“When does the breeding season start?”
“We bred the first mares about a month ago and will continue throughout August. I should have several in heat in a couple of weeks, so this was the best time to give Miguel some time off before things get crazy around here.” She wouldn’t get into the details of semen collection and her mail-order program. “Breeding is extremely high-tech these days with artificial insemination and dummy mares. I even keep a centrifuge on hand for when a stallion’s…output…isn’t quite as potent as I or my clients would like.” She looked down at her plate, blushing for some reason. Why couldn’t she use the biological terms around him, especially when talking about horses? He’d taken a livestock class once to be closer to Kate, and all this had been taught then.
Kate focused on eating her breakfast for a moment. It was best to let this discussion fade away.
Travis shook his head, the corner of his mouth quirking up. “Why do they always find a way to take the fun out of everything?”
Her chewing came to a halt, and she stared across the table at him until her cheeks grew warmer. Once again, she tried to concentrate on her eggs, but the words hung there until he spoke again.
“Poor Angus having to be around the mares in heat and being given dummies to do the deed with, having his output measured. Great way to take the romance out of it. Maybe that’s why he’s so frustrated all the time.”
She nearly choked on her coffee. Was he going to talk about horse sex all morning? No way was this coincidental. And why couldn’t she come up with another topic of conversation to save her soul? All she could think about was that night long ago at the springhouse…and last night’s kisses.
“Any other students competing at the Lexington Junior League show?”
Finally, a new topic.
She shook her head. “Just Melissa on Miss Pickles. They’re signed up for three performance classes.”
“I think I’d have enjoyed going to horse shows, but only to help out in the background. I wouldn’t know the first thing about training and competition.”
She relaxed into her chair, thankful for this new direction in the conversation. “I’m sure your crew in Nashville would miss having you on the job there.” Hint, hint. Go home!
For a flash of a second, though, she wondered what life might have been like if she hadn’t broken up with him. Would he have been content to work in a small city like Frankfort or Lexington, both within easy commuting distance of her farm?
Stop thinking about what might have been.
They finished eating in silence until he wiped his mouth and set his napkin beside his plate. “Thanks for breakfast, Katie. What time will you be finished with lessons today?”
“About noon.”
“How about going to the gorge to do some hiking this afternoon? Supposed to be in the nineties, but it’ll probably be a little cooler there than here.”
She hadn’t been to Red River Gorge in forever. The one time she’d taken Chelsea there, the memories of her hikes with Travis had been too overwhelming. After that, she’d taken Chelsea to other state parks and nature preserves Kate hadn’t been to with Travis before.
Feelings from long ago flooded over her, and she longed desperately to recapture them. Perhaps going with him again one more time would erase the earlier images embedded in her mind. It was a wonder they hadn’t been arrested for some of the things they’d done in that place. She grinned. Not that he was any less potent now, nor were his kisses.
Even though she didn’t think it was a sane decision, she heard herself saying, “I’d like that. We can pack a lunch to eat on the way and hit the ground running—well, hiking.”
“Let me worry about lunch. And I’ll clean up in here if you want to head out to get ready for your lesson.”
“You’re going to spoil me, Travis.”
He grinned. “My pleasure. Besides, I’d go nuts sitting around with nothing to do.”
“I don’t think I have enough stuff picnic stuff on hand, though.”
He grinned. “No problem. I need to pick up some things at the drugstore anyway, so I’ll stop and get bug spray and sunscreen, too.”
“I have plenty of sunscreen.” Her insect repellent was with Chelsea at camp, though.
“Great. If we leave here by twelve-thirty, we’ll be there by two.”
“Perfect.” He began clearing off the table as she hurried out the door to greet her first student of the day. It was going to be a long morning. She hadn’t looked forward to anything as much as their hike in a long time.
Once again, that inner voice tried to caution her to take things more slowly and not let her guard down too far.
Nonsense. I’m not going to do anything stupid. I’m still in control.
* * *
Travis watched Katie leave the kitchen, his gaze riveted by her cute ass encased in tight jeans. Man, he felt like a horny teenager, but Katie was even hotter now than she’d been in college, if that were even possible.
He washed the dishes and glanced out at the barn, imagining Katie with a riding crop in hand as she guided one of the horses to do her bidding. He shook his head and grinned at the direction his mind was going. He needed to get his mind off sex and head to the store. Not that condoms weren’t at the top of his list. He doubted they’d need them today when the Gorge would be filled with hikers, but damned if he’d be caught unprepared again if the moment was right and Katie was willing.
He surveyed the contents of her fridge to see what they’d need that he hadn’t bought yesterday and found an open jar of green olives. Since when did Katie start eating those? She’d only been interested in black ones on their pizzas, and she’d had a real aversion to the green. She also didn’t strike him as someone who had time to entertain much.
He shrugged it off. Katie had changed in a lot of ways. Maybe she acquired a taste for green olives since they’d dated. Hmm.
