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the percentage you have to pay is far less. I haven’t looked at the policy recently, but I think the copay for office calls is still only twenty-five dollars. The insurance covers the rest.”
    He was talking too fast. Rainie rubbed her temple, barely able to assimilate one thing before he moved on to the next.
    “If you want to start a retirement fund, I’ll hook you up with my broker. I don’t match funds or anything like that.”
    “No, of course you don’t.” In her experience, only major corporations contributed to pension and retirement plans. “I would never expect that.”
    “I do offer paid vacations, though, two weeks the first year, three the second, and a full month after you’ve been here five years. You’ll work Monday through Friday, eight to five, with an hour and a half off for lunch and breaks. We have an honor system here, so it’s entirely up to you how you divvy up that time. Some people take a short lunch to allow for more breaks throughout the day. I don’t care as long as I get an honest day’s work out of you. Unless there’s some kind of emergency, you’ll have all weekends off. You can take twelve paid sick days a year—or use them as comp time.”
    Rainie was still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that he’d offered her so much money. She would have been tickled to get ten dollars an hour plus benefits. “Did you say sixty thousand?”
    “After a six-month performance review, I’ll give you a raise if you’re worth your salt.”
    Rainie shook her head. “No, no.” She held up a hand. “I’m not hoping for more. Just the opposite. It seems like so much.”
    “You’ll work hard for every penny. Trust me on that.” His dark eyes shimmered with humor. “My office looks like a tornado struck, and my business records are a complete mess. I want someone who’ll keep me organized, file everything, and track my financial transactions on a daily basis. I’ll also take you up on that mean cup of coffee occasionally, and sometimes I may ask you to drive into town to run errands. You’ll give one hundred percent when you’re here. Think you can handle all that?”
    Even though Peter had destroyed Rainie’s self-esteem on a personal level, she still had faith in her professional abilities. “I think so.”
    A dimple slashed his darkly tanned cheek when he grinned at her. “Fair warnin’, I’m extremely lackadaisical with paperwork. You’ll have to keep after me like a drill sergeant, and even then, I’ll ignore you. I toss things here and there, and then can’t remember where I put them. I forget receipts in my truck. Then in a high wind, they go sailin’ away. I need someone who’ll go out every day and collect them from the cab, because I’m preoccupied with other things.”
    Fascinated, Rainie relaxed on the chair. “What other things?”
    “My horses.” He lifted his broad shoulders in another shrug. “They’re my raison d’être.”
    “You speak French?”
    “A little, three years in high school and another two in college. I did go to university, believe it or not.”
    He didn’t look like a college grad, but maybe that was a preconceived notion on her part. “What’s your alma mater?”
    “I went to Oregon State for my ag degree, then to the University of Idaho to study equine husbandry, animal genetics, and a little endocrinology.”
    “I never realized it took so much knowledge to raise horses.”
    “It does if you want to raise truly fine horses, and that’s my focus. I’m not in this business to make money. Well,” he amended with a laugh, “the money is nice, and I do bring in a substantial annual gross, but that has never been my motivation, maybe because my dad made enough when I was a kid to keep all of us in high cotton until we’re pushin’ up daisies.”
    Rainie’s father had made a fortune developing computer software, so she understood what he meant. She didn’t feel free to share that information with him,