The Most Expensive Lie of All. Michelle Conder

night that Cruz wouldn’t be the one to provide them under any circumstances.

      ‘Yes.’

      Her troubled eyes briefly met his and for a moment he wanted to shake her for not being a different kind of woman. A more sincere and genuine woman.

      ‘So what do you think?’

      It took him a minute to realise she was talking about the mare and not herself. ‘She’s perfect. I’ll take her.’

      ‘Oh.’ She gave a self-conscious laugh. ‘You don’t want to ride her first?’

      Oh, yes, he certainly did want to do that!

      ‘No.’

      ‘Well, I did tell you to be quick. I’ll have Donny run the paperwork.’

      ‘Send it to my lawyer.’ Cruz rubbed the mare’s nose and let her nudge him. ‘I hear Joe is planning to sell the farm.’

      She grimaced. ‘Good news travels fast.’

      ‘Polo’s a small community.’

      ‘Too small sometimes.’ She gestured towards the mare. ‘She’ll ruin your nice suit if you let her do that.’

      ‘I have others.’

      So nice not to have to worry about money, Aspen thought, a touch enviously. After the abject poverty she and her mother had lived in after her father’s desertion, the wealth of Ocean Haven had been staggering. It was something she’d never take for granted again.

      ‘Where are you planning to go once it’s sold?’

      ‘It’s not going to be sold,’ she said with a touch of asperity, stepping back as Cruz joined her outside the stall. ‘At least not to someone else.’

      He raised an eyebrow. ‘You’re going to buy it?’

      ‘Yes.’ She had always been a believer in the power of positive thinking, and she had never needed that more than she did now.

      Gypsy Blue whickered and stuck her head over the door and Aspen realised her water trough was nearly empty. Unhooking it, she walked the short distance to a tap and filled it.

      ‘Let me do that.’

      Cruz took the bucket from her before she could stop him and stepped inside the stall. Aspen grabbed the feed bucket Donny had left outside and followed him in and hooked it into place.

      ‘It’s a big property to run by yourself,’ he said.

      ‘For a girl?’ she replied curtly.

      ‘I didn’t say that.’

      ‘Sorry. I’m a bit touchy because so many people have implied more than once that I won’t be able to do it. It’s like they think I’m completely incompetent, and that really gets my—’ She gave a small laugh realising she was about to unload her biggest gripe onto him and he was virtually a stranger to her now. Why would he even care? ‘The fact is...’ She looked at him carefully.

      He had money. She’d heard of his business acumen. Of the companies he bought and sold. Of his innovative and brilliant new polo-inspired hotel in Mexico. He was the epitome of a man at the top of his game. Right now, as he leant his wide shoulders against the stall door and blocked out all sources of light from behind, he also looked the epitome of adult male perfection.

      ‘But the fact is...?’ he prompted.

      Aspen’s eyes darted to his as she registered the subtle amusement lacing his voice. Did he know what she had just been thinking? ‘Sorry, I was just...’ Just a bit distracted by your incredible face? Your powerful body? Way to go, Aspen. Really. Super effort. ‘The fact is—’ she squared her shoulders ‘—I need ten million dollars to keep it.’

      She forced a bright smile onto her face.

      ‘You’re not looking for an investment opportunity, are you?’