"Of course I do, love, but give me a minute. Don't want to get sidetracked and burn the breakfast. I want to hear all of it."
Tilly placed a platter of eggs and a coffee in front of Kate and sat down opposite her. "Okay, give me all the details."
Kate took a sip of the coffee and smiled. "He's a great cook."
"And?"
"He's a great lover."
"Aw, Katie girl, you didn't," Tilly said, a look of sadness creeping into her eyes.
"Geez, come on. I'm twenty-two years old. Why wouldn't I sleep with him?" Kate attacked her breakfast, glaring at Tilly from under her lashes.
"I suppose I was hoping that you would save yourself for a serious relationship." Tilly wrapped her hands tightly around her mug.
"Look, Tilly," Kate started, putting down her knife and fork. She softened her voice as the lie formed in her mind, pushing back the disappointment that welled inside her. "I know what I'm doing, okay? I like him a lot, and he's a really cute guy and all. I mean, I've been holding out for years, and it just felt right, so I did it. It's not the end of the world, you know."
"I really don't understand you young people and your attitude toward sex, Katie. I know you're old enough to make up your own mind and I can't stop you, but I don't want you to get hurt. I don't know that he is really your type."
"I know that. I don't care. I'm going to make the most of this, and if it goes somewhere, great. If it doesn't, I'll at least have had a relationship. The last thing I want to do is die a bloody virgin."
"Don't let him hurt you, Katie girl," Tilly whispered, sadness etched into the lines on her face.
"Not going to happen." Kate pushed her plate away and stood up, then grabbed her hat from the back door. She pushed it onto her head with a shaky hand. Dropping a kiss on Tilly's, head Kate walked out the door, her back straight.
She took the saddle from the barn and tacked up her horse. Kate called out to the farmhands as they sauntered toward her, leading their own mounts.
"How far did you get with the fence repairs yesterday?"
"Scott and I did all the way to the dam," Roley replied, twisting a blade of grass between tobacco-stained teeth. "We were going to go the other side today and work our way back."
Kate nodded at them as she checked the stirrup straps. She mounted her mare, slinging her long legs over the saddle before hooking her boots into the stirrups. With a deep breath to steady her roiling nerves, she issued instructions for the day's work. It wasn't until the guys rode through the first gate that her shoulders dropped with relief and she managed to act normal. She wanted to do the run to the dam today, if only to convince herself that what she gave away last night was worth it.
Her skin burned as she remembered how brazen she had been last night when she let Magnus lead her to his bed. If he hadn't made the move, I would have done so myself. Waiting to give my body to someone is overrated in my mind. I wanted to experience sex firsthand, and it was a bonus to do it with Magnus. At least that was what she was trying to tell herself.
Kate gave a soft nudge with her knee to the horse's withers and leaned forward as the mare started a slow lope toward the dam paddock and a hard day's work. The smell of the rich green grass wafted on the cool breeze as Kate scanned the horizon. Fat cattle grazed in slow methodical movements while calves lay quiet and partially hidden close by. The sauntering rhythm of the horse under her soothed her nerves, letting her mind come back to the task at hand.
Last night had been all about the farm—keeping it for herself and those that depended upon her. The feelings running through her body were collateral damage and would remain so because she was sure that Magnus wouldn't want to make it anything more than an affair that benefited him. Why would he? He could have anyone he wanted in his bed. He wouldn't waste his time on a small-time farmer that had neither the airs and graces nor the money that he had. Suck it up, Katie girl. Enjoy his body while you can and move on.
She sat up straighter in her saddle with a huff of displeasure. Arguing with herself was always a risky deal because she rarely came out on top. Her analytical/invisible friend could wrap her up in facts and figures even she had trouble trying to understand. It was her cleverer self that ruled her life more often than not. Her invisible friend—the friend she'd had since she was a little girl with few children her age to play with—still now kept her company when she needed her most.
Listening to her other half, she agreed to stop the useless daydream playing through her head and concentrate on matters closer to home, the farm. Running her practiced eyes over the fence line as she rode, Kate acknowledged that the boys knew what they were doing and hurried her pace to the dam paddock.
She leaned down over her horse's withers and lifted the latch on the gate. Pushing it with her foot, she nudged her mount through. Turning back she locked it behind her. Her gaze scanning the paddock, she saw the marker the boys had left yesterday and trotted toward it.
For the next couple of hours, Kate worked methodically on the fence fixing breaks and stringing sagging wires, promising herself a rest when she got to the rise that swept down to the dam and the clean, cool water for her and her horse.
The muted sound of banging metal and machinery reached her ears before she crested the hill. Taking
