Rough Ride
Page 7
“Oh,” he says, like that wasn’t what he was expecting. “Of course you do. I love you, too.” The words come quickly, like he’s overstating the obvious.
“Wait. What?”
He raises his eyebrows at me in a silent question.
“You love me?” I ask.
“You’re surprised?”
“I’m not. It’s just... Really?”
He rolls his eyes. “Christ, Tess. Don’t be such a dork.”
I pretend to pout. “But that’s one of my best skills.”
He laughs and kisses the top of my head. “No, it’s not. And I should know. I’ve been making a list of all your best skills. That doesn’t even make the top ten.”
I get his meaning, and a tremor of excitement runs through me.
Sensing it, he opens the door and lifts me into the cab. A few seconds later, once he’s climbed behind the wheel, he gives me a smirk. “I love you, Tess. For a long time now. I’d say I first knew it when you stood up for me with the Marsdens, but I think it happened long before then. You’re better than I could have ever imagined.”
A warmth spreads through my chest. “Let’s go home, Cowboy.”
“Our home,” he says.
“Our home,” I say, loving how the words feel on my tongue.
And then we drive.
Seven Years Later
Luke
“Faster, Daddy! Faster!”
I laugh as I lead Hope around the edge of the paddock. Her pony’s got such a round little hay belly, he couldn’t go faster if he tried, and he’s made it perfectly clear that a slow plod is plenty fast for him.
That’s the only reason I let my little girl ride him. She’s barely three and still so tiny. She has her mom’s wide green eyes. She’s also completely fearless, which scares the shit out of me. Her legs are too short to get a good enough grip for any real speed. Still, she demands it.
“Faster!”
When I think about how I almost lost them, the image of Tess hooked up to oxygen, and the sound of our baby’s heart rate dropping... That’s when I knew what it would feel like to truly lose everything. I’m not much of a risk taker anymore.
As I lead the pony, I reach back with one hand and hold Hope’s ankle so I know she’s still centered and on top.
Tess watches us from the top rail of the paddock. She yells, “You go, little cowgirl!” and Hope waves.
“I said giddy up! Daddy!”
“We’re going fast enough, sweet girl, and now I think Winnie wants a rest.”
I pull the pony up to spot on the rail where Tess is sitting, and I hand her the reins. She takes them in one hand and combs her fingers through my hair.
“Thank you,” she says.
I look up into her smiling face. “For what?”
“For making dreams come true.”
I stare at her for a long second, processing. “You know... I think it might just be the other way around.”
Hope leans toward me and slips off the side of her pony and into my arms.
“You dreamed of this?” Tess asks.
Hope kisses my cheek then sticks her finger in my ear. I give her a disapproving glance that makes her laugh, then say, “I didn’t know I was allowed to dream of this. Had someone told me, I might have gone looking for you sooner.”
“Well, I’m glad you didn’t. I like how things worked out.” Tess’s face is serious, and there’s a familiar warmth in her eyes that always manages to stir my cock to life.
“Nap time!” I announce quickly, and Tess laughs.
Hope whines. “I don’t want to.”
I set her on her feet, and Tess jumps down off the rail, handing me the reins. She takes Hope’s hand. “Mommy and Daddy need a nap, too.”
“You do?” she asks.
“We do,” I tell her.
“Well, okay then.”
I laugh at how easily she gives in, then Tess and Hope head back to the house.
While I’m leading Winnie to the barn, Tess calls to me over her shoulder, “Meet you in the shower, Cowboy!”
I look, and Hope has run far ahead of her. “Can’t wait,” I call back.
She turns and runs to catch up with our daughter. I watch her the whole time. I’ve never been able to look away from her, and there’s no point in trying now. So much beauty under one roof...
How lucky am I?
* * * * *
Acknowledgments
A big thank you goes to my agent, Jacqueline Flynn at Joëlle Delbourgo Associates, my editor Kerri Buckley, and all the hard working people at Harlequin and Carina Press. Thank you also goes to those people who put horses and summer camp into my life—every life experience gives a writer something to chew on.
About the Author
A.S. Green lives in the cold, upper Midwest with her husband and, on those blessed occasions, three mostly grown children. She grew up with horses and summer camp, and her favorite days are still those spent on Lake Superior, which is the muse for many of her novels. She loves all things Irish—particularly music, dancing, and Jameson. When she’s not writing or reading romance, she’s traveling, camping, visiting book clubs, and blogging for Writer Unboxed. She also writes young adult fiction under the name Anne Greenwood Brown.
@asgreenbooks
ASGreenBooks.com
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ISBN-13: 9781488099526
Rough Ride
Copyright © 2018 by A.S. Green
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 22 Adelaide St. West, 40th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5H 4E3, Canada.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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