Free Inseparable by Brenda Jackson

did lift a few eyebrows,” Dex admitted.
    “It was a good job opportunity for her.”

    “Yes, but another way to look at it is the two of you have become even more inseparable.”
    He looked at Dex through the window. “And the problem with that is? ”
    “The two of you are going to have a hard time finding someone else who’s willing to put up with your friendship with each other. But hey, I support whatever rocks your boat. As far as I’m concerned it’s no one’s business but yours and Kenna’s.”
    Reese let out a deep sigh. He agreed with Dex on that point. It was no one else’s business but his and Kenna’s.
     
    “May I help you, ma’am?”
    The words, spoken with a slight accent, made Kenna turn around. An easy smile touched her lips when she saw it was Reese's new employee. Tall, lanky and probably in his late thirties, she thought there was an intensity in the darkness of his blue eyes. “No, I’m fine. I thought I’d take Rollins out for a ride,” she said of the horse Joe had saddled for her earlier. “I’m LaKenna James, but everyone calls me Kenna,” she said, extending her hand to him.
    “And I’m Clark Lovell. I just started working for Mr. Madaris a couple of days ago.” He paused a second and then asked. “Will you need an escort when you ride out?”
    “An escort?” She chuckled. “Thanks, but no thanks. I’m used to the ranch. I’ll be fine.”
    “You come here a lot?”
    “Um, enough. Reese and I are good friends.” She wondered why she’d said that, then shrugged and figured that since most of the other men were aware that the two of them were friends, she might as well set the record straight with Clark from the start about the nature of her relationship with Reese.
    “That’s what I heard—that you and the boss are good friends. Well, I’ll be seeing you. Good day, Miss Kenna.”
    “Good day to you, too.” She watched him walk off. Reese hadsaid the new hire didn’t have much to say to anyone, and that he mostly stayed to himself. Well, he’d certainly been talkative with her just now.
    She used a stepstool to get in the saddle on Rollins’s back and led him out of the stables. It was a beautiful day, and she figured a horseback ride would do her good since it was something she enjoyed doing. Reese had given her her very first lesson years ago.
    When she’d awakened that morning, her brain had felt sluggish from so little sleep, but once she got moving she was fine. She had slept until almost ten before going downstairs to prepare toast and coffee for breakfast. After breakfast, she went back upstairs to unpack the rest of her things. It didn’t take long, since most of her belongings had been organized and labeled.
    She had taken a break from unpacking to enjoy lunch with Joe, a widower whose wife had died almost ten years ago. He’d brought her up-to-date on how his married daughters were doing and had proudly showed her recent pictures of his two grandkids.
    Joe said Reese usually came home around five o’clock, so she decided to prepare dinner. She had cooked lasagna—one of Reese’s favorites. Luckily, she didn’t have to buy groceries, since all the ingredients she needed had been in the pantry.
    As she rode away from the stable, she waved to the men she knew who were out tending the herd. Compared to Whispering Pines, Reese’s uncle Jake Madaris’s spread, Tall Oaks ranch and all the land it encompassed was relatively small. But as Kenna rode farther and farther away from the main house, it didn’t seem so small after all. Every so often she would look up at the trees, remembering when Reese had first brought her to his ranch and how the first thing she’d noticed was the oak trees that were so tall they seemed to touch the sky. She had mentioned it to Reese, which is why he’d named his ranch Tall Oaks.
    As she rode, Rollins maintained an easy, comfortable gait,which was probably the reason Reese had picked the horse for her. One day she