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“Okay.” Sam sighed. “I’ll be right there.” He gave Brooks a glance and set the saddle on the ground. “Sorry about this. Candy has had a hard pregnancy. I’d better get right to it.”
“No problem at all. I’ll see you later, Sam.”
“You okay here?”
“I’m gonna try my hand at it. I’ll Google how to saddle a horse.”
Sam gave him a queer look. “All right.” Then he strode out like his pants were on fire.
“How hard can this be?” Brooks said to himself.
He fixed the blanket over the horse’s shoulders, sheepskin side down, and then lifted the saddle. The darn thing weighed at least fifty pounds. He set it onto the horse and grabbed the cinch from underneath the horse’s belly.
“You’re doing it all wrong.” The female voice stopped him short. What in hell? He whipped around, uneasy about where his thoughts were heading. Sure enough, there was Ruby of his fantasies coming forward. His mouth could’ve dropped open, but he kept his teeth clamped as he tried to make sense of it. He’d just left Ruby a few hours ago, and now here she was in the flesh, appearing unfazed at seeing him again. He, for sure, wasn’t unaffected.
“Ruby?”
“Hello, Brooks.”
She practically ignored him as she went about removing the saddle like a pro—a saddle that weighed probably half her body weight—and shoving it into his arms. “The blanket has to be even on both sides. You put it on closer to Misty’s shoulders and then slide it into the natural channel of her body. Make sure it’s not too far down on her hips, either. It’s the best protection the horse has for—”
“Ruby?” He took hold of her arm gently.
She didn’t budge, didn’t face him. “I work here. I’m Look Away Ranch’s head wrangler and horse trainer.”
As if that explained it all. “Did you know who I was last night?”
Her eyes snapped up. “God, no.” She shook her head, and the sheet of beautiful raven hair shimmered. “Beau told us about you only this morning. He wanted to make sure you were really coming before he shared his news. Welcome to the family, Brooks.”
His heart just about stopped. “The family?”
She nodded. “Beau’s like a father to me.”
Brooks released the breath he’d been holding. She’d had him scared for a second that they could be related in some way. “Like a father? What does that mean?”
“My father worked for Beau all of his life, until he died ten years ago. I was sixteen at the time. It was hard on me. I, uh...it almost broke me. My dad was special to me. We both loved horses, the land and everything about Look Away, so when he passed, I couldn’t imagine my life without him. But Beau and his boys were right by my side the entire time. Beau never let a day go by without letting me know I was welcome and wanted here. He took me in and I worked at Look Away, making my way up to head wrangler.”
“You live here?”
“I have an apartment in town, but often I stay in the old groundskeeper’s cottage, especially during the holidays. It’s where my dad lived out the last years of his life. It’s home to me, too, and Beau’s family is now my family.”
Brooks nodded at this new wrinkle in his life. “What about your mother?”
“Mom died when I was very young. I don’t remember too much about her.”
“I’m sorry.” He put his hands on his hips. “So, what do we do now?”
“Now?” Her brows knit together. “What do you mean?”
“About us?”
Her olive skin turned bright pink, and her embarrassment surprised him. The Ruby he’d met yesterday had been fearless and uninhibited. “Oh, that. Well, it’d be best if we didn’t discuss what happened between us last night. Beau wouldn’t approve. It was really nice, Brooks. But not to be repeated.”
“I see.”
“Glad you do,” she said, dismissing the subject with a flip of her hair. “You want to learn how to saddle this horse correctly?”
Dumbfounded, he began nodding, not so much because he gave a damn about saddling, but because Ruby living on his father’s ranch blew his mind. “Uh, sure.”
“Okay, so the blanket has to be even and protecting the horse from the saddle.” Next this petite five-foot-something of a woman positioned the heavy saddle on her knee. “Put the stirrups and straps over the saddle seat so you don’t hit the horse or yourself by accident when you’re saddling up. Now use your leg for support and then knee it up in a whipping motion like this.” With the grace of a ballerina, she heaved the weighty saddle onto the horse’s back. “You want the saddle up a little high on the shoulders first, then slowly go with the grain of the horse’s hair to slide it into place. This way you won’t cause any ruffle to the hair that might irritate the horse later on. Proper saddling should cause your mount no harm at all. Doing it wrong can cause all kinds of sores and injuries.”
“Got it.”
Ruby gave Misty several loving pats on the shoulder. She spoke kindly to the animal, as one would to a friend, and the horse stood stock-still while she continued with a ritual she probably did every day.
Ruby adjusted the front cinch strap. “Make sure it’s not too loose or too tight. Just keep tucking until you run out of latigo. Take a look at how I did this one and you do the back one.”
“Okay, will do.” He made a good attempt at fastening the cinch, Ruby standing next to him. His concentration scattered as she brushed up against him to fix the cinch and buckle it.
“Not bad, Brooks. For your first try.”
Her praise flattered him. And her sweet scent filtering up to his nose blocked out the stable smells.
“Now that Misty is saddled, you want to make sure all buckles are locked in and all your gear is in good shape. Here’s a trick. Slide your hand under the saddle up front.” She placed her small hand under the blanket and saddle. “If your hand goes under with no forcing, you’re good to go and you know your horse isn’t being pinched tight. Isn’t that right, Misty?”
As she stroked Misty’s nose, the horse responded with a turn of her head. The two were old pals, it seemed. Ruby’s big brown eyes lifted to him. “If you want some pointers on riding, I’ve got some time.”
