"Yes, but you never actually come home. I really didn't expect you to show."
Guilt squeezed Lily's stomach. She should have visited long before but avoidance seemed easier. “This hasn't been home for a long time."
The smile faded from Mara's face. “He's sorry you know."
"Me, too."
"Well, you're here now. Finally.” Mara grinned and tugged her toward the dusty heart of the fair. “No time to worry about the past. Come on. What do you want to do first?"
"Are your mom and dad here?"
"Of course. Mom's in the extension building passing out campaign pamphlets. She's running for representative again, and Dad's setting up the peddle tractor race."
"What about...how's...how is he?"
Mara stopped in the middle of the path forcing people to dodge around them. “You can't even say his name anymore, Lil?"
"Of course I can. Don't be dumb."
"Then do it. Say my brother's name."
Lily swallowed around the lump in her throat. “Thorvold Roosevelt Hanson. Also known as Thor. A.K.A. Thunder. Seriously what were your parents thinking when they laid that handle on him?"
"He's named after both our grandfathers."
"Ah, that would explain Marilyn Maude as well."
"Thank heavens it wasn't worse. My great-grandmothers’ names were Ethel and Beulah."
"I think they're both lovely names. As a matter of fact, I should call you Ethel or better yet, Beulah."
"Only if you want me to tell Thor how often you called to check on him."
Mara would never do that, but Lily's stomach tightened anyway as she pasted on a smile. “You win. Let's say hi to your mom, and we'll decide what to do from there.” Lily took Mara's arm in an attempt to steer her toward the 4-H grounds.
Her friend refused to move. “I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that, Lil."
"It's okay."
Mara dug in her heals. “I'd never tell. You know that, right?"
"As well as I know myself."
"Good. Come on then.” Mara sidestepped a pile of horse dung and headed off. Exuberance restored."
"I know it's a benefit, but you haven't ridden in years, Thor."
"I'm riding so quit nagging.” Thor climbed the corral gate to check on his horses. His bum knee locked up, and he grabbed the post to keep from falling. Damn it to hell!
Drake stepped closer. “You okay?"
Thor shifted his weight to his good leg and glared down at his friend. “I can climb a damned corral."
"Never said you couldn't.” Drake's gaze didn't waver.
Unwilling to start a fight over something so trivial, Thor swung his right leg over the fence and settled securely against the top rail. Below him milled the best of his herd. Top of the line jumpers any cowboy would kill to draw. A long faced Appaloosa nudged his boot.
"Hey Buck. Ready to give ‘em a show today?” The blue eyed gelding snorted and tossed his head as Thor scratched behind his ears.
Drake stepped onto the fence. Arms braced on the top rail, he stared across the stock corral. “Still riding Lightning?"
"That's the plan."
"Sure that's smart?"
"It's fitting.” Thor searched the herd for the horse's nearly white coat. The giant twelve-year-old gelding stood as much to the side as possible. A loner among social animals.
"He messed you up pretty bad last time."
"That wasn't his fault. He did his job. I got in the way."
The morning sun gave the pale horse an unearthly glow. His Belgian dam had stamped her son with the broad, heavy build of her ancestors, muscles designed to pull a wagon or throw an unprepared cowboy to heaven. But Lightning's Arabian sire gifted the animal with regal arrogance and bearing. The cocky son of a bitch could toss most riders well before the eight second mark and he knew it. “If I'm doing this for Hal's little girl, it makes sense to give ‘em a show."
"Yeah, just don't bang yourself up any worse. I ain't wiping your hairy ass when you can't do it yourself."
Thor chuckled at Drake's typical crass response. “Thank God for small favors.” He cast a glance at the water trough to ensure his animals had plenty to get them through the day then started to swing to the ground when a flash of red orange caught his eye. His chest tightened. He stood on the fence and shaded his eyes against the sun. It couldn't be. His heart shrank behind the protective cage of his ribs while the rest of his body went into hunt mode.
Drake climbed higher. “What's wrong?"
Thor didn't respond as he searched the crowd for the shimmer of fire that burned in his mind whenever he closed his eyes. She left without a single word. Why the hell do I care if she's back?
Drake smacked Thor's shoulder. “Hey, did you fall asleep? What are you looking at?"
Thor ignored his friend. Between the exhibit hall and the food court wove two slender young women, heads together, laughing and chatting as they had done since the third grade. Lily's fiery ponytail flashed in the blistering August sun and ignited memories still too hot and raw to forget. His cock jerked despite the anger that rose as well.
Drake took another step higher. “Is that who I think it is?"
"Know anybody else with hair like that?"
"Nope.” Drake reached over the fence to rub Buck's genial head. “Why'd she come back?"
