Black Hills Bride by Deb Kastner Page B

cook to handle that aspect of the job, and soon.
    She didn’t know whether to be relieved or insulted, though she knew he was only teasing. And it was a rare occasion when Erik said even that much, so she supposed she should be grateful.
    The stable was the first building raised, and Erik soon had it filled with horses and a stable crew working under him, forging mountain trails for future visitors and training the gentle horses to trail ride nose to tail, regardless of the equestrian skill—or lack of—in their riders.
    She’d been so busy with the plans and construction of the main lodge, she hadn’t had time to get down to the barn and greet her new staff. She was anxious to introduce herself and her goals, but quickly discovered the stable hands weren’t nearly as anxious to meet her.
    “We don’t take orders from a woman, ” growled the first stable hand she approached. He had greasy, straw-colored hair and an attitude, Dixie noted, as he crossed his arms over an adolescent-thin chest.
    The other four boys followed the young man’s lead, crowding in around him and nodding vigorously.
    “I beg your pardon?” Dixie blundered, stunned by his rudeness and the blatant animosity on the expressions of the stable hands. The group’s unofficial leader pronounced the word woman as if it were spoiled food.
    “You heard me.” The young man spat on the ground by her feet, and it took every bit of her will not to react.
    She rankled inside, prickling from head to toe, but other than making a conscious effort to pull herself to her full height, she didn’t allow her emotions to show.
    She might be hurt and angry at their hostility toward her, but she’d die before she’d show it. She had been caught off guard, expecting the stable hands to show the same friendly attitude as the carpenters.
    Mentally retreating a few steps, she looked the group over. Every one of them looked uncomfortable, and the leader downright hostile.
    They were testing her, she realized, like a toddler tested his mother’s limits. She definitely wasn’t expecting a brash confrontation after experiencing the easy nature of the construction crew, and she struggled to adjust to this new curve thrown at her.
    Maybe part of her training should have included working with a youth group, she thought, however belated the realization. She should have known most of her staff would be youngsters.
    She knew if she backed down now, the fight would be over. She had to confront this hostility head-on, nip it in the bud so it didn’t grow and spread.
    “Am I correct in assuming that when Mr. Wheeler hired you on, it was with the understanding that you work for me? ” she asked bluntly.
    “We answer to Wheeler,” the belligerent ring-leader retorted, drawling his words.
    “You’ll answer to me,” she snapped back, unable to contain the sting of rejection a moment longer. She’d felt it too many times in the past to put up with it now, especially from a gaggle of adolescent boys.
    She pinned each of them with a glare in turn, especially the straw-haired boy. “Them’s the rules, boys. If you don’t like it, feel free to walk. But if you’re going to quit, do it now. I don’t expect to hear about this again. Understood?”
    She whirled in place, her form-fitting boots stirring a cloud of dust around her feet. She had to get out of there, and fast, before she flew off the handle and told the boys what she really thought of their adolescent behavior.
    She sent up a frantic prayer for help to contain the fury pounding through her, the nearly overwhelming need to vocalize her opinion of their prehistoric, chauvinistic attitudes.
    She wanted them to know they were pushing her personal buttons—and that she wasn’t about to put up with it.
    What she really wanted was to fire the whole lot of them, right here and now.
    The only thing keeping her from doing that very thing was the knowledge Erik handpicked each man for the stable, and their individual