Bea kept talking to me. “You might have to help me train her, although I’ll show her as much as I can.”
“He can handle that.” Harlan said, “Jesse is thebestat hands-on orientation.”
Anger flared hot on my neck. That entire interaction with Hollie never should’ve happened. I acted like a desperate fool, and Holliedeserved a lot better than a horny widower taking advantage of her. And all this was happening right in front of Cade. I’d been known to blush now and then and couldn’t think of anything worse than turning beet red.
Tag narrowed his eyes, sweeping his gaze across the motley crew. Sharp as a whip, it wouldn’t take him long to figure it out.
“You know,” Harlan shook his fork at me, his tone completely innocent. “You should offer to take her on a ride. She’d love that.”
The two of them totally lost it.
Bea huffed a confused laugh. “What are you guys talking about?”
Cooper answered, “Oh, you know…”
I shot him a warning glare.
“Just making sure Hollie gets the same hospitality as last time.”
My fists clenched under the table.I’m going to hand him his ass.
Bea huffed. “Cooper, I don’t know what you’re up to, but you better leave Hollie alone. I’m not kidding. Trust me, you don’t want to mess with her. She’s not on the market.” Her big brown eyes widened to punctuate her words. “And her husband isveryprotective.”
A boulder fell into my gut.
In reverse, the heat trickled out of my face, down my neck.
Did she say…husband?
A woozy feeling settled over me.
Wait…wait.
Hollie told me she was divorced. A flash of memory seared through my mind—Hollie’s head on my shoulder as we swayed. She said she was divorced and that her situation was complicated.
My torturers wore different expressions. Cooper—entertained, barely holding in a victory scream. Harlan—slack-jaw, wide-eyed.
I tried to find my tongue, forcing my tone to stay nonchalant. “Oh, uhm, I thought Hollie was divorced.”
Bea’s head reared back. “Who told you that? She’s been married since I was sixteen.”
No, this couldn’t be right.
Hollie wouldn’t lie to me.
Even as I had that thought, I realized how stupid it was. I didn’tknow Hollie. Not really. Maybe she was the type of woman whowouldlie and cheat on her husband. That was probably why she didn’t approach me at the reception but waited until I’d left. She wanted to interact with me in secret only.
I had kissed—scratch that,had lost my damn control with—a married woman?
Harlan recovered first. “Married, huh? I didn’t realize any of your other siblings were married.”
Bea said, “Peter has been married about a year. And Hollie has been married for—I don’t know, twelve-ish years?”
I felt their eyes on me, but I stared at the scraps of eggs on my plate.
Nausea ripped up my throat.
If a man touched Laurel the way I’d touched Hollie, he would’ve lived the rest of his life confined to a wheelchair. I didn’t play around with women, period. I considered marriage a sacred union—not a game. All of what happened between us was a lapse in my typical judgment.
