He smiled up at her. “Stay, but you don’t have to work here.”
“Here I thought you liked my cooking. I was going to make you some of those fried potatoes you liked so much the other day.”
“Oh God, I will be your slave for more of those.”
She laughed again and slid her hand from his shoulder up his neck to his hair. Her fingers toyed with the strands, sending a shiver of electricity down his spine. He stilled beside her; his hand on her thigh contracted.
She stopped her fiddling and pulled her hand back. “Sorry. I, uh . . .”
“It’s fine, Sadie. Don’t stop. More. All you want.” He smiled to keep things light. He teased, but not really. If she saw that he could be fun and lighthearted, all the better. She made him want to be that way.
She let out a nervous laugh. “Um, where do you want these horses?”
“Running away?”
“Stopping the show.” She tilted her head up toward the house. “I’d rather we keep this between us.”
“Just so you know, Sadie, whatever happens between us is up to us. It has nothing to do with my family, or yours.”
She nodded, but he didn’t think she really believed him. This thing with her brother weighed heavily on her. She didn’t like that her brother wronged Rory’s family. She wanted to make things right. He got it. If it had been one of his brothers, he’d have done the same thing. He had to respect her for that.
“Take the horses past that first gate to the second one that’s open.” He pointed down the fence line for her to see where he meant her to go.
“Got it. Watch this, cowboy.” Sadie gave her horse a soft kick and turned her back to the herd patiently waiting behind them.
Rory moved out of the way and went to open the gate for her to take the horses out. She circled around the corral once and picked up about five of the horses. They followed her around one more time, gathering another eight horses. The dust kicked up as Sadie and her followers passed him again. This time, she rode out of the corral with all the horses following, the stallion at the back, watching over his ladies. He had to hand it to her, she’d trained her horses well. She thought her palomino was the alpha in that group, but he saw deeper to the love the horses had for their mistress. They followed Sadie.
God, she was a sight, riding bareback along the dirt road and straight into the pasture he’d pointed her toward. Once all the horses ran through the gate, Ford closed and latched it. Sadie didn’t quit; she ran the horses in a wide circle around the grass, letting them get their run on.
Rory stood beside Ford. Colt joined them a minute later. They stood side by side as Sadie passed them, a huge smile on her face, her blond hair flying on the wind just like the palomino’s mane and tail.
“Damn, that’s a pretty sight.” Colt nudged Rory’s arm.
“She’s beautiful.”
“Did you finally ask her out?” Ford eyed him, one eyebrow cocked. “Because if you wait any longer, I’m going to.”
“Not before me,” Colt added.
Rory stood in the middle of them, planted one hand on each of their shoulders, and shoved them away. They stumbled sideways, righted themselves, and came back to slam into his shoulders, squishing him between them. “Keep this up and someone’s going to get punched.”
His brothers laughed. All in good fun. This is how life had been since their parents died. He appreciated the normalcy of it all when his world felt like it was about to change, because of the woman on the back of a horse flying across the field.
“We’re going out to a movie tonight. Please don’t give her a hard time about this. It’s new and could fall apart any second. We barely know each other. This thing with her brother is still between us.”
Ford clamped a hand on Rory’s shoulder. “Stop talking yourself out of this.”
“Yeah, turn the grump down and the happy up and you’ll be fine.” Colt stared across the field as Sadie rode toward them. “Let her pick the movie and the snacks. Hold her hand during the movie. Kiss her good night.”
Rory rolled his eyes. “I am not taking dating advice from my little brother.”
“You should. The last date you went on was before the last Ice Age, which accounts for your sour moods.” Colt took a step away, anticipating the swat Rory threw at him. Rory didn’t miss, making Colt flinch. “Seriously, she’s pretty, she can cook, she’s nice, she can cook, and for God knows what reason she likes you. Don’t fuck this up.”
“You said the cooking thing twice,” Rory pointed out.
“Yes, it’s worth mentioning again. We haven’t eaten this good since Mom was here.” Ford sighed.