Hot for You (7 page)

He glanced at her as they walked. “Did you
have any problems finding my place?”

She shook her head. “None at all.”

They walked up to a pasture fence. The smell
of manure was strong—it reminded her of times she’d gone to the
state fair as a kid and had looked at the animals.

“I breed to sell to 4-H and FFA kids around
the state to raise and show at competitions as well as county fairs
and the state fair,” Cody said as they stopped in front of the
fence. “So my herd is show quality. I also sell steers to
individuals who buy for the fresh beef.”

“I’m a city girl,” she said. “What’s the
difference between a cow and a steer?”

“A cow is a female who has given birth at
least once or twice.” He gestured to one of the larger animals,
then moved his finger to point to a smaller one. “Heifers are from
one to two years old and have never calved.

“Calves are less than ten months old and rely
on their mother or a bottle for milk,” he continued as he nodded to
a pair of calves beside a cow. He moved to a larger animal. “A
steer is a castrated male and used primarily for beef.”

She nodded. “And bulls are males used for
breeding?”

“Yep.” He pointed to a larger animal
corralled a good distance from the pasture. “That’s the bull.”

“So you don’t refer to a herd as cows,” she
said.

“That’s right,” he said. “They’re referred to
as cattle. A rancher will refer to the number he or she owns as how
many head of cattle they have.” He nodded toward the herd. “I have
twenty-five head right now.”

“Why don’t they have horns?” she asked.

He looked at her. “Hereford are normally
horned, but these are naturally polled through selective
breeding.”

“Interesting.” She smiled. “Learn something
new every day.”

With a grin he said, “Ready to see the
horses?”

She nodded. “You bet.”

They approached the corral with the three
large animals. “Are you familiar with horses?”

“Not more than that they’re horses,” she
said. “I’ve never ridden and I couldn’t begin to tell you what kind
they are.”

“All three of my girls are Quarter horses.”
He gestured to one on the left. “She’s a palomino. That refers to
her coloring—gold coat and white mane and tail.” He nodded toward
the other two. “The twins are also Quarter horses but they’re
sorrels.”

“One palomino and two sorrels, all three are
Quarter horses,” she repeated. “Got it.” She looked up at him.
“What does sorrel mean?”

They reached the corral and Cody put his
hands on the top wooden rail before stepping onto the bottom rail
and raising himself up. “It’s for their brownish-red coloring.”

Carilyn followed his example and climbed up
onto the rails. He was somewhere around six-one, a good seven
inches taller than her, so he was a good deal higher over the top
rail than she was.

He whistled and the horses raised their
heads. The palomino started toward them. Cody glanced at Carilyn.
“I have a different whistle for each of my girls.” When the horse
reached them, he stroked her forehead. “This is Dolly.”

Carilyn laughed. “With all of that blonde
hair, the palomino must be named Dolly after Dolly Parton,
right?”

“You’ve got it.” He grinned. “One of the 4-H
kids who worked for me named the other two when they were born. The
one with white markings is Molly. The other is Holly.” He reached
into his pocket and pulled out a few green pellets. “Why don’t you
feed these to Dolly? Let me see your palm.” Carilyn did as he told
her and he dropped the pellets onto her palm. “Now hold out your
hand.”

She wrinkled her forehead. “Dolly won’t
bite?”

He shook his head. “Nope.”

Carilyn did as he told her. Dolly snuffled
over Carilyn’s palm and the horse’s velvety muzzle tickled her
hand. The horse smelled…horsey. The next thing she knew, the
pellets were gone.

“Dolly is so beautiful,” Carilyn said as she
stroked the mare’s forehead. She glanced at the other pair that
looked interested in what was going on. “So are your sorrels. Can I
feed Holly and Molly, too?”

“You bet.” He whistled to the sorrels and
they both trotted over to Carilyn and Cody.

Carilyn held out her palm again and Cody gave
her a few pellets, which she fed to Molly. “Their muzzles feel so
soft.” She held out her hand to Cody and he put more pellets on it,
which she fed to Holly.

When they had fed all of the pellets to the
horses, Cody said, “If you’re up for it, I’d like to take you out
for a ride.” He nodded to the sorrel with the white markings. “You
can ride Molly.”

