“Yes, ma’am, along with my three aunties. They call themselves the Dazzling Damsels.”
“Uncle Graham told me. I’m glad I’ll get to meet them on Saturday.”
“You’ll have fun. So will Tex.”
“For sure.” She paused, her expression tough to read. “It was kind of you to include him even though he didn’t fit into your original plans.”
Ouch. Direct hit. “I…” He gulped in air. “I’m sorry. I took one look at you and I…I have no excuse. I was thinking with my dick.”
“You’re not the first and you won’t be the last.”
He groaned. “The thought of being lumped in with every other guy who’s lusted after you makes me sick to my stomach.”
“You’re not lumped in with anybody.”
“Of course I am. I deserve to be.”
“Not really.”
“I’ve never had that reaction to a woman, and I apologize. Talk about a one-track?—”
“Shut the eff up, Montgomery Bridger.”
He blinked.
“I can’t very well judge you for your behavior when I felt the same way when I first saw you.”
He stared at her, speechless. When he finally untangled his vocal cords, his voice was a garbled croak. “I doubt it.”
“Oh, no, I promise you I did. But I reined it in. Those thoughts don’t fit into my program. You’re beautiful, but you’re not for me.”
She’d called him beautiful? “Is that why you were crying a while ago?”
She rolled her eyes. “No.”
“Something got to you.”
“Um, yeah.” She glanced away. “The thing is, I picked a loser. It’s my fault that Tex doesn’t have a dad.”
“No, it’s not. That guy gets all the blame for?—”
“Whether he does or doesn’t makes no difference. It’s up to me to fix it since he won’t. I thought this foal would fill the void. Then I heard the eagerness in Tex’s voice when he proposed teaming up with you and I realized….”
His chest tightened. “That foal is a wonderful gift. They’ll have a great time together. He’s a lucky boy.”
She shook her head. “A foal is not enough. He still needs a dad, and I’m not taking a chance on making another mistake.” She looked at him, her gaze bleak. “There’s no answer.”
He ached, and there was nothing sexual about it. Well, maybe slightly sexual. “I wish I could hold you. I wish I could magically make everything better.”
“But you could make everything worse. For both of us. For all three of us.” She sucked in a breath. “I need to get out of here.” Squaring her shoulders, she walked quickly past him.
He resisted the urge to go after her. And do what? She’d said there was no answer. She was probably right.
Chapter Fourteen
Zinnia couldn’t sleep. Big surprise. Who could have predicted that? Ha, ha.
Going to bed when Tex wasn’t asleep in his room was unsettling. Wrong. The day would come when he’d ask to spend the night at a friend’s house, but this wasn’t that day.
