Nick followed her gaze. He was good at sizing up people and the man with the goats didn’t tick any of his worry boxes. In fact, he was more amused than anything when a huge black dog came barreling out of the barn and tearing after the goats.
“Jinx, no!” The man swiveled with the hose, hitting one of the horses with the water in the process and causing it to neigh and stomp a hoof.
Sensing trouble, Nick hopped over the fence without thinking and immediately snagged the dog by the collar when it circled around for another run at one of the goats.
“Thank you.” The man exhaled heavily when he realized Nick had wrangled the dog into submission ... or at least stopped him from causing a stampede. “He’s a bit ... much.”
“No problem.” Nick’s smile was warm. “Um ... Nick Winters.” He held out his free hand by way of greeting.
“Tyler James.” The animal wrangler was rueful as he accepted the handshake. “I would say it’s not usually this hectic, but that would be an outright lie. Jinx has a special way of getting the other animals riled up.”
Nick smiled as he stroked the dog’s soft — and wet — head. “Did he get the hose, too?”
“He’s the reason the goats found the mud.” Tyler’s smile slipped as he glared at the happy dog. “Do you think you’re funny? I’m going to start making you stay in the saloon with your mother if you’re not careful.”
“You have more than one dog?” Maddie asked, slipping between the fence railings. Her serious gaze was on the dog and Nick, although her smile was so ridiculously serene that she could be mistaken for an angel by almost anyone.
“What?” Tyler slid his eyes to Maddie. Nick expected him to make a comment on how pretty she was — it slipped out of even the coolest customer’s mouth — but instead the smile Tyler greeted her with was friendly without being flirty.
“You said his mother was in the saloon,” Maddie noted, dropping to her knees so she could rub her hands over the dog’s soft fur. “Do you have a whole pack of dogs that live out here?”
“Oh.” Tyler chuckled as he shook his head. “No, his human mother. Jinx hasn’t been with us all that long. Casper Creek used to be owned by a woman named Abigail, but she died several months ago.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry.” Maddie meant it. “That must’ve been hard on you.”
“It was. Abigail was like a grandmother to me. She left the property to her biological granddaughter, though, and that’s how Hannah came into our lives. Jinx belongs to her. Since he’s a big dog with a lot of energy, though, we don’t want him cooped up in the saloon half the day. We like him to run around the paddock and tire himself out.”
“Ah.” Maddie smiled at the dog as he panted and eyed one of the goats out of the corner of his eye. She could tell by the way he stiffened that he was about to make his move. “And how does he feel about the goats?”
“It’s a love-hate relationship,” Tyler replied. “He loves the goats and they hate him. Then they love him and he hates them. Everything is circular in this business.”
“I can see that.” Maddie surreptitiously wiped her wet hands on the seat of her pants as she stood. “This is a really neat place. My husband and I are here for the psychic thing and thought we would look around a bit. We’re curious why someone would pick a mountain in Kentucky for ... well ... all of this.”
Tyler chuckled as he turned the hose on a nearby goat. “Go ahead, Pat. Give me that look. You’re going to be clean before this is all said and done ... whether you like it or not.” His smile was still in place when he turned back to Maddie. “I don’t know who ultimately decided this was the place for a town of this nature. I’m just glad someone had the forethought to do it. I think of this place as my home, and it may be wacky ... and wild ... and a little weird sometimes, but it’s still home.”
“That’s how we feel about our home,” Nick offered, sliding his arm around Maddie’s shoulders.
“And where is that?”
“Um, Blackstone Bay. It’s a small town in Northern Lower Michigan.”
“It sounds fun.”
“We like it.”
At that moment, another man appeared on the east side of the fence. His hair was dark and he sounded as if he was talking to himself — and rather viciously — as he slid between the railings and landed in the paddock. “Women are stupid,” he announced out of nowhere.
Amused despite herself, Maddie pressed her lips together and managed to remain silent. Nick didn’t react at all. Tyler, however, shot her an apologetic look and then cleared his throat to get the other man’s attention.
“Cooper, we have guests.”
As if realizing for the first time that might be a possibility, Cooper jerked up his head ... and widened his eyes as he took in Maddie and Nick. “Oh, geez.” He felt like an idiot. He was always conscientious when dealing with guests. He couldn’t believe he’d made this particular mistake. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Maddie reassured him quickly. “I think men are stupid a lot of the time. No harm, no foul.”
“Men are stupid,” Tyler agreed, his eyes lighting with wicked amusement as he regarded
