
    “You still miss
your husband,” Ed said, not quite believing he wanted to further this
particular conversation. He knew the woman had her troubles. But then so did
he, and it was best if they dealt with their own, privately.
    Maggie tipped her
head to the side as if considering his statement. “Of course I miss Mason. We
loved each other very much. I see him in my children, particularly Johnny.” She
paused.
    “I don’t know,” she
added wistfully, “I expect there’ll always be a hole in my heart somewhere. It’ll
get smaller—it already has, but there will always be a hole.”
    “Expect you’re
right about that.”
    “What would it say
about what Mason and I shared if I just completely forgot him? That wouldn’t be
right.”
    “No, it wouldn’t.”
    “So, how was your
meeting last night?” Maggie asked softly.
    “Fine,” Ed grunted.
He stood and pulled on his gloves, eyeing what yet needed to be done to finish
the fencing.
     
    “I dunno, Maggie. He
seems so, so masculine,” Flo Zimmerman stuttered. “How can you work side by
side so much of the time and not be attracted to him. He might not be the best
catch…”
    “Humph. Ed
Harrington is a means toward an end. That’s it. No romantic interest on my
part, or his. No way.” Maggie heard her voice and confidence waver a trifle. It
must be the lemonade.
    “I’m not so sure—Dolly
and Kenny were singing Islands in the Stream when I left the church for
your place. It must be a sign of something.”
    Maggie snickered. “Girl,
you’re going to drive me batty with all that stuff.”
    Maggie leaned back
in her chair and closed her eyes. It was Sunday afternoon and she had invited
Flo home for dinner after church and had also asked Harrington to join them if
he liked. Putting shy Flo and cryptic Ed at the same dinner table had not made
for scintillating conversation, but at least it should have satisfied her
friend’s curiosity about the new hired hand. Flo had been so afraid