“Ye sure?”
“Yeah, they’re well-trained rodeo horses.” Sarah slid her hand down the neck of the bay she’d ridden.
Taran’s eyes went wide. “Rodeo horses?”
“Yep, the owners passed away, and the kids didn’t want them. My mom took them in, and they’ve been here ever since. This is Greased Lightning and that’s Monarch’s Gold Finch.”
“Fancy names.”
“When my mom got them, she got their pedigree. They’re from a long line of prize-winning horses. Studded out, they could make us millions.” She unloaded the small picnic basket she’d brought. “That is, if my mom hadn’t gelded them.”
“Oh. Why did she do that?” Taran seemed genuinely interested. But of course, he would be.
“It’s a sanctuary. We can’t have our animals breeding, for one. And two, there are too many being sent to slaughter. We didn’t want to add to the population problem. These two are great horses, though. You may not recognize him, but the horse you’re on is the one Ben rode. “
He seemed to consider it a moment and then nodded. “Makes sense. Good lookin’ horse, well-behaved too.”
She pulled a blanket out of the satchel and spread it out, plopped the basket in the middle, and sat down. “Come on. I’m ready to swim.”
Taran stretched out across from her with his elbow propping him up and dug out a sandwich. “This is nice,” he said as he looked around.
Sarah had to agree. It was a little slice of paradise. Large oak trees thick with green foliage lined the lake, and lush green grass spread everywhere. When Sarah and her mom found the place so many years ago, they promised each other it would be their place. Bringing Taran helped fill a bit of the hole left by her mom.
Warm fingers covered her hand. “Why do ye look so sad?”
She looked up, and their gazes locked. “I’ve never brought anyone here before. It was me and my mom’s special place. We’d come here when we needed a break from the world.”
“And ye brought me here?” He stroked his thumb across the back of her hand. “I’m honored.” The breeze picked up, and a piece of his hair blew across his lips. It was like those red arrows on the highway saying, Look here .
She cleared her throat and pulled her gaze from his. If she opened her mouth now, she was afraid of what might come out. Something like, Hold me, kiss me, and never let go.
Having dinner with him the other night only highlighted how much she’d missed him. Then he’d been so close, like he wanted to kiss her again. But she knew that wasn’t it. He was just being nice because she’d cooked dinner .
She needed to get a grip. He was there to help her. She could let herself fall for him, and it would all be one-sided. Taran had been clear about his feelings. He cared about her, but he couldn’t stay. It didn’t matter that they’d kissed. It was just a slip .
“At least I can share it with a good friend,” was the reply she settled on.
A good friend she could see herself falling for easily.
Chapter 18
Taran broke through the surface of the water and shook his hair out of his face. The water was the perfect temperature, and it had been nice to relax with Sarah. “Are ye ever comin’ in?” Not that he didn’t enjoy the view. She filled out her one-piece fantastically.
“I’m enjoying lying here, getting a tan. It’s perfect with the breeze that’s blowing.”
“Come on. I’m swimmin’ by myself. That’s nae fun.” He wanted her to relax too. She was carrying too much.
She shook her head. “Nope. I’m good.”
“Ye either come in on yer own, or I’m comin’ to get ye.” He was only partially teasing.
Her eyes narrowed, and her lips parted slightly. “You wouldn’t.”
He swam closer to the edge and then stood. “I would. I’m countin’ to five.”
“No.”
Taran lifted an eyebrow and gave her a half-smile. “One.”
“Stop,” she said and stood like she was getting ready to run.
“Two.” He took a step toward her.
“Taran!”
“Three.”
She took a step back. “Don’t you dare.”
Another step forward. “Five!” He sprinted forward, and she squealed as he grabbed her around the waist. He picked her up and walked back to the water while she continued to protest. “I can take ye in or ye can go of yer own accord. Which will it be?”
Finally, she stopped fighting him and crossed her arms over her chest. “Fine. I’ll come in.”
