"That wasn't my idea. I wanted to race fair and square."
She shrugged. "Then maybe you should've stood up for yourself."
Tommy looked over his shoulder, right at Adam, before his gaze returned to her. Ah. This wasn't about her. Or if it was, it was only in aproperty to be claimedsort of way. He'd seen Adam speak to her yesterday, and now he was interested because Adam seemed to be.
Stupid boys.
She finally skirted him only to find Pa staring at her, his eyes narrowed. Uh-oh.
She went to him, aware of the family around her. Walt was helping Andrew clamber up into the wagon. Nearby, Matty's infant boy Samuel let out a loud cry. Matty’s wife Catherine murmured to calm him.
Breanna reached her father’s side. "Yes, Pa?" She didn't look at Adam, not with her face on fire.
"This young man wants to call on you."
Now she did glance at Adam, who wasn't smiling, not really. One corner of his mouth was quirked, as if he knew she was remembering her threat. He'd come anyway. Approached her pa anyway.
"You have any objections to him joining us for the afternoon meal?" Pa asked.
She was aware of both Adam's focused look and of Tommy somewhere behind her. Watching too.
"We don't really know each other." It wasn't an objection, or at least not a strong one.
Adam's steady gaze seemed like a dare. "Isn't that the point?"
It was almost as if heknewthat she never walked away from a dare. "I have no objection," she told Pa.
And then they were swarmed by her family. Or at least it seemed that way to her.
Oscar and Sarah were the first to approach, Sarah climbing back down from the wagon. Then Matty and Catherine, Edgar and Fran, who had a little one on the way. Davy and Rose hung back with their one-year-old, giving a wave before pointing their wagon toward the homestead. Seb and Walt approached last, Seb's hand on the younger boy's shoulder.
Through it all, Adam stood tall beside her, shaking hands and greeting everyone as if he were a visiting preacher or something. As if he weren’t worried at all.
"I'll never remember all their names," he murmured to her as Seb and Walt slowly walked off, Seb to his horse and Walt to climb into the family wagon.
She grinned at him. "They'll give you a hard time if you forget one."
His head tilted slightly toward her, and she realized exactly how close they were standing. Close enough that if he'd wanted to, he could reach out and put his arm around her.
He didn't. But he said, "You look lovely today."
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him she hadn't gussied herself up for him.
He might've seen the denial on her lip—or maybe not. He took her arm and guided her around the wagon when she would've climbed in with her family, who were still conspicuously waiting.
"I've brought another visitor along with me," Adam said, but she hardly heard him.
"Oh,you'relovely," she cooed as she approached the stallion. He was a gorgeous black with white socks and one white splotch along his left flank, at least fifteen hands tall, muscled and elegant. He'd been tied to the hitching rail, but he raised his head at her approach, gazing at her with dark intelligent eyes.
She let him scent her hand first, then gently ran her fingers along the horse's jaw.
"That's the way into her heart for sure," Seb called out just before he wheeled his own horse and galloped out of the yard. He'd better be ready for retribution when she found a spare moment later today.
Adam laughed, coming alongside her to untie the horse's reins. "Don't worry. I came well aware that you might fancy Domino more than me. Would you like to ride him home?" He extended the reins to her, eyes dancing.
She felt as if the ground shifted beneath her feet. Like a train had rumbled past without making a noise or disturbing a blade of grass. Only she was affected.
And she wasn't sure she wanted to be.
