“No, I mean an actual ride. On horses.”
“What?”
“Trail ride, baby. Didn’t you look at the schedule?”
“I was a little busy establishing my cover.”
“Good thing you have me. It’s almost like I really am your PA.” Hildy sounded strangely excited by the thought. “So yeah.Tomorrow morning. I wonder if he’ll help her get on the horse. And then her mount gets spooked, and he has to go charging after her to save her? Some of that early-morning mist, everyone’s breathing hard—” Hildy broke off with a hiss when Jean pinched her.
“It sounded like you were having an episode.”
“You know what we need?” Hildy gripped Jean’s wrist. “Apicture.”
“Right now?” It wouldn’t be the most inopportune moment Hildy had chosen for a selfie, but Jean wasn’t sure she could dredge up a smile.
“Tomorrow. Of Charlie and Adriana, preferably on horseback.”
“You want me to do it?”
“You’re going to be closer than I am.”
“Yeah, but I don’t know.” It was one thing to talk a big game about spilling Charlie’s secrets. Sneaking a photo of him in a private moment felt a lot more deliberate. Jean’s vision for revenge was more about the personal touch. Messing around with him one-on-one.
“I guess it is a bit early to risk getting busted. Let’s let things play out a little longer. Watch and wait. Can I ask you something?”
“Knock yourself out.”
“What do you really want from him? When all is said and done.”
Damn. Somebody wasn’t pulling her punches. “I want—” Jean broke off, waiting for an answer to surface that she could bear to admit. “I want him to take it back.”
“Something he said?”
“All of it.” Who he’d pretended to be and what he’d made her feel—the good parts and the bad. Jean needed more than an apology from Charlie. It had to be a complete rewrite of the past if she was ever going to get rid of this creeping sadness.
“Sounds like we have our work cut out for us,” Hildy saidon a yawn. She rolled over, tucking her hands underneath the pillow.
Long after her companion’s breathing slowed, Jean lay awake in the dark trying not to imagine what Charlie was doing at that moment. Sipping champagne with Adriana? Having a cozy family meal with his other lady friend, who his parents clearly knew and liked? Talking mergers and acquisitions with the ice maiden?
It was only Jean who had to show up under false pretenses, skulking around with a borrowed name because the real her wasn’t good enough to bring home to mama. Maybe if Jean had been rich or connected or famous, she wouldn’t have been swept under the rug with the rest of the trash.
The rush of anger had a calming effect. She was doing what needed to be done.
If that meant kicking off her villainess era, so be it.
Trail Rides with Ranger Mitch
Welcome.
My ethos is simple. Time spent in nature is a privilege. Horses are better than any of us deserve.
Don’t fuck it up.
Happy Trails,
Mitch
Chapter 22
