“Let me ask you a question,” she said, crossing her arms and cocking her hip to the side. Her tank top bunched up at the front, her shapeless jeans stiff against the movement.

Her friend Bea often gave her grief for buying unisex clothing at a farm supply store. But Jamie found that it was serviceable enough. Except for some reason, standing there in front of Gabe, it all felt a little bit ill fitting.

“Why do you want to do this? Why do you want to work with horses like this? I mean, obviously you can ride.”

I guess. For eight seconds at a time. If you’re lucky.

“I think you and I both know luck is part of it.” His words so unerringly mirrored her thoughts for a moment she was afraid she’d said it all out loud. “But since you asked, I am a damn good rider, thank you very much.”

“A certain kind of riding,” she said. “This is different. I have a lot of experience with training horses who are older, and who need to be made into safe mounts. A lot of it isn’t training so much as an evaluation. You have to know who has the temperament. And they all won’t. Some horses are just a lot more hot-blooded than others. A lot more skittish. Now, there are still things we can do with them...”

“You’re right, Jamie. I don’t have experience with that. But it could be argued that there is some intelligence in knowing that, and in the hiring of you.”

“Well,” she said, approaching the big horse, Gus, that Gabe had been on. “I think that Gus has a pretty good chance at being made into the perfect horse for someone older. Kids could ride him, I guess, but he’s big, and that will be difficult for them, and I imagine parents will be naturally leery of a horse his size. He is skittish, but I think that’s circumstantial, more than his temperament. The fact that he has a soft mouth means that he is responsive. And that will also be good for an older, less experienced rider. Actually, when we’re through training Gus, I think that we could use him at Get Out of Dodge.”

“Is that so?” He was like a wall. Totally unimpressed with her. And also totally not intimidated by her.

She didn’t know what to do with that.

“Yes. We get a lot of people coming to the ranch who don’t necessarily have experience with horses, but want to learn. A lot of people later in life who’ve never been on one.”

“It must be an interesting job that you have over there.”

She blinked, unsure of what to do with the way he’d taken the conversation and turned it to her. He sounded sincere—that was the weird part. Not like he was mocking her, and all things considered, she’d have expected mockery.

That was how her brothers would have behaved.

But not Gabe, apparently.