“I wanna stay here with Uncle Jackson,” Kareem protested.
Eve’s smile grew stronger. “There’s an ice cream shop in the village. You can bring Smoke.”
Kareem dropped the spoons in his hands. “I wanna come to the ice cream shop.”
“Finish what you’re doing first.” Jackson’s rebuke was mild, but Kareem immediately picked up the spoons.
“I’ll go change.” Eve looked down at the snoozing pup. The cloud of worry was diminishing with every stroke of her fingers over the baby’s fur. “Smoke is very sweet.”
“Yup.” Kareem concentrated on carefully putting the cutlery away. “He makes everyone feel good. He’s special.”
“I don’t want to disturb his nap.” She clutched the small warm weight closer to her chest. “I can watch him while you all freshen up.”
Sadia grinned. “That is an excellent idea. We’ll meet you in the foyer in a little bit.”
With each step away from her friends, Eve’s worry over Gabe ratcheted up. But midway up the stairs, Smoke snuffled and licked her arm, and she calmed a little. There was nothing she could do about the man. Right now, she would do her best to distract and enjoy herself.
She hugged her unexpected bundle of comfort. Because it wasn’t about her. Gabe had his own demons, and she wasn’t one of them.
Indeed, he liked her. Enough to kiss her. Her lips tugged up. In her emotional turmoil, she’d almost forgotten, and that wouldn’t do. That kiss was worth remembering, even if she never got another one.
Chapter 12
“Who’s my beautiful horsey? Is it you? It’s you.”
Eve brushed her horse, smiling at Livvy’s nonsense cooing next to her in the large barn. Livvy and Nicholas had arrived this morning, and Livvy, fully recovered from her illness, had burst into Eve’s room, where she’d been low-key moping, and dragged her to the stables.
The Kanes and Chandlers hadn’t kept horses, but all of the children had grown up riding. She hadn’t realized how much Livvy adored horses, though, until the other woman had squealed upon entering the barn. She’d claimed a dappled gray mare for herself named Polka.
“She is pretty,” Eve agreed.
“Shh. You can’t call another person’s horse pretty.” Livvy leaned over and checked her horse’s hoof, her long braid swinging over her shoulder. “It’ll give your horse a complex.”
Eve looked into the wide-set eyes of her black horse. She’d chosen her because the creature looked calm. “You’re the prettiest horse, Dot.”
Livvy stroked Polka’s side and whispered loudly, “She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”
Eve couldn’t help her laugh. Livvy’s silliness and Sadia’s bracing practicality and Nicholas’s constant check-ins that she was okay and even Jackson’s silence. They’d all occupied her for the past twenty-four hours while she wrestled with what to do about Gabe.
He liked her as a friend, and then he liiiiiiiiiked her, and then it turned out he was the illegitimate son of her family’s former enemy and no one knew?
She had whiplash.
She made sure none of her agitation was visible in the slow brushstrokes along her horse’s hide. A lady didn’t show the world her upset.
“There you two are.”
Automatically, she pasted a smile on her face and glanced at her brother entering the barn. Nicholas looked relaxed and healthy. He’d gained a little weight since he’d started seeing Livvy, and it looked good on him.
“Should have known you’d be with the horses. Hey, Eve, you know how there’s always one girl who draws horses all over everything she owns? That was Livvy.”
Livvy stuck her tongue out at her fiancé, but didn’t dispute that. “What do you want? I’m bonding with my darling.”
Nicholas checked his watch. “Sadia sent me to fetch you. You have to go get your dress.”
Livvy pouted. “But Polka and I have almost become one.”
“You can take her for a spin later.” Nicholas rolled his eyes. “Hell, we can buy you a horse later if you want.”
