She moistened her lips. “Will…will she be all right?”

“She’ll be fine. Rusty will take good care of her. You won’t find a better groom in all of Texas.”

Relief washed over her. Should Daisy have suffered permanent injury, Emily would never have forgiven herself. “I just want you to know how…sorry I am.”

His eyebrows met and parted. “You don’t sound sorry.”

Taken aback by his comment, she was momentarily speechless until she saw the gleam of humor in his eyes. Reminded of her own response to his earlier apology, she blushed and held up the sack of candy.

“Maybe this will prove my sincerity,” she said, wiggling the paper bag. She’d asked Peggy Sue to retrieve the books and candy from Daisy’s saddlebags and bring them to the house. It had taken the housekeeper close to an hour to make the short trip to the stables and back, and Emily suspected that Rusty was to blame.

She crossed to Chase’s desk and placed the offering next to the ledger.

He reached for the bag and peered inside. “Rock candy.” He looked surprised and then pleased. “How did you know?”

“I had a little help from Kate.”

“Ah, the candy lady.”

“Is that what you call her?”

“It’s what everyone calls her.” He reached in the sack for a sugary lump and held it in the palm of his hand, grinning like a little boy. “These bring back a lot of childhood memories. I was only ten when I started workin’ on the ranch.”

“Ten?”

He shrugged. “We start young here. By the age of six, I could read every cattle brand within a hundred miles. I didn’t know the alphabet, but I knew how to read brands.”

“That’s amazing,” Emily said.

“My teacher didn’t seem to think so. She objected to me writing my name with a rocking M.”

Emily laughed. “Guess you can’t blame her for that.”

Chase laughed too. “Guess not.” He studied the candy in his hand. “My first job was muckin’ out the stables. Every Friday, my pa paid me in rock candy. If I did an especially good job, I got three pieces.”

She tried to envision him as a ten-year-old child. “You must have felt rich.”

“I did.” He chuckled and popped the candy in his mouth. After a moment, he asked, “Care for a piece? You won’t taste better.”

The candy was too sweet for her taste, and normally, she would have said no. But something—and she refused to believe it was Kate’s message about sharing—made her reach for the offered sweet. “Thank you,” she said and popped the candy in her mouth.

He tucked the bag into a desk drawer.

She studied the thick ledger on his desk. “I could handle your bookkeeping. It would free up your time, and I’m good with numbers.” It would also give her something to do to pass away the long, lonely hours.

He stuck the pen into the penholder. “Have you ever kept books?” He lifted his gaze to hers. “Or handled payroll?”