Fortune's Greatest Risk (The Fortunes 0f Texas: Rambling Rose Book 4)

by Marie Ferrarella

  And, she thought, as they exited the stable, for the next few hours or so, Dillon Fortune was all hers.

  “Ready?” he asked one last time, his entire body poised for the ride.

  “Ready,” Hailey declared, anticipating the ride ahead of them.

  “Then let’s go!” Dillon said, kicking his heels into Rawhide’s flanks.

  Horse and rider took off.

  Hailey followed suit, doing exactly as Dillon just had. Within seconds, she happily went flying, right alongside of Dillon.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Hailey found that the next two and a half hours were absolutely exhilarating. The truth of it was she hadn’t been on a horse for at least six months—probably longer—and she was a little nervous about being up to it at the outset. But she had always been naturally agile and happily, the whole thing came back to her within a few minutes.

  When she glanced toward Dillon, he didn’t look as if he thought anything was amiss about her riding. As with the house, he was involved with acting as her tour guide, showing her the acreage of the entire ranch. That included pointing out the two guesthouses as well as the various stretches of empty land in the vicinity that were just begging for something to be built on them.

  Hailey made no secret of the fact that she was duly impressed by all of it. But what interested her the most was Dillon’s role here and just what his plans were for the future.

  “Given all this empty space, does that mean that you plan to build your own place here someday?” she wanted to know.

  They were looking down on a particularly lush and coincidentally isolated area of the ranch that looked as if it was just perfect for a ranch house, one that wasn’t ripe for the label mansion but a place where regular people—people like her, she couldn’t help thinking—could live.

  Dillon appeared surprised by her question. “No, I’m not planning on staying here,” Dillon answered matter-of-factly.

  Hailey told herself that his response shouldn’t have made her feel as if she’d been squarely hit by a Mack truck—but there was no getting away from the fact that it did.

  Doing her best to sound nonchalant, Hailey asked, “Oh? You’re not?”

  “No.” He had always thought of his move here as being just temporary because of what he had left behind in Florida. “Once our construction projects here are finalized, I’m going to be moving back to Fort Lauderdale.”

  The question rose to her lips before she could think to stop herself. “What’s in Fort Lauderdale?”

  Dillon glanced at her. He’d already said too much, he thought. Consequently, his answer was evasive. “It’s my home.”

  His home. He lived there. That should have been the end of it for her. But Hailey was nothing if not stubborn and she wasn’t ready to just let the subject go. “Maybe you’ll change your mind.”

  Dillon didn’t want to encourage Hailey, especially since what he had just said was essentially his game plan. He just wanted to finish up here, however long it took, and then move back to Florida. But then, on the other hand, it didn’t seem right to flatly rule out the possibility, however minutely slim, that he’d be staying on here in Rambling Rose indefinitely.

  Technically, indefinitely was different from permanently, right? he reasoned, slanting another look at the woman beside him.

  So he shrugged and said, “Anything is possible.”

  The smile she flashed him made his wavering definitely feel worth it. Heaven help him, but looking at her made him feel as if the sun had suddenly lit up all his insides.

  * * *

  When he and Hailey finally turned their horses back toward the stable another hour later, Dillon had to admit that he was impressed by Hailey’s stamina. She had kept up with him the entire time and she never once made any noises about going back or being too tired to go on. He, on the other hand, had begun to feel himself flagging. He blamed it on the fast pace he’d been keeping up, but whatever the reason, it did bother him a little that he was the one who decided to call an end to their horseback-riding adventure instead of Hailey.

  “You might have a little trouble walking when we bring the horses back to the stable,” Dillon warned her.

  Hailey looked at him, confused. “Trouble walking? What do you mean by trouble?”

  “Well, you made it sound like you don’t go riding very often and you did just spend almost three hours in the saddle. All I’m saying is it’s all right if, when you get off and you find everything aching, you want to complain about it,” he told her.

  “I don’t believe in complaining,” she answered truthfully. “Complaining about something is nonproductive. Better to put that energy into something useful. Something that could make the situation better.”

  Dillon looked at her uncertainly. “Are you usually this utilitarian?”

  She laughed softly. “No, you caught me on a good day. Most of the time I’m just being annoyingly upbeat—or so I’ve been accused by grumpy people.”

  Her answer amused him. “I’d say that compared to you, most people would seem to come across as grumpy,” he speculated.

  Maybe it was the way the sun was lighting up the area, but Dillon could have sworn her eyes were literally sparkling as she told him, “You’d be surprised. And, just in case you’re right about my legs being shaky, why don’t you stay close when I dismount? That way, if I am wobbly, you can keep me from falling down flat on my...pride?” she said, substituting the word pride at the last minute for the one she really meant.

  Dillon nodded, game. “You’ve got a deal,” he told her.

  And he kept his word. When they reached the stable, he dismounted first and was right there beside her horse as Hailey prepared to get off Delilah.

