𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐫 || 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐊𝐰𝐚𝐧

Chapter 1

“Whoa, there.”

Vernon held his hands up, took a step back, and gentled his tone. He could see at a glance that the newest arrival to the stables was nervous. Her ears swiveled back and forth, she was trembling, and she tossed her head every time he moved closer.

“Easy, Ginny. I know it doesn’t seem like it right now, but you’ve landed on your feet here. This is a nice place: safe, quiet.”

The ginger mare whinnied and tossed her head again.

“I get it,” he assured her, backing away and going for the bag of carrots in the corner. “You don’t know me, or this place.” He grabbed a few slices of carrot. “But I’m guessing you know what this is.”

He kept his tone low and soothing as he approached her, holding his hand out so she could see his offering.

At first she wasn’t too happy about his approach, but curiosity overcame her fear, and she ambled forward to investigate.

“That’s it,” he murmured, holding still and waiting for her to come to him.

It wasn’t long before she found the carrot sticks and munched on them.
He continued to talk softly to her but made no attempt to touch her. It was important to give her time to get used to his presence and his scent.

“You always were good with the nervous ones,” a voice said from the doorway. “Human or animal.”

Only Vernon’s long-honed instincts stopped him from reacting and scaring his new charge. He glanced over his shoulder at Zane.

“Need something?”

“Just checking in.”

“Or escaping the nursery?”

With four newborns at the packhouse, he wouldn’t blame Zane for looking for some peace and quiet.

Zane grinned and shook his head. “Nah, the babies are cool. I can’t wait until they get a bit older.”

Vernon resisted the urge to roll his eyes. The whole packhouse was a little baby obsessed these days.

Ginny finished her snack and wandered away to explore the rest of the stables so he headed to the door to join Zane.

“Checking in or checking up?” he asked.

“Whichever one is easier to swallow,” Zane threw back. “What time is he getting here?”

Vernon checked his watch. “Any minute now, unfortunately.”

“Look, I know you're not happy about this whole babysitting thing, but it’s only for four weeks. He’ll be gone before you know it.”

That’s what everyone had been saying. As if that made up for the fact that they’d landed this on him.

Vernon snorted. “Four weeks? I doubt he’ll last that long.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Damn. Vernon should not have said that out loud.

“Oh, come on,” he said, doing his best to cover. “This guy is a movie star. He’ll take one look at the place, call a cab, and be on his way home within the hour.”

“Is that so?” Zane quirked an eyebrow, looking amused.

“Maybe it’ll take a day or two, but how long can you really see this guy sticking around for? He’s expecting to volunteer in a house full of kids with plenty of opportunities for a photo shoot. Not a month of mucking out stalls with only me for company.”