Hailey flashed a smile at him as she picked up two plates. She handed him one and took the other.
“I’d love to,” she told him, turning her attention to the extensive array. “I know there’s a trend to skip breakfast these days, but I always felt that a healthy breakfast laid the groundwork for a productive day.”
Hailey took a little of everything so that, when she was finished, what was on her plate just equaled a normal sized serving of breakfast. Dillon followed suit right behind her.
“Oh.” Hailey had barely sat down when she realized that she had forgotten something.
“What is it?” Dillon asked as he saw her getting up again.
“I forgot all about putting out some dry cereal,” she explained. “I didn’t know if maybe you would prefer that to this.” She nodded at the table.
She really did know how to overwhelm a man, Dillon thought. But then, he had a feeling that this wasn’t her first time for that. Any man she would have gone out with would have been overwhelmed in her presence.
He put her mind at ease. “Dry cereal never smelled this good.” He nodded at her chair. “Please sit and enjoy this with me.”
Hailey liked the way he had put that. She did as Dillon suggested, sinking back down in her chair. She really was hungry at this point.
They ate in silence for about a minute, and then he had to ask, “Do you always go this overboard?” He nodded at all the food that was still left on the warming tray.
“Only when I’m not sure of my audience,” Hailey told him truthfully.
“I thought that maybe your plan was to get me so full I couldn’t move,” he said, breaking off another strip of bacon and eating it.
“No,” she laughed, “No plan. I just prepared everything I could think of.”
He wasn’t in the habit of overeating, but everything tasted so good, it was hard to get himself to stop. “I guarantee you that once I finish even half of this,” he said, glancing down at his plate, “my horse is going to go on strike when I try to mount him.”
She had a sudden image of that and found herself grinning. “I highly doubt that.”
“I don’t,” Dillon countered, finishing another piece of toast. “Rawhide has a mind of his own, and whatever is on it, he makes sure you know about it.”
“Rawhide?” Hailey repeated quizzically.
“My horse,” Dillon told her.
He was volunteering details and she eagerly soaked them up.
“What kind of a horse do you have?” Hailey wanted to know. Then, before Dillon could answer, she held up her hand, stopping him. “Wait, let me guess.” She thought for a second, picturing Dillon on his horse. “A black stallion, right?”
“I’m afraid that Zorro claimed that one,” Dillon deadpanned.
She ate the last of her scrambled eggs. “All right, what do you ride?” Hailey asked.
“A dapple gray.”
She had to admit she felt a little disappointed by the image that sprang up in her mind. “Named Rawhide?” she questioned.
“That’s the name he answers to,” Dillon told her. “Why? Something wrong?” he asked. She had a disillusioned expression on her face.
She lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “His name doesn’t suit his appearance.”
Her answer amused him. He never thought about the horse’s name one way or another. “Well, you can tell him that yourself when we go out riding later today,” he teased.
“I didn’t mean to sound as if I was being critical.” She felt she owed him an explanation for her reaction. “It’s just when you said his name was Rawhide, I got this image of a jet-black stallion dramatically rearing up on his hind legs.”
Finishing his coffee, Dillon set down his cup. “I don’t know about the rearing part, but Rawhide runs a fast mile and he has to be one of the smartest horses I’ve ever come across.”
“Well, I’d really love to meet him,” Hailey told him, hoping that she hadn’t ruined anything by allowing her fantasy to get the better of her.
“You will,” he assured her. Damn, but he felt full, he thought. He shouldn’t have eaten as much as he had. “Along with Delilah.”
“Delilah?” she echoed.
“Your horse,” Dillon told her. “At least she is for today. You did want to go riding today, right?” he asked, realizing that maybe he had assumed too much.
“Oh, yes,” she told him. The dapple gray might not be living up to the image she had projected for Dillon, but the bottom line was that they were going to go riding together and that was what she really wanted. “What color is my horse?” she asked, then quickly added, “No expectations. I’m just curious.”
Dillon smiled. He was getting a real kick out of this woman. “Tell me, does a palomino work for you?”
Her face lit up with anticipation. “Very much so,” she answered with feeling.
Dillon took a deep breath as he looked down at what was left on his plate. He had eaten more than he had thought he could. It had all been exceptionally tasty, but there was only so much he could consume without the risk of exploding.
He raised his eyes and looked at her. “Would you be very insulted if I didn’t finish everything?”
She laughed softly. “I’d be surprised if you did. I told you, I didn’t intend for you to eat everything. I just wanted to give you a variety to choose from.”
“Well, you certainly did that,” Dillon told her. He rose, picking up his plate and cup and heading for the sink. “You ready to go?”
“Since five-thirty this morning,” she told him. Suddenly realizing what he was doing, she said, “You don’t have to do that.” Hailey began to take his plate from him, intending to put it on top of her own and bring them both to the sink.
But he raised his plate up out of her reach. “My mother made a point of teaching us all to clean up after ourselves. I might be a Fortune, but that doesn’t
