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The distance between her and her husband had become an almost physical barrier, and Tiffany had foolishly thought that if she could bear Ellery a child, things might be different. He might learn to love her.
What a fool!Hadn’t she already known from her own agonizing experience with her mother that relationships between people who loved each other were often fragile and detached? In her own naive heart, she had hoped that she would someday be able to reach Ellery. Now, if what Zane Sheridan was saying were true, Ellery might still be alive.
“Oh, God,” she moaned, closing her eyes and trying to conjure Ellery’s face in her mind. But try as she would, she was unable to visualize the man she had married. Instead, the image in her mind had the forceful features of a virtual stranger from Ireland. “You bastard,” she whispered and wondered if she were speaking to Zane or Ellery.
Her tense muscles began to relax as she rinsed the soap from her body and then turned on the shower spray to wash her hair.
Once she felt that all of the grime had been scrubbed from her skin, she turned off the shower, stepped out of the tub and wrapped herself in a bath sheet. After buffing her skin dry, she grabbed the only nightgown in the room, an impractical silver-colored gown of thin satin and lace.
Just what I need,she thought sarcastically as she slipped it over her head and straightened it over her breasts. She smiled to herself, grabbed her red corduroy robe and cinched the belt tightly around her waist. She was still towel-drying her hair when she stepped into the bedroom.
As she did, her gaze clashed with that of Zane Sheridan.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, lowering the towel and staring at him with incredulous slate-blue eyes.
“I wanted to make sure that you didn’t fall asleep in the tub.”
She arched an elegant brow suspiciously. “Didn’t you hear the shower running?” When a slow-spreading smile grew from one side of his face to the other, Tiffany’s temper snapped. “I don’t need a keeper, you know. I’m a grown woman.”
His eyes slid over her body and rested on the gap in her overlapping lapels. “So I noticed.”
Angrily, she tugged on the tie of her robe. “You’re insufferable!” she spit out. “I could have walked in here stark naked.”
“Can’t blame a guy for hoping—”
“I’m in no mood for this, Zane,” she warned.
He sobered instantly and studied the lines of worry on her beautiful face. “I know. I just thought I could get you to lighten up.”
“A little difficult under the circumstances.”
“You lost a foal. It happens.”
Her lips twisted wryly. “That it does, Mr. Sheridan. That it does.” She sat on the corner of the bed and supported herself with one straight arm while pushing the wet tendrils of hair out of her face with her free hand. “It’s been a long day.”
“I suppose it has.” He strode across the room, threw back the covers of the bed and reached for a drink he had placed on the nightstand. “I checked on Ebony Wine.”
Tiffany watched his actions warily. Why was he still here and why was she secretly pleased? She raised her head in challenge and ignored her rapidly pounding heart. “And?”
“You were right. Mac took care of her. She’s a little confused about everything that went on tonight, still calling to the foal. But she’s healthy. The afterbirth detached without any problem and Mac had already cleaned her up. He thinks she’ll be ready to breed when she shows signs of foal heat, which should be the middle of next week. The veterinarian will be back to check her tomorrow and again before she goes into heat.”
Tiffany nodded and accepted the drink he offered. “It’s a little too much for me to think about right now,” she admitted, swirling the brandy in her glass before taking a sip.
“It’s the business you’re in.”
Tiffany stared into the amber liquor in her glass and moved her head from side to side. “And sometimes it seems like a rotten way of life.”
Zane ran his hand around the back of his neck. “It’s never easy to lose one, but it’s the chance you take as a breeder.”
“And the living make up for the dead?”
Zane frowned and shrugged. “Something like that. If it bothers you so much, maybe you should get out of the business,” he suggested.
“By selling the farm to you?” Her eyes lifted and became a frigid shade of blue.
“I didn’t think we would get into that tonight.”
“You brought it up.”