Mentally he winced. He had trouble focusing. He kept thinking about Ruby in his bed. Ruby naked. Ruby making love to him. Feisty, fierce Ruby. He should back away and make an excuse. Gain some perspective. But she was offering him something he needed.
Just like last night.
“Yeah, show me what you’ve got.”
She stared at him for a beat of a second, her face coloring again. They were locked into the memory of last night, when she’d shown him what she had. And it was not to be equaled. “Stop saying stuff like that, Brooks. And we’ll do just fine.”
It was good to know that she wasn’t as unaffected as she wanted him to believe.
“Right. All I can promise is I’ll try.”
* * *
Once Brooks was away from the stable and on horseback, Ruby could breathe again. She’d never expected her one-time, one-night fling to end up being Beau Preston’s long-lost son. The irony in that was killing her.
“You’re not a bad rider, Brooks,” she said to him.
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” He tipped the hat she’d given him to wear. He didn’t look half bad in a Stetson.
“Actually, you learn fast. You saddled up my horse pretty darn well.”
“If you’re trying to butter me up, it’s working, honey.”
“Just speaking the truth. And can you quit the endearments?”
He smiled. “You don’t like me calling you honey?”
“I’m not your honey, Brooks. Ruby Lopez never has been anyone’s honey.” Except for Trace’s at one time, but the sweetness of the term had soured along with the relationship.
They rode side by side along a path that wound around the property. She wanted out of this conversation. Brooks didn’t need to know about her lack of a love life. But for some reason, when he was around, she did and said things she normally wouldn’t.
“Ruby?”
“Hmm.”
“I find that hard to believe. There’s been no one in your life?”
“No one I care to talk about.”
“Ah, I thought so. You’ve been burned before. The guy must be a loser.”
“He isn’t.” Why on earth was she defending Trace?
“Must be, if he hurt you.”
“Remember what I told you? When you want the horse to stop, pull back on one rein. Not two. Two can toss you forward, and that’s a fight you can’t win.”
“Yeah, I remember, but why—”
“See you later, Brooks!” Ruby gave Storm Cloud a nudge, and the horse fell into a gallop. The ground rumbled underneath her stallion’s hooves, and she leaned back and enjoyed the ride, grinning.
She thought she’d left Misty and her rider in the dust, but one quick look back showed her she was wrong. Brooks wasn’t far behind, encouraging Misty to catch up. Ruby had five lengths on them, at best. But it wasn’t a race. She couldn’t put Brooks in danger. For all his courage and eagerness to learn, he was still a novice. “Whoa, slow up, Cloud.” A slight tug on the rein was all that was needed. Cloud was a gem at voice commands. Beau had given her Storm Cloud on her eighteenth birthday, and she’d trained him herself. They were simpatico.
Brooks caught up to her by a copse of trees and came to a halt. “Is that your way of changing the subject?” His mouth was in a twist.
She shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Cute, Ruby.”
“Hey, I’m impressed you caught up.”
“Because you let me.”
“Okay, I let you. But I couldn’t endanger Beau’s long-lost son.”
“One of his sons. I’ve got a twin brother.”
“Oh, no. There are two of you?” She smiled at him. This morning Beau had briefed her on all the sad events of his early life. He’d lost the woman he loved and his twins when she ran away from her abusive father. It was something Ruby had heard rumored, but it was never really spoken about in the Preston household.
“Yeah, I’m afraid so.”
She tilted her head. “Can the world handle it?”
“The world likes the Newport brothers for the most part. But the question is, can you handle it?”
“I already told you, I’m good with you being here.”
“I might be staying quite a while.”
It was time to set him straight, and she hoped to heaven she could heed her own warning. “You’re a city guy who’s out of place in the country. You run a big company, and I’m at home in a barn. You’re also the son of my best friend and mentor. The man is almost a father to me. You’d better believe I can handle it. There’s no other option, Brooks.”
He gave her a nod, his mouth turning down. “You’re right. But when I look at you and remember...”
“Don’t look at me.”
“You’re hard to miss, honey.”
Honey again? “It’s time to head back.” She didn’t wait for his reply. She turned Storm Cloud around. “Let’s go, Cloud.” With a slight nudge of the stirrup, the horse took off in a canter.
“I didn’t peg you for a runner,” Brooks called out.
But that’s exactly what she was.
This time.
With this man.
She wasn’t lying. She had no other choice.
Four (#u598f6169-c998-524b-ab91-0259ca9619a1)
“You’re cooking?” Brooks asked Ruby as he walked into his father’s kitchen later that day.
Ruby glanced at him from her spot at the stove. She wore a black dress that landed just above her knees, fitting every curve on her body like a glove. A pink polka-dotted apron tied at the neck and waist didn’t detract from the look. Brooks was beginning to think Ruby looked sexy in everything she wore.
“I’m cooking. Beau wanted me to make you a special dinner for your first night here.”
“Do you cook every night?”
“No, that’s Lupe’s job. She’s the best cook in the county, but this recipe comes from my father’s family, and it’s something Beau likes me to cook on occasion.”
Brooks walked over to the stove. “I’m the occasion?”
She smiled. “You’re the occasion.”
He lifted the top off the enamel pot. Steam drifted up, and the scents of Mexico filled the room.
“Be careful. It’s hot,” she said, shoving a pot holder into his hand.
“What is it?”
