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Emotion thickened in her throat, and she barely managed to choke out, “I wanted to see if we had a chance.”
Chase stared at her. Hard. So much crossing his expression that she couldn’t identify what he was feeling. “That was nine months ago.”
She gave him a small smile. “I obviously have a lot of patience when it comes to you.”
He slid his hand over her cheek, his intense eyes piercing through her. “You’ve been waiting for me this whole time?”
She leaned into his touch. “I waited until I couldn’t wait anymore.”
He gathered her in his arms then, bringing her onto his lap. Face to face, he stated in a voice thick and packed full of emotion, “Part of me wants to hold you just like this and tell you to stay. That I want you here. With me. And the last thing I want is for you to go anywhere.”
“The other part of you?” she whispered, her chin quivering.
“Feels like I’m stealing something away that you have wanted for a long time. Because River Rock is not the life you dreamed of having for yourself, Harper. Dammit, it’s not the life you deserve. You should have everything you want, nothing less.”
“You haven’t stolen anything, certainly not my dreams,” she countered. “Yes, I think what we have together maybe opened me up to feeling things I have never felt before. Of course, I want to be with you. It’s what I’ve wanted for nine months, but this choice isn’t only because of you. It’s also about Emma. It’s about Megan. It’s”—her voice hitched—“it’s about family. That’s what I’ve been missing. And now that I see what kind of life I could have here, with you and with everyone, I can’t see anything else.”
Chase reached forward, his palms pressing tightly against her cheeks. “Tell me what you need from me.”
How easy it was to stay right here in the safety of his arms, but her heart was raw and too confused. “I need time to get all this straight in my mind. To make a good decision, because I know what’s on the line here.” Her career. Brody and Chase’s friendship.
Chase held her face even tighter now. “Do what you need to do. Decide what you need to decide. Whatever that may be, either staying here in River Rock or going to Vegas, make this choice for you. Not for me. Not for Brody. Not to hold onto the past. For you, Harper.”
She stared into the sweet warmth of his eyes, seeing a love so healthy it only made her want to make good choices. “While I’m doing that, what are you going to do about Brody?”
“Brody is my problem, not yours.”
Done with talking, apparently, he sealed his mouth across hers, giving her a blazing-hot kiss that left no misunderstanding that he wanted her to stay right there with him.
Chapter 13
Chase arrived at the ranch the next morning to a cloudy, miserable day. He had intended to keep working on the stairs. Though with one look at the cabins and the amount of work ahead of him, he headed straight into the barn on the left side of the farmhouse with Houdini in his arms. The gravel crunched beneath his boots and he noticed the light on in the kitchen. Mom was up, obviously having her breakfast. Not in any mood to talk, his mind far away from there, he avoided the house altogether.
For the last week, he had been pushing on, pretending that he had everything under control. He had to stop pretending. Everyone was miserable. Harper was not in his arms where he wanted her. His interference with Harper’s departure had left Brody feeling betrayed. And then there was the inspection.
Maybe he deserved all this coming to him.
His selfish need to take Harper to his bed before she moved to Las Vegas had put all this into motion. He could almost see his father standing next to him with his famous glare. Hell, he could certainly feel him. Trying to get away from the thoughts in his head, he inhaled the brisk morning air, catching hints of the sweet-smelling hay in the pasture, his muscles aching with every step he took.
When he entered the barn, he found the ten stalls empty. The Blackshaw Cattle cowboys were already out on the morning cattle run. Too bad. Time away was precisely what Chase needed. There was a certain peace that came with doing something he had been raised to do, and he needed the fresh Colorado air to think. Because somehow Harper’s bombshell yesterday had blown apart the final strands of control he had on the world. Early this morning, certain truths about Harper, about the guest ranch, about his life, had revealed themselves.
Truths he could no longer ignore.
Determined to find a way to clean the mess he had created, he placed Houdini gently down on the ground, grabbed a halter and lead off the hook by the stall doors, then headed back outside. At the gate, he unlatched the lock and whistled twice.
Off in the distance, standing with the herd of horses, Mac, his dark bay warmblood with the white star, began cantering toward him, ears perked forward. Chase had picked him up from an auction as a two-year-old when he was twenty years old. He held a special bond with this horse. Mac was as loyal to Chase as a dog.
When Mac slowed to a trot then stopped in front of him, Chase stroked his hand down his face. “Hey, boy.” He placed the halter over his head, buckling it in place, then led him back into the barn. He used to ride daily. These past months of building the guest ranch, he had gotten out twice a week if he was lucky. And the last days with Harper, well, Chase felt no guilt for ignoring Mac then.
While Chase led him into the barn, Mac’s hooves clicked against the cement floor as Houdini came charging from the back of the barn, running down the aisle between the stalls and promptly sliding into one of the bales of hall.
Mac dropped his head, snorting at Houdini who barked back.
“Ah, you’ll be buddies before you know it.” Chase reached for the crosstie and clipped it onto Mac’s halter. After he clipped the second one into place, he grabbed a brush from the tack box on the ground, obviously left by one of cowboys this morning. Something that his father would have t
aken issue with.
Keep your barn clean and your boots dirty had been his father’s saying.