  Swinging her leg over the mare’s flanks, Hailey dismounted the horse in a single fluid motion.

  With her feet firmly on the ground, she let go of the breath she was holding.

  “See, my legs are perfectly steady,” she told Dillon, turning toward him. However, as she began to take a step, she suddenly felt herself all but sink to the ground.

  Or she would have if a pair of very strong arms hadn’t instantly closed around her and managed to keep her upright.

  “Maybe not so perfectly,” Dillon judged, his breath ruffling her hair and grazing her cheek as he spoke. “Your legs seem to be a little wobbly,” he observed.

  Hailey could feel her heart racing again, but definitely in a good way, she thought, grinning up at the man holding her up.

  “I guess I stand corrected,” she admitted. “My legs don’t exactly feel weak so much as they feel...bowlegged,” she finally said, describing what she felt to the best of her ability.

  “That’s because you had them wrapped around the flanks of a horse for a lot longer than you were probably accustomed to.” He realized that he could go on holding her like this indefinitely as he smiled down into her face. “Nothing to be ashamed of,” he added.

  “I’m not ashamed,” Hailey protested, then qualified her initial response. “Well, maybe I am a little embarrassed.”

  His smile widened. “Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me,” he promised.

  Then, because he was still holding her far too close than he reasoned was safe for either one of them, Dillon told himself he needed to release her.

  And he had every intention of doing just that.

  But for some reason, his arms remained exactly where they were. The only thing that did move was his head. He inclined it, causing his lips to be just close enough to Hailey’s so that he could do exactly what he had promised himself he wasn’t going to do today—or at all in the foreseeable future.

  He kissed Hailey.

  Dillon told himself that he only meant to brush his lips against hers. But he quickly learned that the best-laid plans often didn’t go the way they were meant to. Because once his lips made
contact with hers, he really had no choice but to deepen the kiss.

  Deepen it to the point that he felt himself getting lost in it.

  Getting lost in her.

  It took everything Dillon had not to allow himself to sink so far into this kiss that there would be no coming back. No course to take but the inevitable one.

  He wasn’t that kind of a man, Dillon told himself. He never had been. That meant that he didn’t believe in just availing himself of carelessly going the “love ’em and leave ’em” route. He was far too decent a man to take what in his heart he knew could so easily be his. Especially since he intended to ultimately walk away from Hailey. Things being the way they were, he had no choice but to do that.

  So, with effort, Dillon forced himself to draw back. To take a breath and tell himself that what he was doing was for the best.

  “So,” he finally said when he was able to speak coherently without running the risk of swallowing his own tongue. “Want to test those legs again?” he suggested.

  What had just happened here, Hailey couldn’t help wondering. One second she was certain that he was going to take her right here in the horse’s stall—was she crazy or was there something incredibly sexy about that?—the next he was making noises as if he’d turned into a prim Sunday school teacher.

  Had she done something wrong? Was there something in her body language that had put him off at the last moment, or was there some other reason he had backed off the way he had?

  She felt so confused that her head began to ache.

  Don’t overthink it, just go with it and play it cool. She’d figure all this out eventually.

  So Hailey pretended to look down at her legs, as if she was passing judgment on their condition. And then she proceeded to take a guarded step forward.

  And then another, a little less hesitant this time. The third step was a normal one.

  “Well, whatever was wrong with them before seems to have cleared up,” she informed him. Her smile was warm as she looked at him. “Thanks for catching me before I fell on my face.”

  “My pleasure,” he told her. And then Dillon roused himself. Time for things to get back to normal, he silently insisted. “Once I get the saddles off these horses and rub them down, I’ll drive you home.”

  Hailey was determined to make the best of the time they had left on this date and not ask any questions. “Okay, as long as you let me help.” When he didn’t reply, she added, “I take it that unsaddling the horses and giving them a rub down afterward is all part of riding them.”

  “Well yes, it is, but I can’t ask you to do that.” He couldn’t picture her doing anything other than standing there, looking beautiful.

  “You’re not asking me,” she pointed out with a smile that went straight to his gut, even though he was trying his best to block it. “I’m volunteering to do my part,” she pointed out. “Now do you want to stand here arguing about it—an argument that you’re not going to win, by the way,” she pointed out, “while the horses stand around, getting even more overheated? Or do you want to accept my offer to help and get to it? The faster you do, the faster you can take me home.”

  She had guessed right, she thought. The idea of getting her home seemed to spur him on. She tried not to let it bother her.

  He shook his head. “You do have a way with words,” he told her.

  Confident that she had managed to win him over, Hailey flashed another grin at him, one that he found he was becoming increasingly more susceptible to, and said, “Then let’s get to this, shall we?”

  That grin of hers was really undoing him. Dillon found that it took everything he had not to sweep her back into his arms and kiss her again. But he was well aware of what would happen if he did that and he already knew how dangerous following that path could be. Each time he was near her like this, his immunity to her took another hit and it was becoming in dangerously low supply at this point.

