She smiled back at him. “We’ll see about that.”
He nodded. “Yes, we will.” Then he helped her up from the hay bale like his brother had from the couch, by taking her hand.
Once more, she felt that zip of awareness and attraction rush through her that she only felt with Brett. She quickly dropped his hand and hurried toward the open door of the horse stall. It was only after she was halfway back to the house that she realized he hadn’t answered her question about whether or not he could respect her.
They wouldn’t be able to work together, let alone live together, if he couldn’t. She’d been in relationships before where she hadn’t been respected, and she wouldn’t be in another one like that.
Not that this relationship with Brett Lemmon would ever be anything but professional. That was the only kind of relationship she would allow herself beyond the ones with her family. And no matter how her dad had felt about them, the Lemmons were not family to her.
* * *
Nerves jumped aroundin Blake’s stomach. “I think I blew it,” he admitted to Maci in a whisper once they were alone on the front porch of the house.
She wound her arm through his and leaned against his shoulder. “Why would you think that? You offered to show her the books. It wasn’t your fault she didn’t want to look at them right now.”
He groaned. “It might have been.”
“Why? What did you do?” She sounded more curious than alarmed. Thankfully, she trusted him.
“We were talking about everyone being able to get along,” Blake said.
“She and I talked about that, too,” Maci admitted.
“And I might have mentioned that she’d only have to worry about Frankie and Brett…”
Maci groaned now.
“So you think I screwed up?”
“I told her the same thing,” Maci said. “That they’re not as likely to forgive her.”
Blake nodded. “That’s why she didn’t look at the books. She went outside to find them.”
“And I saw Frankie head back here right after Trish left,” Maci said.
“I know. So Frankie didn’t give her a chance to talk about it.” Not that Blake was particularly surprised by that. Frankie had lit into that lawyer. He couldn’t blame her for that, though. He’d been tempted to do the same after all the stress Nolan Stokes had caused Maci.
“And Brett?” Maci asked.
Blake pointed to where Trish was walking slowly back from the barn. Alone. Her shoulders were slumped, and her steps were small as if she barely had the energy to put one foot in front of the other. “She doesn’t look like that conversation went well, either.”
“Then we weren’t wrong to warn her,” Maci said. “But, hopefully we’re wrong now, and everything went well.”
When Trish looked up and noticed them standing on the porch, her posture stiffened. Then she grasped the railing beside the steps, using it to pull herself up to join them. “I’m really tired right now,” she said. That much was apparent from the dark circles beneath her eyes and the paleness of her skin. “I don’t want to talk anymore today about the will or the ranch or…” Her throat moved as if she was struggling to swallow. “Or my father…”
“Go, get some rest,” Blake urged her.
“You must not have eaten much either,” Maci said. “I can make you something and bring it in.”
Trish shook her head. “No. I just need to sleep right now.”
Blake pulled open the door for her and held it. Then he murmured, “I’m sorry…”
Trish stopped and stared up at him. “Why?” she asked. “You’ve been very kind.”
“I’m not apologizing for myself,” he admitted. He was apologizing for whatever his big brother and Frankie had done that had exhausted her so much.
She smiled and shook her head. “That’s not necessary.” She walked through the open door and through the one to the main bedroom without telling him why his apology was unnecessary.
