Page 27 of Boston (Coral Canyon: Cowboys #12)

He nodded and then patted his back pockets for his wallet.

He didn’t have it, and he turned and opened the drawer on the end of the countertop before he went into the mud room.

He plucked his wallet out of the drawer there, which also held other keys, Chapsticks, loose change, and one weird contraption that would turn on the gas in the fireplace.

“All right, I’ll see you guys later,” he said, and he waved to the little kids before he walked out.

His truck was parked down in the third bay of the garage, and the main two-car door started to rise as he jogged down the steps. He hurried out of the way so Daddy could park his enormous truck inside, and then he waited for his father to get out.

“You’re leaving early,” Daddy said.

“Don’t sound so surprised.” Cole grinned at him. “It’s a long drive, and I figured it’d be better to be early and park down the road than stressed if there’s an accident, or somehow traffic in this small town, or I miss a turn.”

“You’re not going to miss a turn,” Daddy said. “It’s right up there past Bryce’s.”

It was at least twenty minutes past Bryce’s, but Cole, once again, didn’t say anything. He moved over to his father and hugged him.

“I’m sorry I don’t have a job yet, Daddy.”

“Oh, it’s all right.” His father held him tight, cupping one hand on the back of Cole’s head. They stood almost at the same height now, though his father still had about three inches on him.

“If I don’t get this, I’m just gonna go work at that doughnut shop.”

“You’ll hate that.” Daddy grinned like he’d really like to see it. “Can you imagine getting up at three-thirty?” He tipped his head back and laughed.

Cole did not join him, because no, getting up at three-thirty sounded like torture.

He stepped back, grinned at his father, and then got behind the wheel of his own truck.

His daddy had bought it used for him, and Cole paid him one hundred dollars every month and put his own gas in it.

His parents paid for insurance as well, and Cole added that to his list of blessings as he hit the road, drove down out of the canyon, and then started up the Apple Highway toward Dog Valley.

He’d driven this road lots of times to get to Bryce’s and now Uncle Luke’s and Uncle Gabe’s and Uncle Morris’s. He had to go all the way through Dog Valley and then take an obscure left onto a dirt road that wound through towering pine trees.

“Four-point-seven miles,” he muttered to himself, as those were the directions that Rachel had given him.

His interview had been scheduled for nine-thirty, and Cole arrived at nine-fifteen.

The road rounded a corner and the farm opened up right in front of him.

He brought his truck to an abrupt halt, immediately wanting to throw it in reverse and get out of there, but his eyes saw the security cameras everywhere, and even if he turned around and left, Rachel would know he’d been there early.

“It’s not embarrassing to be early , ” he muttered to himself, though for someone of his generation, it certainly was.

She’d told him to bear to the right and go past the barn that first greeted him when he arrived at Whispering Pines. A huge sign had been affixed to the top half of the two-story barn boasting the name of the farm, with cut-out pine trees in wood that had been stained darker than the background.

Cole inched forward again, and he found the big, beautiful farmhouse on the left, just as Rachel said it would be.

The road continued past the barn, where he saw some walking circles and a row of stables on the left, and a huge pasture on the right filled with cattle.

Rachel had told him that their administration building was down at the end of the lane and that she would be waiting for him there, and then she’d get him where he needed to go for the interview.

He wasn’t sure if it was going to be with her or one of her brothers, or someone else entirely, and a fresh round of anxiety struck through his stomach.

Cole completed the drive by pulling into one of only five spaces in front of the long rectangular administration building.

He peered at it, finding another sign that said Whispering Pines and right below it in much smaller letters, Home Office .

He’d encountered no traffic, no accidents, and no missed turns, but he didn’t get out of the driver’s seat immediately.

He was eighteen and had a phone, which meant he could entertain himself for hours.

He’d just picked up his device when the door to the home office opened and a woman came outside.

Cole pulled in a breath, beyond relieved that about twenty-five feet and a thick pane of glass separated him from her, so that she couldn’t hear it, for she was the most beautiful woman Cole had ever laid eyes on.

She had long hair the color of ripe wheat, and it hung halfway down her back.

She wore a pair of jeans that went all the way to her ankles, where the tips of red cowgirl boots poked out.

She wore a halter top with thick straps over her shoulders and a couple of inches of her midriff showing.

A horse ran wild across the white front of the shirt, and as he watched, she reached up and settled a dark brown cowgirl hat on her head.

Oh, Cole liked the sight of her, and when she met his eyes and smiled, he couldn’t get his seat belt off fast enough. So focused on her had he become that he even left his phone behind, and he cringed at the loud slamming of his door before stepping up onto the sidewalk.

“Howdy,” he said.

“You must be Cole,” she said. “I’m Rachel.”

He strode down the walk to get to her and extended his hand. She put hers in it and shook, and it felt like the entire earth was quaking.

“I don’t know if we can hire you,” she said, and he thought he detected a note of teasing in her tone. Still, his stomach sank all the way to the soles of his boots.

“Oh, that’s too bad. Why not?”

“See, my brother’s name is Cole, and I’m gonna have to call you ‘the other Cole’ if you get hired. And I don’t know if I can do that.” She grinned at him, and Cole laughed.

“I thought your brother was away at the rodeo.”

“Oh, he is,” Rachel said. “But he lives here in the winter, and he is a real wolverine. He is not gonna like having another Cole here.”

“I can go by something else,” Cole said. “Heck, my daddy has all kinds of names for me.”

Rachel laughed, and when her eyes came back to his, she sure seemed to be sizing him up. Several long seconds of silence started to turn tense and awkward, and then she said, “I like you already.”

She turned and headed for the door. “Come on. I want to talk inside, and then I’ll show you around.”

“Show me around?” Cole repeated, not sure why those words had come out of his mouth when hardly any others would.

She turned back to him, her hand on the door.

“Yeah, here’s the thing, Other Cole. My stable manager quit on Thursday, and I am in desperate need of help.

Two of my brothers are gone on the rodeo circuit, and Harry is pretty useless with equines.

That leaves me. And I don’t know what you saw when you drove down that road, but I can’t run this place by myself. ”

“No, ma’am,” he said, and her eyebrows went up. “I mean, I’m sure you could, but you shouldn’t have to.”

She grinned at him again. “So come on, let’s talk about the job, because it’s yours if you want it, and then I’ll show you around and you can get started.”

“Oh, I’m gonna start today?” he said.

“You got something better to do, cowboy?” she asked.

Cole chuckled and shook his head. Then he darted forward to open the door for her, and he gestured for her to go in first. “After you, ma’am.”

As she stepped past him, she said, “Yep, I like this one.”

Cole really liked her too, and his thoughts flew to whether Whispering Pines had a dating policy among co-workers and colleagues—really a cowboy and his gorgeous, witty boss—or not.