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Even though she wasn’t sure what the hell she was doing. Having a date with Jackson wasn’t something she’d ever thought would happen again. He was part of a chapter she’d buried deep in the past and to have that book opened again was so strange.
And yet, nothing about being in his company right now felt strange.
When a pond came into view, she coaxed Clover in that direction and Jackson brought Zip up alongside her, stopping at the water’s edge. The horses waded in a few feet and took a drink while Isabel squinted out over the pond, watching Blaze splash into the water.
“It is lovely here,” she said. “I mean, Christian’s house and backyard were nice last night, but I hadn’t noticed all this.” She arced her arms out to encompass the pond, the sprawling fields filled with food in various stages of growth, the thick woods lining the perimeter of it all, and of course, Maplehaven’s three mountains—Birch Peak, Mount Woodrich, and Brenton Mountain—rising up to the sky in the distance. Sunshine poured over everything and the warmth made Isabel feel revived.
“What was your place in Pennsylvania like?” Jackson asked.
Isabel turned to look at him and now the warmth she felt wasn’t only because of the sunshine. Jackson’s long, toned leg rested at Zip’s side, his booted foot securely in the stirrup. One of his large, solid hands gripped the reins, while the other hand absently finger-combed the horse’s mane. His biceps did that straining-against-his-shirt-sleeve-hem thing and the urge to rip his T-shirt apart with her teeth nearly overwhelmed her.
She glanced away quickly, not wanting to linger on his neatly-trimmed beard or the way it framed a mouth that appeared as kissable as it had always looked.
“I had a little Cape-style house near the hotel I managed,” she said. “It was cute, but the yard was small, making the neighbors too close. Easy to maintain, but not a place I felt too bad about selling.”
Jackson’s eyebrows rose, cresting the top of the sunglasses he wore. The sunglasses that added about a hundred watts of extra sexiness to him. “You sold it. Aren’t you going back to Pennsylvania after you’ve helped your grandfather?”
Isabel shook her head. “No. When I’m done here, it will be time to find a spot for my resort and move there.”
“Wow. You want to open your own resort?” He sounded impressed and that made Isabel sit up a little taller on Clover as the horses backed out of the water.
“Yeah. I went to school for hotel management, have been working at the same hotel in Pennsylvania since I graduated, and have been planning out my own place for a while now.” She shrugged. “I figure I’ll learn a few things while helping Grandpa at the cottages and when I’m convinced he’s doing okay, I’ll get going with my plans.”
“That’s great, Isabel. I’m certain it will be a huge success.” He gave her a warm smile and she was instantly reminded of how Jackson had always been so supportive of other people when they were in high school. Always encouraging others that they could do things. For as smart as he was, he could have easily looked down on everyone else.
But he never had and it sounded as if he still didn’t.
“Thanks. I’m excited.” She fiddled with the reins, coiling and uncoiling them around her hands. “What about you? Do you have an actual residence somewhere when you’re not on digs?”
He shook his head. “No. It never made sense to get a permanent place because I haven’t been permanently anywhere. Usually the funding I receive for projects includes accommodations near the site.”
“Where do you keep all your stuff then?”
“I only have stuff I use on the job. That all fits in a single trunk, a backpack, and a laptop bag.”
“And here I was impressed with myself for fitting all my belongings in a trailer and my SUV to come here.” She chuckled. “You’ve got me beat.”
“Donovan has some stuff from my childhood that my parents gave me when they moved to Ireland and our Uncle Patrick’s book collection, but that’s about all I own.” He scratched the back of his head. “I guess that sounds pretty crazy, right? To have existed for thirty-one years and to only have a handful of belongings.”
“Your existence is more than your belongings,” Isabel said, wanting to erase the frown on his lips and his pitiful tone. “It’s your contributions that really matter and from what I’ve read, you’ve done quite a bit in the years you’ve been alive, Jackson.”
She knew the moment the words left her mouth she shouldn’t have said them because Jackson pulled his sunglasses up to the top of his head. With a little smile on his lips and the full force of his rich, brown gaze on her, she nearly slid right out of her saddle.
“So you’ve read about me?” His voice didn’t have anything pitiful in it now. Pure satisfaction laced his question. A question he had the answer to, but he wanted to hear her own up to it.
“Well . . . it’s hard not to read about Doctor Jackson Henley and his magnificent archaeological finds,” she said. “Every time I go online, there’s some story blazoned across my home screen about you.”
“Which tells me you often search for me if your home screen is suggesting stories about me.” His grin got a little smugger. “You know that’s how that works, right?”
She did. Shit.
“Don’t be embarrassed,” Jackson said. “I searched for you too. How do you think I knew you’ve been in Pennsylvania?”
“Somebody here didn’t tell you?”
“Nope. The internet told me.”
“Okay,” she said slowly, trying her best not to get visibly excited that Jackson Henley had searched for her online. She wasn’t the only loser here though and that was good to know. “So we’ve been keeping tabs on each other.”
