Free Lost Memories (Honky Tonk Hearts) by Sherri Thomas Page A

for the parents. Another highlight if he bought a handful of placid horses for smaller, inexperienced riders—a possibility brought up during his trip.
    Entering the pig pen, he sighed with relief. One of the guys beat him there. Or Darcy, another one of her regular pit stops in the morning according to Sam.
    “Well, boy,” he said to Dakota, who lounged outside the entrance. “Let’s go see if the cabins are up to snuff for the next set of guests.”
    The sun penetrated Nick’s skin as he sauntered over the three acres to the first cabin. He should’ve grabbed another shirt. After coming close to getting sun poisoning last year, he usually remained more cautious of the dangerous rays, but too many thoughts swirled in his mind this morning, too much eagerness to see one specific person.
    Each of the twenty cabins sported the same undersized living room, a small kitchenette, a bathroom, and a bedroom or two. He approached the steps to the small porch of the cabin, opened the door, and advanced inside. The floors shone in the sunlight as cleaning fumes assaulted his nostrils. He shut the door and jogged his way to the adjacent building. Country music blared from the bungalow. Racing up the steps, he stopped in the open doorway.
    Darcy swung her hips from one side to the other while sweeping—or dancing—with the broom. The impact of seeing her in the flesh caused his hands to grow wet with perspiration. After their nightly conversations, his attraction went more than skin deep, and acknowledging that fact scared the daylights out of him.
    Give it up. She’s an employee. And she deserved better than having her boss lust after her. He held no right to think of her in any other sense. The sexual attraction violated his ethics.
    Even so, Nick bit his tongue to keep from chuckling out loud as she sang along off-key and moved through the room without a care in the world.
    He stepped back to give her privacy only to trip on Dakota. The dog howled and in one sweeping movement, Darcy spun around, crossed the floor, and hit the power button on the radio.
    “Nick!” She wiped the sweat from her face. “How long have you been standing there?”
    “Not long.” He cleared his throat and picked up a rag off the floor.
    Her cheeks heated to a nice shade of pink beneath her tan as she twisted the broom handle.
    “Thanks for feeding Dakota.”
    “Your truck wasn’t there when I went to bed. I figured you must have got in pretty late.”
    “Actually, it was early this morning.”
    “Then you should have slept in.”
    Her eyes darted to his chest, reminding him of his absent shirt. Her caressing gaze boosted his male pride to levels beyond. His skin tingled with every inch her brown orbs touched as her sights traveled up to his face.
    “The place looks great. How ’bout we go on down to the main house and grab breakfast.”
    “I—I suppose I’m not going to get a better invitation. Unless we run into Horace, anyway.” She started out the door. “You know he’s my true love.”
    Her full, kissable lips turned up in a smile, a true genuine smile, one his brothers had privilege to, but not him.
    Until now.
    Nick followed her, taking note of the way she joked with him. He liked this playful attitude much better than the tension from before he left.
    “Great, now I’m second to a pig. If he tries to steal away the first female companion I’ve had in weeks, he may find himself on a platter with an apple in his mouth.”
    Her eyes darted over him again, then widened with his words. “You wouldn’t. Besides, I’m sure you’ve had plenty of dates.”
    The idea of entertaining didn’t hold much appeal. Though, the way Darcy looked at him made him realize what he’d been missing.
    “Where’s your shirt? Didn’t you learn anything last year?”
    “How’d you know about that?”
    “Chris told me how worried he’d been about you.” She shrugged and kicked a pebble. “He filled me in on different things about each one