Chapter Ten
Emily couldn’t remember the rest of her day. She knew there were customers and a couple phone sales for pieces showcased on her website, but tunnel vision had her existing only until closing and her date with Adam.
Was it a date? A meeting? A gathering? Two people hanging out on horses.
She shrugged. It didn’t matter what the term was. What mattered was the eager anticipation firing up her belly. The slightly sweaty palms gripping the steering wheel and the silly smile she wore.
Emily turned beneath the stone archway and entered Sky Lake Ranch. Her smile slipped as tightness squeezed her chest. Rolling her shoulders, she reminded herself to breathe. It was a ranch. An integral part to the town. She needed to focus on that. Not on what it may have represented to a lost future.
So what if she’d never visited? Why would she? Teams of people all working side by side joking and laughing and ensuring everything was operating like the mechanisms of a Swiss watch sounded like her personal idea of hell in the past. But today it didn’t supply the same reaction. And as the road dipped and swayed she realized she’d clearly been missing out. Oh, not on the people level, but on a beauty and nature level—it was something her artist’s soul could spend a lifetime trying to capture.
The sun sat low on the horizon as horses of every size and color stamped and pranced through multiple corrals. Cowboys and ranch hands worked them, and their city slicker riders, as several dogs wove in between the equine masses, narrowly missing hoofs as if it were a game of chicken.
Speaking of which, Emily applied the brakes as a single file line bolted across the dirt road in front of her. She couldn’t contain the laughter that spilled from her lips as the cluckers ducked under a log fence and hopped up on the feed trough.
“I guess that answers the age-old question.”
She noticed several heads with cowboy hats perched atop, following the progress of her truck and knew she was adding to the grapevine that apparently ensnared her. She didn’t care.
A huge log structure came into view, and Emily pulled off to the side and parked. It was three stories, and multiple gables rose at different heights, each with large multi-pane windows. The base covered in river rock and huge pillared supports highlighted a porch that would cover half of downtown Fly Creek. Rocking chairs dotted the length along with a few benches, several of which were occupied.
Emily checked her reflection in the mirror. It was she looking back but a revived she. Pink cheeks, eyes bright with a hint of excitement. She still felt Drew’s loss, but it didn’t have the overwhelming power that had controlled her life for three years. She hopped out and shut the door only to find a tall, dark-haired cowboy striding up to her wearing a huge smile.
He tipped his tan hat. “Miss White?”
She nodded.
“Adam asked me to keep an eye out for you. He’s down in one of the indoor arenas finishing up a class. I can take you if you like.”
“Thank you, Mr.?”
“Rigby. Dan Rigby. But please call me Dan. Everyone does, including the strangers who ride in on Saturdays and leave a week later.”
She fell in step beside this handsome and charming cowboy. Oh, he was no Adam Conley, but she decided instantly that she liked him. She’d always had a knack for sizing people up but it had grown rusty over the years, unwilling to even acknowledge a feeling—or any feelings, for that matter.
She absorbed everything surrounding her. So much movement, and so many people and animals. It was simply a well-choreographed dance.
“First time here?”
She glanced at Dan’s handsome face—one that did little to her internal temperature. “Yes. On any ranch for that matter.”
“Well, aren’t we lucky to be your first. Hopefully this won’t be your last visit. You’ve certainly added to its beauty.”
Oh, he was a smooth one, though not in that snake-oil salesman kind of way.
“Is that how you charm all the girls?”
“Nah.” He waved to a fellow rancher. “Only the ones worth charming.”
They came to a metal pole building, massive sliding barn doors open, and the sound of kids’ giggles spilling through the doorway.
“I’ll leave you to Conley. It was a pleasure meeting you, Miss White. I do hope you visit again. Sky Lake has a lot to offer.”
He walked away, the swagger all cowboys seemed born with invested in his booted step. And while the view was nice, it didn’t invoke the cavalcade of butterflies watching Adam Conley walk away did.
Time to find her butterfly-inducing cowboy. She stepped into the arena, staying close to the side and shadows. There in the center, surrounded by six children each atop ponies, stood Adam. She visually devoured him, letting anticipation soar through her body. He held up a coiled rope, showing them the placement of his fingers and thumb, a sawhorse with horns behind him.
“Okay, let’s try one final time. Line up and remember the release we talked about.”
Emily watched mesmerized as Adam swung up onto a horse and guided each of the youngsters as they attempted to rope their horned friend. Only one managed to do it but each child wore a smile befitting a lottery win. Adam gave each child his undivided attention, calling out encouraging words and whooping with the rest of them as each released their rope in hopes of ensnaring their target.
He was amazing with them—patient, kind, and stern when needed as one child got a little too rambunctious waiting for his turn. Adam Conley had already piqued a dormant physical interest, but seeing him here in his element crystallized just how attractive he was. He pulled not only her physical strings but tugged at emotional ones as well.
He will make a great father someday.
The errant thought froze her limbs, and she pressed her back against the steel wall, the coolness of the metal filtering through her thin cotton shirt. Fingers gripped metal poles as her feet begged her to run. It seemed the crack in her shell not only let physical need in, but opened her to all these long-buried possibilities.
Emily closed her eyes to the intoxicating sight and breathed. She couldn’t allow herself to follow the thought of a family as it pertained to her and her future. Living again was one thing. Opening her heart up was something entirely different. And picturing a future with a man seeking something not here in Fly Creek was impossible.
She slowed down her breathing and centered herself. Once assured the panic had flown the coop, she unclenched her grip on the side of the building and stepped forward. She didn’t collapse, which was all she could hope for at the moment.
