He grinned. “Figured as much. I asked one of my hands to get the horses saddled up and ready for us.”

He did?

“I might have to thank you in my own special way for being so thoughtful.”

“Counting on that, beauty.”

He took her hand and they went through the house and out the sliders in the kitchen. Loopy accompanied them and the cats preferred a sunny spot on the kitchen floor for a nap.

“Is Violet coming along?” Tuesday asked as they headed down the steps from the deck to the yard and land beyond.

“She is. Loopy will keep her in line and from digging up any of my plants. She and I had a tangle about that at first.” He opened the gate of the pigpen and she came trotting out in all her pale pink glory.

She butted her head against Ezra as she passed and he patted her. She did a turn around Tuesday and then stopped, even with Loopy, ready to go.

“She needs a cowboy hat I think. Do pigs get sunburn?”

Ezra laughed. “She’d eat a cowboy hat and her bristles, the hair? It protects her. She’s good.”

He took Tuesday’s hand again and the four of them headed to the stables.

As promised, the horses were ready when they arrived. Right down to the same horse she’d ridden before, Peaches.

“I noticed you rode Peaches last time. She’s mellow and pretty hard to spook. This saddle is probably better than the last one, though.”

She stepped to Peaches and took in the details of the saddle. “Probably better? Ezra. This is like a Rolls-Royce saddle of some type.”

And for whatever reason she knew he’d got it for her. The saddle wasn’t one just sitting around waiting to be used in some tack room.

He made a sound, like a harrumph but he didn’t quite commit to it. She ran her fingertips over the delicate design burned into the leather and that’s when she saw the dragonfly near the pommel.

Swallowing hard, she looked away from the saddle to find him watching her intently. “Happy birthday.”

Jesus. Her heart beat so fast she felt faint.

“This is a pretty big gift. You know that, right?”

“I have a few dollars in the bank to buy a saddle for a beautiful woman if I want to.”

“Savings from not having to buy beer over the last years?”

Surprise scattered over his expression and then he laughed, hugging her. “Exactly. My accountant said kicking heroin and quitting drinking was a great retirement savings.”

She sobered a little, tiptoeing up to kiss him. “Thank you, Ezra. This is really lovely.” And it was. Thoughtful. He paid attention to what she liked and didn’t. Extravagant.

The old Tuesday might have balked at a present like this. But she wasn’t that person. And this man, well he wasn’t Eric. And thank goodness the Hurleys weren’t crazy like the Heywoods.

Briefly she wondered if she should share all this business with her former in-laws but decided against it. She wanted it to keep being a good day.

“I wanted you to know you could come up here to ride anytime you wanted. Even if I’m not here. I figured if you had your own saddle you’d know I really meant it.”

She blew out a breath and he hugged her to him again. “Thank you.”

* * *

“HOW’D YOU GET such a perfect seat?”

He looked back over his shoulder. “I spend a lot of time looking at your ass. I know it quite well.”

He really did. It was like they’d measured her butt themselves.

“Okay then. Well, you have a good memory because it’s really comfortable.” Her phone buzzed in her pocket. Again. She pulled it out, saw it was yet another text from Tina. Tuesday turned off the notifications and tucked it away.

“Everything okay?”

He was a very perceptive person when it came to how other people were feeling.

She nodded. “Just wanted to turn off the notifications so I won’t get a buzz each time a text comes in.”

“Good. We can make adjustments to the saddle. It’ll take you a while to get used to it. We’ll see how Peaches takes it but she seems to be fine. Let me know if she’s acting like it’s rubbing or fitting her wrong, okay?”

“I’ve been watching her for cues she’s uncomfortable but nothing so far.” Tuesday ran her hand over her horse’s neck. “She’s an awesome horse.”

Like all women around Ezra, Peaches was amenable and mellow. Though his horse wasn’t. Randy, which was such a weird horse name, was one of those fiery stallions you read about in books. Muscled and powerful, he was tall and definitely as cocky and arrogant as the man on his back.

Once they’d cleared the residential part of the ranch, they let the horses run awhile. Peaches was awesome because she was like, whatever, when Randy ran way faster.

“He’s a show-off, Peaches. I think he might have a crush on you. And he should because you’re a very pretty horse with really good manners.”

It was a gorgeous late-spring day and the sky was heading toward twilight but they had at least an hour or so to stay out and still be safe for the horses.

“How was it then? Your first day?” he asked of her stall.

“It started off slow and I thought, oh no, I thought this was going to be so awesome and now this sucks. But after about two hours it picked up and kept superbusy for the rest of the time. I sold all but one piece. Paid for my gas and the cost of the space and materials and even gave me a small profit.”