“My mom thought so, too. She was over the moon about having some girls around.”
“And your father? Was he excited about having girls around?”
The mood around him instantly hardened. She could swear his jaw ground. “I’m not sure he got excited about anything.”
“You want to tell me why he makes you so tense?”
He swallowed, hesitating so long she kicked herself. She shouldn’t have brought his dad up.
After a few moments, Adrian answered her. “Even though my brother got married first, I’m the oldest. Technically, I should have been the one to start taking over the ranch, handling the business side of things while my mom runs the B & B. But I don’t want it. I don’t care about the inheritance, which he thought should matter the most to me.
“I know it sounds petty, but I always wanted him to care about what I was interested in, not the other way around. I’m a businessman, not a ranch hand.”
“Are you sure about that?” She quirked a brow at his hat with its sweeping brim.
Adrian’s gaze darted upward, and he removed his hat. “This? This is just for the girls.”
She’d give him that. But still, she gestured to the barn they were approaching. “You claim to not like it here, yet you seem so at home at the same time. What’s really bothering you, deep down?”
It was an extremely personal question, but she couldn’t help asking it.
He cast his gaze to the horizon before entering the barn. Horses were lined up in stalls, their heads peeking over barriers. They were of every shade, from white to black to tan and even paint horses with colors splotched in between. She was surprised at how many stalls there were.
Adrian stopped to pat the nose of a curious black stallion whose hair was as jet as pitch. The horse nuzzled in, welcoming the attention.
“The memories,” he said. “There’s too much of my old man in this place.”
“I see.” And she did. Things were starting to make much more sense now. Why he seemed to loathe a place as much as he did. Why he kept doing everything he could to prevent his mom from having any say in his life.
Goldie had never been around horses much before, but she found she liked them, despite the smell. The black stallion’s eyes were wary as she approached, but she copied Adrian, brushing a palm against its smooth neck.
“Makes me sound heartless, I know.”
She continued stroking the horse. “Actually, I understand more than you may realize. My mom is pretty controlling and dominating. I’ve always been scared to take off on my own, but I’m twenty-seven. I knew it was time, and now that I have, I feel so brave. It’s one reason I haven’t wanted to call her, because I don’t want her to ruin my victory.”
Adrian opened his mouth to reply when voices crept nearer to the barn’s gaping entrance. After a quick peek out, he took Goldie’s hand, pressed a finger to his lips, and guided her farther in, taking an entrance in the center of the line of stalls.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Shh,” he said with a tantalizing smirk. “Looks like it’s Jordan and his hot date. I don’t want to throw off their day.”
Jordan and Taylor’s soft voices grew louder. Goldie didn’t see why she and Adrian couldn’t have just stepped out of the barn, but in any case, Adrian was treating it like an adventure. She couldn’t pass up an adventure with him.
He rested a hand on her back, and, together, they receded deeper into a shaded space, completely out of sight. The younger couple was visible through a gap in the wood. A gap that kept Goldie and Adrian shadowed. She smelled the coolness in the wood and the scent of animal feed, but Adrian’s nearness rendered them both irrelevant. She was close to him, so close.
Hidden as they were, Adrian lowered his voice and tilted in to speak into her ear. “You should know, I had my assistant look into Bethany Harold.”
The hum of his deep voice in the darkness sent a thrill through her. “You have an assistant? Why would you have her do that?”
“I know it’s really been bothering you, and I wanted to help.”
She wasn’t sure whether it was his proximity or the lull of his voice, but either way, he was having a hazy effect on her thought process. “And your brother accused me of being a spy. Sounds like he had the wrong person.”
“I would set the record straight, but it looks like he’s a bit preoccupied at the moment.”
Goldie leaned closer for a peek through the gap. Adrian’s hand moved to her waist, and the touch sizzled like a spark.
Jordan and Taylor faced one another, their gazes attentive. It really was thoughtful of Adrian to allow them a moment alone. Or what they thought was a moment alone.
Goldie cringed. She would have preferred to not be within eavesdropping or peep-holing distance, but under the circumstances, they couldn’t exactly leave without calling attention to themselves now.
Something told her the scent of manure, animals, and feed never completely faded, no matter how much time a person spent in here. She didn’t mind though. In the moment, in the dark, the only thing she was aware of was Adrian. How close he was standing. How heat from his body thrummed and awakened hers. How his eyes danced in the faint light and were pinpointed directly on her.
A horse chuffed nearby. Jordan dipped toward Taylor for a kiss, and then the two pulled away and strolled back out through the open doors.
“The coast is clear,” she whispered. She didn’t know why, but she whispered.
Adrian made no sign of moving. Instead, his eyes glinted with undisclosed humor.
“First kisses in the barn can be pretty romantic,” he said suggestively.
She slanted her gaze at him. She