Adam dismissed the kids, and a bunch of ranch hands led the ponies out the back set of doors. Emily stepped closer to the fence surrounding the ring, and Adam noticed her. A smile spread across his features, and he walked in her direction, stopping only when his boots touched the tips of hers under the railing.
“I see you found me.”
“Thanks to the charming Dan.”
“Charming, huh?” The slight growl to his words sped up her pulse. She shrugged.
“Well, let’s get you on a horse and then I’ll show you charming.”
Adam hopped over the railing and grabbed her hand, interlocking their fingers. They stepped out in the late-afternoon sun and paused as a string of horses paraded by.
“They’re headed for a trail ride.”
“Are we joining them?” Emily asked, hoping the answer was no. She wanted this time with him. To learn and explore. Not to be surrounded by strangers and other ranch hands.
“No. I thought since you’re new to horses maybe we would take an easier and flatter trail, and I can focus on just you.”
He hadn’t disguised his meaning, and Emily’s pulse intensified in anticipation. “That sounds perfect.”
…
Fifteen minutes later, Adam looked back to see Emily smiling atop the gentlest mare Sky Lake had. She’d focused on all his instructions, patted his cheek, and then let him lift her into the saddle, where she settled like she’d been born to it. Even now a quick glance showed her sleek thighs gripping the dappled mare’s flanks, her fingers loose around the reins.
“I’m fine,” she said and then laughed, and Adam glanced forward again. The trail would widen shortly, and they would be able to walk side by side.
Maybe he should take this time to examine the surge of jealousy her statement about Dan produced. He had no right to be jealous over Emily. She wasn’t his. Sure, he was so far into the gray area of this promise that black was tapping him on the shoulder, but spending time with him made her happy. She seemed to be enjoying life in his company. So in the most basic, technical sense, he was doing what needed to be done.
But jealousy stemmed from more than a technicality. It was rooted in desires he needed to nip in the bud. The desire to be with Emily, actively. Not peripherally. And that was a booby-trapped mine waiting to fail.
The trail finally widened, and he slowed his horse until Emily came up beside him.
“You good?”
“Yes, Mother. I’m fine. Now where are you taking me?”
Adam sidled closer and grabbed ahold of her reins. Leaning over, he brushed a kiss across her surprised lips. “I’m not your mother. And patience is a virtue.”
He swallowed a smug smile and clicked his tongue, both horses instantly responding. A quick glance showed Emily concentrating on her mare’s mane, a pale blush coloring her cheeks.
They ambled on a few more minutes, Adam trying to figure out the best question to draw some of Emily’s past out into the open. The selfish part of him didn’t want to. He wanted to enjoy her smiles, the sparkle in her hazel eyes. But the part of him committed to his promise said it was necessary to get her to open up. To make sure when he left that she recognized she was strong enough to keep carrying on.
“So, no horse riding in your past?”
She laughed. “No. This city girl and horses have no history. Well, except for the occasional carousel ride.” She leaned forward and rubbed her cheek on her mare’s neck. “I had no idea what I was missing.”
Adam smiled and looked forward. It was a good start. He hadn’t noticed sorrow, only an eagerness to answer. Even if the answer had been bare bones.
“What about you?”
He looked over.
“I mean, it’s obvious you have a history with them.” She let her gaze roam over him, and he felt every eyelash. He knew from experience a hard-on and a saddle weren’t good friends. Mentally chanting gray area over and over, he waited for her to continue.
“You ride as if the horse is a natural extension of your body. I can see that, and my knowledge consists of the past ten minutes.” She pulled on the reins, her mare responding instantly. Clasping the pommel, she cocked her head. “What’s your story, cowboy?”
He stopped his mount, now a few strides in front of her and turned it, blocking hers from moving. It was a stalling tactic. He didn’t want to answer her. His history wasn’t supposed to come into play. But she’d asked, and looking at her so patiently encouraging, late-afternoon sun picking up glints of gold in her long brown hair, he felt it only fair.
“I was put on my first pony at two.” He didn’t add that his father had been drunk and the pony without a saddle.
“And it was love at first seat?”
He laughed despite the hollow feeling in his stomach. “Something like that.”
“So you’ve been around them your whole life, pretty lucky in my opinion.”
Adam managed a nod. Lucky wouldn’t even enter a thousand-word list to describe his life. But he could see it from her point of view, the excitement and romanticism. Hell, even he could see it, here at Sky Lake, although he still knew it was an illusion. One that would eventually shatter given long enough.
“Not my whole life.”
Emily smiled. “That’s right. You’re a change seeker.” She looked around them and tipped her face up to the sun. Basking in its warmth, eyes closed, she said, “I can’t believe the change you’re looking for isn’t here.”
Maybe it is.
He jerked, his mount instantly shying away from Emily. He gripped the flanks and pulled it back into line, but not before Emily’s mare, taught to follow, moved. She hadn’t been ready, her focus on the world around her, and Adam watched as she slid sideways away from him toward the ground.
She laughed a moment later, her head popping above the mare’s. “Being flexible has its perks apparently.”
Adam could only nod. He’d seen any number of people fall or be thrown from horses during his life and even at his short time here at Sky Lake. But none of them had been Emily. Before he could ask, she planted her boot in a stirrup and was already back in the saddle smiling.
“Lead on.”
She was amazing. All anyone could ever want in a woman. The perfect partner in building a home. And what was he doing? Helping her find her way to someone else.
“Adam, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he said as he urged his horse on, Emily’s sidling up beside him.
They came to the lookout five minutes later. Adam hopped down and tied his horse off to a branch, helping Emily do the same. Hand in hand they walked to the edge and stood taking in all the vista provided.
Adam ignored the guilt and reasons pummeling his head and heart. He was going to live in this moment right alongside Emily. If she could face the unknown of what was growing between them, then tonight he would, too.