The kid stood quiet and sullen, as if he’d heard it all before, as if nothing Sean said could cut him any deeper than he’d already been cut.
See? You were right, asshole. This was why you had no business being a father.
Sean took a deep breath. “Tomorrow you start work for real around here. Seven a.m. Okay?”
“Yeah.” Austin walked away, slammed his bedroom door and a few seconds later the lights went out.
Sean shouldn’t have been so hard on him. He could’ve at least given the kid more time to adjust. Too late. If he went and apologized right now the kid would laugh in his face. Better to let the dust settle.
He went around the house, shutting off lights, inside and out. He flicked off the yard floodlights and noticed a dim light on in the livery barn. Now what?
Stalking outside, he crossed the yard and opened the barn door. One light was on in a storage room and a rear window had been propped open with a stick. How had that happened? Those windows didn’t even open. On his way through the barn, he glanced into the stalls. All the horses were quiet except for the Friesian. He was wide-awake and alert and sticking his muzzle toward Sean inquisitively.
“Still on West Coast time, boy, or what?” Sean stopped and glanced at the horse. Since Sean had seen him earlier in the day, someone had brushed and braided his mane. His coat looked even softer and shinier than it had that afternoon, if that was possible.
Hay rustled in the stall though the horse hadn’t moved.
Sean went still. “Who’s in there?”
More rustling sounded before a head popped up over the gate. “It’s me.”
Grace. A curry brush in one hand, she leaned her head against her horse’s neck.
The first thing he noticed was that she’d traded in her tight jeans for baggy sweats. Hot on the heels of that observation was that all of the tenseness she’d seemed to be carrying in her body since the first day he’d met her was nearly gone. She looked as relaxed as a person could get, and while a part of him hated to destroy the moment, the last thing he wanted was for people to come and go on his property as they pleased.
“You know,” he said, softly. “Some people might call this trespassing.”
“I haven’t been sleeping well.” She looked away. “Brushing Louie…calms me.”
“So that gives you the right to sneak into my barn.”
“Sorry.” She didn’t sound, let alone look, very apologetic.
At a loss, he glanced toward the back. “Those windows stick. According to Arlo, they haven’t been opened for years.”
“There’s a trick to it,” she said. “Tap the upper right hand corner and they slide like a dream.”
“You know this because…”
She took the brush and ran it down the horse’s shoulder. “When I was a kid, I used to sneak in here at night.”
“Troublemaker, huh?”
She wouldn’t look at him. “You could call it that.”
She’d likely been all kinds of trouble when she’d been younger. Probably still was. Why that turned him on, he hadn’t a clue.
“Look,” he said, switching gears, “I don’t know what kind of deal you worked out with Arlo, but I meant what I said the other day about you taking care of your horse on your own. Arlo doesn’t complain much, but he’s not as young as he used to be.”
“Don’t worry about it. Arlo won’t have to lift a finger to help me, and I plan on helping him out as much as I can.” Grace’s horse rubbed his forehead against her and then settled his head on her shoulder. “Besides, I enjoy caring for Louie.” She wrapped her arms around her horse’s neck and smiled.
Suddenly Sean understood why people paid top dollar for pictures of this woman. Her blue eyes sparkled to life, her cheeks rounded with delightful fullness and her lips glistened with pure, sensual joy. Despite her face being devoid of makeup, she was without a doubt the prettiest thing he’d ever seen on two feet.
Their gazes caught, and as if she sensed his gut-level, very male reaction, her smiled slowly faded. Still, he couldn’t seem to tear his gaze from her mouth.
He had to get out of this barn before he remembered exactly how long it’d been since he’d kissed a woman. That little peck he’d given last year to Missy Charms, the owner of one of Mirabelle’s gift shops, in an effort to test the waters of their friendship didn’t count. That kiss had fallen flat from both ends. Grace, he had a feeling, would be a whole different story.
Married, he reminded himself.
“For what it’s worth,” she murmured, “I’m sorry about causing a hassle over boarding Louie that first day we met.” Now that apology was sincere. “Arlo should’ve told you it wasn’t his business any longer and just to set the record straight.” He paused. “I wouldn’t have made you send Louie home.”
“So your bark is worse than your bite.”
“Don’t tell anyone, though, okay?” Clearing his throat, he turned toward the barn door. “By the way, you’re a little old to be sneaking through windows. Next time you feel the need to visit your horse in the middle of the night, try the door.”
“Does that mean I have your permission to trespass?” she asked, the remnants of a smile clinging to her voice.
“For now,” he called over his shoulder. “But be careful, Grace. You never know who you might run into while you’re lurking around a man’s property in the middle of the night.”
“That a threat or a promise?”
He stopped in his tracks, felt a strong stirring in his groin and smiled to himself. Too bad he couldn’t act on this sucker punch of an attraction he was feeling toward this woman. “Aren’t you married, Grace?”
“Not anymore,” she whispered, sounding almost breathless.
He turned to find her partially hidden in shadows, making it tough to discern her thoughts. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Jeremy filed for a divorce last year.” She ran her fingers down one of the braids on Louis’s mane. “I signed the final papers just before I came to Mirabelle.”
Was it his imagination, or did her gaze just travel all over him only to linger for a split second longer on the growing bulge in his jeans? Now he remembered how long it’d been since he’d kissed a woman, touched a woman’s naked skin, let alone had sex. Too damned long. And he wasn’t going to be able to rely on a set of vows to keep his head clear and focused.
“Consider this fair warning. Think twice before starting something with me, Grace. I’m not sure you’ll ever be ready to give what I want from a woman.”
“Which is?”
“Nothing short of happily ever after.”
Surprisingly, she didn’t look the slightest bit shocked by his admission, and that made him want her all the more. Before he could put into action every shocking thought running through his mind about exactly what he wanted to do to Grace, he stalked out of the barn. He wouldn’t have thought it was possible, but his summer had just gotten a hell of a lot more complicated.
CHAPTER SIX
“THERE,” GRACE SAID, LEANING back from the gardens in the front yard of her father’s house. Her left side was aching from use, but it was a good ache. “What do you think, Dad?”
Her father shook his head. “It’s different. Pretty, I suppose.”