Page 54 of Wrangled

“Don’t rightly know. They were already at it when I got here. I suppose some of the others might know, but… you see, the thing is, we don’t exactly discuss it. It’s like the worst-kept secret on this ranch.”

“So everyone knows, but no one talks about it?”

“You got it.”

It explained Robert’s manner when he found me at the cabin. It also explained the cabin’s dilapidated state.

He leaves it alone because it has too many memories.

Then a thought struck me. “Why are you telling me all this? Doesn’t sound like the kind of thing you’d blab about with the guests.”

He opened his eyes wide. “We don’t tell the guests a goddamn thing.”

“But hereyouare, telling me…”

Zeeb studied me for a moment. “You’re… different.”

“How? What makes me different? Is it because you knowI’mgay?”

“That’s part of it, but…I’ve never met a guest who elicited the same kind of response from the boss thatyougot… And then I saw you had the same reaction to him.”

Robert reacted to me?

“You don’t think you’re imagining things?”

“Nope, I don’t think so.” Zeeb counted off on his fingers. “He never interacts with the guests. He doesn’t just stroll into the stables when a guest is mucking them out, and strike up a conversation. He never goes on a trail with any of them. And as for offering the use of his bathroom? Woo boy. That’s something Ineverthought I’d see in my lifetime.” He locked gazes with me. “And thenyouarrived.”

“Hey, Garrett got to use a bathroom too, remember. Does he have a thing for Garrett as well?”

Zeeb snorted. “That was all Butch’s doing. Andyoumight not have seen the boss’s face when Butch suggested it, butIsure did. He looked as if someone had pissed on his fire and put it out. Now, maybe he just wants the company of a good-looking dude—and don’t deny it. I know a good-looking dude when I see one. But then again, maybe he wants more than that.”

I was torn between dismissing it all as Zeeb’s flight of fancy—and wanting it to be true.

I arched my eyebrows. “You like to speak your mind, don’t you? Tell me again why I need to know all this.”

“Look… I’ve got this idea, okay? The boss has an itch that needs scratching—and the scratcher just walked onto the ranch.”

“And what makes you think I’d be interested in scratching his itch?”

Becausedamn, he’d got me thinking about it.

Zeeb’s eyebrows shot up. “Do Ireallylook that stupid to you?” He lowered his voice. “He’s been alone since Kevin died. For some reason he feels guilty about Kevin’s death, though I don’t see why. And I’m telling you all this because I’ll swear there’s been no one in his bed since Kevin passed. We’d know. Hell, we get to knoweverything.”

“Let me get this straight. You want me to make a move on your boss?”

“At least make him an offer. See what he does.” Zeeb’s face tightened. “We want him to be happy again.”

“Kevin made him happy?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe. But his death seems to have sucked the life right outta him.” Zeeb gave me a thoughtful glance. “Maybe getting you between the sheets is the first step to him getting his life back.”

I gaped at him. “Dude, I’ve been hereone day. You don’t think this is all a little fast?”

“You’re here for two weeks. Make him live again for those two weeks. That’s all I ask.” He cocked his head toward the bunkhouse. “They don’t need to know. And if they do find out, they won’t say a goddamn word, at least, not to Declan and Garrett.”

I didn’t know what to say.

Zeeb was studying me again. “I didn’t imagine it, did I? You like him?”