Page 27 of Dirty Ginger

The color in her cheeks told him she’d noticed his attention. He shook his head. “Tried to keep in touch, but it’s like two different lives in the rodeo and out of it.”

“That’s too bad,” she said. “You had some good buddies in there.”

He nodded his response, not denying that fact. But what was done was done, and that life belonged to his past, not his future. To change the subject, he asked, “What brings you by?”

“Oh,” she said, and then hesitated, nibbling that lip again. “I hit wall after wall trying to come up with new samples. Nothing worked. Everything sucked. So, instead of beating myself up, I wondered if you felt like hanging out.”

All that nibbling on her lip had him feeling like hanging in bed with her, but as he looked at the horse, he wasn’t ready to end his workday yet. “I need to get a short ride out and pony her.” An idea suddenly presented itself, and the thought warmed him. They always rode together back in the day, just the two of them. They’d spend hours out riding in the meadows and rolling in the grass whenever they could get their hands on each other. “Would you like to join us?”

Her eyes widened. “Go on a ride?” At his nod, she added, “Would Nash mind that?”

“Not at all,” Beckett told her. “We always need the lazy horses out for a ride and none of the cowboys like taking them out. You can ride Larry.”

She took a step backward as Beckett climbed the fence. “Who’s Larry?” she asked.

He hit the ground. “A fat, old horse that Nash bought Megan to ride when she was pregnant. Trust me when I tell you that he’s safe, won’t take a step out of place, and he most definitely needs the exercise.”

She laughed. “Okay, then yes, I’d love to go for a ride. It’s been so long.”

“How long?” he asked.

Her cheeks filled with beautiful color. “I only ever rode with you.”

Damn, he liked that something belonged just to them. “Well, then, let’s grab the tack and the horses and get out there.”

His chest swelled with happiness as she stepped into stride with him toward the barn. He led her down the aisle, with box stalls on either side. The only time horses came inside the barn was if they were injured or needed stall training. Nash believed in natural horsemanship with horses living outside as much as possible, and Beckett agreed with that method too.

She took a look around. “Is it always so quiet here?”

“No,” Beckett said, dryly. Most days there was a flurry of activity at the farm. “The team is moving the mares to another pasture to let the grass grow. It’s an all-day job.”

“Cool,” she said. A pause. Then her voice turned bubbly, “Oh, my goodness, how sweet is this?”

Beckett looked at what caught her attention. He smiled, fully understanding the sweetness in her voice. “It’s actually a bit of a sad story that has a happy ending.”

“Oh, yeah?” she asked, glancing his way with big eyes. “What happened?”

Beckett glanced into the stall, spotting the dark bay filly drinking from the mare. “This mare lost her baby two weeks ago.”

Amelia placed a hand on her heart. “Oh, no. That’s terrible.”

Beckett agreed with a nod. “Nash offered her as a nurse mare in hopes we could find her an orphaned foal. This sweet little babe was rejected by her mother, so she came in the other day and our girl, Nelly, took the baby on like she was her own. She’s a good mom.”

Tears were in Amelia’s eyes as she looked back to the mare. “You’re right. That is a sad story with a happy ending.”

Beckett found himself lost in Amelia’s heart. In his younger years, he never appreciated that heart for how special it was. Never realized how few women held pure gentleness and a nurturing soul. He imagined Amelia would act like Nelly, warm and affectionate, making her children feel loved.

Christ, he’d give everything he had for a chance to see her with his baby in her arms. Not getting too far ahead of himself, he cleared his throat and motioned to the tack room next to the feed room. “Let’s get going.”

She smiled. “Okay.”

In short time, they had the horses brought in from the field, tacked up, and were soon atop their backs and riding past the barn out to the meadow. Beckett glanced next to him, finding a peaceful expression on Amelia’s face as she rode Larry, who plodded along through the grassy meadows. Autumn kept next to the dark bay quarter horse, Danika, beneath him. He always used Danika to pony horses, needing a calm leader to teach them that going for a ride was a joy, not a punishment. While Autumn did well so far, Beckett kept her on the other side of Danika, away from Amelia and Larry. He kept a close eye on her, giving her corrections when she went too fast or became nervous and unsettled. Though Danika, a boss mare in the field, taught Autumn more than Beckett ever could.

As he and Amelia rode in peaceful silence, he thought about their relationship. Never in a million years would he have thought he’d gotten so far with Amelia so soon, which begged to question whether her feelings for him weren’t as buried as he thought. He knew when they’d broken up, he’d given her no other choice than to walk away from him. There’d been no joy in his life back then, only anger for all that had been stripped away. Not only the loss of his mother and grandfather, but his purpose. He’d lost sight of his dreams. While he considered going back to the rodeo a couple years ago, he didn’t have the money to support himself like he would have when he was younger and could have lived with his grandfather while he got going in the rodeo circuit. So, while he’d found peace that he’d given up that dream and found a job he truly loved with Nash, he hadn’t found peace with Amelia. He’d shut her out, along with everything else that he once loved.

Once they settled back into a walk from a trot, he couldn’t take his eyes off Amelia’s beauty, his breath trapped in his throat. He studied the delicate lines of her cheekbones, the final hour of daylight hitting her, highlighting all the golden hues in her ginger hair. But it was the steadiness of her gaze that caught him up. She’d always given him that look when she had something on her mind. “Deep thoughts?” he asked.

She blinked, obviously coming out of whatever spell she’d been under. She met his gaze with a warm smile. “Seems to be all I do lately.”

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