“Probably here, why?’”
“Why waste time driving when you could be riding? Come and stay the night at Larkspur Ridge.”
Ethan fought to keep his tension from registering on his face. A night in close proximity with Bridie, even if there was a wall between them, would be living dangerously.
“That’s a great idea,” Bridie said sweetly. She winked at Payton, who sat close beside Cordell. “But I don’t need to stay at Larkspur Ridge, Payton’s already asked me to stay.”
Ethan took a gulp of coffee to mask his grin and saw his brother do the same.
Henry’s matchmaking plans didn’t stand a chance against two beautiful and willful cowgirls. But as Henry leant back in his chair and his eyes smiled, Ethan had a suspicion that uniting Bridie and Payton had been his goal all along.
Chapter Eight
“I thought you told Henry we were leaving at the usual time?”
Bridie flicked up the collar of her denim jacket to prevent the pre-dawn chill from stealing the warmth from her skin. Around her stretched an intense silence. Not even the birds were awake. Ahead of her in the gloom, Ethan and Captain were a blurred outline.
Ethan turned to speak over his shoulder. “We are. We’ve just a little further to go today in a shorter time.”
He slowed Captain and Molly drew alongside the even-tempered bay. Ethan’s smile flashed. “Trust me. It will soon be worth the early start.”
Bridie returned his smile. “I’m not complaining; you know I can’t get to the mountains quick enough, it’s just ...” She smothered a yawn. “Payton and I talked until late and another hour of sleep wouldn’t have gone astray.”
Ethan chuckled. “I know you and Payton were up late. Cordell texted and said he was coming over to sleep if you didn’t stop laughing and talking soon.”
“Ha. Did he? I guess he forgot to mention he was the one making us laugh and he only went to bed half an hour earlier than us.”
Ethan shook his head. “Cordell and his stories. For a cowboy who could never talk his way out of trouble he sure can spin a yarn when he wants to.”
“He can. I finally found out what happened between you and the Taylor boys. Even since Lesley mentioned there’d been trouble and you and Cordell stopped their cattle rustling, I’ve been wondering.”
Ethan shot her a quick look. “I didn’t realize you wanted to know. I would have told you as well as given you the correct version. Which one did Cordell tell you?”
“The one where he talked, they listened and then you threw a punch.”
“I take it Payton was in the room. They’d only just started going out when we tracked down the Taylor boys and as Cordell was supposed to be taking fewer risks and living less dangerously he was a little sketchy on the details.”
“I gathered that because Payton laughed so much she nearly choked. She told him as if she ever believed there wasn’t more to the story. So Cordell came clean and said he tried to talk first but his, what did he say you called it, ‘his death-glare that would snap-freeze a lake’, didn’t work and so he had to talk without using words.”
“He did and then, as I always do, I had his back, and one bruised fist the next day.”
“Ouch.”
Cordell had told other stories about Ethan and common to each one had been his love and respect for his more level-headed twin. She’d listened and nodded, careful to not reveal how much she wanted to know more about Ethan. But when a story had ended and she’d asked for another one a little too quickly, Cordell’s blue eyes had warmed and she’d known she hadn’t fooled him. He’d realized that talking about Ethan made her heart beat faster and made her feel closer to him when he wasn’t with her.
But he was with her now. She looked sideways. In the poor light Ethan wouldn’t see her expression or if her gaze lingered. She still didn’t know what had made her ask him to come with her. She wasn’t worried about poachers or being on her own, all she knew was that without him the peace that she so desperately needed would be harder to find.
She looked ahead and the inky darkness of the sky had begun to lighten. They hadn’t been gone long, or even reached the foothills yet, but she already felt a sense of calm. A calm that was not only from being in the wilderness she loved but also from being near the steady cowboy riding beside her.
This trip Ethan led them away from the ranch house via a different meadow. Once they entered the treeline he then headed toward a mountain peak to their left. The sky continued to lighten and the dawn birdsong began to fill the forest. Bridie glimpsed elk but didn’t stop to take photographs. Ethan might sit relaxed in the saddle, but their consistent and unrelenting pace suggested that until they reached their destination there’d be no halting.