He smiled in triumph. “Good. Now I willna be alone.”
She rolled her eyes and dipped a toe in. “Oh, it’s pretty warm.”
“I told ye.” The water rippled around his ankles. “Come on; get in.”
Her eyes held mischief as her lips curled into a grin. “Fine. First one across gets to decide dinner.”
“Anywhere they want?”
She hesitated a second. “Okay. Anywhere they want.”
“Great.” He dove into the water and started swimming.
“You cheated!”
“Ye cheated first,” he called back to her.
He heard the splash as she dove in, but the head start he’d given himself didn’t give her any chance of catching up. Or he didn’t think so. Just as he touched the shore, he felt her body next to his. She was faster than he thought.
“It’s…a…tie.” Her words were punctuated with pants.
“Naw, it is nae. I beat ye.”
She glared at him. “It is too. You cheated. Based on that, we tied.”
“I won. I get to pick.”
She harrumphed, and a spark of mischief played in her eyes. “Oh yeah?”
“Aye,” he said, backing up.
Sarah lunged forward and dunked him.
Water surged up his nose and burned. When he surfaced, he hacked and coughed. He needed to get her back, so he continued to gasp for air like he was having trouble.
“Are you okay?” Her tone was filled with concern and regret.
He continued to cough as she approached him. As soon as she got close enough, he quit pretending and grabbed her. He held her with one arm and tickled her with the other. The feel of her against his bare chest made it hard to breathe .
“You are such a faker.” She squealed and laughed as he held her. “I’ll get you for this. “
Her laughter was music to him. Dinner the other night had reminded him how much he enjoyed having her around. His only regret was trying to kiss her. She’d bolted like a rabbit and then avoided him again.
She twisted in his arms, and the laughter died immediately. It as if the air had been sucked out of his lungs. He’d never seen anyone so beautiful in his life. Rivulets of water ran down her face. A droplet stopped on the tip of her nose, and he wiped it off with his finger.
His heart pounded as she looked up at him with sparkling blue eyes and a smile on her perfect soft lips. “Please let me kiss ye again.”
For a heartbeat, he thought she’d say yes, but then her lips turned down and her eyes became stormy. “No.” Her voice trembled.
He knew she was right, but that didn’t make it sting any less. Being rejected never did. He loosened his hold on her as she pushed away, putting distance between them.
“You know, we probably need to get back and see if the place is still standing. After that, I guess since you won the race, you get to pick dinner.” She held herself and rubbed her hands up and down her arms.
Taran found it hard to speak. He couldn’t believe he’d asked if he could kiss her. It was so stupid. Why was he trying to push it anyway? She’d been clear from the beginning that she didn’t want a relationship. And he’d been clear that he couldn’t stay. It didn’t matter if he was falling for her. She wasn’t falling for him, and that was evident in the way she pushed him away time and again. “I do, huh?”
“Yep, even though you cheated,” she said and gave him a pointed look. The tension of the moment evaporated,
and she was back to being Sarah.
If she could get through it, so could he, though each time was harder to recover from. How in the world would he last until November? “Aye, but in the spirit of friendship, I’ll pick a place we’ll both enjoy.”
“Okay, let’s go. That lunch we had earlier is gone. I’m starved.”
Taran followed her out of the water, and they dried off. After they’d packed up, they headed back to the house to get ready for dinner.
* * *
“So, what do you think?” Sarah asked. They’d picked a restaurant in downtown Pensacola that boasted the best fried chicken in town.
Taran finished his bite and said, “It’s different. Hot.”
“Yeah, they put hot sauce in their batter.” She grinned.
“Ye could have told me that. My mouth is on fire.” He sucked in a lung full of air.
She loved watching his face as he’d taken his first bite. The heat hit, and his eyes bugged. He hadn’t expected it to be so hot. He’d downed two glasses of water before she took mercy on him and ordered some milk.
“Yer a cruel woman, Sarah Freeman.” He chuckled.
