“Minus riding pants.” She extended her leg a little to show him her fashionably holey jeans and expensive loafers.
He chuckled, at home on his land and at peace. She didn’t think she’d ever seen him this relaxed before. Riding in nature did that for her, too. It had been too long.
“As long as you’re out, I might as well show you around.” He turned his horse.
Ignoring the nagging voice in her head that warned of the temptation driving them both to do something they’d regret, Eliza prodded Willow forward to walk beside Brandon. “What’s there to see other than a bunch of cows?”
He feigned insult. “Those are prime-grade Wagyu and Angus cattle.”
“I’ll remember that the next time I eat steak at the Prime House.” The restaurant was the kind that would meticulously age the meat bought from ranchers like Brandon.
Nothing but the sounds of the horses walking leisurely along, the squeak of leather saddles and chirping birds passed for a few strides.
“Where’s David?” Brandon finally asked. “I didn’t want to wake him this morning.”
“He isn’t back yet.” She was careful not to look at him, instead trying hard to stay immersed in the beauty that surrounded her.
“He’s not?” Worry laced his tone.
Maybe she should be, too. “He must still be with Jillian.”
Brandon took some time to think. “I’ve never known him to cheat on a woman.”
Only now had he taken up that pastime. With her. “That’s nice. He cheats on me and no one else.”
“He’s never been married before.”
“Oh, well there you go… . That explains it.” She let her hand slap gently down onto her thigh, the motion triggering Willow into a trot. “Whoa.” She pulled on the reins, slowing the frisky palomino into a walk.
“You both rushed into it.”
A blunt explanation and an accurate one. She almost thanked him for including David. “It would have worked if he’d have stayed faithful.”
“Maybe.”
“I was committed.”
He glanced at her, doubtful and then not. Uncertain. Because of their kisses. She hadn’t been committed then, had she? If she could kiss Brandon the way she had, how could she say she was committed to a marriage with his brother? Is that what he’d concluded after last night?
“He would have stayed closer to home if he had a wife who wanted the same,” Brandon said.
“I did.”
He didn’t believe her.
“Everything would have been fine if we hadn’t come here,” she told his frowning profile.
“Stay away from his family? That’s no marriage.”
That made her mad. She wasn’t the only one to blame for this. “I didn’t ask for a cheating husband, and I wasn’t the only one involved in our kissing.”
“No, but you didn’t want commitment, either.”
Her jaw dropped down. “You’re not being very nice.”
“You didn’t. You never did.”
“Commitment? Of course I did.” He had gall saying that, the king of isolation.
She listened to the horses’ hooves crunching over a dry, rocky patch. Anything to keep her cool.
“You’re committed to event planning. A husband is only a prop to you.”
She couldn’t believe this. “Not everyone finds true love. You of all people should know that.”
He turned his head toward her, more of a pounce with that direct gaze. “Your events are a surrogate to true love. You never give it a chance.”
“I gave you a chance,” she shot back. And look at the reward she got for that.
“I didn’t have a chance in hell with you.”
Taken aback, she stared at him, unable to zero in on just one comeback. What was he saying? That he’d have loved her if she hadn’t put so much energy into event planning? That was ridiculous.
“If I hadn’t walked away, you would have,” he said.
Once again, his words rang true. At the time he’d walked, their relationship had reached a feverish pitch. Overwhelming, powerful emotion had gripped them. She could never get enough of him and could sense him struggling with the same. It had frightened her as much as it had frightened him. They were young and didn’t know what to do with so much feeling.
But he attributed her partying to their demise. “What was I supposed to do? Not make a living?”
“I’m not saying it didn’t work well for you. It did.”
Work well for her?
“I just wish you would have chosen someone other than my brother to fill the void in your personal life, what there is of it.”
The way he said it came across as harmless, the sound of his casual voice, the way he looked out across the land, a satisfied man on a ride. All the while his meaning hit hard. She was about to lay into him, then stopped herself. That note had been painfully accurate. So had David when he’d said he wanted an annulment. They’d both made a mistake getting married.
“You don’t know anything about my personal life before I married David,” she said quietly.
“I don’t mean to judge you. I just call it the way I see it.”
And for the most part he was right. The irrational side of her unwilling to agree, she faced forward. He termed it wrong. Filling a void wasn’t what anyone aspired for when seeking a life partner. Some found love with less trouble than others, stumbled into it. Some searched doggedly and found it. No matter how, they found it. Eliza hadn’t been so lucky. She’d thought she’d found her true love the first time Brandon had kissed her. To discover Brandon hadn’t felt the same had been the shock of her life. She’d been so sure. And He’d turned on her. He’d abandoned her.
She had no animosity toward him. He’d been totally honest back then. He’d told her the truth. She’d dated many men after him. It was the ones who lied to escape a relationship that were the worst experiences, the ones she wished she could erase from memory. Men like that were too conceited. They treated her as if the truth would hurt more, as if losing them was so terrible. What was wrong with just saying they weren’t interested? It happened. She’d had no interest in some of the men she’d dated, too. That’s why men and women dated. To find the perfect match.
Maybe that was why she could never get over Brandon. He had a true, pure heart. He had honor and integrity. Even when he was fooling himself into solitude, he was a man to respect.
She looked over at him, her gaze drifting down his trim and muscular shoulders and arms, to flat abs and thick thighs straddling the horse. The candy that was always out of reach, denied her. She was denied her perfect match. All the men she’d wanted hadn’t wanted her. Brandon had been one of those men, one who didn’t want her. That was why she’d agreed to marry David. Didn’t he see that?
“I was ready to share my life with a man when David came along,” she finally said. She’d given up on finding her perfect match.
“Were you?” In her peripheral vision she was aware of him turning his head, waiting patiently for her to respond.
“Yes.”
“You married my brother.” Disbelief dripped from his tone.
She’d married David to fill a void and to spite Brandon. Because she wasn’t