Page 42 of Roaring Fork Wrangler

He offered to walk us downstairs, but I told him I knew the way. When Gray and I reached the bottom step, Cord came around the corner.

“Do you have a minute?” he asked.

I looked at Gray.

“Go ahead. I can wait outside,” he offered.

“I can give Juni a lift home if you need to leave,” said Cord.

My brother yawned. “I am pretty beat.”

I raised a brow. Grayson was a night owl, and it was only nine o’clock. There was no way he’d be in bed before midnight. He turned his head so Cord couldn’t see and winked.

“If you wouldn’t mind,” I said, looking up at Cord. Was it my imagination, or did his eyes blaze like they had in the movie theater?

12

CORD

“Okay with you if we head to the cottage so we can give Beau and Sam some solitude?” I asked.

“Actually, I’d love to see the inside of it.”

“It isn’t much, but it does have a cool stone fireplace.”

“Is it where you’ve been living?” Juni asked.

“Yeah. I guess it’s where JD lived the last few years, at least part of the time.”

“Cord, I want to apologize?—”

“Don’t. You have nothing to be sorry for. It’s me who mucked everything up.”

She took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. “If someone were to ask me about you—about us—I would have no idea what to say. I know you, but I don’t.”

I nodded. “I feel the same way.”

“Grayson told me what you said while you were waiting for popcorn.”

We reached the cottage, and I stepped forward to unlock the door, then wentahead of her and turned on the lights. “He did?” I asked once we were both inside and I took her jacket. “Can I get you anything?”

“Are you having something?”

“I’ve got a bottle of red I opened last night.”

“I’ll have a glass if there’s enough.”

I held up the bottle that was still three-quarters full, and she smiled.

“So how are things going here? Are you able to wrangle things?” she asked.

I chuckled. “Truth is most of the horses here are about as elderly as Miss Cena, err, Mrs. Covert was.”

“It’s okay to call her Miss Cena. Everyone did. In fact, I don’t remember anyone calling her Mrs. Covert other than you.”

I nodded.

“Sorry, you were talking about the horses when I interrupted you.”

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