“He wants to
“And he made it clear you’d be half owner. And he’d be a silent partner. And he was doing it to provide for his wife and his child.”
“Oh, no.” Acute regret slid through Stephanie’s stomach.
“But it’s good news.”
Stephanie blew out a sigh. “I said some things. To Alec. When I thought he was out to get me.”
“What things?”
Stephanie groaned. “He must hate me.”
“What things?”
“That I only slept with him the second time-”
“You slept with him a second time?”
“And a third and a fourth and a fifth. Maybe more. I kind of lost count.”
Amber laughed. “Well, that sounds promising.”
“No.” Stephanie shook her head. “I just finished telling him I’d only done it because he bought Blanchard’s Run. It was gratitude sex, and I didn’t find him either handsome, funny or charming. I may have said I didn’t like him. I definitely implied he should get lost.”
“Do you think he believed you?”
“I was pretty convincing.”
“But you’re in love with him?”
Stephanie moaned, bending forward around her stomachache. “Yes.”
“Maybe try telling him that.” The truck rocked to a halt. Stephanie looked up to see Jared, Melissa, Royce and McQuestin standing in the front driveway.
She glanced frantically around for Alec, opening the door, stepping out.
“He’s gone,” said Jared.
“How long?” asked Amber.
“Twenty minutes, at least.” Royce shook his head.
“I’m going after him,” Stephanie decided. Amber was right. While Stephanie had been dead wrong. She owed him an apology, and she was going to suck up her pride and tell him she loved him.
She was sure it would be nothing but a lesson in abject humiliation, because no man was going to love a woman who’d behaved the way she did. And despite his joke to Royce, she was sure Alec would be happy to put as much distance as possible between himself and her.
She looked to Amber. “Give me the keys.”
“You’ll never catch him,” said Melissa. “And it’s dangerous to try.”
“Take the Cessna,” McQuestin put in.
Royce looked at the old man, then grinned. “We’ll take the Cessna.” He grabbed the keys from Amber and headed to the truck at a trot. “Come on,” he called to Stephanie.
She sprinted after him.
It was a five-minute drive to the ranch airstrip. Royce sped through his pre-flight checklist. Stephanie slapped on the earphones and strapped into the seat and braced herself for takeoff.
In no time, they were skimming a thousand feet above the ranch road. The road met the main road, and they banked east. There’d be little traffic before the Interstate, so Alec’s black car should be easy to spot.
After they found him? Well, things were definitely going to get tough. She tried to come up with a speech in her mind, something,
“Painful, isn’t it?” asked Royce through the radio.
“I was so stupid.”
He laughed. “We all are. I told Amber she should marry her former fiance. I could have lost her right then and there.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No, I didn’t.”
Stephanie peered out the small windshield, scanning the length of road in front of them. Range land whizzed by, with the occasional barn or stream. “We don’t know how this one’s going to turn out.”
“He loves you, Steph.”
“I may have killed that.”
“You can’t kill it. Believe me, you can’t kill it.”
Stephanie drew a breath, desperately trying to convince herself that Royce knew what he was talking about. But the fact was, he didn’t. His and Amber’s relationship was unique and special. It wasn’t representative of every other relationship in the world.
“There he is,” said Royce, pointing to the road. And Stephanie’s heart went into overdrive.
Royce overflew the car, checked for traffic, then turned the Cessna in a tight circle, bringing it down on the pavement of the road. They coasted to a stop, and he shut off the engine.
Stephanie removed her headphones, unclipped the harness then clambered out of the small seat, stepping on the wing strut before dropping down to the pavement.
“Go get ’em, tiger,” Royce called with an encouraging grin.
Stephanie couldn’t muster up a smile in return. Her palms were sweating and her knees were weak. She took a few trembling steps along the centerline, watching for Alec’s car to come into view. She didn’t have long to wait.
The black car coasted to a stop, but Alec didn’t get out.
Squinting, at the tinted windshield, Stephanie forced herself to walk toward it.
Finally the door opened, and Alec stepped out, frowning. “What the hell?”
“I’m sorry, Alec.”
He looked at the plane, then back to her. “What the
“It’s Royce. We were afraid you’d beat us to the airport and get on a plane, and I wouldn’t be able to find you.”
“So you landed on the
“I came to apologize.”
He was still frowning. His eyes were squinted down in anger. “It never occurred to me in a million years that I’d have to make this rule. But don’t you ever,
“It’s perfectly safe. We checked for traffic.”
“Okay. Okay. I won’t.” She paused. “But don’t you want to know why I’m here?”
“To say you’re sorry?”
She screwed up her courage. “To say I love you.”
His expression never flinched. “They told you about me buying the stable?”
She nodded.
“And you’re grateful for that?”
“It’s not about gratitude.”
His look turned skeptical. “Really?”
“It was never about gratitude for Blanchard’s Run.”
“That’s not what you said an hour ago.”
“I lied an hour ago.”
“But you’re not lying now?”
“No.”
He took a step forward, jaw clenched, expression grim. “Explain to me, Stephanie. How exactly am I supposed to tell the difference?”
It was a fair question. She moved closer to him. “I guess you can’t.”
His expression softened ever so slightly. “So, when you tell me that you love me? Which, by the way, I desperately want to believe-”