Armed with a mental list of what he’d need, including the sprouted grain bread she liked so much, he went to the store in Georgetown. They wouldn’t have to worry about supper tonight, because he planned to take her to their favorite country kitchen in Clay City. Her diet didn’t keep her from enjoying meats and most vegetables, and as much as he’d hate skipping it, he wouldn’t order a piece of their fabulous pie to eat in front of her.
An hour later, he loaded up the truck with enough food that he wouldn’t have to worry about her sugar tanking again. They’d be doing some serious hiking.
Back at the house, he organized the fixings and condiments for the sandwiches in one section of the fridge, including those mysterious green olives. All they had to do was make their sandwiches and hit the road. He pulled out his phone and checked the browser for the best trails to hike. They ought to go with a moderately tough one, although they both seemed to have enough exercise in their daily routines to be able to handle something more. With the perfect one chosen—a challenge, but not overwhelmingly so—he wondered what else he’d do to occupy the next couple of hours.
Not wanting to be accused of snooping around beyond the kitchen, he headed out to the arena. Katie was so wrapped up in instructing her student that she didn’t notice him entering. Good. He hunkered down behind the fence slats to keep it that way but still give him a decent view.
“Much better, Abbie!” Katie yelled. No riding crop. There went that fantasy. “That’s what I’ve been talking about.”
She must be on her second lesson at least, since Melissa had been scheduled as the first. Closer to finishing up. The girl’s gray horse stepped over a series of six long poles lying on the ground at ten or eleven foot intervals. The goal seemed to be to get the horse to maneuver over them while carefully watching the placement of its hooves. He had no idea which gait they were going for.
“You’re doing great. Now, bring Moonbeam back to a walk, Abbie. Don’t let him fall back to pacing.” Ah, pacing must be bad. The young rider held on tightly to the reins, her face beaming yet serious at the same t
ime. “Give him a ‘good, boy.’ You’ve both done a great job, Abbie. Now before you take him back to the barn to cool him down, I want you to do two sets of serpentines and work on the bending and circling techniques.”
The horse and rider made their way back through the poles as Katie continued to offer advice and praise. As they finished the second round, Abbie shouted, “We did it, Moonbeam!” She patted the horse’s neck and leaned forward to say something only the horse could hear. Moonbeam nodded his head vigorously, as if in agreement.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Abbie. Great job.”
While the girl led her horse out of the arena, Katie went to pick up the first of the poles.
Travis was out of his quasi-hiding place in seconds. “Here, let me help with those.”
“Oh!” Katie jumped and dropped the end of the pole. “I didn’t see you there.”
“Didn’t mean to scare you.” Travis lifted two of them at a time. “Just wanted to watch you work. You’re amazing with both the horse and the rider.”
“Well, they’re a team. Besides, I love what I do.”
“It shows.” He followed her to where she dropped the first pole and placed his beside hers, and then they went back for the other three. “Listen, if you want me to stop watching, you’ll have to give me something else to do.”
“You’ve already been to the store?”
He nodded. “And the dishes are done. Everything’s ready in the fridge to make sandwiches for lunch.”
“If you’d like to take Angus for a ride while I finish my last lesson, feel free. You’re the only person I trust with him.”
“Sounds good. See you in ninety minutes.”
Like a kid at Christmas, he headed out to catch the stallion, but would be counting down the minutes until he saw Katie again. How’d he go from not giving her much of a thought over the years to having her consume his every passing minute?
Boy, have I got it bad. Again.
How would their story end this time? Did he and Katie have a chance at something moving forward, despite their past history? They both had homes and livelihoods four hours apart from one another. Travis wasn’t ready to give up the company he’d worked so hard to put together. But Katie was equally entrenched here. In fact, that had been a concern of his even back then, although he would have started a business in Lexington or even nearby Versailles if she’d let him be a part of her life.
Ever since Katie had woken up in the hospital, she’d been so serious—almost fearful of him or something—but maybe he was managing to get her to lighten up some. She wasn’t the same person he’d known in college, but then neither was he. They’d both been through a lot, suffered significant losses, and worked like hell to get where they were.
Would she ever open up about what had happened to them over a dozen years ago? And why was she so eager to get rid of him now? Only one way to find out. That meant spending more time here on the farm with her.
He couldn’t help but chuckle to himself. She ought to love that.
Chapter Nine
Kate washed up in the arena kitchen wondering if she’d done the right thing to agree to a hike in one of their favorite places. When she came into the barn in search of Travis, he was nowhere to be seen. She entered the house to find he’d nearly emptied the fridge and had filled the table with sandwich fixings.
“Angus has been cooled down and put out to pasture again,” he said as he made himself a ham and Swiss sandwich with all the fixings.
There was no turning back. “That’s more than I can eat in a week,” she told him.
“I plan to give us both a workout, so you’d better go prepared.”
Ignoring the heat infusing her face, she walked over to the table and made a dressed turkey and provolone sandwich and slid it into the storage bag.
“Want me to put some olives in a plastic container?”
“If you want some,” she said as she waited for the microwave popcorn to finish. “I can’t stand the things.” Obviously, he didn’t remember everything about her.
