Big J Colton was the patriarch of the Oklahoma Coltons and the owner of the Lucky C Ranch. As his bastard child, Daniel had grown up with his half brothers and half sister, accepted by everyone except his stepmother, Abra Colton. Because of her antagonism toward him and the fact that Big J had taken in a child who wasn’t hers, Daniel had never felt he quite fit in with the others.
Megan was first to the tack room. When she emerged, she carried a blanket. “Is Greta back from Oklahoma City?” she asked.
“Not that I’ve heard. Why do you ask?”
With a shrug, Megan threw the blanket over the mare’s back and followed Colton into the tack room. “I thought I saw her earlier. I might have been seeing things. With a wedding to plan, I doubt she has time to go back and forth between Tulsa and Oklahoma City often.”
Daniel snorted. He grabbed his saddle and a blanket and squeezed by Megan in the confines of the barn. The scent of strawberries wafted in his direction from Megan’s hair hanging down around her shoulders. Why did she have to be so darned beautiful? If she wasn’t also so efficient and helpful, he might reconsider her employment at the ranch. She was a distraction and growing more distracting every day. “Don’t know what takes so long in planning a wedding. All you need is a bride, a groom, a preacher and a ring.”
Megan laughed as she lifted her own saddle. “I’m with you. If you know you love someone, why all the fuss, anyway? Married is married whether you have a big wedding or stand in front of a justice of the peace, say I do, sign the papers and call it done.”
Daniel chuckled. “And I thought all women were romantics.”
Megan’s pretty coral lips twisted. “I think it’s just me. My parents tried to convince me to earn an M-R-S degree, but I was too busy studying genetics and cell biology to be interested in the boys on the UCLA campus.”
“M-R-S?”
Her brows rose. “You know. Mrs. someone.” She shook her head. “They wanted me to marry well, be a social butterfly on the arm of my husband and stop playing in yucky stuff like parasites, tissues, and horse and cattle semen.” Megan tossed her saddle up onto the mare’s back with little effort.
Strong and beautiful, and she knew what she wanted out of life. In Daniel’s mind, that was a killer combination. Why waste brains and talent by making her some man’s arm candy?
He threw the blanket on Rider’s back, followed by the saddle. “Didn’t you grow up on a ranch? You know your way around horses like you’ve been doing this all your life.”
Megan reached beneath the horse to grab Halo’s girth, threaded the strap through the ring and tightened it. “My parents own a nice spread in California,” she answered, pulling hard. “But they didn’t let me work with the animals. I was barely allowed to ride. They were afraid those big ol’ horses would hurt little ol’ me.” She laughed, the sound brightening Daniel’s day.
Daniel frowned at how he’d grown used to the sound and looked forward to it. As he cinched Rider’s girth and looped the leather strap, he concentrated on sticking to facts, not emotions. “You’re an excellent rider.”
“I didn’t get that way because of my parents, but more in spite of them. What they didn’t know was that I’d go to my room, saying I wanted to read for a while. Once there, I’d slip out the window, climb down a tree and race off to the pasture. Because I didn’t want to get caught, I rode bareback and without a bridle.”
An image of a gangly young woman with long strawberry blond hair riding bareback across the hills of California flashed in Daniel’s mind. “No bridle? How did you get the horses to go the way you wanted?”
Megan lowered the stirrup and patted Halo’s neck. “They could feel the pressure of my legs and responded accordingly. I also bribed them with apples and sugar cubes.”
“I’m impressed.” Daniel adjusted his stirrup and slipped the bridle over Rider’s head. “Your parents didn’t know what they were missing. You’re very good with the horses.”
“They didn’t need the help with their horse-breeding program. We had a staff that managed the animals on the ranch.” Megan sighed. “I’d love dearly to bring my horses out here someday.”
“Why don’t you?”
“My parents haven’t forgiven me for moving to Oklahoma. Every time I speak with them on the phone, they ask me when I’m moving back. Remember last month, when I went home because my father was sick?”
Daniel nodded. She’d been gone an entire week, and he’d missed her more than he cared to admit. “You could have brought your horses back with you then. We have room here on the Lucky C for them.”
Megan gave an unladylike snort. “Don’t you think I would have if I could have?” She shook her head. “My father is using them as leverage, threatening to sell them if I don’t move back to California.”
Daniel shot a glance her way. “And are you?”
Megan blinked. “Am I what?”
“Moving back to California?”
She laughed. “Oh, heavens, no. I love it out here. I love my parents, but they stifle me. I’ve been calling my father’s bluff about selling the horses. I hope he has a change of heart and lets me have them. Besides, I have no desire to live their lifestyle. It’s not me.”
Grabbing his stallion’s reins, Daniel asked, “And what lifestyle is that?”
Megan’s mouth twisted. “Servants to do everything for you, smiling at people you don’t know at social events you don’t really care about. Wearing skirts, heels and makeup all the time. Never getting your hands dirty or breaking a nail.”
Daniel studied her fresh, makeup-free, freckled face. With her light red eyebrows and blond-tipped eyelashes, she was beautiful just the way she was. He wouldn’t change a thing.
Tearing his gaze away from her, he led Rider out of the barn. He walked away from the woman who was far too often in his thoughts both at work and at night when he lay in bed, trying to sleep through a growing hunger that had nothing to do with food.
Behind him, he heard the sound of hooves pawing the ground and then thumping against the hard-packed dirt.
“Whoa, Halo,” Megan said, her voice tight.
Daniel glanced over his shoulder.
Halo, normally calm and gentle, reared, her front hooves pawing at the air.
Daniel took a step back into the barn, his hand still holding Rider’s reins.
Megan held on to Halo’s bridle, talking softly, soothingly. When the horse came back down on all four hooves, Megan chuckled shakily. “You really are raring to go, aren’t you?”
“Need a hand?” Daniel asked.
Her mouth firming, Megan frowned. “I don’t need your help. I’m perfectly capable of handling Halo.”
A smile tugging his lips, Daniel led Rider out of the barn. “Touchy, are we?”
“I’m not fragile like my father and mother seem to think. Haven’t I proven that?” she demanded.
“Absolutely,” he said, unable to fight the grin spreading across his face. “If you didn’t look so good in your jeans, I’d mistake you for one of the guys.”
Megan’s frown deepened for a moment, then cleared. Her lips quirked upward along with her brows. “You like the way I look in jeans?”
Daniel was saved from responding by Halo rearing again, jerking Megan up off her feet for a second.
“We’d better get going before Halo takes off without you.” Daniel jammed his boot in the stirrup and mounted Rider. He had to remind himself Megan was his employee.