The Cowboy's Homecoming. Carolyne Aarsen

Lee replied. “I can show you the original homestead. It was set closer to the road. Would you like to see it?”

      “Of course.”

      He lifted a dark eyebrow. “You going to be able to walk? It’s down the road a couple hundred feet.”

      “I’ll manage,” she said, because she had no other choice. Maddie had warned her that she would be doing a lot of traipsing around, possibly even riding. Her ankle didn’t hurt as much as yesterday, but she didn’t want the cut to open up again. The last thing she needed was another painfully awkward first-aid situation.

      “I have an idea of how to make this work. Just wait here,” he said, pointing to a wooden bench with pots of brightly colored flowers nestled up against it. “I’ll be right back.”

      She was about to tell him that it didn’t matter, but he was already jogging away from her. He ducked into a large building beside the hip-roof barn. A few moments later, a large overhead door rattled open and Lee came putt-putting out of the garage, driving an all-terrain vehicle.

      She had to chuckle at the sight of this large, strapping cowboy operating what her brother always referred to as a quad. It didn’t look right. Nevertheless, he drove the vehicle up to her and, leaving it running, climbed off.

      “Not going to lie, I’m a little disillusioned,” she said. “I figured a cowboy like you wouldn’t go anywhere on the ranch but astride a horse.”

      “Quicker to start a quad than head out into the horse pasture to get a horse for such a short trip,” he returned, not even cracking a smile. “I’ll help you on.”

      He held out his hand, but she ignored him.

      “I think I can manage,” she said. She had been on many modes of transportation in her travels, but this would be her first quad ride. The seat looked large enough for the two of them, but she guessed it would mean sitting astride, right behind Lee.

      Deal with that later, she thought, trying to figure out how she was going to get on the thing with her injured ankle.

      Slow it down and break it down, she told herself. She’d made a fool of herself plenty already in front of Lee because of her tendency toward impulsive behavior. No sense in carrying on the tradition.

      First she shrugged off her backpack and set that in the box fixed to a rack across the back of the quad. Then, putting her weight on her good foot and using her crutch for balance, she managed to get her bandaged foot up and over the seat. She shifted her weight, pulled up her crutch and...voilà! She was on.

      With no falling whatsoever. Always a good thing.

      Lee dropped onto the seat, hit a button on the handlebar and the quad lurched ahead. She caught herself in time, but her grip on the seat was precarious.

      “The field’s a bit rough, so brace yourself,” he cautioned as he flicked the quad into the next gear up.

      Rough was an understatement, Abby thought as the quad jostled and bounced over ruts in the field that she suspected were from a tractor. But the worst part of all was that every rut they hit made the quad bounce, had her bumping up against Lee.

      She wondered if he had done this on purpose, but when she saw him move forward on the seat, as if to avoid her, she guessed this was a decision he regretted, as well. A few more bounces later, he stopped and turned the quad off.

      He quickly dismounted but stayed beside the vehicle while she got off. Then he grabbed her crutch and handed it to her, and while she fitted it under her arm, she forgot her earlier reminder to take her time and she stumbled. He caught her, steadying her, his hand warm on her upper arm.

      Abby jerked back, but she almost lost her balance again. This time Lee caught her with both hands.

      They stood that way a moment, Abby wishing, praying, she could stop the blush that she knew made her cheeks flame.

      “Please let me go,” she whispered.

      “I will if you promise not to act so jittery. You’re going to fall again.”

      “I’m not jittery,” she retorted, tossing her hair back and lifting her chin as if to face him down.

      His dark eyes held hers, his expression serious.

      “I think you are,” he said quietly.

      Abby suddenly found herself unable to speak as their gazes locked. The faintest whisper of a breeze rose, cooling her heated cheeks, toying with her hair.

      Lee finally released her, then heaved out a sigh. “Look, I know things are weird between us. I get it. But right now I have to help you with this story. I don’t like the idea either, but we gotta find a way to work together without being uncomfortable. Put what happened behind us and move on.”

      Annoyance flickered through her at the seeming control he had of his emotions. Behind that came anger. As if he could simply put behind them what had happened. He was talking about more than something as innocuous as hurt feelings. But on the one hand he was right. Better to address the unpleasantness and get it out of the way than dance around it.

      “I’m sure we can do that,” she conceded.

      He gave her a quick nod of acknowledgment, but when he turned away from her to retrieve her backpack, she also knew her feelings toward Lee wouldn’t disappear simply because she wished they would.

      They were too complex and too deeply ingrained.

      She just hoped she could maintain a semblance of civility with him and not let old memories of her silly schoolgirl crush supersede the reality of what he had done to her family.