SUSAN MEIER - Maid in Montana

As Slim said that, Sophie came around the corner of the barn. “Hey!”

“Hey!” Slim called, waving to her. “How’s Brady?”

Jeb glanced over at him. He knew the kid’s name?

“He’s fine. We’re both great.” She turned and displayed a backpack-like baby carrier in which Brady sat, chewing on a thick plastic ring. “We’re going for a walk.”

Slim nodded and smiled and Jeb took advantage of everybody’s preoccupation with chitchat to peek at the length of leg exposed beneath her jean shorts. Today her thick hair was caught up in a bouncy ponytail and she wore a fancy top with seashells or something dangling from the U-shaped neckline, but as always Jeb’s attention was caught by her legs. They were perfect.

“Oh, don’t mind him. I don’t know where the hell his mind’s been all morning.” Slim poked him in the arm. “Are you in there, Jeb?”

Jeb’s heart froze in his chest. He hoped to hell they simply thought he’d been woolgathering and no one had caught him staring at Sophie’s legs, but one look at Slim’s sly expression and he knew his foreman had caught every second of it.

Shading her eyes from the sun with her right hand, Sophie smiled up at him as Jezebel began to do a two-step, once again picking up on his nervousness around his housekeeper and her baby.

“I asked if you minded if Brady and I explore.”

“No. I don’t mind if you take a walk.” He tugged on his horse’s reins, directing Jezebel toward the barn. “But you’re not familiar enough with the ranch to explore. Stay on the dirt roads.”

Sophie nodded and walked off. Jeb watched Slim’s gaze follow her, before he yanked on the stallion’s reins and turned him in the direction to catch up with Jeb. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

“Probably for the sins you’ve committed,” Jeb agreed.

“You like her.”

Jeb stopped his horse. “No. I just think she’s got great legs.”

“And a pretty face and a sweet personality—”

“And a baby.”

Slim laughed. “You can fool most people with that gruff voice and apparent hatred of kids, but you forget I know things about you that most people don’t know.”

Jeb headed for the barn again. “Whatever.”

Slim laughed again. “Don’t whatever me. Especially when I think it’s a damned good sign that you like this girl.”

“Right. And you think the fact that she has a baby makes her perfect for me.”

Slim grinned. “And from the fact that you brought it up first, I’m guessing you’ve already thought of it, too.”

He hadn’t. Not until that very second. But as Slim pointed out it was a “sign” of sorts that the thought had even popped into his head. But where Slim saw it as a good sign, Jeb only felt stupid. Desperate. He hated both.

He looked Slim in the eye. “I keep you around because you’re good at your job. But even you don’t get to poke into my personal life. Let this alone or Sophie won’t be the only one going in three weeks.”

With the dusting and window washing done and nothing else to do, Sophie cleaned the kitchen after lunch the next day.

“What are we going to do once this kitchen is cleaned, Brady?” she asked the baby who sat in the high chair, chewing a teething ring, watching his mom with his big blue eyes. “The man doesn’t even have furniture in most of the rooms. Once I dusted the woodwork and windowsills and ran a dry mop over the hardwood floors, I was done.

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