She held her hand to her belly. “What if I
fall off?”

“I promise, you’ll be fine.” He inclined his
head toward the house. “Let’s pack a picnic lunch and then we’ll
head on out.”

She found herself feeling more excited than
doubtful and she smiled at him. “Okay. I’m ready to experience
ranch life.”

“Great.” He started toward the house and she
walked beside him. “What do you like—roast beef, turkey, or egg
salad?”

“Any of those is great,” she said, “but if I
had to choose one I’d go with egg salad.”

The house was cool as they stepped inside.
The living room was spacious, with chocolate brown leather sofa and
love seat, a recliner in caramel-colored leather, a big wooden
rocker, and a large flat-screen TV. Cody hung his hat on a rack by
the front door. A guitar case was next to the hat rack.

She glanced from the case to Cody. “Do you
play guitar?”

“Yep,” he said. “I’ve been playing since I
was a kid.”

Carilyn followed him into the kitchen with
light oak cabinets, dark granite countertops, and stainless steel
appliances. A round oak table with four chairs was in a nook to the
right.

She looked around the kitchen. “I like your
kitchen.”

“Thanks. Just had it remodeled in January.”
He went to the fridge and ducked inside. In moments he had pulled
out condiments, meats, and hard-boiled eggs, along with tomatoes,
lettuce, and cheese.

They set about putting several sandwiches
together. Carilyn only wanted one egg salad sandwich, but Cody made
three different sandwiches for himself. With their picnic lunch, he
included Oreo cookies, corn chips, green grapes, and a thermos of
iced tea. When they were finished, he packed everything into a
saddlebag, including paper plates, paper napkins, and a canteen of
water.

“Hold on and I’ll be right back,” he
said.

She nodded and he left the kitchen. When he
came back, he was wearing a holster with a revolver in it.

Her brows lifted. “You’re carrying a
gun?”

He nodded. “You never know out here if you
might run into a rattlesnake. These bullets have snake shot in
them.”

At the mention of rattlesnakes, her eyes
widened. “You’re worried about snakes?”

“Not really.” He walked to the saddlebags and
slung them over his shoulder. “But better safe than sorry.”

She followed him out of the kitchen. He
grabbed his hat off the hat rack and put it on.

As they left the house and walked to the
barn, nervous tension settled on her shoulders and she rolled them
to try and get rid of it. She was actually going to ride one of
those big animals and attempt to stay on it.

Once they were in the barn, Cody set aside
the saddlebags and whistled to Molly and Holly, and the sorrel
mares trotted into the barn. He haltered Molly and took her to the
tack room where he put a thick saddle blanket and saddle on her
back. After Molly was taken care of, Cody took Holly out of the pen
and saddled her, too.

When Cody was finished, he put the saddlebags
on Holly then turned to Carilyn. “I’ll help you mount Molly.”

Carilyn rubbed her hands on her jeans while
she felt a quick burst of nerves, but nodded and went to the horse.
Cody instructed her on how to mount the big animal. With his help,
from the left side of the horse she put her left foot in the
stirrups and swung her right leg over before settling into the
saddle. Not very gracefully, but she made it into her seat. It felt
strange sitting on a saddle, the huge beast between her legs.

With one hand on the pommel, Carilyn leaned
forward and patted the big horse’s neck. “That’s a good girl,
Molly,” she murmured before settling back into the saddle.

It felt kind of cool sitting so high up and
feeling the horse shift beneath her. The mare’s tail swished as she
swatted flies off of her large rump. It surprised Carilyn when she
realized that her nervousness had vanished to be replaced by
excitement.

Cody handed her the reins. “I’ll tell you
what to do once we take off.”

She nodded and tried holding on to the
excitement and to remain loose and not uptight. She watched as he
mounted his own horse then moved Holly close to Molly.

He instructed her on how to hold the reins
and how to get the horse to go in the direction she wanted it
to.

“Molly will follow Holly, so you don’t need
to worry too much about it,” Cody said when he finished.

Carilyn fiddled with the end of her braid.
“Okay.”

