Author's Note: Thank you all again for the beautiful reviews. For those of you who are worried about when this story will end, again I don't want to give too much away, but we have somewhere between 15-25 chapters left, so don't worry, we've still got a ways to go.

Lisa triple-checked that she had everything ready, then sighed. The saddle bags were packed and everything was ready to go for that afternoon. The week had passed quickly for Lisa. She had had a ton of things to do to prepare a few of her horses for shipping and she had had vet checks for the horses entered in the local races. Those things had kept her busy over the past week, but she had still arrived at Heartland every morning to work with Gizmo and Aztec. Both horses were flourishing under Marion's watchful eye and Lisa couldn't wait to get Gizmo out on the trail today to see how he did. And she especially couldn't wait to spend some time alone with Jack Bartlett.

Jack finished his cup of coffee and took it to the sink. Out the window he could see Lisa's SUV. 'She's here early,' he thought to himself. He figured Marion must be out in the barn with her. Marion had mentioned that Aztec was almost ready to try a join up and that Gizmo would also soon be ready to move to Fairfield. Jack had really enjoyed these last few months of getting to know Lisa and to spend time with her and her horses. He wasn't much looking forward to her horses heading home. He felt like they'd just started getting to know each other, and he'd have less of an excuse to see her, if she wasn't coming over everyday.

He knew that Marion had caught on that he liked Lisa. But he just wasn't quite sure what to do about it. Mallory had come over several times over the last week, telling him that he just had to go for it, and berating him for being so slow to act. But Jack didn't want to ruin things between him and Lisa. What if he was misreading her signals? Or what if she was a naturally flirtatious woman? Jack knew that it was likely too much to hope for that she'd make a move on him, but it would make things easier for him. Maybe he'd gotten spoiled by Val Stanton throwing herself at him all these years. Not that he enjoyed Val Stanton's attention. But he liked knowing exactly where she stood. With Val, Jack was definitely not interested, even if she didn't get that he wasn't interested. But with Lisa, Jack was definitely interested. But he distrusted that he was reading her signals correctly. How could a woman that beautiful, intelligent and talented really want to attach herself to an old cowboy like him?

He sighed, setting his coffee cup down in the sink. Maybe there would be a setback with one of her horses and they'd have to stay at Heartland longer? He shook his head. That was an unkind thought. But maybe she'd give him some sort of a signal? That way he could drum up the courage to make a move. Jack crossed the room, put his jacket on, pulled on his hat and headed out to the barn.

Marion reached out and clapped Lisa on the arm as she passed her. "Hey, dad!" she said happily, seeing Jack coming into the barn.

"Hi, Jack!" Lisa said brightly, swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat.

"Hey," Jack said, tipping his hat to both ladies. "You're early," he added, turning his attention to Lisa.

She smiled weakly, "Yeah, I had some things to attend to."

"About that," Marion said. "I figured we'd work with Aztec a bit this morning. We're going to see how he does alone without Paint. First working in the round pen and then working out in the field."

"So you don't need me?" Jack said, feeling a bit disappointed.

"No," Marion started, surprised, "well, we might actually need you and Paint, if Aztec acts out. And I'd like to have you around, just in case anything goes awry."

"Okay," Jack said, "I'll stick around then."

"Plus," Lisa added, "Marion wants us to take Gizmo out later."

"Out out? Like on a trail ride?" Jack asked.

Marion nodded, "Uh huh, it's kind of his last test before he's ready to go home."

"That's real good news," Jack said, his smile not reaching his eyes.

"Yeah, I was hoping you and Paint would accompany us," Lisa said, her eyes worried.

"Of course," Jack said, "it would be my pleasure," and this time the smile did reach his eyes.

"Okay," Marion said, "let's start with Aztec then and we'll see how he does."

Lisa tacked up Aztec and Marion and Jack chatted about how Amy was doing in school and told Lisa all about Lou's internship in New York. Lisa listened and told them all about her own nephew Ben and how he was doing in high school. As Marion and Lisa talked about Ben and Amy's riding, Lisa asked whether Lou rode as well. And Jack informed her that Lou had once shown promise as a show jumper, but that her dad's accident had spooked her from riding. Lisa nodded and expressed how difficult it must be to be afraid of horses in a horsey household. Her own sister, it turned out, had suffered an accident as a teen and was very nervous around horses.

By the time they had finished talking about their families, Lisa had Aztec tacked up and they took him out to the round pen. Jack gave Lisa a leg up and she rode Aztec around the round pen. Aztec did exactly what Lisa asked with no hesitation. Lisa led Aztec through walking both directions, trotting figure eights and cantering on both leads.

As Lisa transitioned him back down to a walk, Marion clapped her hands! "Go ahead and hop down and we'll try some ground work with him!"

Lisa did as she was asked and led Aztec through his ground work. He behaved himself the whole time with no incidents of aggression.

"That's wonderful!" Marion said, excitedly. "He's doing great! Go ahead and get back up and we'll take him to the field. Dad, you want to give Lisa a leg up?"

Jack did as he was asked and helped Lisa up onto her horse. She smiled down at him, "Thanks, Jack!"

"He's doing wonderfully!" Jack said, stroking his neck. "I'm going to miss having him around."

Lisa smiled down at him, "I bet you'd never thought you'd feel that way about this horse?"

"No, I really didn't," Jack said, laughing, a bit of mirth glinted in his eyes, "I might have gotten just a bit attached to his rider."

Lisa smiled at Jack, "She might have gotten a bit attached to you too," she said.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said and turned Aztec to the field. As she turned, she smiled like the cat that got the canary. Today was going to be fun.

Lisa walked, trotted and cantered Aztec through the field near the barn and he behaved himself beautifully. Lisa rode softly and calmly and Aztec followed all of her cues perfectly. Lisa brought him down to a walk and walked over to Marion and Jack.

"Well, that's that!" Marion said. "Tomorrow we'll try a join up with him and if that goes well, he can go home!"

"That's wonderful news!" Lisa said, her smile radiant. "You'll lead me through doing a join up?" she asked.

"Absolutely," Marion said, "I think he's ready! You've done a great job with him, Lisa!"

"I have you to thank!" Lisa said, "Both of you. You've helped us both more than you know."

Jack smiled, tightly, shoving his hands into his pockets. He really wasn't ready to see less of Lisa Stillman.

"So, Jack," Lisa said, as she stepped down off of Aztec, "Are you ready to go for a trail ride?"

"Of course," he said, "I'll get Paint ready." He paused, looking at Marion, "But aren't you coming with us?"

Marion shook her head, "Not this time. But Lisa and Gizmo are in good hands with you and Paint!"

Jack had the decided feeling that Marion was up to something, but he didn't mind much, if it meant he got to spend time alone with Lisa.

"I'll go get Paint ready, and we can head out," he said to Lisa.

"I'm looking forward to it," she said, smiling brightly at him.