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Chores are part of running a ranch.
She faced him, seething. He wasn t holding his end up to the bargain, but the
stubbornness in her made her decide she was going to do this. No, it didn t give her what
she needed, but maybe if she did this, he would give her what she really needed.
That thought led to the wrong place in her mind, and she quickly moved on, knowing
she didn t want to go there, not with Colt, never again!
When Colt walked away and Joe approached with a tentative smile on his face, Brielle
sighed in resignation.
Have you ever mucked a stall before? Joe asked her.
At least he wasn t nearly as rude as Colt.
No, but that doesn t mean I can t learn, she told him as he took hold of the
wheelbarrow and moved through the horse barn.
All you have to do is scoop out the messes and then we ll come in and lay fresh
straw.
Brielle felt a chill go through her body. What kind of messes? When she looked down,
she said with horror, I m scooping poop?
Joe s cheeks turned red. She wanted to run in the opposite direction, but she knew this
was some sort of test. Yes, it was a waste of time, and yes, she knew Colt was putting
her in this position just because he was an ass, but she was going to do this, and do it
well.
When she got a good whiff of how the horse manure smelled up close and personal,
however, she started thinking this wasn t something she could do. Her stomach began
heaving. Then, an hour later, her back was burning, and her eyes and nose were running.
Colt had to have given her the worst possible job there was on the ranch. Joe had done
three stalls to her one, and she still wasn t finished.
Every time she managed to scoop some of the disgusting poop onto her pitchfork, half
would fall back off because her arms were shaking so badly. Another half hour passed
before Joe declared the stall clean and pointed to the next one.
Nope. This wasn t happening, not even with her determination to prove Colt wrong
about her. This crap was downright demeaning did he really think he was being funny?
She was through with Colt. It was time to hire someone who would listen to her, who
wouldn t make a joke of her requests for honest help.
I m done, she told Joe, wiping her brow with the back of her hand as she lay the
pitchfork down and moved toward the door of the barn. Guilt followed her outside, but
this wasn t the life for her. She couldn t do this. Who in their right mind would choose to
live like this, work so hard for so little money?
Her arms felt as if they were on fire, and her lower back ached in a way it had never
ached before. She had to get away from this place. In addition to the pain radiating
through her body, she was sweating buckets. Reaching up, she pushed back her hair and
was disgusted when her hand came away wet.
That s it.
She should go take a hot shower to ease the aches, but she was close to tears and
needed to be far away from the house, from the barns, from any chance of running into
anyone. That meant she was going to the lake for a swim.
Marching out to the shed, she found a quad bike that already had the key in it. Luckily,
she knew how to ride one because her last boyfriend, whom she d dated while working at
the mall in D.C., had found great pleasure in the things. At first she hadn t been
interested in riding, but the freedom of cruising on roads that standard vehicles couldn t
handle, plus the sensation of the wind rushing through her hair, had quickly gotten her
addicted to the sport.
Not even pausing to see if Colt was around, she fired up the ATV and took off through
her fields. She knew the way to the lake, and she also knew that the men were occupied
mending fences on the other side of the property. She knew this only because she d
overheard them talking with Tony no, no one had actually told her. But it meant she
had at least two hours before anyone would even miss her.
Upon arriving at the lake, she stripped off her clothes without hesitation, then walked
out on the short dock and dove into the water, its coldness cramping her muscles for only
a few seconds before a welcome sense of relief spread through her.
This was exactly what she d needed, a day away from Tony and Colt, and from all the
other little boys who were so willing to do Tony s bidding, but not hers. At some point she
would learn to assert her authority, but it wasn t going to happen today.
She was just fine with that, she thought as she lay back in the water and let herself
float on its surface with her eyes shut and the sun beating down on her.
She wouldn t even mind when she woke up the next day with a sunburn, because this
was close to pure bliss. To hell with the wrinkles in her fair-skinned future. Before moving
to Montana, she would have been terrified to swim in a real live lake, much preferring the
clean but chlorinated pools owned by her family and friends. Those pools had no chance
of snakes, fish, or who knew what else lurking below the surface. But, since she was in
this place did the people of Sterling have any idea what an in-ground pool was? she
had to adapt.
Her hair spread out behind her atop the water, the sweat of the day was washed
away, and her limbs were already feeling better from just drifting in the pristine lake.
Best of all, it was private, and she didn t have to worry about a swimsuit.
Not that she minded the tiny bikinis she owned. They were showpieces for her best
assets. When she put one on, she knew she looked good, and that was a feeling any
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