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“Not much I

need a break and Will doesn’t want this young lady left alone in the stall Could you spell me for a few minutes?”

“Sure I could use a rest” He sank onto the chair as Jasper hobbled toward the barn door He had sharp, black eyes like a bird’s, and his worn leather gloves looked too big for his thin wrists “Hi, I’m Lute,” he said

“I’h to be out of school, but not by much “Do you work for my dad?”

“That’s what I’” He spat out the last word as if he’d just bitten into a bad strawberry “Sky gave me this so-called job He’s my cousin”

“Oh” Erin shifted to face hi more “Sky never talks about his family I didn’t know he had any”

“Sky’s mother was my dad’s sister She died when he was little, and our fa brother”

“What happened to his father?”

Lute shrugged his bony shoulders “Who knows? He was just soot blue eyes But he’s mostly Comanche, like me”

“Oh” The young ht But he was darker, his build smaller and more wiry, his features narrower

His gaze had wandered to Tesoro “That’s a fine-looking foal,” he said

“He’s going to be my horse” Erin laid a possessive hand on her foal’s back “Sky’s already helpinghere”

“Sky’s an important man on this ranch, isn’t he?”

“My dad says he’s the best horse trainer in Texas That’s why cow ponies raised on our ranch are worth somore colts for him to train, so we can sell them”

Lute raised one jet-black eyebrow “I hadn’t heard that Maybe Sky will give ood with horses, too When’s it supposed to happen?”