“What?”
Teresa swiped her fingertip under her eyes and smiled at her friend. “Pardon my hormones. You’ll see what I mean. He talks big but there’s this…”
“What?”
Teresa seemed to think about it and then shook her head. “I’m not saying. You’ll know it when you see it. I’ll ask again sometime.”
“I’m only here temporarily, Teresa,” Gwen said, suddenly serious. “I’ve got to get my ranch back. I have to get Zephyr back. It can’t be any other way. I want my dream. I’ve worked too hard to give up on it.”
“Who says you have to give it up?”
“I’ve got to go back to Colorado. My dream is there, not here in Divine. Anything that happens here is temporary.” She wasn’t sure that her heart would see it that way though.
Chapter Five
Julián sipped from his coffee mug as Angel said, “I understand how you feel. Just understand that she’s pretty fragile right now.”
Julián modulated his tone so he wouldn’t be overheard. “You know that her feelings are very important to me.”
Joaquin leaned against the opposite counter and said, “In some ways, she reminds me of a traumatized mare we have here at the ranch. Rescued her from a feed lot for a ‘project’ horse. Beautiful and full of potential but she needs just the right handling.” He glanced speculatively at Julián. “Gwen fully intends to get back on the circuit and win her ranch back somehow.”
“You think that’s possible?”
Joaquin shrugged. “She’s at the top of her game right now but she and Zephyr have years of experience together. With a different horse…I’m not sure. If she gets hold of the right horse soon enough, Gwen has the skills to take a good horse and make it a champion. Now…whether her ranch or Zephyr are within her grasp if she does get the money is anybody’s guess.”
Julián wished he’d known before things had gotten to a critical point. He would’ve been willing to help her financially. Not that she would’ve accepted, as proud as she was. But she wouldn’t have known to ask him either. The fact that he was financially set wasn’t something that he broadcast.
“I don’t want her to leave.”
“What will you do if she does?”
“I don’t know. I signed a two-year contract for Mick’s stud services with Del. I can’t back out on that.” His black thoroughbred stallion was helping to breed the foundation for Del Cook’s horse ranch and Julián was a man of his word.
“Give her some time to heal,” Angel murmured. “She looked happy to see you, if a little hesitant.”
“That ought to give you hope right there,” Joaquin added with a chuckle. “Because you looked ready to paddle her ass sore.”
Julián gritted his teeth and rubbed his forehead as the men chuckled while he imagined doing just that.
Joaquin crossed his arms over his chest and said, “Wilbur Wilson is looking for someone to watch his place for him, isn’t he?”
Hope suddenly unfurled in Julián’s chest as he recalled that fact. “Yes, he is.”
“And it’s just a happy coincidence that his ranch butts right up against the Cooks’ place. You can practically have a conversation from your front porches, he’s so close.”
Julián replied, “Not quite that close but we can holler back and forth if there’s a need.”
“So she’d be somewhere safe…conveniently close by…”
“And Wilbur has that blue roan Morgan that his daughter barrel raced with before she went off to medical school and then became a missionary. I’ll bet he’d jump at the chance to have a champion barrel racer working with that mare and looking after his place. He’s reduced his herd to almost none. Hasn’t he?”
Julián nodded. “He’s only got ten head left and they act more like pets. I reckon he’ll have them sold and the hundred acres and the house listed by the fall. He wants to get out to the missionary field now that his daughter is serving. Spend some time with her doing what he loves while his health is still good enough to be in the rain forest.”
“Why don’t you go talk to her while I give him a call and see if he’d be interested?”
Julián nodded and set his empty mug in the sink. Not one to hesitate, he walked into the living room, interrupting Gwen’s soft conversation with Teresa.
“Teresa, you mind if I talk with Gwen for a little while in private?”
Looking rather pleased, Teresa said, “Not at all, Julián. You’re welcome to use the den down the hall if you’d like. It’s quiet in there right now.” She pointed to the hallway off the living room.