“No wonder I didn’t see him last night,” Marissa said.
“Yeah, I figured he was over here when I didn’t seem him at Chase’s place,” Trace agreed. “Since little Megan arrived, he’d rather be at the big ranch house.”
Marissa laughed. “Who wouldn’t?”
“You ready Trace?” Jackson asked looking between the cowboy and the schoolteacher.
“Sure,” Trace said grabbing his plate and setting it on a table by the back door. “Just let me know when you want the cart, and I’ll get it ready for you,” he added to Marissa pushing his hat down with two fingers as he turned following Jackson to the ramp on the front porch.
Marissa shook her head. The men around this place seemed to be all kinds of backward. They were polite, hard-working, and, well, nice.
Giving her full attention to Kadence, she helped him finish his breakfast and handed him the sippy cup full of milk.
“You want to go for a ride?” she asked pulling a wipe from the bag she had brought before cleaning his face and hands.
“Horsey,” Kadence said, making her smile, “Horsey!” he finished enthusiastically.
After returning to the house to bath Kadence and wash away all traces of his sticky breakfast, Marissa turned back toward the barn, stopping to let Kadence stroke the nose of any horse that stuck its head over the fence.
The little boy was surprisingly gentle and completely unafraid of the big animals. Growing up on a ranch would do that she supposed, but she still watched him closely. She wasn’t about to have her favorite, and only nephew, get stepped on during her watch.
“You made it,” Trace said stepping out of the big barn as he coiled a long rope. “You ready for the cart now?”
Marissa looked around her at the quiet yard. “You got all of the horses and guests ready and on the trail that fast?” she asked.
“I wasn’t on my own, getting Jackson set was probably the hardest, but Chase helped and once he was settled, he seemed comfortable.”
“What happened to him?” Marissa asked, realizing it was probably rude in the instant the words left her mouth.
“He got stepped on by a bull,” Trace said. “His back isn’t broken, but the injury is delicate at best. It’s what they call a compression injury. Still, he’s adjusting, and seems to be improving now that he and Josie are settled down.”
Marissa smiled. “I’ve seen Josie ride in the 4th of July Rodeo here on the ranch a couple of times. She’s Red Dixon’s granddaughter isn’t she?”
“Yes, Josie’s been everyone’s sweetheart since she was big enough to climb on a pony,” Trace replied with a grin. “Jackson realizes he is one lucky man.”
“Do you think I can handle the pony cart on my own?” Marissa said looking out over the corral of horses. “I’ve never actually driven it, and Michelle’s driving is enough to give you gray hair.”
Trace’s warm chuckle wrapped around Marissa like a handmade shawl making her shiver with the unfamiliar feelings.
“How about I drive you?” he asked raising his hand when she started to protest. “I’ll hitch my saddle horse to the back of the cart, and once you get to the print-shop, we can turn Dandy out in the corral there. Michelle can harness him when you’re ready to come back.”
“I don’t want to take you from your work,” Marissa said, emotions roiling through her as she thought about how she acted the last time the cowboy had taken her out for a ride.
“It’s my job to see that our guests, even family guests, are happy,” he grinned. “Besides it gets me away from some of the more annoying aspects of my job,” he finished nodding toward a gaggle of teenage girls headed toward the barn. “I’ll leave that lot to Red and Josie.”
Marissa felt Kadence tugging at her hand as he pulled her toward the barn and agreed with a nod of her head. “Sounds like a plan,” she finally allowed following Trace and Kadence into the dark barn toward the pony’s stall.
Chapter 8
“What are you doing tonight?” Trace asked as he helped Marissa into the small cart a few minutes later then handed Kadence to her.
“I don’t know. Hanging out with Michelle and Kade I suppose.”
“How about dinner?” Trace asked making his way around in front of the golden pony with the dark stripe down his back. Stopping, he scratched behind Dandy’s ears looking up at Marissa where she sat on the hard bench seat. There was something about the young woman that made him want to wrap her in cotton and tuck her away somewhere safe.
Even though he knew next to nothing about her, he could feel the turmoil in her and knew that the issue she was dealing with now would forever impact her life.
“Got anything in mind?” Marissa teased feeling somehow excited that the cowboy would want to ask her out. She was in no position to start any sort of relationship, but perhaps spending time with the cowboy this summer might give her back a little of the confidence she has lost when Ray had walked away.
“There’s a good steak house out by the road on the way to Tipton now,” Trace said making his way around to the driver’s bench and climbing aboard. “We could just get some food and hang out.”
Marissa smiled again. It would be nice to get off the ranch and see something new. With everything happening in her life, she hadn’t done anything but sleep and meander the property since she’d gotten there. And frankly, babysitting Megan for Phil and Chase didn’t seem like much of a night out.
“Alright,” she finally said as Trace shook out the reins, clicking to the pony and setting him toward the far end of the ranch at a trot.
Marissa wrapped an arm around Kadence, grabbing the seat with her free hand as the cart lurched, but even at the quick pace, the ride was nothing like what her sister
