Rowe’s chin dips, and then he’s gripping the saddle horn and swinging his leg over, settling as lightly as possible. Wraith reacts immediately, some of the bravado disappearing. He takes a few steps to the side, snorting loudly. I wait for him to rear up or shoot forward, but he never does. His ears are pinned, but he doesn’t act out or try to get Rowe off him. If anything, it’s almost like he’s doing everything he can to keep himself calm enough not to hurt the man who’s become a friend.
Every second feels tenser than the next until I’m bouncing my knee and picking at the skin around my thumbnail. If I picktoo deep, I don’t notice. The reins are held loosely in Rowe’s hands, and I think I fall more in love with him as I witness his unwavering steadiness in this moment.
He’ssofucking mine, and I’m dying to get my hands on him so I can show just how proud I am.
In a blink, what could have been a moan twists into a soft gasp. Rowe sinks his body completely into the saddle. Wraith moves forward a few steps, responding to his rider with cautious determination. The reins in Rowe’s hands shift, and then Wraith’s making a small circle in the dirt. Tears build behind my eyes before I blink them away.
“It’s about time.”
I twist at the sound of Jed Carrigan’s deep voice. Rowe’s father towers beside me on the opposite side of the fence, staring straight out past my head. There’s a lot less pride in his eyes than there is in mine, though. More like reluctant relief, as if Rowe spending his time helping this horse has been more of a hassle for him than anything else.
“What do you mean?”
“This has taken him far longer than I expected. That horse should have been sent somewhere else a month ago instead of remaining on my feed bill.”
I still my bouncing leg.Keep your mouth shut, Tilly. Don’t, don’t, don’t?—
“And you could have done better?”
Deep, dark eyes find me, and I sit up straighter despite the voice in my head telling me to slouch. This isn’t a man who’s used to hearing shit from anyone, let alone a woman he doesn’t seem to respect. Still, I don’t seem to care about all the reasons why I should keep my mouth shut. Not when this man is being an unbearable prick once again.
“My son’s got too many soft spots lately. If he wants to take over the ranch, he’s got to earn it. Starting with proving thathe knows when he’s wasting his time on a lost cause,” he snips, looking away from me again, as if I’m going to let him dismiss me so easily.
“That horse wasn’t a lost cause, and soft spots aren’t some great evil. You know damn well that Rowe deserves this place, and I sure as shit hope he doesn’t ever hear you saying anything different. That’s the last thing he needs to hear from his father.”
A muscle ticks in his jaw, and he grips the fence tight enough his knuckles blanch. “You’re overstepping, Tilly.”
“Maybe. But you know he’s not going to let you kick me out of here. I’m also the best groomer this place has ever had.”
“I could find another.”
I almost laugh. “You could, but you won’t. Despite how tall you try to stand to tower over your son, you can’t look down your nose at him. Even if by some miracle you could, I’d be here to knock you down a few inches. He’s not below you, and neither am I. If you don’t stop treating him like all he is to you is an employee, you’ll lose even more time with him. We’ve all lost more than enough.”
“I don’t need you to remind me how long he was gone, nor do I need a lecture from the woman responsible for every one of those years,” he snides, voice dipping even deeper.
There’s a cool drip of guilt running down my spine. It’s hard to keep my expression nonchalant. This man is more like his son than he will ever admit, but where Rowe has the capability of feeling warmth, I’m pretty sure Jed doesn’t. I’ve never been inclined to watch him with his wife, but she’s just as nasty. Maybe they’d do well to stay a few nights in the round pen now that Wraith is done with it.
If Rowe hadn’t been so cruelly cast away when he was arrested, maybe he would have told them the details of what happened that night. Instead, they turned on him and treatedhim the same as they would a random criminal who pulled up on this ranch and stole a trailer full of horses.
They can continue believing the same story that everyone else in town heard through the rumour mill—that he acted out of anger because he was jealous of my ex-boyfriend. The real details have never left the circle of those of us who were there that night, and until they prove that they deserve to know, they never will.
“I didn’t force him to do what he did. But if it makes you feel better or helps you justify his actions, then you can blame it on me all you want. Your opinion doesn’t matter much in my eyes and won’t until it starts pulling weight with Rowe. Either way, I’m not going anywhere. It doesn’t make a difference to me whether you hate me every day that I’m here and make it your mission to ignore me, or if you’ll send a random smile my way every third Sunday after you get back from church. I’m going to stay on your payroll and in the cabin up past the river for the foreseeable future, Jed.
“Your son, though? He could use that Sunday smile far more than I ever would. There’s a lot of time left for all of us, and I’d really hate for you to waste all of yours punishing him for being the man you raised him to be.”
I feel the tingle of eyes on me the moment I finish speaking. It’s not from Jed’s blistering stare, which can only mean my cowboy’s just heard everything I’ve said. With a swipe of my tongue over my dry lips, I shift and find Rowe approaching us. Wraith’s tied to a post a few yards away, his attention glued to his rider’s back.
Rowe’s not as sensitive to the heat as I am and is still wearing one of the same black work shirts that he shrugs his huge frame into every morning. He’s got the sleeves unbuttoned and slid high on his forearms, at least, exposing the swirls of ink thatcover his skin. And fuck me, not even the tan chaps can hide how well his jeans hug his thighs.
I stare at the hand reaching for me and the veins that strain along the back of it before blinking up at him and meeting his gaze. The slight inward tug of his brows reveals his discomfort with this predicament I’ve found myself in, but I try to play it off with a wink.
His hand finds my knee and then glides a few inches up as he shifts his focus to his father. “Slow day?”
“No. I was just checking in on your progress,” Jed replies, awfully snippy still.
I cover Rowe’s hand with mine and thread our fingers. He steps between my legs, leaning his perfect ass against my inner thigh and searching his father’s expression.
“I was telling your dad how grateful he should be to have such an amazing trainer working for him. If you ever opened yourself up to moving on from this place, you’d be a hot commodity. I’d bet even Steele Ranch would beg for you to work on their horses, and we all know how big they’re getting. Maybe they’ll expand big enough to start breeding them instead of just cattle,” I drawl.
