Free The Cowboy's Twins by Deb Kastner Page B

“I thought you meant it needed to happen right now. Today.”
    â€œI’m sure we can borrow a swather from one of your neighbors when the time comes. Not today.”
    She nodded. “And the fence? How fast do you think you can help me fix the loose beams in the front meadow? I know I’m asking a lot out of you, but is there any possible way you can take care of it today?”
    â€œToday?” he repeated, his voice tightening. He’d come over to see how she was settling in. She hadn’t even been expecting him. And now she thought he was somehow going to be able to mend her impossibly unfixable property in a single afternoon? Did she realize how labor intensive fence-mending was? And what would she have done if he hadn’t shown up? Tried to handle it all herself? “Faith, you can’t just—”
    â€œBut it’s important,” she interrupted. Red splashed across her cheeks. “You see, I’ve got a mare and her foal coming in this afternoon.”
    â€œThis afternoon?” he roared, caught completely by surprise. When she’d said she was expecting horses to arrive right away, he thought she meant this month, or this week.
    Not today .
    Her eyes widened epically, and he realized he’d hurt her feelings, maybe even scared her. He took a mental step backward, lifted his hat by the crown and ran a hand through his hair.
    â€œLook,” he said, carefully modulating both the tenor and the tone of his voice. “I understand how important this is to you.”
    â€œDo you?” She folded her arms in a defensive gesture and narrowed her gaze on him. “Do you really? Because honestly, that’s not what I’m getting from you.”
    He frowned and settled his hat back on his head. “Is that right?”
    â€œYes. I’m getting more of a grizzly-with-a-thorn-stuck-in-his-paw vibe. So if that’s all you have to offer, then thank you, but I’d rather figure this out on my own.” She was looking toward him but yet not really looking at him, her gaze just slightly averted.
    Jax cringed. For a moment he’d thought Faith might be different. That she might be able to look beyond his scarred face to the man within. There had been a few minutes at the picnic when he’d thought they’d shared something, if not special, then at least normal.
    But at the end of the day, she called it as she saw it—saw him .
    A grizzly.
    â€œIf that’s what you want,” he muttered.
    Even as he said the words, he knew he couldn’t just walk away from Faith and leave her to do it all on her own. At the very least, there were plenty of fences to be mended, over many acres of land. He could do the work somewhere far away from the house and she wouldn’t even have to know he’d been there.
    If she didn’t want him on her property, he wouldn’t be able to fix up her house for her, at least not directly. But he would find others who could, people he trusted to do their best work and give her a good deal for it.
    â€œGo.” She choked out the word and pointed at his truck. “Just go.”
    â€œYeah. Okay.” He nodded and tipped his hat, conceding as graciously as he knew how. His gut tightened painfully but he ignored it. “Best wishes to you with your hobby horses.”
    * * *
    Hobby horses.
    Hobby horses? Had he just referred to her future mustang rescue as a hobby ?
    â€œJax.”
    He was halfway to his truck and didn’t even bother to acknowledge her.
    â€œJax,” she said again, her tone urgent as she hurried to catch up with him.
    How rude of him to outright ignore her. Hadn’t his mother taught him manners? She grabbed his elbow and yanked him around to face her.
    â€œHow dare you make fun of my work!”
    He blew out a breath, ran a hand across his jaw and then lifted his hat and threaded his fingers through his thick dark brown curls.
    â€œLook. That probably came