“They make you muck out stalls?” Elias asked, his lip curling.
“Every afternoon. Can’t say it was my favorite chore, but I lived through it.”
“How’d you get that scar on your face?” Emilio, the youngest boy, inquired.
“Emilio, that’s not polite,” Memo chided with an apologetic frown toward Kyle.
Kyle shrugged. “It’s okay. I was wounded overseas by a roadside bomb. I was in the Marines.”
All four boys looked at him with widened eyes, obviously intrigued by meeting someone with such an adventurous past. The scar, rather than an oddity, had now become a mark of heroism to them. Because he wasn’t comfortable with the image of himself as a war hero, Kyle turned abruptly to Shane. “I’m getting pretty thirsty. If you don’t need me for anything else right now, I’ll go inside for a while.”
“Yeah, go sit and relax for a bit,” Shane encouraged him. “We’ve put in a hard afternoon.”
Kyle hoped he had worked hard enough that he would be able to sleep that night. Alone. Without spending hours lying in his bed aching to go to Molly.
But then again, he didn’t think it was possible to work himself to that point.
Late that afternoon, Shane insisted that Kyle should get on a horse. “Can’t have you turning into a city boy,” he said with a laugh, leading a glossy, brown, saddled gelding around the end of the barn while Molly and Kelly watched. “Jump on. Bodie here needs some exercise.”
Kyle made a face. “It’s been three years since I was on a horse, and I was in much better shape then,” he demurred. “I’ll probably fall right into the dirt.”
“Nah. It’s like riding a bike. You never forget.” Grinning, Shane motioned toward the stirrups. “C’mon, Kyle, it’s not like I’m asking you to rope a calf or race to the back property line. Just ride around the yard here. Show me that you remember everything I taught you when you were a skinny, funny-looking kid. Rather than the skinny, funny-looking guy you are now,” he added, mischievously.
Molly was pleased that Kyle chuckled in response to Shane’s cheerful put-down. Though he cautiously approached the right side of the patiently waiting horse, he still seemed concerned about climbing on. “No laughing if I fall on my butt,” he warned Molly.
She grinned. “Sorry, greenhorn. No promises from me on that count.”
For all his protests, Kyle wasn’t nearly as rusty as he’d feared. Placing his right foot into the stirrup, he swung himself into the saddle almost as easily as if it were something he did everyday. Once again, Molly was struck by how gracefully he moved, despite his physical limitations. She wished she could better remember what he’d been like as a teenager. Had he always been so well coordinated, or had that developed during his rehabilitation?
“Not bad,” Shane approved. “Careful, though. Tennis shoes aren’t made for stirrups, the way boots are.”
Kyle nodded and wheeled Bodie around to trot briskly around the perimeter of the big yard. He looked as though he enjoyed being on horseback again.
Molly looked down regretfully at her brace and crutches, wishing she could join him for a nice, long ride. By the time she got rid of these things, he would be gone, and there would be no chance to ride with him, she thought wistfully, her chest aching with the thought.
“Wow,” Kelly murmured, moving close to Molly’s side. “He looks good up there, doesn’t he? I guess I’m just now realizing how attractive he really is, once he relaxes and lets himself smile.”
“Yes, he is nice looking.” Molly tried to speak casually, but the look her sister-in-law gave her said she hadn’t done a very good job of it.
“Yeah, right,” Kelly said with a sudden, wicked smile. “Like you’ve hardly noticed in the past few days.”
“Haven’t noticed what?” Shane asked, joining them just in time to hear the last few words.
“Nothing that’s any of your business,” Kelly shot back, playfully punching his arm.
“Where are the girls?” he asked, looking around for his daughters. “I thought they wanted to ride before dinner.”
“Last I saw, they were playing a video game with Emilio. I’ll go get them.”
Kelly turned and walked away. Shane and Molly both looked at Kyle again. Perhaps Shane was still remembering the boy he’d known in the past—but Molly was much more interested in the devastatingly sexy man she saw in the present. Now if only she could do a better job of hiding that reaction from her much-too-perceptive older brother than she had with his equally observant wife.
Chapter Twelve
Molly spent an hour in the dormitory before dinner that evening, catching up with the boys, reviewing their schoolwork, working with Colin on a math assignment and with Emilio on a reading assignment he was finding particularly difficult. Afterward, while the boys ate in the dormitory dining room—delicious, healthy food prepared fresh in the dorm kitchen by Graciela—Molly and Kyle dined with Shane, Kelly, Annie and Lucy.
Kyle was quietly courteous during dinner, responding politely to conversation, and watching the girls with a cautious fascination that Molly found amusing. It was obvious that he hadn’t spent much time with children.
She had a vague memory of him looking at her much the same way all those years ago.