The daycare owner looked up and smiled. “Not a hitch. She took the bottles with no problem whatsoever, but I think she’s ready for Mama now.”
Becca waved her arms and legs, squirming as she saw Anna.
“Hey, baby!” Anna laughed, feeling her heart turn over at how excited her daughter was to see her. “Did you miss me?”
She cuddled her close and pressed her lips to the baby’s cheek. Turning back to the older woman watching them, Anna said, “Thank you. You just can’t imagine how wonderful it feels to know she’s in such good hands.”
The only cloud on her horizon was Chris. The less she encountered him, the better. Still, she had to admit to a small pang when she thought that. And the pang surprised her, but who was she kidding? They’d had one brief encounter. He obviously didn’t remember, even if she did…but she couldn’t let herself go that road. That was the old Anna. She had more than herself to think about. She had Becca. Doing what was best for her daughter meant keeping Stevenson, and his family, as far away as possible.
So she put him out of her mind. She had a lot of calls that week, most of them routine. On Thursday, she accompanied Dr. Douglas to Pheasant Run to help with routine physical exams and health certificates for their jumper barn. Since the farm was another of the clinic’s major clients, Jim wanted her to meet the owners.
They had almost finished pulling Coggins tests when she heard a familiar voice in conversation with a woman behind her.
“Thanks, Wynter. You know you and Nelson are the only ones I would trust to campaign this mare for me.”
Chris Stevenson. Anna slid farther back along the horse she was examining. As short as she was, remaining unseen wasn’t too difficult. There were some advantages to being petite.
“I still don’t understand why you’re laying off, Chris,” the woman replied—Wynter Anderson, Anna wondered? She’d seen pictures of the tall redhead, wife of Nelson Anderson and an accomplished rider in her own right. They were about the same age, if she remembered what she’d read in The Horse Journal.
“I need a break, Wyn. I’m burned out.” The conversation paused as they reached the horse Anna and Jim were examining.
“I understand. Oh hi, Jim. How are you?” Wynter asked. “Thomas is still working with a client in the ring, but he mentioned you’d have your new colleague with you.”
Anna cringed. The last thing she wanted right now was to be noticed in any way. She did not want to see Chris in particular. In fact, after another rather awkward discussion with Jim, she had arranged things so he was going to check on Chris’s stud tomorrow. Now it looked as if she had no choice. As usual when she spent much time around a barn, she had managed to get dirt smudged all over her, and she knew she was sweating from the heat and the pace they’d set in order to get everything done.
“Anna,” Jim called over his shoulder. “Step around here. There’s someone I’d like you to meet.”
She wiped her hands on her coveralls and stepped around to Wynter Anderson. The woman was even more beautiful in person, Anna thought as she was introduced.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Wynter smiled. “It’s about time Jim joined the twenty-first century and added a woman to the staff,” she added in a teasing voice.
Tension knotted in Anna’s stomach, but she smiled and tried to ignore the scowl Stevenson shot her way.
Wynter turned to him. “This is Chris Stevenson, Anna.”
“We’ve met,” Chris growled at the same time Anna spoke.
“I’ve met Mr. Stevenson, already.”
Wynter glanced between the two of them.
“Tell me about yourself, Anna. Are you married?”
“No,” she supplied, embarrassed at answering questions in front of Chris.
“Where’s Becca?” Chris interrupted, his silvery eyes cold as ice shards. “Surely not sitting in the truck on a day like today?”
Anna bristled at both his question and his tone but managed to control her temper. “No, Mr. Stevenson, Becca is not in the truck.”
“Anna was able to find an excellent daycare provider,” Jim Douglas added. “Right, Anna?”
She smiled in relief at her boss. “Yes. Becca loves it there.”
“You have a daughter?” Wynter asked.
Anna felt Chris still staring at her, but she ignored him. She was not going to let him intimidate her.
“Yes. Rebecca. She’s almost four months old now.”
“We’ll have to compare baby notes sometime. My youngest is turning one, and the boys are five.”
Anna smiled and shifted back and forth. Stevenson still glared at her.
“Come to the ring, Chris,” Wynter suggested. “I want you to see the young mare Nelson’s working.” She turned to Anna. “It was a pleasure to meet you.”
“Thanks.” Anna’s smile felt a bit more natural. Inside, though, she was a mess. She wanted to leave, or at least get away on her own for a minute or two.
Chapter 4
Chris fumed the whole way along the aisle. What was it about Anna that seemed to get under his skin? He had done little but think about her ever since last Sunday. Having her crowd his thoughts was not something he enjoyed. He preferred the women in his life to be in the background until he decided otherwise. Look what had happened with Sydney when he gave her too much freedom to do as she pleased. He couldn’t afford to lose control like that with Anna.
What was he thinking? Anna Barlow was not a woman in his life. She was an annoying thorn in his side, and no bigger than a damn horsefly. Maybe he could swat her away and be done with it.
“You can quit scowling, Chris,” Wynter remarked in an amused tone. “We’re almost to the ring.”
They might be almost to the ring, but his thoughts were still stuck on Anna. Why had he asked about Becca? What Anna Barlow did with her kid was no business of his. He had never had anything to do with children or babies, and for all he knew, he didn’t even like them. His mind flashed to those big blue-gray eyes staring at him out of her chubby face that first night when he’d held her, and he smiled. She was cute.
Wynter stopped and studied him as if he were a bug on a pin. “What is it with you and Anna Barlow, Chris?”
That snapped him back to the present. He shook his head.
“Nothing. She doesn’t mean anything to me. I’ve just met her, Wyn.”
Wynter tilted her head and raised her auburn brows at him. “Whatever you say.”
Chris’s gaze skittered away as he concentrated on the mare Nelson had under saddle in the ring. She was a steel gray with a mane and tail still pitch black. Coloring like that made a big impact in the show ring, even more if she stayed dark for a while instead of fading like many grays.
“Flashy,” he commented as the young horse bent through the back and came onto the bit. Her strides lengthened and floated now at the trot.
“She’s for sale,” Wynter offered with a grin and propped an arm on the top rail.
“Why?” Chris leaned against the fence. He had difficulty imagining why anyone would want to sell a horse with what appeared to be unlimited potential.
Wynter shrugged. “She belongs to a client. We can’t take any more horses on right now, and the owner says she doesn’t have the time to work with her or campaign her, so she asked a friend of Thomas’s to help sell her.”
“Who’s