When they started out of the barn, her belly
swooped again as she felt the horse move beneath her. She gripped
the reins tightly but tried to relax at the same time like Cody had
instructed her.

They reached the pasture and Cody dismounted
and opened the gate. He led both horses through then closed the
gate behind them before mounting Holly again.

Carilyn breathed in the fresh air and felt
the breeze against her cheeks as they started into the pasture. She
felt a sudden high from the cool spring morning and being astride
such a majestic animal.

“This is fun.” She flashed a smile at Cody.
“Thanks for inviting me.”

“I’m glad you’re enjoying it.” He returned
her smile. “It’s a beautiful day for a ride.”

“It is.” She tipped her face up to the sun
for a moment before looking back to him. “I’ll worry about setting
up my laptop tomorrow. I was going to do that today, but this is
much more fun.”

“I imagine it’s going to take you a little
time to load your new laptop with everything you need,” he
said.

“It’s going to be a pain in the butt.” She
sighed. “I lost a perfectly good laptop that was less than a year
old. Thursday I called to have software overnighted to me that is
specialized for the work I do, and it arrived yesterday
morning.”

“Do you work on weekends?” he asked.

She shrugged as her body rocked in the
saddle. “If it’s crunch time for a big project, I’ll work a lot of
overtime. Otherwise I try to keep regular office hours on weekdays.
All work and no play is a good combination for a case of burnout,
and I do my best to avoid it. Been there, done that.”

“Do you enjoy what you do?” he asked.

“Yes.” She smiled. “Most of the time.”

“I think it’s that way with most jobs.” He
grinned. “I love ranch life, and I enjoy being a firefighter, but
it’s nice to have a break from each of them at times. Maybe that’s
why I like both jobs—one gives me a break from the other.”

She cocked her head. “But does that mean
you’re always working with something?”

“I take time off as needed,” he said. “Like
you said, burnout is a danger if you don’t give yourself a
break.”

“So you enjoy being a firefighter?” she
asked.

He nodded. “Yep.”

“I imagine it can be hard at times.” She
thought about the challenges he probably faced. “Not to mention
you’re constantly putting your life on the line.”

“The rewards of the job outweigh the
negative.” He looked thoughtful. “Saving a life makes up for times
when the job can get rough.”

Her stomach had settled and she rocked in the
saddle in time with Molly’s movements as the horses made their way
through the grassy pasture. The grass was green, the soil soft
enough that the horse’s hooves made prints. The air smelled clean
and wonderful.

“Have you been getting rain in this area?”
she asked.

“We had good rains earlier this week, before
you arrived. We were in a drought, but we’ve now had more rain than
normal for this time of year.” He adjusted his western hat. “It
won’t be long until it’s summer and the grass turns yellow and the
dirt is dry. The rain won’t keep up like this.”

She let her gaze drift over the land. “It’s
beautiful out here.”

“You can understand why this land would be
hard to leave,” he said.

As she continued to take in the view, she
said, “Yes, I can understand it.” She turned to him. “I saw
McBrides listed on mailboxes on the way here. So there are a lot of
ranchers in the family?”

“Most of the family is in the ranching
business.” Cody adjusted his Stetson. “Now that our cousins have
started having children of their own it’s hard keeping track of
everyone.”

“You mentioned last night that your parents
passed away some time ago,” Carilyn said.

“Mom died from a ranching accident years ago,
when I was pretty young,” Cody said. “It’s been some time since my
father passed away after a long bout with cancer.”

“I’m sorry.” Carilyn’s voice was low, quiet.
“What kind of ranching injury did your mom die from? If you don’t
mind me asking.”

“Mom got hooked by a horned bull.” Cody
looked ahead as he spoke. “That’s one reason why I’ll only keep
polled cattle.”

“How awful.” Carilyn felt an ache in her
chest for Cody. “You said something about a brother, too, who was
in Europe for a while.”

“My older brother, Clint.” Cody glanced at
her. “I think I mentioned to you that he took off after his best
friend died in a rodeo accident. He came back last summer. This
July he’s marrying his best friend’s kid sister, Ella. She’s a real
sweetheart and a great artist.”

Carilyn tipped her head to the side. “I’d
like to see her work.”