AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Charlie, who’d been her friend.
Now, they would talk about her because of Jacob.
Jacob, who was her lover …
A tremor swept through her.
“What is it, honey?”
“Nothing,” she said, and she busied herself choosing a head of leaf lettuce as if the future of the world depended on it, because she couldn’t trust herself to say another word.
After all, what could you say when you’d just faced facts?
Jacob wasn’t only her lover.
He was her love.
They bought steaks and salad stuff, bread and cheese and wine. Then they drove a block to the Western Ware Shop, where Jake bought jeans and shirts so he’d have a change of clothes.
And though Addison protested, he bought her boots.
“There’s a law in Texas,” he told her solemnly. “It says, if you own a ranch, you have to own boots.”
The owner, who turned out to be the buxom blonde with the Dolly Parton hair and a nice person after all, chuckled and agreed.
By the time they headed back to the ranch, it was midafternoon. Just enough time, Jake said, to take a serious look around the place.
Unless she wanted him to saddle horses and take a ride—if she knew how to ride.
“Certainly, I can ride,” she told him.
Not really.
They went out to the paddock, where the kid who worked the ranch part-time had left the few horses the old man had owned.
Jake watched Addison eye the animals from all angles.
“You sure you can ride?” he said, not even trying to mask his skepticism.
“Didn’t I tell you I could?”
“When’s the last time you were on a horse?”
She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth. The sight almost made him forget all about horses.
“It’s been a while.”
Jake folded his arms. “Adoré. Answer the question.”
She shrugged. “A couple of years.”
“How many is a couple?”
She lifted her head, eyed him with defiance.
“There was a fair in town one summer. And there were pony rides….”
Okay. She couldn’t ride. Jake smiled and promised to teach her one day.
