childrenâs.
Ah, the joys of matrimony.
She blew out a breath and forced herself to turn back to the job at hand. âOkay, that oneâs done. Ninety-nine more.â
âHave you given any more thought to hiring me to take over for Joe?â Luke asked suddenly.
At the completely unexpected question, she fumbled with the hypodermic and would have dropped it into the mud theyâd churned up through the snow if her instincts hadnât kicked in at the last minute. She ended up catching it in midair.
âWhat⦠What did you say?â
âYou know. What we talked about the other night. About hiring me to be foreman after Joe leaves.â
Dumbfounded, for a moment she could do nothingbut stare at him. She thought she had made it abundantly clear he wasnât even in the running for the foreman position. Good grief. Did he need to be knocked over the head with it?
She sat back on her heels, fumbling for words just like she had just fumbled the syringe. âLuke, I told you I wanted someone with a little more experience,â she finally said. âIâm sorry, but Iâm not going to change my mind about it.â
He didnât seem at all fazed by her answer, just gave her a smile brimming with cockiness. âYou will. Just wait.â
The complete conviction in his voice astounded her but before she could answer, the muffled thud of horse hooves on snow sounded in the clear, cold air.
Joe rode across the pasture toward them on Quixote, his big bay gelding. He wore jeans, a lined denim jacket, his customary black Stetson and leather glovesâthe standard winter attire of all the cowboys who worked the Double C. Manny and Luke deviated only in the color of their hats.
But somehow Joe made the clothes look far different than either of the other men. He seemed so perfectly right on the back of the muscular horseâso wholly, ruggedly maleâthat her stomach quivered in reaction.
He always made her feel completely feminine by comparison, even when she was grubbing around in the snow and the mud in her ratty old ranch coat and beat-up ropers.
Joe was the kind of man who turned heads wherever he went, just by his sheer physical presence. He always had been. Even as a boy he had been strikingly beautiful, and all the girls at school used to have crushes on him. Joe ignored all of them except for Annie, whichdidnât exactly win her points with the other girls. Not that she cared much. She hadnât had much patience for other girls her age.
If anything, age and life had only improved Joeâs looks, had hardened his sculpted features to masculine perfection. With that exotic copper skin, his piercing dark eyes and that full, sensuous mouthânot to mention the air of barely leashed danger surrounding him in an almost visible auraâit was no wonder women still acted like fluttery idiots around him.
Including her.
Annie jolted back to earth and to the calf bawling in the pen in front of her, suddenly remembering the bet.
âYour team canât be done yet!â she exclaimed. âNo way!â
Joeâs grin nearly stopped her heart. âScared, are you?â
She took a deep, fortifying breath, relieved to find her blood still pumping, her lungs still working. âNot at all. Weâre gonna kick your butts. Arenât we, boys?â
âHell, yeah.â Lukeâs chest puffed with bravado and Mannyâs grin flashed in his dark face.
âRight into next week, boss,â he said.
Joe rested both hands on the saddle horn as Quixote stamped a few times in the snow and puffed out a cloudy breath, eager for action.
Like most modern ranches, the Double C had a couple of snowmobiles and two four-wheelers but she and Joe both preferred to do things the time-honored way whenever possible. A snowmobile could never take the place of a good cutting horse, and Qui was one of the best sheâd ever seen.
She gave the big bay a pat, then