“Butthead.”
Choking back a laugh at the muttered insult, Dani glanced over her shoulder.
Jaxon stood several feet away, leaning against a fence and tossing a baseball into the glove on his hand. Just as he had for the past ten minutes as Cal led her through her first assigned task on the ranch.
“What was that, boy?” Cal frowned at Jaxon, the hay dangling precariously from the corner of his chapped lips.
Jaxon looked away and thrust the baseball harder into his glove. “Nothing. Sorry, sir.”
“You got fire, kid,” Cal said, laughing. “I’ll give you that. Ain’t you supposed to be babysitting? Your dad’s havin’ a time keeping up with those sisters of yours and getting the hikers started.”
Jaxon stared down at his glove and didn’t answer.
Dani leaned to the side and peered over Cal’s shoulder. A small group of guests was gathered at the edge of a nearby field, packing backpacks and listening to Mac’s instructions for the impending hike.
Mac gestured toward Tim, who stepped forward and took over speaking to the group, then knelt beside his daughters. He tugged something from his back pocket, pulled one twin close and started brushing her hair.
Judging from the girl’s muddy jeans and unhappy expression, Dani guessed it was Nadine. She craned her neck for a clearer view and smiled, the sight of Mac’s big hands moving gently over the girl’s long hair stirring warm flutters in her belly and an ache in her chest.
When she’d concocted this plan to gain access to Mac, she’d expected to meet a ruthless man holding out for top dollar in a deal. Not a grieving father who loved his children and was clearly in over his head.
And she’d lied to him.
That ache in her chest tightened and a bead of sweat trickled across her temple. It didn’t matter if she’d never intentionally deceived someone before. She’d done it today.
“...heard a word I just said?”
Dani snapped back to attention, her gaze jerking from Mac to Cal’s disgruntled face. “What?”
Cal rolled his eyes. “Whatever you missed, girlie, I ain’t got time to explain it again. And if you were a man, I wouldn’t have to explain it at all.” He tossed the ax in the dirt at her feet then ambled off, saying over his shoulder, “Just split those piles of wood and stack them. You got one hour.”
Dani frowned. Jaxon was right. Butthead fit the bill perfectly.
She stared at the high pile of thick logs and shook her head. Female pride or not, if she had any sense, she’d grab her tattered bag, hop in that pathetic car and burn rubber back to New York.
Her shoulders sagged. But that would mean standing in the boardroom and facing a roomful of male executives—including her father. And what would she say? Sorry, Dad. I know I promised to make this deal but...
But what? She’d failed to deliver yet again? Prove that he’d been right all along and she wasn’t equipped to run the company? That she was just another spoiled, rich girl who couldn’t pull her own weight?
“Do you know what you’re doing?”
Dani looked over her shoulder. Jaxon straddled the top rung of the fence and stared intently at her. His green eyes held no mockery or disdain. Just a concerned, empathetic light. And the kind note in his small voice made her think he knew much more than foolish men like Cal gave him credit for.
“No,” she said. “I don’t.”
Jaxon glanced down and shrugged. “I could help you. I mean...if you wanted me to, I could.”
She smiled, her heart melting for this boy who’d lost so much, and whispered, “That’d be great. Thank you.”
He looked up, revealing a crooked grin.
Dani’s breath caught. The tilt of his mouth was so similar to his father’s brief smile earlier. The one that had lifted the sagging fatigue from Mac’s muscular frame and the heavy shadows from his handsome face. The one that had made it too difficult to come clean entirely and risk adding to the painful load he carried.
“Okay.” Jaxon straightened on the fence rung and gestured toward the stacks of wood. “First, you gotta pick out the best logs. My dad says the seasoned ones with the cracks in ’em are the easiest to break.”
Dani nodded then sifted through several logs before hefting one out of the pile and tilting it toward Jaxon. She drifted a finger along a deep crack in the wood. “Like this?”
“Yeah.” He pointed at a large stump on the ground. “Now, put it on that and hit it right on the split.”
She set the log on the stump, steadied it then grabbed the ax. “All right.” Taking a deep breath, she lifted the ax and started to swing. “Here we go.”
“Wait!”
Dani jumped and her hands slipped on the ax handle. The tool plunged to the ground, slicing into the dirt and lodging dangerously close to the toe of her sneaker.
“Sorry.” Jaxon winced. “But if you stand like that, you’re gonna chop your foot off.”
She raised an eyebrow, a humorless laugh bursting from her lips. “Sure looks that way.”
Jaxon hopped off the fence, tossed his baseball glove on the grass and walked over. “You gotta stand wide and bend your knees.” He tapped her insteps with his boot until her stance met his approval then squatted slightly and held his hands up as though gripping the ax. “Like this, see? One hand high and one hand low.”
Dani grinned, grabbed the ax and mimicked his posture. “This way?”
“Yep.” Jaxon smiled and tossed his brown hair out of his eyes. “Dad splits two piles every day and saves ’em up for the cabins during winter. He lets me help sometimes. He told me it ain’t about strength. It’s about finesse.”
Those warm flutters returned to her belly. She glanced across the field. Mac stood still, eyes fixed firmly on her and Jaxon, as his daughters chased each other by his side.
“You need gloves, you know?” Jaxon added. “And glasses. At least, that’s what my dad says. He doesn’t let me practice without ’em. Says it’s better to be safe than sorry. You could ask him.” Jaxon’s voice hardened. “But he’s probably too busy to get ’em for you.”
Mac lifted a hand to his forehead and squinted against the sun, his scrutiny more intense.
Cheeks heating, Dani tore her gaze away. “I’ll be careful.” She adjusted her grip on the ax and tipped her chin toward the fence. “Jaxon, could you please watch from over there? I’d feel better if you were out of the danger zone.”
He nodded, darted off then ducked between the fence rungs.
She eyed the thick log standing on the wide stump, steadied her stance and swung. The blade stabbed into the surface of the wood and stuck, the impact reverberating down her arms.
“Take it out and hit it again.” Jaxon climbed on to the fence.
Dani smiled, pried the ax from the log then struck it harder. The blade landed perfectly, a heavy thud echoing across the valley, but the log didn’t split.
Her back and shoulders were another matter. Every muscle in her upper body stretched with strain, screaming that she’d pay for this later.
Jaxon smacked the fence rung with his palms. “You got perfect aim. Better than Mr. Cal.”
Dani laughed, the excitement on his face easing the painful throb in her arms. “Really? You’re not just trying to make me feel better, are you?”
“Heck