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They’d napped for an hour or so afterward. Now she just felt great.
She snuggled more fully into the thick coat Ty’s mother had insisted she wear when they’d headed out the door and she’d only had her overcoat. His mother had also found her a pair of boots to put on so she didn’t have to worry about soiling her shoes.
“I like your family, Ty.” Not that she’d met his father yet. The great man had yet to return from the arena where the rodeo was being held. Her breath made a puff of smoke in the crisp air.
“Good.” He clasped her gloved hand. “They like you, too.”
Her gaze cut toward him as they continued their trek toward the barn. “Am I really the first girl you’ve brought home?”
Staring at her from beneath the cowboy hat he’d donned before they’d left his bedroom, he feigned a sigh. “Caught that, did you?”
“What can I say?” She smiled, despite the frigid air stinging her face. “Smart chick, remember?”
He turned to look at her, his eyes like molten chocolate. “I remember everything about you, Ellie.”
At the warmth in his voice, her insides lit.
“But to answer your question, there were a few local girls during high school who came to the ranch. But during college and afterward …” he shrugged beneath the heavy work coat he’d donned “… I just didn’t meet anyone I wanted to bring to Swallow Creek.”
“You brought me.” Her heart slammed against her rib cage. She knew it didn’t mean anything, that she’d only been a convenient, uncomplicated buffer between his family and the circumstances under which he’d
left Swallow Creek.
Only more and more her relationship with Ty wasn’t feeling convenient or uncomplicated.
Sex complicated everything.
“A wise decision on my part.”
Uncertainty hit her. “Because of what happened in your room?”
He pushed an aluminum door open, pulled her inside the building. Warmth swamped her as she stepped onto the concrete floor. Her idea of a “barn” was nothing like the extensive heated metal building in which they stood. This was more like a minibusiness complex. She supposed it was. At the far end she could see areas that appeared to be stables, but at this end there were office spaces and everything was quite meticulous.
Ty shed his gloves, unzipped his jacket and pulled it off. “What just happened was fantastic, but that wasn’t what I meant. I meant because I enjoy being with you—your company, your smile, just holding your hand.”
“Oh.”
Grinning, he rubbed his finger across her cold nose. “Yeah … oh.”
After taking her coat, gloves and scarf and hanging them, along with his, in one of the small offices, he took her hand and showed her around the main barn, one of several barns on the Triple D, apparently. He introduced her to some of the hands, let her feed an apple to a mare, then proudly showed her his stallion, Black Magic.
“Why have a horse when you’ve not been home for years, Ty?”
He stared at the horse, his expression contemplative. “He’s a Thoroughbred and a champion, so he brings a high stud fee.” He’d shown her a room earlier where those stud fee samples were kept frozen. “That more than pays for his upkeep, but maybe you’re right. Maybe I should sell him as I’m not around.”
Eleanor glanced back at the magnificent animal that snorted and grunted as if giving his own feedback to his long-gone owner. Something in Ty’s tone said he didn’t want to let the horse go, that really he was ready to heal past wounds, but perhaps Ty himself wasn’t even aware of what she heard.
“Or maybe,” she suggested softly, hoping she wasn’t overstepping the boundaries of their tentative, confusing relationship, “you should come home and ride him more often.”
Ty held Ellie’s hand tightly in his as they walked into the Swallow Creek Arena where the rodeo was being held. Tonight’s agenda was more about family fun and kicking off the rodeo than actual competitions. There were kids’ events, exhibits, a barbecue cook-off and a barn dance.
From the time they made their entrance, familiar faces greeted Ty, introduced themselves to Eleanor and told him how good it was to see him.
No one mentioned his father.
But no doubt about it, he’d be seeing his father soon.
Acid gurgled in his stomach.
