“No,” Tarr said. “I don’t care about what happens online at all. I care aboutyou, and what’s right and true.”
“It was an accident,” Briar said forcefully. “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone or any animal, and it ended my career. How could Iwantthat to happen? I was making hundreds of thousands of dollars as a rider, performing, and doing social media. Why would I want to ruin that?”
Tarr didn’t say anything, and he didn’t have to. He simply studied her and then slid his hand up to the back of her head and pressed it against his chest.
“I believe you, honey,” he whispered, and better words had never been spoken.
“I did learn to walk again,” Briar said. “And I’ve even ridden a horse a few times—though certainly not to do any of my stunts or tricks. As soon as I could, I left Canada and I changed my name, and I’ve been living and working here on this farm for four years now.”
“Almost five,” he said. “And now with a long-term employment contract in place.”
Briar heard the smile in his voice, and she managed a small one of her own. “Yeah, if Tuck doesn’t fire me after how I treated his only client.”
“He’s not gonna fire you, sweetheart.” Tarr edged back and dropped his hand to hers. “Come on. Let’s go home and get cleaned up for dinner.”
Briar looked up at him. “Are we really okay?”
He thought for a moment and then nodded. “Yeah, we’re really okay.” He leaned down, and Briar thought for sure he’d kiss her. She pulled in a breath, and every muscle in her body tightened, but he only swept his lips across her cheek and then pressed his mouth to her ear as he whispered, “Because my truth for today, Briar, is that I want you in my life too.”
She relaxed in his arms, though his words terrified her and struck a dissonant chord that echoed along with every heartbeat. She would have to find a way past this, to truly believe that he wanted her in his life when so many other people didn’t, or she could lose this handsome cowboy prince forever.
thirteen
Deacon Hammond adjusted his jacket over his shoulders, wondering if he was trying too hard. Putting himself together after a long day on the farm for a dinner date automatically felt like too much work. In the past couple of months, he’d worn his best jeans, bought new shirts, cowboy boots, and even a new hat for the dates he’d been going on. He’d only made it to a second date with one woman, and then she’d confessed that he felt more like a brother than a boyfriend.
He hadn’t asked anyone out from the farm again…until now.
“Alaska Whitby,” he muttered to his reflection, wondering why he was entering this date with dread instead of excitement. Maybe because dating felt like a chore now, instead of something he could enjoy.
He did need to eat, and he enjoyed a steak he didn’t have to cook, along with a loaded baked potato with as much bacon and ranch dressing as he could get.
He tapped a little bit of beard oil into his palm, rubbed his hands together, and smoothed it over his face.
Alaska was bubbly and talkative—everything Deacon struggled to do on a date—so he figured he’d at least have a good time. He could answer questions and add to a conversation, buthe needed someone to get him started. He’d tried a date with a woman named Kara last weekend, and she’d been as quiet as him.
The meal had been awkward, and the walk over to downtown Ivory Peaks Park to check on the ice skating rink had been filled with tense silence.
He’d been asking out women he knew from church, work, or through a friend that he’d met at least once, but the pool of potential dates was quickly drying up. He didn’t want to do anything online, and if Opal or Jane offered to set him up on a blind date one more time, he felt sure he’d lose his mind.
His phone chimed out the familiar alarm notification, and Deacon abandoned looking into his own eyes to pick up his device. It was a calendar reminder for tomorrow’s barrel racing finals, which Rosie Young was riding in. Tucker and Bobbie Jo had gone with her, and Deacon wanted nothing more than pure success for his brother, because he knew Tuck wanted more clients.
If he could get Rosie to win in her rookie year as a pro rodeo rider, he would have people knocking down his door and begging to train right here in Colorado instead of in San Antonio.
He swept away the reminder and saw that he’d missed a text from his father. He tapped on it and read:Call me when you can.
Deacon quickly checked the time and saw he had about fifteen minutes before he had to walk out his front door and over to the cabin community where Alaska lived, which would take him less than five minutes. So he tapped to call his father and listened to the phone ring three times before his daddy’s familiar bass rumbled through the speaker.
“Howdy, son.”
“Hey,” Deacon said. “Sorry, I just saw your text. I’m getting ready for yet another first date.”
Daddy chuckled. “You don’t sound too happy about it.”
“Why would I be?” Deacon griped. “I don’t understand dating at all. Why can’t I just meet someone, and fall in love in five seconds, and we can be married?”
Daddy full-on belly-laughed then. “I’m putting you on speaker with your mother.”
“Really? This is a speaker call?” Deacon’s mood worsened. “If I’d have known that, I would’ve waited until after the date.”
