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It was as close to a compliment as he had ever given her, and she was pleased as punch. But was he teasing, though?
No, his expression appeared genuine. The hard glints of anger had left his eyes. “Lenny and I have been riding around the ranch every day. It truly is beautiful out there.”
Garret nodded, and silence blanketed them again.
Dear Lord, how to start up a conversation with a man who could barely outwardly tolerate her? Small was best, perhaps. “What is your horse’s name?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“It does to me.”
Silence, except for the clop of hooves and the squeak of leather.
She’d spoken quietly, so perhaps he hadn’t heard her. She parted her lips to ask more loudly, but he answered.
“Rooney.” He sighed and jerked his head toward her horse. “Buck? I heard you call him that.”
“Mmm-hmm. He’s my big boy,” she said, giving Buck a pat on the neck. “Roy gave him to me when I was seven. I don’t know if you remember. We were great friends, Buck and I, before I left.”
Garret’s face darkened. What had she said wrong now?
He nodded at the approaching clouds in the distance and kicked Rooney into a trot. “We need to get to the house before dark. A storm’s coming, and we don’t want to get caught out in it.”
“I know you don’t like to talk to me, but there is something you should know,” she said over the increased noise of the horses’ pace.
He slowed Rooney again and looked at her with an impatient glower, waiting.
“We didn’t come into town just to bother you. You seem to think I like being a thorn in your life.” She sat up straighter in the saddle. “I don’t. And I’m sorry Miss Jennings found out about me in that way.”
Garret searched her face. For what, she didn’t know, but for an instant his eyes seemed softer. “Tell me about the spider, Eliza.”
“The spider was a metaphor. The spider is a man.”
“Lenny told me you had a visitor.”
“Did she tell you who he was?”
Garret ran his hand down the scruff of his dark beard. “She told me to ask you.”
Attagirl, Lenny. She was making sure Garret had to take time for conversation with her.
“Wyatt Jennings paid us a visit.”
Garret’s eyes brightened in an instant, and a rage she didn’t understand consumed his face, making the angles of it sharper and harsher. “What did he want?”
“He was frightening, and intimidating, and inappropriate,” the words tumbled out beneath his harsh gaze. “And he said he would come back tomorrow and the next day because you weren’t there. So, Lenny and I decided we didn’t want to be there alone again when he showed up.”
Garret ripped his too-bright gaze away from her. “Tell me everything he said.”
She told him everything as close as she remembered it. After she had finished, Garret rode in silence, and she settled Buck in beside him.
“Wyatt won’t be back tomorrow,” he said, the sound of his voice startling her.
She clutched the reins, and Buck skittered to the side and tossed his head.
Garret watched the buckskin’s antics with a thoughtful expression. “Or if he is, he’s an even bigger idiot than I thought.” He made a short clicking sound and spared a glance for the horizon to the east. “This storm’s going to be bad. I can feel it.”
“You are an animal, aren’t you?” she asked.