"How the hell should I know? She's the one who took off."
"So now what?"
"Now, I finish checking the stock.” Thor dropped to the ground careful to land on his left leg.
Drake jumped down beside him. “You're not even going to say hi?"
If he got close enough to speak to her, he'd do a hell of a lot more than talk. “She knows I'm around. If she wants to, she'll find me.” She wouldn't though. She hadn't given a shit for nearly eight years. Why would she care after so long?
The old fairgrounds tugged at emotions Lily had fought too long to destroy. The scent of dusty horses, leather, and cowboy drifted on the air conjuring images of hot, lazy nights spent in the bed of Thor's truck. Long masculine legs tangled with hers. His cocky, boyish grin. Gentle though calloused fingers venturing places no other man's hands had ever touched. His heat blending with the humid air as he cajoled her not to worry.
I'll be fine, Peace Lily. Ain't a horse out there that can throw me as long as you believe in me.
Lily bit her lip as they neared the livestock corrals. Thor had to be at the fair somewhere. He raised bucking stock now and if rumor had it correct, he made a damned good living at it. Would she run into him? What would he say? What would she say? She should have followed her gut and stayed in Chicago. She didn't belong in his world. Not anymore. Not that she ever really had.
Mara pulled her around a group of teenagers. “Wait ‘til you see Mom. She started water aerobics and lost twenty pounds. Unfortunately, Dad found them."
The painful images faded as Lily remembered Mara's overgrown father. People simply called him Big rather than his real name. “I love your dad. Even if he were as round as a silo, he'd be too adorable for anyone to judge."
"At least someone appreciates me."
Noel Hanson grabbed Lily from behind and spun her into his arms with his daughter's same enthusiasm. Lily's heart squeezed tight before love softened the bad and embraced the good.
"I've missed your smiling face, Lil."
She snuggled against his massive chest like she had most of her life. “Me, too. So much."
"Don't hog the child, Noel. I haven't seen her in just as long."
"I ain't hoggin’ her. I'm hugging her."
Lily wiped silly sentimental tears from her eyes and stepped into Vivian's embrace. “Wow, you look fantastic. Mara told me you lost weight, but I didn't expect you to have dropped ten years."
"Right, like that would ever happen."
Noel wrapped his arms around all three women with a chuckle. “She'll be putting me out to pasture soon if I'm not careful."
His wife blushed like a girl. “Knock
it off, you big idiot. You'll embarrass the girls."
Mara grinned. “You're the only one with red cheeks around here, Mom.
"I can't have your father upsetting you so you don't hang out with us anymore."
Big chuckled and dropped a kiss on his wife's neatly styled hair. “Speaking of hanging out, where's that son of yours?” He grunted as Viv's elbow sank into his gut. “What the—"
Lily took Vivian's hand. “Stop trying to poke a hole in Big. I'm fine. You're allowed to talk about Thor. No matter what happened between us, he's still your child."
Get the fuck out! Don't come in here. Thor's hurtful words echoed through her head as clearly as they had eight years before. She was no longer an eighteen-year-old kid, but that didn't make his betrayal any easier to take.
Vivian squeezed Lily's knuckles and tugged her gently from the past. “No one asked you to leave, child. Even when your folks moved to Orlando, we still hoped you'd come back."
Thor hadn't asked her to go. He'd demanded. Tears welled again. Damn it! What happened to my backbone? She looked at the sun and blinked desperately, but the teardrops escaped and trickled down her cheeks anyway. She didn't cry in public. Tears solved nothing. But that didn't stop the silent sobs that shook her shoulders simply because someone had said a kind word.
Big's giant arms circled her shoulders and pulled her close, cradling her against him like an enormous teddy bear. “Ain't no use crying over something that can't be undone, little girl. Ain't no good in that at all."
Vivian's gentle hand patted Lily's head where it rested on Big's cushy chest. “Hush up and let her cry, now."
"I didn't say she couldn't cry. I said ain't no use in it. That's all."
"There's plenty of use in it. Lily's long overdue. You'd know that if you paid even a little attention now and then."
"I pay plenty. I pay every time you go to the mall, or across the state, or across the damned country. I pay all the time."
"I said pay attention not pay the bills. See? You don't listen at all."
Laughter rose slowly in her chest until Lily couldn't stand it anymore. She eased from the tender embrace, thanking heaven for waterproof mascara before she stood on her toes to brush a kiss over Big's sun weathered cheek. “God, I'd forgotten how much I love you guys. Don't let me forget again."
"Not a chance.” Big hugged her hard, and Lily pretended not to notice the moisture shimmering in his amber eyes so like his son's. “Not a chance in hell, girl."
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Chase and Seduction Page 16