She liked her last name, but she wished she’d changed it when they got married. Sarah MacLachlan had such a great ring to it. “Tell me about growing up in Rosegail Bridge.”
“I told ye everythin’ when ye were there. Remember hidin’ in the hayloft and talkin’ all night?” He put his arms on the table and leaned forward.
Sarah narrowed her eyes. “Oh, I remember, but as I recall, I did most of the talking.”
“I wanted to know about the woman who kept puttin’ me in my place in my own barn.”
He smiled, and it was a good thing she was sitting down. It was one of his flirty smiles. The kind that gave her no choice but to focus on his lips. “Someone had to say something. You were so grumpy.”
“Aye, I was, and ye were sunshine and flowers. The first day I caught ye, ye got right in my face, and the smell of sunflowers was all over ye. I couldna stop thinkin’ about ye after that.” He held her gaze, and she found herself drowning in the depth of it.
Sarah shifted in her seat and leaned back. “Oh, really?”
“I’d never met anyone like ye before. Come into a stranger’s place, act like ye own it by takin’ care of their horses. Everyone else steered clear of me, but nae ye.” He raked a hand through his hair. His voice was low and sultry.
She leaned forward with her arms on the table. “I don’t know why, but there was something about you. I knew all that gruff exterior was hiding a real softy underneath.”
“Ye did, did ye?”
“And that wasn’t the first time I saw you either.” She glanced down and drew circles with her finger on the table.
He tilted his head, a puzzled expression on his face. “What are ye talkin’ about?”
“I saw you out the window of the guesthouse. You had on jeans and this lined jean jacket. You were unsaddling Banner. I thought you were the sexiest man I’d ever seen. The way you moved, how you handled him.” She froze, and her cheeks heated. Why did she just say that? It was out now. No sense in trying to take it back.
He sat up. “What?”
“I thought you were attractive. I mean, I knew you and Angus looked a lot alike from what Penelope told me, but I was surprised no one could see how different the two of you are. Penelope and Paige, they look identical. You and your brother are only similar when they don’t really see you.” She looked up, and he was staring straight at her with his lips parted, as if he’d never had anyone say that before.
“How are we different?” The question came out soft, and he leaned forward.
Sarah shrugged. “That day, you were clean-shaven. I like the short beard, though. But the biggest difference I could see that far away was the way you carried yourself. The way you walk is natural, like you don’t expect anyone to pay any attention to you. Angus expects attention, and so he carries himself different.”
“What else?”
It was then that she realized why he was so interested to hear why he was different. He’d lived in Angus’s shadow his whole life. They weren’t twins, but because they looked so much alike, Taran didn’t exist .
She took his hand, turned it palm-up, and concentrated on it while she spoke. “You have rough hands,” she said and ran her hand across his. “Callouses that speak to long days and hard work. You have this little freckle that peeks through your eyebrow because it’s darker than all the others. Your eyes are bluer than Angus’s. Your hair is a little straighter and a little longer than his.”
When she looked up this time, a glassy sheen coated his eyes. “People dinnae see me.”
“I see you. Even if I had my choice, I’d choose you.” The words flew off her tongue like it was a Slip ’N Slide. She hadn’t meant to say that. At least, not aloud and not to his face .
“And that day in the barn? “
“That day in the barn when I stood up to you, I realized you were so hurt. I could see it in your eyes. You were desperate for someone to see you, and I wanted you to know I did. I think Angus is wonderful, and I’m thrilled Penelope found him, but I’m so glad you’re not him. “
He squeezed her hand, and she realized she was still holding it.
Taran looked at her. Whatever thoughts he was having weren’t displayed on his face.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.” She jerked her hand back and crossed her arms over her chest.
For a second, he sat motionless. Then he quickly changed seats, taking the one next to her. “No, yer right. I’d been hurtin’ a long time. Nae just from Angus leavin’, but just feelin’ like I was never goin’ to measure up to him.”
