Free Unbridled (Unlikely Lovers) by Cheryl Brooks Page B

she’d informed him that they’d gone on their last date together. She’d sounded like a prosecuting attorney as she ran down the list of excellent reasons why they were a complete mismatch. Since he secretly agreed with each and every one of them, he hadn’t bothered to argue.
    “I can’t say you didn’t try.” Miranda heaved her saddle onto t he rack and left to get her horse.
    “That’s all of my news,” he said when she returned. “What’s new with you?”
    “New? There’s nothing new,” she said bitterly. “Mud, rain, mud, rain, flood, mud, rain, and more rain. My barn is a quagmire.”
    He dropped the hoof he was working on and stood up. “Sounds like you need a ditch around your barn.”
    “I have a ditch around my barn.” She snorted with disgust. “It’s not big enough, but it’s the best I can do with a shovel since Santa didn’t bring me a backhoe for Christmas. I also asked for a concrete floor in the barn. Didn’t get that, either.”
    “ Dunno about concrete, but my brother has a backhoe.”
    She shook her head. “Can’t afford it. I’d have hired someone a long time ago if I had the extra money.” Her wistful smile sliced right through his heart. “Sorry. I just needed to vent a bit. I don’t expect you to fix it.”
    He thought back to the lecture she’d given Nigel about dealing with women, but he didn’t think it applied in this instance—especially since he really could fix the problem. “It wouldn’t cost that much—just enough to pay for the fuel. I wouldn’t charge you for labor.”
    “You won’t get rich doing business like that.”
    “I’m not trying to get rich. I’m trying to do a friend a favor.”
    Her eyes narrowed, and Travis had the strangest feeling she could see right through him. “It’s kind of you to offer, but I’m sure you’ve got better things to do than digging ditches—especially if you’re not getting paid.”
    He shrugged. “Fix dinner for me sometime.”
    “I could do that. I hate mud with a passion, and there’s so much of it, it’s driving me nuts.”
    “I know what you mean.” He was about to add further encouragement when he remembered Miranda had a husband who might not approve of other men doing “favors” for his wife—or having dinner with her. 
    She gnawed at her lower lip as though weighing the pros and cons. “Okay. But it’s gonna be tough figuring out when to do it. You’ve got to have the time and the ground has to dry out a little. Otherwise, you’d be stuck there until spring.”
    Travis couldn’t help smiling. Getting stuck at Miranda’s house until spring was akin to winning the lottery—as long as her husband was stuck somewhere else. “It’s not supposed to rain again until the weekend. I could come over on Friday afternoon.”
    She nodded her agreement. “Okay, but I can’t help feeling I’m taking advantage of you.”
    “Hey, you invited me to a party and introduced me to several new women. I’d say this makes us even.”
    She shot him a skeptical look. “Maybe—but only if you’d hit it off with one of them.”
    In Travis’s opinion, any excuse to spend a few extra moments in Miranda’s company was worth a few failed dates—plus the time required to dig a ditch. It might even be worth a confrontation with her husband. “Doesn’t matter. I’ll see you on Friday afternoon.”
    Right after I call Alan.
    * * * *
    Stuart was okay with the loan of the backhoe, particularly since Travis hadn’t mentioned whose ditch he’d be digging. He helped Travis hitch the trailer to his truck, gave him a few pointers on ditch digging, and sent him on his way.
    Travis stopped to refuel the truck and the backhoe, giving Alan a call while the tanks filled. Stuart might not have been the least bit suspicious, but Alan was worried.
    “That is not the sort of thing you need to be doing,” he warned after Travis explained the situation. “Going to her party was bad enough. This is much