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“Your aunt assures me you can handle some fire?”
“Of course.” She gave Taz a final, longing stroke along his muzzle before crossing the aisle. “I’ve been riding my Trakhener, Diamond Fire, since I was seventeen, and I can assure you, he lives up to his name.”
He nodded, clearly well-versed with the athletic attributes of her jumper’s breed.
“Is it okay for me to take Stimpy out on the trails? Just for an hour or so.”
“You remember them?” he asked with an arch of his brows.
“I do. I know it’s been a while,” she said with a shrug, “but as long as they haven’t changed…”
“No, no changes,” he assured her. “Warm him up in the arena, get a feel for how he handles, and you should be good.”
He wasn’t telling her anything she didn’t know, but she nodded anyway. “Thanks.”
Used to taking care of her own mounts, she stepped forward to saddle the gelding, but Estefan would hear nothing of it. Minutes later, he gave her a leg up and a few tips on the Arabian’s personality, then left them with, “Enjoy your ride.”
She didn’t remember him.
Reyes knew the moment Raine Diamond gave him that warm, interested smile up at the main house, she didn’t remember treating him like a smear of manure on the heels of her polished English riding boots during a summer visit ten years ago. His sixteen year old ego had taken a hit, but the memory of two fifteen year old girls drooling over his older brother wasn’t what rekindled his resentment after all this time.
It was the fact she hadn’t even seen him back then. Dev had been twenty at the time, home on military leave, enjoying his R&R at the pool while hanging out with Loyal and Asher. Reyes had been invisible down in the stables, mucking stalls, sweeping aisles, stacking hay. Fine, he had a job to do. But when he’d finished his shift and joined the rest of ‘em, the pretty, brunette Diamond cousin hadn’t given him the time of day as she pranced around in her little red bikini.
To her, he’d just been a stable boy. The hired help who’d been shoveling manure while she and Bells went for a joy ride earlier that morning. Of all the years he’d grown up hanging with the Diamond kids, even knowing the gulf of privilege that separated their families, he’d never once felt less than any one of them—until that day.
That feeling came roaring back again today. Didn’t matter that he’d caught a flare of interest in the now twenty-five year old’s hazel eyes, it was the knowing she didn’t recall snubbing him that hit the hardest. To her, he hadn’t even been worth remembering.
The irony of that pissing him off was a real kick in the ass. These days, he wanted to fade into the background. Since getting out of the Army almost a year ago and coming home, he made sure his usual happy-go-lucky smile and carefree attitude kept everyone from seeing all the shit he kept bottled up inside.
The only one who suspected how deep it went was Dev, but ninety-nine percent of the time he was training or on a mission, so other than the occasional email or text, he left him alone. The horses were his mental therapy, and with the stables relatively quiet now that the senator and Janine spent a lot of time in Washington, he’d been virtually invisible and glad for it.
One look at Raine up at the main house had set his nerve endings buzzing with energy. His grip tightened on the windowsill of his above-the-stables apartment window as he watched her out in the arena astride Stimpy. Her slim form moved as one with the horse, her long hair streaming out behind her as she cantered him in figure eights with a firm hold on the reins.
The chestnut Arabian could be a headstrong sonofabitch, but right now, he moved willingly under her guidance, his lead switches smooth as butter. Reyes couldn’t help but be impressed by her skill and grace in the saddle, though it wasn’t surprising given he’d heard Shelby bragging she was in the running for a spot on the US Equestrian Team.
When she exited the arena for the riding trails surrounding the estate, he headed down to the stables. His gut clenched as his mind screamed to turn around and go back. It reminded him of being on patrol. Trouble was brewing, and he was heading right for it. But he could no more have kept himself from descending the stairs than he could’ve disobeyed an order from his commanding officer.
The certainty of that left him itchy and restless, and he needed to do something with his hands. In Afghanistan, he used to clean his rifle, and then clean it again. Now, he’d have to make do with saddles. It was almost as good.
In the tack room, he grabbed a cloth and some leather cleaner.
His dad walked by, then back-tracked. Reyes looked up when he stopped in the doorway. “You headed out?”
“Not quite. I’m waiting for Janine’s niece to get back from her ride.”
“Is Mom done with everything up at the house?” They always rode together when his mom worked on Sundays.
His dad shrugged. “She’ll keep herself busy until I can leave.”
“You can go if you want. I’ll take care of things here.”
“Got nothing better to do on your day off?”
Reyes lifted a shoulder as he avoided making eye contact. “I’m heading out later, so just killing some time for now.”
“Hmm.” His dad watched him quietly for a moment.
His pulse thudded hard as he waited to be called out on the lie.
