“Ready?” he asked, as he settled the check and stood.
“Sure.”
Helping her into her coat gave him the excuse to move close enough to inhale her scent and give her shoulders a friendly squeeze. He hoped he hadn’t imagined the slight hitch of her breath as he touched her.
Liam gestured for Hadley to go ahead of him out of the restaurant. They retraced their steps through town, navigating the slippery sidewalk past trees strung with white lights and shop windows displaying their wares. Liam insisted Hadley take his arm. He’d enjoyed the feel of her snuggled against him during the walk into town.
Once the commercial center of the town was behind them, the mountain once again dominated the view. As they strolled along, boots sinking into an inch of fresh snow, Liam was convinced he couldn’t have planned a more romantic walk home. The gently falling snow captured them in a world all their own, isolating them from obligations and interruptions.
Hadley laughed in delight as fat flakes melted on her cheeks and eyelashes. He wanted to kiss each one away and had a hard time resisting the urge to take her in his arms to do just that. If not for the weight of Maggie’s carrier in his hand, he doubted if he could have resisted.
The strength of his desire for Hadley gave him pause. It wasn’t just sexual attraction, although heaven knew his lust flared every time she came within arm’s reach. No, it was something more profound that made him want her. The way she took care of Maggie, not as if she was being paid to look after her but with affection and genuine concern for her welfare.
He could picture them as partners in the ranch. She had a great eye when it came to seeing the potential in horses, and he had no doubt if she would just remember how much she enjoyed her days of showing that she would relish being involved with the ranch’s future.
Yet she’d demonstrated complete disinterest in the horses, and he had yet to figure out why, when it was obviously something she’d been passionate about ten years earlier. Maybe he should accept that she was planning to leave Royal after she graduated. Plus, she’d invested five years getting a graduate degree in guidance counseling. Would she be willing to put that aside?
“You’re awfully quiet all of a sudden,” Hadley commented. “Cat got your tongue?”
He snorted at her. “I was just thinking about the girl I met ten years ago.”
“Which one? There must have been hundreds.” An undercurrent of insecurity ran beneath her teasing.
Liam decided to play it straight. “The only one that got away.”
His declaration was met with silence, and for a moment the companionable mood between them grew taut with anticipation. He walked on, curious how she’d respond.
“You can’t really mean me,” she said at last. “You must have met dozens of girls who interested you where the circumstances or the timing weren’t right.”
“Probably. But only one sticks out in my mind. You. I truly regret never getting a chance to know you better.”
While she absorbed this, they reached the driveway of the house where they were staying and began to climb. In minutes he was going to lose her to Maggie’s bedtime ritual.
“Why did you sell Lolita and disappear?”
She tensed at his question. “You asked me before why I was no longer interested in horses. It’s the same reason I stopped showing. At that sweepstakes show, my best friend fell during her run. She wanted really badly to beat me, so she pushed too hard and her horse lost his footing. He went down with her under him. She broke her back and was paralyzed.”
“I remember hearing that someone had been hurt, but I didn’t realize how serious it was.”
“After that I just couldn’t race anymore. It was my fault that she rode the way she did. If I hadn’t... She really wanted to beat me.” Hadley let out a shaky sigh. “After it happened she refused to talk to me or see me.”
Liam sensed there was more to the story he wasn’t getting, but didn’t want to push deeper into a sensitive issue. “I don’t want to downplay your guilt over what was obviously a tragedy, but don’t you think it’s time you forgave yourself for what happened?”
Hadley gave a bitter laugh. “My best friend is constantly getting on my case for not letting go of mistakes I’ve made in the past. She’s more of a learn-something-and-move-on sort of a girl.”
“Maybe if you start riding again you could put it behind you?”
“I’ll think about it.”
Which sounded like a big fat no to Liam’s ears. As soon as they entered the front door, Hadley took Maggie’s carrier.
“Thank you for dinner.”