“Then why’d you have a half-eaten jar in the fridge?”
Kate’s hands stopped in mid-motion. Drat! How was she going to explain the vile things away since he thought she lived alone? Why did Chelsea have to love them so much?
“Oh, olives. Sure. Bring some. Not too many, though,” she cautioned. “I have enough here to fill me up.”
“I love them, too.” Is that where Chelsea inherited her taste for them? Could something like that be genetic?
Kate watched in horror as he dumped the juice from the jar and filled a pint-sized container with every last one.
Two hours later, thoughts about having to eat a few disgusting olives had faded to a dim memory as they took in the beauty of the Red River Gorge together. They’d eaten sandwiches in the truck on the way here, but hadn’t bothered with the messy, nasty olives.
As they climbed a ridge, Kate tried her best to find a foothold on the steep stretch of the trail. “You sure don’t believe in letting me ease back into hiking, do you?”
“Hang in there.” He wasn’t breathing hard. The man must be in superb shape, something she wished she hadn’t become so aware of lately. “We’ll rest at the top of this hill. There’s a great view, as I recall. Not that this one’s all that bad, either.”
“Stop staring at my ass, Cooper.”
He chuckled, but didn’t deny her accusation.
If the trail wasn’t so narrow here, she’d allow him to go ahead, but knowing where his attention was focused only gave her the determination needed to surmount the hill as quickly as possible. On the top of the ridge, all thoughts of Travis flew out the window.
“Oh my! It’s amazing! I’d forgotten how beautiful it is here.”
Travis joined her on her right and took in the view with her. The sandstone cliffs and limestone rock faces on the other side of the Gorge opened up before them.
He cleared his throat. “I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed this place. It always gave me a sense of humility when I started thinking that I actually had any control over anything.”
She understood exactly how he felt. “Makes your problems simply fade away, doesn’t it?”
“That it does.” They stood in silence, taking it all in for a few minutes, until he whispered, “Maybe if I’d brought you here, Danny, you wouldn’t have…” His words tapered off.
Danny? The crew member who had died recently? Kate turned toward him and caught a glint of a tear welling in his eyes before he turned away and lifted his hand to his face to rub his eyes. Kate tried to find words to comfort him, but decided that, if he was fighting so hard to keep her from seeing his emotions, he’d prefer his privacy. So once more she remained silent.
After a moment, he cleared his throat again. “This would be a great place to grab a bite. I’ll share the other half of my sandwich with you, if you’d like.”
“No, thanks. I couldn’t eat another bite.”
“Well, I don’t want to eat in front of you. You can have most of the olives.”
Her stomach turned at the thought. They sat on limestone outcroppings and he pulled the food out of his backpack, handing her the container with the vile things. She opened it and held it out to him. “You should try some on your sandwich.”
He stared at her as if she’d grown horns.
“No, thanks. Really. Have all you want.”
Steeling herself, she opened the lid and was hit by the vinegary smell. Her stomach lurched again, but she took a plastic fork and speared one, bringing it to her mouth. When he glanced out at the view, she tossed it behind her head, hoping that wouldn’t be considered littering and wouldn’t endanger any wildlife.
But eating them might endanger her!
She was in the process of tossing a handful more over her shoulder when Travis turned toward her. She had no recourse but to put them into her mouth. Oh, dear Lord. She began chewing and fought down her gag reflex as she picked up her water bottle an
d washed them down without chewing for the most part.
“You okay? You look as green as those olives.”
Not sure she could speak yet, she nodded. She handed him the container, unable to stand the smell any longer. “Here, you can have the rest. I’ve made a pig of myself already.”
She watched as he brought the container to his lips and tilted his head back to down the remainder. Kate shuddered. At least they were all gone now.
Travis stood and gathered up their trash and belongings into his backpack. He handed her another bottle of water. “We’d best keep going. Otherwise, the sun will set before we get back to the truck.”
They hiked along the ridge a ways until he indicated the spot where they should branch off on a new trail leading to the parking lot. Going down went much faster than hiking up had taken, and they were back at the truck in under two hours from when they’d stood on the cliff.
Kate smiled up at him. “What an amazing day. Thanks for suggesting we come here, Travis.”
“Day’s not over yet. We’re going to Clay City for supper.”
“I wonder if our favorite restaurant is still around.”
“Wonder no more. I looked it up, and it’s doing a thriving business. Even expanded since the last time we ate there.”
“Catfish and fried green tomatoes, here I come.”
“A woman after my own heart.”
She closed her eyes a moment before turning to stare out the passenger window. If he knew what she’d kept from him all these years, he’d think differently.
Because he’d insisted on driving today, she was able to enjoy the scenery as they drove into town shortly after sunset. While central Kentucky had beautiful rolling hills, the eastern part of the state’s mountains were awe inspiring.
“It’s gorgeous here, isn’t it?” His question pulled her back.
“Very.” But being in the area again also bombarded her with memories of when things had been good between them. Back when their futures held so much promise and hope.
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