Maverick only raised his eyebrows.
‘Barbie.’
Mav looked at the palomino horse, with her blonde mane and tail, decided, ‘Perfect.’ And he meant it. ‘My kid is going to get a kick out of that.’
But noticing that the food was nearly gone, he made space for Nina to pass and said, ‘Let’s give her some time to think about how nice that interaction was.’
Nina moved past him immediately and exited the stall. Maverick followed and slid the door closed behind him.
For the first time since she’d arrived, the mare – Barbie, he reminded himself – poked her head over the door. She didn’t stay long, simply looked around before receding back inside.
And when Mav turned and saw the glow in Nina’s eyes as she approached Markus, her quiet: ‘Did you see that?’ reaching his ears, he smiled.
‘Hell yes! I got the whole thing on camera!’ Markus slung one arm over Nina’s shoulders.
Mav saw the way she flinched at the contact before settling into the embrace, and he wondered if she was in pain or if she was scared – both, maybe?
‘You’re welcome to come back and see her anytime. I’ll introduce you to my head wrangler, Benji. Just make sure that one of us is with you before you go into her stall.’
Nina raised both her hands to her heart. Those eyes, already so big, widened. ‘Really?’
‘Yeah. Sure. She needs a lot of attention. We haven’t even been able to groom her properly yet, but today you got closer for longer than any of us have. And you’re smart – cautious. Gentle. If you want—’
She didn’t let him finish. ‘I do.’ She looked at where Barbie had receded back into her stall. ‘I want to help.’
‘It probably won’t be much more than spending time desensitizing her to humans for the first week. And not alone, given that liability issue you brought up. But between Benji and me, we’ll find the time to help you.’
‘Can I pet Barbie?’ This question was asked by June Morgan, who had been picked up by her dad so that she could see into the stall.
‘How about you pet the horse you’re going to ride?’ he asked, easily appeasing her.
‘Spirit?’
‘Yeah, you remembered.’
‘He’s mine.’
‘He’s the horse you’re going to ride,’ Mrs Morgan corrected.
Maverick turned to Markus and Nina. ‘You’re welcome to join the tour or wander around and discover things yourselves – seeing as though you signed your lives away already.’
‘We’ll wander around,’ Nina replied.
Markus only pointed his cell phone in Mav’s direction. ‘Photoshoot?’
‘Yes, to booking it. Text me the dates once you know them and I’ll coordinate with my sister. Maybe, to hiring horses and a few wranglers for the day, but I still have to see which staff might be interested once we have dates. Andhell no, to me being one of them.’
Nina laughed. Her dark eyes lit up.
As Mav watched her face transform beneath the bruises, he saw it, thatthingsome people had. It wasn’t charm. Charm was too practised. Too rehearsed. It was pull.Magnetism. Like a horse kick to the gut when you were least expecting it.
Markus only narrowed his eyes at Mav and tapped his phone against his palm. ‘I don’t give up easily.’
‘And I’d rather ride naked through Nevada in the height of summer than be in a photoshoot,’ Mav countered. He wasn’t a model. He was a horseman.
‘Wait.’ Markus made a stopping gesture with one hand ‘Is that an option?’
Maverick only shook his head. But he took one last look at them standing side by side, Markus grinning outright, Nina quietly studying his face, gauging his reaction. ‘You two … You two are trouble.’
