Max (7 Brides for 7 Brothers Book 5)

by Lynn Raye Harris

  “It’s okay, Max. Have a look. I’ll answer any questions you might have. The picture isn’t exciting, I’ll just tell you that. But we’re making do.”

  “You’re doing a good job, Ellie. I know that.” And he did know it, even if he thought she’d be better off with racehorses. But that wasn’t the hand she’d been dealt nor the one he’d inherited.

  “Day at a time,” she said. “It’s all we can do. Okay, gotta go. Walking into the barn now.”

  She ended the call, and he put his phone in his pocket. Then he stood there and looked out at the barn in the early-morning light. The horses in the field were munching hay happily, and the baby he’d watched being born frolicked in the dew while his mother ate.

  Peaceful. So damned pretty. He hadn’t expected to appreciate quiet mornings in Kentucky, but he was learning that he did. Very much.

  He especially appreciated them when he woke up with a beautiful woman and then made love to her before ever leaving the bed. That was how to start a day, no matter where you were.

  Max cleaned up the dishes, drying them and putting them in the cabinets before he hung up the towel and went to find the office. It was a room with bay windows, bookshelves, and more old carpeting that needed ripping out. There were photos on the walls of horses and riders getting ribbons at various shows. The entire history of Applegate Farm was on these walls, he realized as he walked around the room. There were photos in the barn too, along one wall, but no ribbons.

  He picked up a photo on a table. A woman who looked remarkably like Ellie, but wasn’t, stared back at him. It was the same woman from the photo his mother was in. Pamela Applegate. She sat on a big horse, her smile wide, and a man and woman stood beside her. One held a ribbon and the other held a silver trophy.

  There were a lot of pictures like that. There were photos of Ellie on horses, and even older photos he assumed were her grandparents. Yeah, the Applegates had quite the history.

  Max put down the photo he’d picked up and went over to the desk. The account books were where she’d said they would be. He opened the page and ran his eye over what was written there. Why wasn’t she doing this on a computer? The ancient-looking PC sitting quietly on the desk told him the probable answer.

  He ran down the columns. Feed, shoeing, utilities, maintenance, vet bills, show fees, Miguel’s pay. There was a payment on a tractor too. They paid workers to help haul hay when they harvested, but that wasn’t a big expenditure.

  The incoming column wasn’t as long as the outgoing. Seven horses that didn’t belong to Ellie were boarded on the farm, and their monthly fees added something to the coffers but not a lot. Lessons were a big part of her income. The training column was anemic, though five of the seven horses added a small amount there. He flipped the pages and went back five years. He did a double take. The training column was enormous then. So enormous that he frowned. What the hell had happened to change that?

  He flipped inward, following the money. About three years ago, everything slowed to a moderate flow. Miguel had told him that Ellie’s mother had started acting erratically and chased off most of their clients. Six months after that, the revenue squeezed even more—and then there was an influx of cash.

  His father. Pamela had gone to his father, and Colin had loaned her money. Where had that money gone? He frowned as he went over the columns month by month. Some of it had gone to the farm, but not the majority. There was no accounting for that kind of money—

  It hit him suddenly where the money went. Pamela’s medical bills. Her treatment. Holy shit. He hadn’t thought of that at first, hadn’t thought that the money the Applegates borrowed went to anything but the farm. He’d thought she’d had medical insurance, and he’d never considered they’d spent money on her treatment.

  Had his father known? It made him ill to think his father would have taken the deed to the farm in exchange for money to keep Ellie’s mother alive. And then he rejected that idea outright. Dad had been a lot of things—a hard-nosed businessman for sure, but not ruthless. Not so ruthless he’d take the deed to a dying woman’s property in exchange for helping her get treatment.

  He had to call Aunt Claire. Except it was three thirty in the morning in California, and she wouldn’t appreciate a call right now.

  He closed the ledger and sat there frowning for a long while. Dad had given him a horse farm in Kentucky. A horse farm with a gorgeous, hardworking woman who was determined to save her heritage. Ellie Applegate worked her ass off to keep the farm she loved, but she wasn’t working to repay a mortgage so much as she was working to repay medical bills. Did that change the reality of their situation? Did it change him?