Sarah leaned toward him. “Do you still feel that way?”
“Sometimes. Ye would think, bein’ in my thirties, I’d have gotten over it by now.” He set his elbow on the table and put his head in his hand.
Without thinking, she ran her fingertips across his cheeks. She loved the feel of his skin, the way his freckles covered his face. There wasn’t a thing about him that didn’t make her mouth run dry. “You don’t ever have to measure up to him. Angus is a sweet man.” She took his hand and rubbed her thumb across his palm. “But you are your own person and every bit as wonderful.”
Taran leaned closer, and his nearness was dizzying. He was the only one to ever affect her like that. She was sure he was going to kiss her again, could almost feel his lips on hers.
A throat cleared, and she jumped back as the waiter stopped at the table. “I’m so sorry. I was just checking to see if you needed anything else and to drop off the check. “
Saved by the waiter. She didn’t need to be kissing Taran. “We’re fine, and thank you.”
“No rush,” he said and left.
Taran looked as flushed as she felt. “Are ye ready?” He snatched the check.
“I’ll get that.” She reached for it, and he held it away from her.
“Naw, I’ll get this one. Ye treated me to a good swim and filled my head with compliments. I figure I can buy dinner.” He pulled his wallet out and took out a few bills.
She couldn’t be mad at him. He was too sweet, and she liked him too much. Beyond the physical attraction she had for him, she was equally attracted to who he was as a person. Falling for him would be easy, and if she was honest with herself for even a second, she would say she’d already fallen for him. As long as she didn’t pick up the magnifying glass and examine things too closely, she could keep lying to herself. She also knew that, eventually, she wouldn’t be able to hide the truth, Keeping her distance was the only way she could do that.
Chapter 19
Taran flopped onto the couch and put his feet on the coffee table the next day, stretching his legs out and trying to wind down for bed. He’d taken a break from working on the barn to work with the horses that day .
His thoughts immediately went to his horse, Banner. Banner had to be wondering where he was. H
e’d had him since he was a colt. They’d practically grown up together, and he hoped Rory and Angus were taking good care of him. He was sure they were, but still, they weren’t him. If for some reason he decided to stay in Florida, he’d have to find a way to bring Banner over.
He rolled his shoulders and leaned his back against the seat cushion. Clouds had moved in and out most of the day, bringing rain and wind. He missed the sunset, but the scent of rain permeated the house, and he loved the smell.
“Mind some company?” Sarah stood at the end of the couch, holding two cups. “I even brought hot cocoa.”
Her smile was bright, and like the sun, it warmed him. He wouldn’t mind seeing it every day. “Naw.” He patted the cushion next to him. “Have a seat. I was just takin’ a moment before I went to bed.”
“Me too. I’m hoping something hot will help me sleep, and I wasn’t in the mood for tea. Besides, chocolate is supposed to help with endorphins. I figure I can use all the help I can get in that area.” She handed him a cup and sat beside him.
“Whatever ye say. I’ll just enjoy the cocoa.” He took a sip and moaned. “This is good. What’s in it?”
She shot him a little smile. “That’s a family secret.”
“We are married. Does that nae make me family?” He bumped her gently with his shoulder.
For a moment, he wasn’t sure how she’d respond. Then she chuckled. “True. I put almond extract in it. Just a little, but it gives it that something extra.”
“Did ye make this from scratch?” He took another sip, savoring the flavor.
She shrugged one shoulder. “Yeah, I don’t like the packets.”
“Thank ye.” The extra care wasn’t lost on him, and he appreciated it.
“I was making myself some and figured you’d like some too. It’s a bit dreary, and it seemed like hot cocoa weather. Although, it’s not really cold enough. I just like hot cocoa sometimes. It’s soothing.” She took a deep breath and leaned her head against his arm. “Thank you for being here. I know I’ve said it before, but I want you to know I really mean it.”
Mending The Billionaire Brother (MacLachlan Brothers Romance Book 3) Page 11
