“Gladly.” She stuck her left foot in the stirrup and swung herself up onto the back of Gus. “Watch and learn, Gabe Dalton. Watch and learn.”

CHAPTER TWO

GABE COULD ONLY marvel at the way the little brunette handled every animal she came into contact with that day. He supposed he could marvel at the way she talked to him, but that was something else. Jamie Dodge didn’t seem to have much in the way of fear. Or common sense, though she didn’t seem to know it.

He’d never met such a hardheaded female in all of his life. And that was saying something.

His own mother had smashed in the headlights on his father’s truck with a baseball bat back when he’d been a kid. At another stage, she had lit a different truck on fire. Literally.

And he respected the hell out of that. She was a tough woman who didn’t take any shit, and while she’d been more than willing to seek redneck justice when necessary, Gabe felt protective of her.

Just because she could handle herself didn’t mean someone shouldn’t try to protect her, too.

High-spirited women—or rather, just women with a strong sense of fairness—had been a fixture in his life since he was a boy.

Jamie was something else entirely. If little girls were supposed to be made out of sugar, spice and everything nice, he imagined that Jamie was made out of star thistles, grit and the total willingness to skin a man alive if it came down to it.

She was also absolutely the best he’d ever seen when it came to dealing with a variety of temperaments in horses.

There was something about the way she connected with the animals that reminded him of a piece of himself he’d lost years ago.

But she could obviously use a lesson on dealing with people. He could go toe to toe with her, show her who was boss in that most basic of fashions. Berate her until she saw things his way, and until she internalized the fact that he was the one who was in charge here.

He watched men do that kind of thing all the time. Try to use their size, their power, to force other people to respect them, which Gabe had always thought was a weak move. Only men who were afraid they might not have any power had to act that way. At least, that was his take on it.

That was what men did when they were secretly concerned their power didn’t have any teeth. And Gabe didn’t carry that fear about himself, in secret or in public.

But he imagined that most men—most people—who went toe to toe with Jamie Dodge gave as good as they got.

Men didn’t like being challenged, especially not by women.

And he imagined she wouldn’t be expecting someone to sidestep.

He grinned. “I’m happy to have you show me how it’s done, darlin’.”

“I... You are?” She blinked.

And suddenly, the pit bull looked a whole lot more like a harmless kitten.