Page 13 of Ethan

They stayed longer than they meant to, wandering from shop to shop until the afternoon light started to soften and turn gold.

“We should head back,” Serena said, glancing at her phone. “Don’t want to be on those roads after dark.”

Naomi smiled. “No, we don’t.”

They climbed back into the SUV, a bag of fudge and a few other small treasures between them and headed out of town. Naomi watched Clifton disappear in the side mirror and felt something settle quietly in her chest.

When they pulled into the ranch the sun was sitting low on the horizon, painting everything amber. Ethan was sitting on the front steps of the main house, a coffee cup in his hand.

Serena parked and they climbed out.

“Made it back before dark,” Serena called over to him.

He lifted his cup in acknowledgment and said nothing.

“I’ll see you Monday,” Serena said, squeezing Naomi’s arm. “This was fun.”

“It really was. Thank you for showing me around.”

“Anytime.” Serena climbed back in, gave a wave, and pulled out of the yard.

Naomi glanced over at Ethan as she headed toward the stairs. “Goodnight, Ethan.”

“Night.” He didn’t look up.

She climbed the stairs smiling anyway.

****

Ethan watched her disappear around the corner of the barn, the sound of her footsteps fading into the quiet.

He took a sip of his coffee and stared at the spot where she’d been.

He’d been around plenty of beautiful women. Dated a few. Never had trouble keeping his head straight about any of them. There was something about Naomi Austin that was different and he couldn’t put his finger on what it was, which bothered him almost as much as the feeling itself. He looked down at his cup.

“And you offered to drive her to Kalispell.” He shook his head. “Idiot.”

Now he wished he hadn’t offered, but it was done. He’d take her to get her horse and after that he’d keep his distance. As much as he could anyway.

He made a point of watching his trainers work every day, checking in on the horses, seeing how they responded. That wasn’t going to change. But he could be professional about it. He was glad she and Serena had hit it off, that made things easier, gave her someone to settle in with. It was good for the ranch. He’d keep telling himself that.

He drained the last of his coffee and went inside.

Shouldn’t be too hard. He hoped.

He found her sitting on the bottom step of the apartment stairs the next morning, a coffee cup in her hand, looking out over the pastures like she had nowhere else to be.

She looked up when she heard him cross the yard. “Morning.”

“Morning.” He stopped at the bottom of the stairs. “I checked my schedule. Saturday works for Kalispell if that’s good for you.”

That light came into her face again; the same one she’d had in the apartment when she’d seen the pastures for the first time. Gone just as quick. “Saturday is perfect. Thank you.”

“We’ll need to leave early. It’s a long drive pulling a trailer.”

“How early?”

“Six. Should get us there by nine.”