Hitched(27)

She laughs as she leads the way toward the stable. “If people had any idea how valuable he is, I’d probably have to hire security.”

I cut a glance her way, but I can’t get a read on her expression in the dim light of the solar lights along the path. “Well, Kyle knows.”

“But Kyle is family. He’s a rat, but a relatively honorable rat. He’d never outright steal, especially when it would be easy for people who know what they’re doing to trace him. It’s not like the alpaca sperm black market is huge, you know? No, he’ll do it the legal way. The St. Claire way. In court.” She sighs, but it’s a relaxed sound, not a stressed out one. “But looks like that’s not going to be a problem. Fingers crossed and knock on wood, but I think we brought the romance tonight. If I didn’t know better, I’d never believe we were about to kill each other just last night.”

I grunt. “We weren’t going to kill each other. It was just a fight.”

“I told you I hated you.”

“Well, I can bring out the worst in people,” I say, stepping to the side as she opens the padlock on the barn door and slides it to the right, even though I’m pretty sure she’s the only person I bring out the worst in. But if I’m going to win her over, I have to shoulder some of the blame too. “Too stubborn for my own good. And I’m always right so that can be hard to handle at times, I’m sure.”

She snort-laughs. “Oh, please. What have you been right about lately? Today for example?”

“I was mostly kidding,” I say as I follow her inside. “But I was right about going to bingo with you. Brilliant idea, that one.”

She hums beneath her breath as she climbs up on the top rung of the wooden gate on our left. “True. We put on a good show. And it was fun.”

I catch the back of her tee shirt as she leans over to check on the pen of mama goats, most of which are already asleep. She glances over her shoulder, casting my hand an amused look.

“Just making sure you don’t fall in,” I say.

She arches a brow. “I do this every night. Haven’t fallen in yet.”

“There’s always a first time.”

“If I did take a tumble, the worst that could possibly befall me is a good licking from worried mama goats.” She smiles. “But I appreciate the concern.”

“My pleasure,” I say, reluctantly releasing my grip on her tee as she climbs down and starts across the barn, scanning the other pens as we go. “So you have to pen the males separate from the females and the babies?”

“Yeah. I separate the mamas and babies at night so I can get milk from the mamas in the morning. The bucks are separate from everyone else and the other bucks or they get aggressive with each other. I do my best to make sure each buck has a fixed male friend to sleep with overnight, though. Goats are social creatures and get lonely, but I’m trying to keep the herd a manageable size so I can’t just pen them together and let ’em go at it.” She sighs. “Though honestly, sometimes keeping the bucks away from the ladies feels like my full-time job.”

“Randy suckers, huh?”

She rolls her eyes. “So randy. Zeus has devoured three fences in the past year. He’s that determined to get to whichever doe is currently in heat. He’s horrified more than one group of school kids trying to mount the ladies.” She jabs a thumb over her shoulder. “Half the babies are his.”

“Shouldn’t have named him Zeus. Clearly gave him a god complex. Next boy goat gets named Brian. Or Greg.”

She grins. “Kevin.”

“Nigel.”

“Yes, Nigel, that’s perfect,” she says with a laugh. “Next batch of boy babies, they’ll all be Nigel. I’m sure that will solve the randy problem in no time.”

Doubtful. My name could be Nigel Periwinkle Manboobington the 3rd, and I’d still chew through a fence to get to Hope. I’m that desperate to touch her, a fact I’m sure is going to make getting to sleep tonight as hellish as it was last night.

But at least tonight, she’ll head to bed without hating me.

It’s a small victory, but definitely a start in the right direction.

She stops beside the last stall and looks in on the animals. “But these boys don’t need to be Nigels. They’re as sweet as they come, and the baby goats adore them. The kids follow Chewy everywhere. I can’t hardly keep them apart. Probably because they know he watches over them, keeping the predators scared away.”

Two fluffy alpacas are snoozing snuggled together in the hay on the far side of the pen. “You know Chewpaca, of course.” She points to the larger animal on the right before shifting her finger to the left. “And that’s Too-Pac, his new best buddy.”

“Nice. So alpaca boys don’t fight?”

“Oh, they can, but luckily these two get along really well. And alpacas can actually die of loneliness, so it’s important that Chewpaca has a friend. Too-Pac is a little younger and naturally submissive, so I’m sure that helps.” She glances up at me, a mischievous smile on her face. “Once the pecking order has been established, animals almost always calm down and get along. People too, I’ve found.”

I return her grin. “Is that right?”

“Yes.” She turns, leaning back against the gate as she lifts her chin. “So I expect we’ll be fine from here on out.”