Chapter One
“Hi, I’m Jake Garnier, the new owner of Hickory Hills.”
From the corner of her eye, Heather McGwire saw the man stick out his hand in greeting, but she chose to ignore the gesture. She knew who he was and she’d just as soon have a snake crawl up beside her. Jake Garnier was the last person she wanted or needed to have to deal with this close to the big race. But now that he was the new owner of the thoroughbred farm she managed, there was no way of getting around it. She either had to get used to working for him or stick it out until after Stormy Dancer won the Southern Oaks Cup Classic, then look for employment elsewhere.
Besides, after what they’d shared, she took exception to the fact that he didn’t even have the decency to remember her. The thought hurt more than she would have imagined or was comfortable with.
When she remained silent, he stared at her a moment as if trying to place her. “Heather?”
His smooth baritone caused her nerves to tingle and her heart to speed up, reminding her that a little over a year ago all it had taken was the rich sound of that voice to make her lose every ounce of sense she ever possessed. Now it only made her want to smack him for being the biggest jerk to ever draw a breath.
“Jake.” She barely managed a short nod of acknowledgement.
Standing with her forearms resting on the white board rail surrounding the practice track, she concentrated on the stopwatch in her hand as Dancer passed the quarter-mile post and headed down the backstretch. The top contender for the prestigious Southern Oaks Cup Classic, the thoroughbred was on pace to break his own record.
“Come on, Dancer. You can do it.” She glanced from the watch to the horse. “Just keep it up.”
“I remember you mentioning that you worked at a thoroughbred farm, but I wasn’t aware that it was Hickory Hills,” he said, sounding a lot happier to see her than she was to be seeing him.
“For the record, I’m the manager here.” As Dancer headed for the home stretch, she added, “The name of the farm and where it was located never came up. Besides, you weren’t that interested in hearing personal details, were you?” She glanced his way, and it was apparent her hostility didn’t set well with him.
“Heather, I don’t know what you think I’ve done, but—”
“It doesn’t matter now,” she interrupted. She didn’t care to be reminded of how foolish she’d been.
He was silent for a moment. “At the risk of pissing you off further, how have you been?” he asked tightly.
Like you really want to know. If you had, you wouldn’t have refused to take my phone calls.
She shrugged. “I’ve been all right.” She didn’t bothering asking how he’d been because she had a fair idea of what he’d been doing since they parted ways and didn’t particularly care to hear the specifics.
“Is that our contender for the big race?” he asked, pointing toward Dancer.
Doing her best to ignore the man beside her, she urged the jockey, “Let him have his head, Miguel. Turn him loose.” She glanced at the silver stopwatch again, and clicked the button on the side as the big bay sprinted past them. “Fantastic.”
“I take it that was a good run?”
When Jake leaned close to see the time, his arm brushed hers and a tiny jolt of electricity shot straight through her. “It was excellent,” she said, gritting her teeth and backing away. Turning to make her escape, she added, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.” She barely suppressed the urge to run when he fell into step beside her.
“I’d like for you to give me a tour of the farm if you have the time.”
“I’m sure you need to unpack first,” she said. Thanks to the mansion’s housekeeper, Clara Buchanan, Heather had received a phone call the moment he passed through the security gates at the end of the half-mile-long driveway leading up to the mansion.
She desperately tried not to notice how his outstretched arms caused his snug hunter green T-shirt to outline the muscles of his broad chest and emphasize his well-developed biceps when he stretched. “I’ve been cooped up in the car for the past four days on the drive from Los Angeles and it feels good to be out in the fresh air again.”
“Mornings around here are pretty busy—we have our daily workouts and grooming,” she hedged.
When they reached the stables, she grabbed a lead rope by one of the stalls, slid the half-door back, then eased inside to attach it to Silver Bullet’s halter in an effort to escape Jake’s disturbing presence.
“All right,” he said, stepping back as she led the big dappled gray gelding out of the stall and down to the tack room. “This afternoon will be soon enough.”
She shook her head as she tied the rope to an eye hook by the tack room door, attached another rope to the halter, then tied it to another hook on the opposite wall of the wide stable aisle. “That won’t work. My schedule is pretty full today and to tell you the truth, tomorrow isn’t looking all that good.”
“Clear it for this afternoon.” Jake’s no-nonsense tone indicated that he was quickly running out of patience.
For the first time since he walked up beside her at the practice track, Heather met his irritated blue gaze full-on with a heated one of her own. “Will there be anything else, Mr. Garnier?”
Scowling, he stared at her for several long moments before he finally shook his head. “I’ll be back after lunch.” Turning to leave, he added, “And you might as well plan on working late this evening. After you show me around, I intend to meet with the other employees, then I want to go over the accounting records.”
As she watched him walk away, a nudge against her leg had her glancing down at the big Bernese mountain dog that had sidled up beside her. “You could really use some work on your guard dog skills, Nemo. Instead of taking a nap in my office, you’re supposed to keep varmints like him away.”
The dog didn’t act the least bit repentant when he looked up at her adoringly and wagged his thick black tail.
Returning her attention to the matter at hand, she released a frustrated breath as she picked up a brush and began grooming the gray. She had no idea how he’d managed to get his hands on Hickory Hills, but she’d told herself when she learned Jake was the new owner that she’d be able to handle seeing him again. That she could keep what happened between them all those months ago separate from their working relationship.