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added.
    “Wooden?” Tanner asked, looking at each of them.
    Mac explained how Nikki had used a saddle frame and how well it had worked. He hesitated to admit Jules had made a good decision by hiring her. “She knows what she’s doing.”
    “I never doubted it,” Jules replied, smiling at Nikki. “Sometimes a person just knows when something is right. That’s how I felt about Nikki when she applied for the job.”
    “Speaking of riding,” Mac said, turning to Jules, “when are we going to take that long, lazy ride you promised me?”
    Jules patted his hand. “In due time, Mac, when things settle down.”
    “That’s what you always say.”
    Nikki looked at Jules. “I hate to break up the party, but I should be getting some sleep,” she said, standing.
    “I need to be turning in for the night, too,” Mac agreed.
    Nikki turned to Tanner. “Thank you for having us.”
    “Thank you both for joining us tonight. I enjoyed it,” he told them. “Let’s do it again soon.”
    Mac followed her around to the front of the house, wondering what had gotten into her, but after what had happened earlier, he wasn’t going to ask. “Looks like Rowdy might have a long night ahead of him.”
    “Mmm.”
    Mac slowed his steps as they walked under the wooden arch and onto the Bent Tree grounds, and he let her go on ahead of him. But he nearly ran into her when she spun around to face him, her hands on her hips.
    “Just tell me one thing,” she whispered fiercely. “Is that what you call being comfortable with your employer?”
    “What are you talking about?” he asked, confused by her sudden anger.
    “All that dancing and touching and teasing.”
    He was speechless, unable to form a word to defend himself.
    “Well? Is it?”
    Gathering his wits, he chuckled.
    “What’s so funny?”
    Noticing that her whisper was getting louder, he immediately sobered. “Nikki, Jules and I have known each other since we were kids. She and my younger sister competed on the same jumping circuit, and because our dads discovered they were fraternity brothers, Jules and I went to the same college. She’s like a sister to me.”
    Nikki’s eyes narrowed and she frowned as she looked at him. “Why didn’t you tell me you knew her?”
    She looked so cute when she was angry, the urge to touch her was almost unbearable, but he shrugged and stuck his hands into his pockets. “I never thought aboutit. Or maybe I thought she’d told you. It doesn’t really matter, does it?”
    For a moment she didn’t answer, then she slowly shook her head and turned around. “It was just so…so weird, that’s all.”
    It was an effort to keep from laughing, but Mac managed to remain quiet as he walked with her back to the main building. Sensing that anything he might say would probably be wrong, he didn’t speak until they reached the doors to their apartments. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said without looking at her. But Nikki had already ducked inside her room and closed her door.
    Stepping inside his own apartment, Mac collapsed onto his sofa. He could only imagine what Nikki had been thinking all evening. Was it possible she’d been feeling the tiniest bit jealous? He had to admit that if he’d been in her shoes, he would have.
     
    C URIOUS ABOUT THE BOYS and thinking that being around them more might go a long way to helping him understand and know them better, Mac decided to join them for breakfast. He knocked on Nikki’s door before leaving for the boys’ dining area, but she didn’t answer. Checking the kitchen, he didn’t find her there and decided she must have gone ahead.
    “Have you seen Nikki this morning?” he asked the boys when he discovered she wasn’t with them.
    “She was here earlier,” Benito answered around a mouthful of biscuits and gravy.
    Mac frowned at the boy’s manners, but refrained from saying anything.
    “She said she’d see us later,” Billy added, and Mac wondered what had tempted her away from the