Adelle slowly walked the grounds of Ten Acres, looking for James Winthrop Frayne II. She was amazed at how large the property was. There weren't many properties like these where she was from. Sure, there were the plantations, but most of them were now museums or shops of some sort.

Adelle stopped the first worker she saw. He was a tall, younger man with a shock of copper hair. She guessed he had been in the construction business for a few years based on his supple form. Immediately after the thought crossed her mind, her face turned to a bright crimson. With a shake of her head and a deep breath, she stopped him with a hand to his arm.

"Excuse me, but do you know where I could find a Mr. James Frayne?"

He lifted an eyebrow, "I am James Frayne. And you would be…?"

"Adelle Bishop," she offered her hand with a business like smile, "the landscape designer and lawn maintenance provider."

"There must be some mistake," his lifted eyebrow fell into a scowl at her words, as he shook his head, shock making him ignore her proffered hand.

"There is no mistake, Mr. Frayne." Adelle's smile fell as she bit back what she wanted to add.

"No, there must be a mistake. I hired the best landscaper in the county, and they send me some girl, fresh out of school?" Jim looked incredulous.

"I am no girl James Frayne. And I am not fresh out of school. I have been working under my great-uncle Andy on and off since I was sixteen. That is eleven years, James Frayne. I can guarantee that's more years than you've been out of your parents' house and on your own. I've been to school, I've done my apprenticing under Uncle Andy, and I've done my time. I might need all the clients I can get, but I'll tell you one thing, I don't need to work for you and your high falootin' attitude!" Adelle's feathers were obviously ruffled and her temper flared. She turned on her heel and started to stalk back to her truck.

"Wait just one minute," Jim called contritely. "You are Andy's niece?"

Adelle's jaw clenched and she forced herself to take a deep breath before turning back to him.

"Yes, I am, as if that makes any difference," her southern accent was thick, as it always was when she was angry. Even from a distance, Jim could see the fire that still played in her eyes.

"Well, that changes things," Jim said with a smile, gently taking Adelle's arm. Adelle looked at him as if he were growing horns, glanced down at his hand, then back to his face. She obviously didn't know whether to yank her arm away from him and give him another tongue-lashing or follow him meekly. She settled for a happy medium of pulling her arm away and following him to his office in a tense silence.

They walked to a finished wing of a large one-story structure. Adelle studied it, but couldn't for the life of her decide what it was going to be. The room that was supposedly James Frayne's office was sparsely furnished with a folding card table and matching chairs.

"We're waiting for the school to be finished being built before we decide on a decor," he explained. Adelle, again, looked at him as if he were growing horns.

"A school? All the way out here? There won't be many students at all," she said, confused. She immediately wanted to take back what she said. It was no business of hers if some ding-a-ling wanted to build a school in the country.

"Let me rephrase. A school for orphaned children. So they can learn about the forest and its creatures. They can learn how to care for living animals, mainly horses," Jim shrugged by way of ending his explanation. He waved a hand towards a folding chair, inviting her to sit.

"Ms. Bishop, what can you do to make my property look its best?"

Before Adelle could even start, Jim asked another question.

"Do you have a portfolio that I can look at? Or will you be creating something new?" Adelle's eyes almost bugged out of her head; she had never drawn any of her plans. She had them all neatly stashed in her mind. Adelle knew that she had no skill at drawing whatsoever, so she avoided it at all costs. She didn't have pictures of completed projects, either; how could she when she never completed her projects on her own?

"Umm, I'll be making something new and special for the school grounds," she hesitated. "As for now, though, I am going to go look around and be inspired."

"Alright, we'll have to have another meeting to discuss what you have in mind," Jim held out his hand. She took his hand with an uncertain smile.

"Yes, of course," she tried not to hyperventilate. They quickly scheduled a meeting the week after next. It gave Adelle ten days to figure something out. She walked around the grounds for a good hour before she got over the shock and rushed to her truck. She was going to have to come up with a solution fast.