  Max felt his jaw crack. Goddammit—maybe it did. And he didn’t know what he was going to do about it.

  15

  Champ worked like, well, a champ. Ellie patted his steaming chestnut neck as she brought him to a halt in the center of the arena. She knew how her mother must have felt when she’d ridden Applegate champions in the days of old. They hadn’t had a champion like Champ before though. Ellie had been cheeky when she’d named him Champ as a newborn, but dammit, they needed a self-fulfilling prophecy for a change.

  She’d bet money on the fact he was the best they’d ever had. Momma had trained some excellent horses, and so had Gramps. They’d won a world’s championship once for themselves, and they’d trained world’s champions for others. They’d had reserve world’s champions and clients who’d paid good money to have Applegate horses.

  They’d never had a horse like Champ before—a horse that could possibly be a world’s grand champion someday. Or maybe she was deluded. Maybe she’d pinned all her hopes and dreams on him to the point she couldn’t see reality anymore.

  Momma had bred him, but Ellie had trained him. Momma would have, but she’d gotten sick. Out of necessity, the task had fallen to Ellie. She’d used everything she’d learned from Momma, and she’d done the best job she knew how to do. She had a horse who could fly at the rack, who had natural high action, and who never tired of performing. He arched his neck, flagged his tail, and strutted his stuff without hesitation. She couldn’t ask for a better horse.

  But was it enough? She didn’t have the deep pockets of the big farms. It was everything she could do to scrape together the entry fees. She had three clients who planned to show next weekend, and that helped her with the gas and the fees somewhat. But she had to stay in the barn instead of a hotel. The stall fees were cheaper than a hotel room, and there were showers in the restrooms at the showgrounds. She had her cot and her sleeping bag, and it wasn’t anything new for her.

  In the old days, Momma had sometimes stayed near the horses when some trainers were unscrupulous enough to attempt to upset a horse’s performance by giving them sedatives or, worse, making them come up lame.

  She didn’t think anyone was going to harm Champ, but if she was honest with herself, it wasn’t a risk she was willing to take. People were capable of anything when big money was on the line.

  Not that it would be next weekend. This was only a preliminary, but it was the first time anyone would see Champ work in public—which was also why it was so critical that he do well. He might totally wig out. She knew that. He might get to the ring and have a meltdown, though she thought she knew him better than that.

  He was sensible and he was all business under saddle. But he was still a stallion, and he was young. Put him in an environment with lots of horses, many of them mares—some possibly in season—and lights, sounds, and smells unlike what he was used to, and he could have a complete and total breakdown.

  She just had to hope he didn’t. That training and the desire to perform would take over and he’d be brilliant. It was critical that he be brilliant.

  She dismounted and took Champ into the barn, putting him in the crossties and unsaddling. Then she rubbed him down and put a cooler on him since the mornings could still be a little chilly.

  “Morning,” Lacey called out as she walked up with an
extra coffee. And then her expression changed, her eyes widening slightly as she gazed at Ellie. She thrust the coffee out. “Girl, you had better tell me everything!”

  Ellie’s heart skipped. Now was her chance—but could she say any of it? Or was it too private? She laughed as she took the insulated cup. “That obvious?”

  “Something is obvious, yes indeed. What happened?”

  Ellie sipped the hot coffee. It didn’t help that she thought of Max fixing her a cup earlier. She hadn’t seen him since she’d left the house, but of course she’d thought of him. And every damned moment that had happened between the time he’d picked her up on the porch and the time she’d gotten dressed this morning. She didn’t remember ever feeling that, well, sexually satisfied before.

  “A lot happened, Lacey. I… Well, the long dry spell is over, let’s put it that way.”

  Lacey squealed like a teenager. “I want to know all the details. Is he amazing? Hung? Does he know what to do with all that handsomeness or what?”

  Ellie shook her head and laughed. “Dear God, are we sixteen or what?”

