All the King's Horses Read Online Free PDF Page B

bit, like I didn’t have to be on guard anymore.
    Gretchen smiled after him. “It’s good you’re here now. He’s been running himself into the ground keeping up after the last hand left.”
    “Glad to help,” I said softly. It occurred to me that maybe before I came here, I should have asked why the other farmhand left. Could have been for a million reasons, but at this point, I’d have laid money on a boss that was unpredictable and difficult to work with.
    Slow down, Amy. It was just one time, and it could have been because of anything.
    Just like it was the first dozen or so times with Sam.
    “So where were you before this?” Gretchen asked.
    Hell. I gave a quiet cough. “Western Washington. Just…working some odd jobs.”
    “As a farmhand?” She tilted her head a little. “I’ll admit, you’re not the kind of girl who usually responds to an ad like ours.”
    I laughed. “Well, this isn’t my usual line of work, but it seemed like a nice change.”
    “Is this your first time working with horses?”
    “Like this? Yes.” I paused, unsure just how far to tip my hand. “But I’ve been around them.”
    “Do you ride?”
    “I have, yes.” Lowering my gaze, I added, “Some.”
    “Oh, well, good,” Gretchen said. “Dustin sometimes needs help working with the horses.”
    I laughed again, but with less humor. “Somehow I doubt he’ll ask me.”
    “Well, why not?” she asked. “If you know which end of the horse bites and which end kicks…”
    More worried about your son in that respect, quite honestly.
    “I guess we’ll see,” I said.
    “So what brought you all the way to this side of the mountains?” Something about the way she looked at me, the way her eyes narrowed just slightly, made me wonder how much she really wanted to know. “Seems an awful long way to go to pick out stalls and feed horses.”
    “I just…” I swallowed, certain I had suddenly become completely transparent. Heart beating rapidly, I cleared my throat. “Needed a change of pace, I guess. A change of scenery.”
    “Well, you found it here.” She made a sweeping gesture out at the rest of the property. “Doesn’t get much more different from the western side of the state than a place like this.”
    I managed a soft laugh. “No, it doesn’t.”
    She opened her mouth like she was going to say something further but then looked past me. “Oh, here comes Dustin. I’ll leave you to him, but it’s wonderful to meet you.”
    “Nice to meet you too,” I said with a hopefully convincing smile. My hackles were back up before he was ten feet away.
    “Anyhow, if you need anything,” Gretchen said, “you know where to find me.”
    I kept the forced smile on my face. “I will. Thanks.”
    She left, and Dustin rejoined me. He ran me through a few more of the basic tasks his dad had already covered, making sure to tell me exactly what differentiated a clean stall from a dirty one— really, dude? Seriously? Fuck you —and giving me a few tips for staying out from under the feet of clients when they were around.
    “Any questions?” he asked.
    “No, it’s pretty straightforward,” I said, cursing my inability to look him in the eye. “I should probably get the stalls picked out before it gets to be feeding time, though.”
    Dustin looked at his watch. “Good idea. Usually you’ll want the stalls picked out before noon,” he said. “But it’s your first day, so I won’t worry about it.” He nodded toward the door marked Office. “I’ve got some paperwork and everything to catch up on, so I’ll leave you to the stalls.”
    “Great. Thanks for the tour.”
    As I went about my work, I couldn’t stop thinking about Dustin. I told myself repeatedly I was overreacting. The man had just come back from an apparently stressful trip, he had two new horses to look after, and that was probably all there was to it. A little moodiness on his part didn’t mean anything. It was just my hypersensitive fight-or-flight