“I want other kids to experience that magic,” she said, and she touched her belly. “Not just me or even my kids. But I shouldn’t have said anything because now you’re going to use this—” she held up her hand again “—as another reason that I shouldn’t proceed with the camps.”
“It’s not just my decision to make now,” he said. “And I thought I was already outvoted on it.”
“Is that why you’ve barely been around the past couple of days?” she asked, and then her face flushed a bright pink. “Not that I noticed or…”
“Cared?” he finished when she trailed off.
Her skin color deepened to rose. “Well, I thought you were probably pouting.”
He chuckled, then sighed himself. “I don’t know if I was pouting, but it did sting that my brothers couldn’t understand my concerns about the petting zoo and kids’ camps.”
“I expected them to side with their big brother,” she said. “That as the oldest, you’re the boss.”
He chuckled again. “I don’t want to boss anyone around,” he said. “And I don’t need to with my brothers. They know what needs to get done around the ranch, and they don’t need supervision. That’s why we all work so well together.” And that was why he knew they would pick up his slack today. They did that for each other without anyone having to ask or anyone complaining about extra work. But he wanted to make sure that Blake and Liam didn’t work so much that it affected their relationships.
“I want to work well with everyone, too,” Trish said. “That’s why I haven’t started on my plans.”
“How will you and I work well together when we don’t want the same things for the ranch?” he asked.
The truth was, the ranch wasn’t the only thing they had differing opinions on. They obviously didn’t want the same things for their lives, either. Brett wanted the peace and quiet of spending his days on horseback, working the ranch; he wanted to focus solely on the Four Corners. Trish wanted the chaos and noise that kids brought.
“We both want the Four Corners to be successful,” she pointed out.
He nodded. And then he remembered why he’d sought her out. “I owe you a thank-you,” he said.
She arched a dark eyebrow. “For what?”
“For reaching out to that purchaser and getting a contract with them,” he said. “Blake and I tried, but we couldn’t get him to agree to it.”
“Because of the dispute over ownership of the ranch,” she said. “That was my fault. I just tried to fix it.”
“You did fix it,” he said.
She smiled. “Does that bother you? Is that why you’ve been so scarce?”
He sighed. “It’s just a lot for me to process, Trish,” he admitted. “You didn’t come here just to explain yourself. You’re moving in.”
“I haven’t done that yet,” she said.
“Why not?” he asked. “I looked in your room. You haven’t touched any of your dad’s stuff.”
“I know that I need to,” she said. “But I haven’t quite been able to bring myself to start packing up his things, probably for the same reason you haven’t sat in his chair in the den,” she said, her voice cracking.
“It’s hard,” Brett acknowledged. “But I know that he would have wanted us all to move forward, and to put his things to good use at a shelter or something.”
She sniffled and nodded. “I know. There are so many things that could be useful to someone else. And that makes me feel selfish for keeping everything. But I guess getting rid of his stuff makes me feel like I’m losing him all over again, even though I know he’s already gone.” A tear slipped down her cheek.
Brett found himself moving closer to her. He dropped down to his knees next to the calf and the bale of hay where Trish sat. Then, using the pad of his thumb, he wiped away her tear.
Her pale brown eyes widened, and her lips parted as if his touch surprised her. Or maybe it affected her like it affected him, making his skin tingle and his heart beat faster. And the sudden urge to lean closer, to press his mouth to hers overwhelmed him.
* * *
One minute Brett’sthumb was on her cheek, wiping away her tear. The next, he was stumbling backward in his frantic haste to get away from her. He tripped over one of the calf’s gangly legs and sprawled onto his back on the floor of the horse stall.
The kittens jumped up with their backs arched. One of them dropped down from the hay bale and pranced across the floor toward Brett, who had yet to move.
Had he felt what she had? That sudden rush of attraction? Or had he just noticed that she’d felt it, that for a brief moment she’d been tempted to kiss him? Maybe that was why he’d backed up so fast that he’d fallen—he’d been horrified that a heavily pregnant woman was about to kiss him.
