Sometimes, life bucked you off, and there was no way to get back on.
She wouldn't demand Adam stay in Wyoming. But neither could she go back to Philadelphia with him.
Better to put some distance between them now. Even if she'd liked the protective side of him—against her better judgment.
It didn't matter how much she liked the man. Their lives were headed in two different directions.
It would never work.
10
Another drizzly day, and Breanna had been on edge since she'd ridden out at dawn with a subdued Adam.
Maybe she'd said too much last night. He'd spoken hesitatingly of his brother and his father's expectations. It sounded hard. What would Pa do if she announced she was leaving home? Maybe he was even expecting it since Adam had come into her life.
He would give her his blessing. And go with her until she was settled, if she asked.
Adam didn't have that.
She'd gone to sleep determined to put as much distance between them as possible, but she’d woken with a new determination.
Breanna hated to see him so trapped. He hadn't said that his brother was helpless. Only that he never left the house.
What if there was a chance that Adam could make a life in Wyoming? Even a slim chance could be enough.
Because she'd fallen for the man.
She'd come to the realization as they'd saddled up, quiet and efficient in the pre-dawn light.
He'd offered her a hand up into the saddle, and she'd taken it in the name of efficiency.
It was everything. The warmth of his palm against hers. The strength he exuded but didn't make a big deal of. The heavy burden he bore. He cared deeply for his brother, though he hadn't said it in as many words.
And then there was the fact that, after his initial appearance at the race starting line, he hadn't asked her to quit. He was willing to ride beside her.
She'd instantly become flustered and hot, hiding her face beneath her hat brim as she pretended to adjust a buckle at her knee opposite Adam.
She'd barely been able to look at him since.
Her brothers would likely think it outrageously funny. Breanna in love with someone like Adam.
Or maybe they wouldn't. Except Seb, each of her older brothers had found his own happiness.
She didn't know what to do with the newfound knowledge of her feelings. If Adam discovered the truth, he'd press her to go home with him.
Her own plan to convince him to come back after he'd settled things with his father and brother depended on Adam's feelings for her. He didn't need to know she'd gone and fallen for him.
But she wasn't sure she could keep it a secret, not when every time she looked at him, she could feel it shining like a lamp in the dark.
Her thoughts were jumbled so that she wasn't prepared for the steep, rocky decline that seemed to come upon them in an instant. She reined in at the lip of the depression. She should've studied the map better once it had gotten light enough this morning, though the crude drawing probably didn't have any clues how to traverse this difficult section. They’d passed a couple of other riders during the morning; once they’d seen a pair out in the far distance in front of them.
The land stretched out before them, green and flat, a small town almost at the horizon. And there was a creek down there, which was good. But the rocky hill would be difficult to traverse.
Adam reined in beside her. "Problem?" Steady and unflappable, as always.
"No." She gazed down, trying to see a path that wouldn't lead to her horse breaking a leg.
"There." Adam pointed to what might be a deer track that weaved its way down the hill and through some boulders. It looked safe enough.
