“Yeah.” Tony nodded and edged toward the door, clearly trying to slip past his sister before she could turn her fury directly on him. “It’s over. Adam? Good to see you.”
Adam nodded again and waited until Tony was gone before looking at the woman who was his wife. And only then did Tony’s words reverberate through his mind.
It’s over.
If only, Adam thought, staring into Gina’s amber-colored eyes, it were that easy.
Ten
When Tony left, it was as if Gina were alone in the small, cramped office. Adam, though physically present, had shut himself down so completely, it was as if he’d forgotten she was even there.
“Adam,” she said, moving in closer, despite the unwelcoming chill in the room, “what’s going on? What were you and Tony talking about? And why do you look so angry?”
“Angry?” He glanced at her and his eyes were cool, dispassionate. “I’m not angry, Gina. I’m simply busy.” To make his point, he picked up a sheaf of papers, straightened them and tucked them into a manila file folder.
“Uh-huh. Too busy to talk to me but not too busy to talk to Tony, is that it?”
He swiveled in the desk chair, propped his elbows on the narrow, cushioned arms and folded his fingers together. Tipping his head to one side, he said, “Your brother showed up, I had no choice but to talk to him. Just as I had no choice but to put my own work aside when I heard that boy screaming.”
Gina shrugged and tried a smile. It didn’t get a reaction out of him. “Danny was excited, that’s all. His parents are buying the young mare for him and his sister and it was his first ride.”
“I didn’t ask why the child screamed,” Adam said, then reached for a pen laying on the desk. Absently clicking the top of it, he continued. “I only said the noise is distracting. I’m not used to having all of these people coming and going from the ranch. And I don’t like it.”
Now Gina flushed a little with the small whip of anger that jolted her. The way he sounded, she might as well have been holding parades every day. One or two people a week was nothing. It was normal. And hey, if he’d come out of the barn or his office and talk to them, maybe he might not hate it so much. Instead he kept himself in solitude. He was always working. On the phone, riding the ranch on one of his horses, closeted in the office with buyers.
Fine for him to lose himself in his own business, but he didn’t want to allow her the same privilege. Her business was as important to her as the ranch itself was to Adam. You would have thought he could appreciate that, at least.
Still, no point in arguing with a man whose expression clearly stated he was looking for a battle. She didn’t really want to fight with him anyway. Instead she wanted to reach him. Reach the Adam she’d known as a girl. The one who’d always stood up for her. The one she knew was still locked away deep inside him.
So when Gina spoke, she kept her tone reasonable, despite the flare of what her mother liked to call the Torino Temper.
“I’ve only had a few people a week over, Adam. They have to come to see the Gypsies in person. I have to see the way they are around the horses. There’s simply no way to avoid it even if I wanted to. Which, by the way, I don’t.”
“I don’t want these people around.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” She wouldn’t give in. She loved him, but she wasn’t going to stand still for having Welcome tattooed on her forehead, either.
His mouth flattened into a slash of disapproval. “This isn’t working out, Gina.”
“This?” she repeated, with a wave of her hand. “This what? The horses? The people?”
“The marriage,” he said shortly.
She rocked back on her heels a little from the force of that smack down. Her stomach tightened and an ache settled around her heart. But through the pain, her mind started racing. What had brought this on? She thought back over the day and all she could find was little Danny’s scream. Then something hit her and she felt badly that it hadn’t occurred to her before.
“It was Danny, wasn’t it?” Her voice was a whisper of concern. “Little Danny’s scream started all this.”
His face froze, so Gina knew she’d touched on the truth. She should have realized. He’d lost a son. Of course that child’s scream would tear at him. Bring back memories of another child, that one lost to him forever.
“The boy has nothing to do with this.”
“I think you’re wrong.”
“Of course you do,” he said. “But that doesn’t really matter.”
“Adam, it does matter.” She took a step closer to him, her momentary rush of anger dying in a swell of sympathy. “Hearing Danny made you think of Jeremy.”