When It's Right(99)

Blake took another step forward. Surprisingly, Ken didn’t back away this time. They stood a mere inch apart.

“You have something else you want to say to me?” Blake would like nothing better than for Ken to take a swing at him. That’s all it would take for Blake to unleash the fury building inside him.

Gillian stood beside Jeff and Boots. The two men squared off like gunfighters. The intense anger in Blake surprised her. No one had ever stood up for her. She didn’t know if she should be happy that he was taking her side or angry because he didn’t think she could take care of Ken herself. No, Blake believed in her.

Gillian spotted her grandparents and Justin walking toward the track still too far away to hear the exchange. She hoped Blake ended this before Justin heard him arguing with Ken, who’d caused enough tension over the last several months.

“Blake, Justin is home from school.” She walked up behind Blake and put her hand on his shoulder. “Enough.” She spoke calmly, hoping to get their attention and not incite another round of arguing.

Both of them stared at her as she moved to Blake’s side. “Let’s be really clear. I will train Boots for the next race.”

“Gillian, you can’t be serious. You don’t know anything about training a horse,” Blake said.

He hadn’t meant those words to make her feel incompetent, but she couldn’t help but feel like he’d let her down in some way.

“I just raced Boots and won. I seem to know something about him.” She turned on Ken. “As for you. You seem to think there’s something between the two of us. Hear me on this. I don’t like you. I don’t want to be friends or have anything to do with you. Clear enough. You want to stay on this ranch, stay clear of me, because I guarantee you that you’ll leave here before I do.”

Ken took a menacing step toward her. Blake shoved her behind him and blocked her from Ken. Pissed off, she stepped around Blake and glared up at Ken. “You have something you want to say to me?”

Ken’s gaze swept from Blake to her grandfather and down to her. “You won’t always have them around to defend you.”

“Then you’d do well to remember what happened the last time we met up alone.”

Ken’s whole face turned red with rage, but he turned on his heel and walked away.

Blake tried to go after him, but Gillian caught him by the wrist and pulled him back. Too angry to say anything, he took her hand and walked with her toward Justin and her grandparents.

“What the hell happened the last time you two got into it? I told you I’d take care of him if he messed with you.”

She turned to face him and the cold glare in his eyes. She’d never had anyone who wanted to defend her and take care of her. Perhaps if she had, she’d have found it within her to be a little more accommodating. But taking care of herself, Justin, and Boots had become her only source of pride, and Blake had stomped all over it.

“Of course you’ll take care of him.”

“Yes, I’m going to fire his ass.”

“Because I can’t take care of him myself, right?”

“No, because he’s an asshole.”

“Now you want to take over Boots, too, because I can’t possibly do that on my own either.”

She pulled her arm free of Blake’s grasp and headed for Justin, who ran for her, his brows drawn into a line of worry.

Blake caught up to her. “Damnit, Gillian, listen to me.”

“You have to eat extra vegetables,” Justin said, stopping beside both of them.

“I’ll eat a whole crop if your sister will listen to reason.”

“Reason. There’s no reason. There is only you telling me that I can’t take care of myself or Boots.”

“That’s bullshit, and you know it. You raced around that track like the hounds of hell were trailing you. The whole time I stood by terrified something would happen to you.”

“I’m not Abigail,” she shouted.

He grabbed her arms and held her tight so she’d listen. “No, you’re the woman I love and can’t live without. If something happened to you, that would be the end of me. Gillian, don’t you see, I can’t watch you risk your life like that again.”

The sincerity of his words hit her heart. He meant it. He’d be devastated if something happened to her. She felt it all the way to her soul. He loved her beyond words or reason.

She didn’t know what to do with that, or the overwhelming emotions swelling inside her, filling her eyes with tears and squeezing her heart. She couldn’t stand there and feel all her emotions overwhelming her, crushing her. She ran.