And he sure as hell didn’t want that to happen. Truth was, he didn’t know how he felt about her. She drove him insane most of the time, but other times…
“I apologize for my irrational behavior in Singing Creek, Roman. I should not have left the town without you.”
He turned back to Secret and ran the currycomb down the stallion’s sleek flank. “Everything I’ve ever seen you do was irrational, Theodosia,” he teased. “Why are you apologizing now?”
Smiling, Theodosia stretched out on her bed. “How long have you had Secret?”
“Eleven years. Now go to sleep. I told you this afternoon that we aren’t moving from here until I think you’re ready to travel. If you don’t start resting now, we’ll be here forever.” He began working on Secret’s tangled mane.
“I’m not doing anything but lying here, Roman.” She watched him tend his horse for a while longer. “I believe I understand why you call your stallion Secret. He is an unusual horse, and you’ve no intention of revealing his bloodlines to anyone. But he is the breed you will raise on your ranch.”
“Maybe.” Finished with untangling Secret’s mane, Roman moved to the stallion’s tail and wondered how it might feel to share his ideas with Theodosia. It had never been easy to keep such exciting plans to himself.
“Will you tell me about him?” Theodosia asked. “I promise to keep your secrets as well as you have.”
Roman didn’t answer but only continued to work at removing dried mud from Secret’s tail.
“You are not the only one who knows about his bloodlines, Roman. Whoever you purchased him from knows as well.” Glad his back was to her, she smiled slyly.
“I didn’t buy him, Theodosia.”
“You bred him yourself.”
“Exactly. Now go to sleep.”
She sat straight up and glared at his back. “Roman, you are being extremely unfair. I have trusted you with my verylife,and you do not trust me to keep a secret about yourhorse.I am well aware of the fact that you stand to become wealthy by breeding horses like Secret. Do you truly believe that I would reveal his bloodlines to anyone when I know that to do so would risk your chances of making the fortune you’ve worked so hard to attain?”
He heard true hurt in her voice, and when he turned, he saw her wounded feelings mirrored in her eyes. Smoothing his hand over his stallion’s back, he tried to think of one valid reason why he shouldn’t trust her with his secrets.
No reason came to him, and he knew in his heart he could trust her with the information he’d never revealed to another soul.
He grinned. Trust awoman?Either he’d lost his mind, or something had happened to change his views concerning the female race.
One member of the female race, anyway.
Still smiling, he looked straight into Theodosia’s eyes. “Secret had a mustang dam and an English Thoroughbred sire. I bred the two horses in the dead of night out of sheer curiosity.”
At his admission, her eyes widened with pleasure. It wasn’t so muchwhathe’d told her, but the fact that he’dtoldher. “Why in the dead of night?”
Remembering his youthful transgression, Roman bowed his head and chuckled. “The mustang mare belonged to me, but the English Thoroughbred did not. If I’d asked the Thoroughbred’s owner for permission to breed the horses, he would have either said no or charged me a stud fee. So I bred the horses in secret.”
“That is stealing,” Theodosia said, but smiled back at him.
“The owner couldn’t possibly have missed what I stole from him, and the stallion thoroughly enjoyed my stealing it.”
Theodosia’s smile turned into soft laughter.
“My horses are going to be every cattle rancher’s dream come true,” Roman explained, thrilled by the mere thought. “To rope a runaway steer, a man needs a horse that can reach a full gallop in only a few strides, Theodosia. The horse should be able to keep running at a tremendous speed for at least a quarter of a mile.”
“And Secret is a horse capable of both things,” Theodosia realized aloud. “Oh, how exciting!”
Her genuine enthusiasm warmed him all over. “It’s the combination of mustang stamina and Thoroughbred speed, nimbleness, and intelligence. But I won’t be stocking mustangs. I’m going to buy Spanish mares down in Mexico. Although mustangs are throwback cousins to the Spanish mares and are free for the taking to any man who wants to round them up, Spanish mares are bigger, healthier, and more reliable. So if a scraggly mustang can produce a horse like Secret, imagine how much better a Spanish mare can do. And as for the Thoroughbred stallions, I hear the best Thoroughbred farms are in Kentucky. I’ll—”
“Oh, but you’re wrong, Roman.” Theodosia shook her head. “The best Thoroughbred farm in the country is in New York. My father—”
“Yeah, I’ve heard of some good farms in New England too. I’ll visit all of them until I find the horses I want. They won’t come cheap, though. The finest cost anywhere from six hundred to seven hundred dollars.”
“That’s true, but if you knew the owner of the horse farm, you could negotiate the price—”
