Hayley hefted the picnic basket, walking down the long stone-scattered driveway and heading off on the side road, under the drape of willow and sweet-gum trees, to the barns. Beside her, Kim and Kate each carried a big thermos and struggled to keep up. She veered in the direction of voices. Male voices. When she rounded the edge of the barn, she gave a shrill whistle, bringing heads around.
"Hey, fellas," she called, holding up the basket. "Hungry?"
Six men dropped their pitchforks, lashed leads to posts or set shovels aside and came to her like foxes after bunnies as she set the basket on the tailgate of the truck and opened the lid. She introduced herself and each ranch hand tipped his hat a fraction and nodded cordially. Jimmy Lee was long and lanky with a big smile and deeply tanned skin. He had an intense stare and wasn't above having a look-see of her from head to foot, until Beau nudged him. Beau was young, just out of high school, she imagined, and blushed when she shook his hand. There was Ronnie, about forty, with hair too long for his age and tied back in a ponytail, his straw cowboy hat crimped to fit his head just so. He didn't talk and just eyeballed her, accepting a cup of cold water. Then there was Bubba.
"Just what name does Bubba replace?" she asked the older man, gray-haired with weathered features and a sweat-dampened dark T-shirt.
"Robert. Bob."
Hayley decided Robert fit him better, despite the muscled chest, John Deere hat and overalls. Seth moved closer, lifting Kate and Kim onto the tailgate and peering into the basket.
"Miss Hayley made sandwiches, Mr. Seth. Big hulking ones," Kate said, glancing at Hayley.
She winked, then motioned to the twins with a stack of paper cups to pour some water for the men first. "I've got roast beef, ham and cheese, turkey and plenty of everything." Hayley fluffed out a tablecloth, then hitched her rear on the tailgate to lay out the meal with chips and fruit. "There's coffee for you, Ronnie," she said. "Kim mentioned you favored it, even in this heat."
"Yes, ma'am, I do." He took the thermos and poured a steaming cup.
Hayley felt perspiration trickle down her spine at just the thought of drinking it right now.
She served up a plateful for each of the men, then pulled out the peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches the girls had requested. Sitting atop hay bales in the truck, Kim and Kate were in heaven over the outdoor break. As she munched, Hayley studied the house. It was a massive structure in the low-country, two-story style, with a porch that wrapped completely around it. And this one, she'd discovered while vacuuming earlier, went on forever. There were six bedrooms in the place, and there was also a guest cottage out back near the pool. Beyond the two huge barns was a bunkhouse. The whole place was beautiful, and Hayley relaxed just looking at it. River Willow. She'd forgotten the name over the years, but as with Nash, that was all she'd forgotten.
The distant sound of hoofbeats came to Hayley, and she glanced around just as Nash came riding over the hill from the west side of the house. The girls waved and he waved back. He paused on the hill, shadowed beneath a tall willow tree, and her heart did a strange leap in her chest. That was just too much man for one body, she thought. He looked magnificent, exuding strength and masculine power, and for an instant, the image of a man, a hundred years ago in a billowy white shirt and knee breeches, flooded her mind. Old family, a Southern gentleman, even if he'd grown sharp around the edges. He met her gaze, and even at this distance she could feel it glide over her skin, pause where it shouldn't, yet flattering her that it did.
He still turns me inside out, she thought.
His horse pranced delicately before he bolted toward the barns. Hayley turned back to the truck, resisting the urge to fan herself. The girls wadded up the sandwich wrappers and tossed them in the basket. She sent them off to collect the trash from the men as she packed up. When she looked up again, Nash was a few yards away. But she'd heard him, felt her pulse quicken when she knew he was riding closer. It was disgusting, this chaos she felt around him still.
"What are you doing out here?" He slid from the horse's back and stormed toward her.
If he thought she'd run for cover, he was wrong. She had to stick with this, finish this job. And nothing, not even his intimidating glare, was going to make her back down. "Y'all need to stiffen up a bit." She gestured to the ranch hands and Nash. "You're just too loose and happy-go-lucky. I'm surprised you get a lick of work done." The hands snickered, moving quickly off, and Nash stopped, his blue eyes narrowing.
"Does it hurt?" she asked.
He looked at her from beneath the brim of his hat. "Does what hurt?"