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“Took my guys all fucking night,” he said with annoyance. “I’ll have him brought over before noon tomorrow. If there is an issue, have Kenneth call me.”
Saxon nodded. “Sure. No problem.”
Blaise looked over at the stables. “Do you have a stall farther away from the other horses? More secluded?” he asked.
Saxon cleared his throat and shifted his feet. Was he scared of Blaise? I hadn’t gotten that impression at the party. But right now, he appeared nervous.
“We can make one,” he assured him. “The horses are pretty evenly spread out, but I can move things around so Empire has his privacy.”
A horse that needed privacy?I rolled my eyes and looked off toward the house with a sigh. Blaise was infuriating. This was Saxon’s ranch. He didn’t have to bow down to Blaise simply because he was rude, arrogant, and liked to intimidate people.
“Am I bothering you, Madeline?”
Blaise using my name made my head snap back around, and I met his gaze.
His eyes still held that air of superiority, but there was a twinkle of amusement there that surprised me more than him knowing my name.
Unfortunately for me, my body liked Blaise more than I did. Blaise Hughes was beautiful—I’d give him that. However, the rest of him I could do without.
“Your arrogance is,” I said aloud instead of in my head. Oh well, he needed to hear it. No one else around here was going to call him out on his attitude.
A brief tug on the left corner of his mouth hinted at a smile that didn’t form. He studied me for a moment, and the intensity made me nervous. I didn’t like that he could do that to me.
Frustrated at my reaction, I turned to look at Saxon. “I think I’ll go inside,” I told him.
Saxon’s face was tense. He seemed to be more worried than nervous now. All he did was nod his head.
I didn’t give Blaise another look as I walked toward the front doors of the house, but I could feel his gaze on me. It made the back of my neck warm. My knees felt slightly weak, and I didn’t care for that at all. Not to a man like Blaise Hughes. He would not intimidate me. I had been around dangerous people. He was just some rich, pampered trust fund baby.
Although the termbabydidn’t exactly fit the muscular, six-foot-two, in-need-of-a-shave man with black boots, jeans, and leather bracelets on his wrists.
Eleven
Over the next week, life began to fall into a pattern. I woke up and had breakfast with Melanie, who didn’t actually eat, and then I went out to help Saxon with whatever chores he had for me.
Melanie hadn’t been happy when I voiced wanting to work outside with the horses. She mentioned that my nails would break or chip. However, Saxon had managed to talk her into it.
Dinner had yet to become a family affair, like Melanie had led me to believe it would be. I wasn’t upset about that and found sitting at the bar in the kitchen with Saxon, eating whatever Mrs. Jolene had prepared for us, was a nice way to end the day. There were even moments that I felt comfortable here—until I felt guilty for it. I missed my father and brother. Living this life felt like I was forgetting them and who I was.
Twice, Declan had come over after dinner, and those nights, I had gone to my room to read. I didn’t mind reading in my room. I was happy to get the time to do it. I just didn’t understand why Saxon kept seeing Declan. He didn’t appear to like her when he spoke of her. It was weird, and although I didn’t care for Declan, it made me feel sorry for her. She was clearly more into Saxon than he was into her. It seemed unfair of him to make her believe otherwise.
I heard Trev’s voice before I saw him. He had also become a part of my daily routine. At least, he’d made himself one.
I gave Jinx one last carrot, then rubbed his ears and head one more time.
“We’ve got company,” I whispered to him before stepping back and moving down three empty stalls to Firefoot, who was watching me closely.
He knew I had carrots, and he was trying not to appear anxious, although the way his ears twitched proved otherwise.
I was just about to pull out a carrot from the bag I carried with snacks when Trev and Saxon walked into the stables.
Saxon stopped and patted Jinx, who wasn’t ever going to win a race—or at least, that was what Saxon had said—but he was Saxon’s. He’d been there when Jinx was born, and they shared a bond. It was clear that Jinx adored him.
“You’re getting attached to the horses,” Trev said as he walked past Saxon, his eyes locked on mine.
I shrugged. “They aren’t as scary as I thought,” I replied. Then, I ran my hand down Firefoot’s neck, which seemed to be his favorite spot to be rubbed.
“When are you going to let me teach you how to ride?” Trev asked me.