  “Puh-leeze. Neither one of us knew what the hell sex was at sixteen.”

  “Fine, true. We were late bloomers in the scheme of things.”

  “And?”

  “And he knows what he’s doing. I’ve never, ever been so… thoroughly worn out from spending the night with a man. Yes, he’s amazing. And blessed in that, er, department.”

  “Oh, I’m so jealous.” Lacey sighed and then hurried to correct herself. “Not because of Max,” she said. “Just because you’re getting some and I’m not.”

  Ellie snorted. “I haven’t gotten any, as you put it, for over two years. I think I’m due.”

  “You are definitely due. So what now?”

  Ellie frowned and leaned back against the wall. “I have no idea.”

  “Do you think he still wants to sell? Or will he change his mind?”

  “We had sex, Lacey. We aren’t getting married. Of course he still wants to sell. This changes nothing.”

  Lacey’s eyes flashed. “Then honey, you have got to get in there and screw his brains out. Make him crazy. Don’t let him figure out which way is up or which way is down. You’ve got this.”

  Ellie laughed. “Lacey, I love you. But you give me far more credit than I deserve.”

  Lacey shook her head. “You have no idea, do you? You are gorgeous and smart and so, so interesting. He’s crazy for you, even if he doesn’t quite understand why. This is when you go in for the kill. Hammer it home, ha-ha, and don’t let him think about anything but you. Now is not the time to be timid.”

  Ellie couldn’t help but gape at her friend. “He is not crazy for me. You’re deluded. He’s been here five days. That’s not enough time to be crazy about anything.”

  “Ellie, I say this with love—you’re an idiot. There’s definitely something there, and it’s your job to make sure he knows it.”

  “I don’t know it. How can I make sure he knows something I don’t?” She wanted to throw up her hands and shout her frustration, but Lacey frowned at her like she was stupid.

  “Honey, please. You have known this man for five days and you have apparently spent the entire night doing the nasty with him. You wouldn’t do that—have not done that—with anyone else in so short a time, and you know it.”

  Ellie felt herself coloring. “I haven’t had a chance. Who else is there?”

  “Seriously? You’ve had opportunities. What about Jack, the Thoroughbred trainer over at Sunset Farms? He came around here for weeks, and he doesn’t know diddly about saddlebreds. Then there was Brad, the insurance agent who helped you file that claim after the wind storm. And Peter, the single father who brought his daughter out for lessons last year.”

  Ellie felt as if she were burning up from the inside out. Okay, so there’d been a few men who had shown interest. She hadn’t been interested in any of them. That was not a crime. Max was the first one to move into her place, and that had to be what made the difference. He was here twenty-four seven—except he hadn’t been here all the time, had he? Those few days after Lacey had filed the restraining order, he’d hardly been around. Ellie didn’t know why that was, but she’d noticed.

  “You’re exaggerating,” she said. It was a lame excuse, and they both knew it.

  “Whatever. Seriously, you have got to ride that pony for all it’s worth. You didn’t cross that line because you were tired or bored or horny. You crossed it because there’s something about him that you like very much.”

  Ellie dropped her head in defeat. “God, don’t say that Lacey. I do like him—but he’s not staying. I heard him on the phone last night. He’s got a job waiting in the desert, wherever that is, and he’ll go there soon. He’s told me he has nothing to give me but his body, so there’s no point in expecting more.”

  Lacey frowned. Hard. “Elinor Caroline Applegate, I am shocked at you. Since when do you give up on anything? Since when do you let anyone tell you what they will and will not do where you are concerned? You aren’t a quitter, and you never have been. If you were, Champ wouldn’t be the horse he is today. Applegate Farm would have folded when your mother died. And God knows what would have happened to me, because I’d have let Brice browbeat me into believing I was worthless and stupid if I hadn’t had you to turn to.”

  Ellie’s insides squeezed tight. Her eyes felt gritty and raw as she swallowed back hot tears. Not because she felt hopeless over a man, but because her best friend in the world knew her so well. “I would do anything for you, Lacey. You know that. You are not worthless or stupid or any other damned negative thing Brice tried to beat you down with.”