*****

Regan was bringing his portable phone down to the stables, so he could be available for phone calls and still sit with Jupe. He had rushed through his dinner of a peanut butter sandwich and a glass of milk so he could get back and make sure the gelding was all right in his stall.

He was peeking in at Jupe laying down and resting, when the phone in his hand rang shrilly. The phone dropped from Regan's hand, the ring having made him jump. He swore as the panel that held the batteries in flew off, and the batteries spilled out. He shoved the batteries back into place as quickly as he could.

After putting the panel back into place he picked up the phone. The only answer to his hello was the dial tone. The person calling probably got tired of waiting and hung up.

Regan sat down on the ground in the threshold Jupe's open stall door and made himself comfortable. He rested his back on the doorframe and put the phone beside him. The second after the phone was set down it started to ring again.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Uncle Bill. How are you doing?" Dan's voice came across the line. He sounded worried. Regan had confessed to him the week before that today was the day that he would move the horses.

"I'm hanging in there," Regan said.

"Well, that's good. How did they do?"

"Lady was horrible. I think she sensed that she was leaving. She didn't like that idea much. The other two balked at loading, but they always have."

"Yeah. I'm really sorry that Mr. Wheeler decided to sell Lady, Uncle Bill," Dan said softly.

"Eh, so am I. But what was I going to say after he pointed out that the Missus never rode her? She'll be fine, and I will get to see her."

"That is true," Dan smiled. His uncle always seemed to shrug things off.

"Jupe developed colic last night," Regan said in the same tone he would use if he were saying how cold it was outside.

"Is he going to be okay?" Dan was alarmed.

"He'll be fine. I've just got to monitor his eating a little more carefully from now on," Regan quickly calmed Dan. He decided it was time for a change of subject as a lump formed in his throat thinking of all that his horses had gone through in the past couple of days. "So how's school going? You are studying something other than Amber, right?"

"Yeah," Dan said in a way that made it obvious to Regan that he was blushing. Regan smiled. Dan got that trait from his mother. Dan's personality was so much like Anne's, it made Regan miss her all the more.

"Uncle Bill, she is great. We have just about everything in common." Regan grinned as Dan droned on about his new love interest.

While Dan continued on, Regan wandered to the tack room to get a lead shank. He took it back to Jupe's stall and clipped it to the gelding's halter. There Regan was, doing the two things he loved most, walking one of his horses around and talking with his nephew.

Regan nearly dropped the phone a few times, as Jupe jerked on the lead and the phone tried to slip from between his shoulder and his ear.

*****

That night, as Regan was trying to get to sleep on the uncomfortable cot in the stables, he couldn't keep his mind from wandering. He thought first of Jupe, and that this was his last night sleeping on the cot. Tomorrow, he would be in his own soft bed. Then his mind wandered to Dan and how taken he was with his new friend. Regan couldn't hold back a chuckle as he thought of all the times the name Amber came into the conversation.

Just when he was about to fall asleep, he thought of the one thing that was subconsciously distracting him almost all day. He was just finishing up his lunch that Winnie brought to him and was getting up to take his plate back to the kitchen through the back of the house, when he heard a musical laugh. He had craned his neck to see the source of the laugh.

She was a slight, young-looking girl. He had, at first, mistaken her for a he. Her auburn hair was almost as short as his. It was the laugh that gave her away. No man laughed like that.

Regan lifted his hand to rub his tired eyes. Just sleep. Stop thinking and sleep. He sighed and turned to his side, facing Jupe's stall door. The big black gelding stuck his head over the half door and nickered quietly to Regan.

"Go rest, Jupe," Regan mumbled and reached out one hand to pat the horse's nose. Jupe butted Regan's hand and turned back into his stall with a snort. "Good night to you too."

Author's notes:

I would like to take this time to thank my three wonderful editors, April W, Cathymw, and Amber. I would also like to thank Amber for persuading me to get to work :D she did a great job helping me right along!

Disclaimer These characters are property of Random House Publishing. I am making no money from them, I only write because I love them.