  Playing it safe, he took a step back, then he nodded his head and said, “All right.”

  Hailey found that unsaddling Delilah took a lot less time than saddling her had.

  It was the rubdown that took up most of the time. Still, that was over much too soon in her estimation. Then, before she knew it, she was back in the passenger seat of Dillon’s car and he was driving her home.

  She told herself that she wasn’t going to ask Dillon about his sudden change of heart.

  As it turned out, she contained her curiosity longer than she thought she would. The drive back to her house was filled with trivial topics she introduced just to fill the air. Topics she definitely wasn’t interested in and that she didn’t pay any attention to even as he was talking about them.

  Before she knew it, he was parking his vehicle in front of her house. And then Dillon walked her to her door.

  Adding insult to injury, after refraining from kissing her goodbye, Dillon turned on his heel and began to walk away.

  This time, Hailey lost the debate she was having with herself to refrain from asking questions.

  “What happened, Dillon?”

  She asked the question so softly, for a second, Dillon thought he had only imagined hearing her voice and only imagined hearing the question she’d asked. But then he realized that she had asked because, in her place, he would have wanted to know the same thing.

  He would have wanted to know why.

  Taking a deep breath, Dillon turned around slowly and looked at her. He was keenly aware that he owed her an explanation. But he was a private man and there were parts of himself that he couldn’t share, at least not readily.

  But that didn’t change the fact that he did owe her an explanation. So he gave her one. Or at least a partial one.

  “I knew that if I continued kissing you, it wouldn’t stop there. And you’re too nice a person to have me do that to you. I didn’t want to compromise you,” he added. “It wouldn’t be right.”

  Was that it? Really? If he was telling the truth, she couldn’t begin to describe the relief that washed over her. He was being noble.

  But she didn’t want him to be noble. She wanted him to be himself, a man with needs. Needs that she could satisfy.

  “Maybe I don’t see it as being compromised,” she told him gently.

  “Be that as it may, I did. I do,” he corrected, even as he felt himself losing ground.

  “Tell you what, why don’t you come inside for some coffee, or a beer,” she added, thinking that might appeal to him more than just a simple cup of coffee. “And we can talk about it.”

  He was tempted. Very tempted, which was why taking her up on her suggestion was not a good idea. They would both regret it for different reasons. “No.” He shook his head. “I’d better go.”

  She cocked her head, looking at him. “Why?” she asked, her voice soft and inviting. “I don’t bite,” she promised. “And I’d really like to understand your reasoning.”

  “Trust me, it’s really better this way,” he told her.

  “Better for who?” she wanted to know. When he didn’t answer her right away, she told him, “I’m open to being persuaded.” Hailey smiled at him, doing her best to win him over. “And besides, I’d like to express my thanks to you for taking the time to give me a really great day I’ll remember for a long time.”

  She could see that he was wavering so she continued to press, “You can leave at any time. I promise I won’t handcuff you to anything that you can’t drag in your wake. But seriously, I’d feel a lot better if you’d at least let me offer you that beer.

  “It’s still early,” she pointed out, and then elaborated, “Too late to do anything productive, but too early just to call it a day.”

  He looked torn, but underneath his resolve, he knew he was slowly giving in because he really wanted to agree with her.

  It was a short debate. “Okay, you win,” he told her,
following Hailey in.

  “I’d like to think that we both win,” she said as she closed the door behind them.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Once inside, Hailey went to the refrigerator and opened it.

  “I can offer you the aforementioned beer or coffee, some tea, or I forgot I still have a partial bottle of wine from the spa’s grand opening.” Still holding the refrigerator door open, she turned her head to look at Dillon. “What would you like to have?”

  You.

  The thought flashed through his head. Heaven help me, I’d like to have you.

  “Dillon? Did you hear me?”

  Realizing he hadn’t replied, he quickly answered, “Um, yes.”

  Hailey thought he hadn’t heard her, since his answer made no sense. Not wanting to embarrass him, she gave it another shot. “Well, just to review, I can offer you two kinds of beer. Light and real beer,” she said with a smile, then continued enumerating what drinks she had available. “Red wine. Coffee or tea. Those are your choices.” She waited for him to pick one.

  There was another choice, Dillon thought. One that neither one of them was mentioning. One that, if he remained much longer, he had a feeling would be made for him.

  Dillon’s eyes met hers.

  She felt as if he were looking straight into her soul. And the electricity between them was so strong, she was surprised that one of them wasn’t shooting off sparks from their fingertips.

  Hailey took a breath, doing her best to stabilize herself.

  “Tell you what,” she suggested, possibly a bit too cheerfully. “Why don’t I pour you a glass of wine since the bottle is already open? It would be a shame to let it go to waste.”

  As she talked, Hailey took out two wine glasses from the cupboard overhead. Putting them on the counter, she took the bottle out of the refrigerator, removed the cork and proceeded to pour two glasses. She brought the glasses over to the coffee table and placed one in front of Dillon as she sat down on the sofa with the other.