  Lacey’s smile trembled at the corners. “I know that, El. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be saying this, would I? And you are worth so much more than a man who says he has nothing more to give than his body. Seriously, you go up there and you fight for that shit. Fight for what you’re worth and what you want.”

  Ellie shook her head sadly. “It’s okay, sweetie. I know what I’m worth—but that doesn’t mean Max is going to stay, or that I want him to stay. It’s sex. Good sex, sure, but you said it yourself. Five days is all we’ve spent together—I’m not in love with him. And he is definitely not in love with me.”

  Lacey’s frown grew more fierce. “Then you need to work harder, don’t you?”

  “Lacey, I—”

  But Max walked around the corner of the barn just then, and Ellie’s tongue grew thick in her mouth. He strode up to them as if he hadn’t a care in the world, but his expression was at odds with his body language. He looked… tense.

  “Max,” Lacey said, smiling like the minx she was.

  “Hey, Lacey.” Max went over and gave her a quick squeeze. Ellie wasn’t jealous, because she knew there was nothing between them, but she was definitely envious that he felt so at ease with Lacey he could hug her without a thought. Lacey lifted an eyebrow at Ellie. She wanted to laugh, and she wanted to pinch her friend at the same time. Horrible tease.

  “Everything okay? No Brice the asshole?” he asked.

  Lacey smiled. “Nope, no Brice. Whatever you said to him on the sidewalk scared him good. That and the restraining order. I owe you. Free haircuts forever?”

  Max laughed. “How about free haircuts for now? Though I’m happy to pay you.”

  “You don’t want free haircuts for life? You aren’t planning to leave us, are you?”

  Ellie wanted to kick Lacey in her backside, but Lacey just smiled and acted all innocent as she batted her eyelashes at Max.

  Max’s gaze flickered to Ellie. She felt the heat of his gaze like a torch, whether he intended it or not. Her nerve endings prickled to life.

  “I’m not leaving right now.”

  “But you are leaving.” Lacey was pushing for an answer. Ellie wanted to clap her hand over Lacey’s mouth—and she wanted to know the answer too.

  “Eventually,” Max said. Which was as much of a nonanswer as it was po
ssible to give.

  He’d asked her last night if she’d wanted him to go. She’d said yes. And then she’d said no. She’d been confused for so many reasons when she’d said those things, but the idea of him leaving now made her heart cry out. Which was ridiculous, because he’d been here five days. Five days.

  “Well,” Lacey said, straightening. “I have to go and get Clover ready for our ride.”

  She strode away and left them alone. Ellie’s mouth went dry. She’d spent the night in this man’s arms, but now she didn’t know what to say. Or what to do. She was glad she had a coffee cup to hold on to, because otherwise she’d be tempted to put her hands on him.

  Max threw a glance toward Lacey’s retreating back and then turned to Ellie. He was grinning, and that made her heart skip a beat. “Subtle, isn’t she?”

  Ellie shrugged. “As a match in a fireworks store.”

  “You told her.”

  Ellie blushed bright red. She could feel it, but she hoped he chalked it up to the exertion of riding Champ. “I didn’t have to. She knows me well. Apparently my face gives it away.”

  Max laughed. “You do look pretty satisfied.”

  And just like that, her insides melted into a hot, gooey puddle of desire. “Thanks again for that.”

  He came over and took the coffee cup from her. Or, more accurately, he unfolded her arms and widened them so he could put his around her waist and tug her in close. She held the cup against his arm and tried not to tremble.

  “Anytime, babe.”

  “Anytime until you leave, you mean.” Now why had she said that?

  “I thought you wanted me to go.” His voice was warm and slightly mocking. But there was humor in it.

  “Maybe I like having you around. You’re useful.”

  He snorted. “Free labor, you mean.” His voice dropped an octave. “Or do you mean useful in bed?”

  “All the above, Max. Stick around long enough, and you’ll renovate my entire house. I’ll pay you in orgasms. It’s the perfect exchange.”