Page 19 of Riding Danger

“Dad.”

“No, don’t Dad me. He abandoned you.”

“You don’t know the full story. And that is still not a reason to be impolite.” I knew exactly which buttons to push. “I’ll tell Mom that you’re being rude to Ryder.”

My foster mother was originally from Nashville. She embodied Southern charm, and would never accept any of her family being less than polite. No matter who they were with.

Harry slowly turned his gaze to me. “You wouldn’t.”

“You know I would.”

He took Ryder’s hand and gave him a firm handshake. “Are you staying in town?”

“As much as I can.” He smiled despite Harry’s frosty attitude. “I’ve put in an offer on a house on the edge of town, close to Forte Femme.”

Wait what? “You did? When?”

“Last night when I was online and I couldn’t sleep.” He looked back at Harry. “We’re just discussing what to do when I’m on tour.”

“Tess and I will pitch in when needed.” Anyone who didn’t know him, would not have seen that offer for what it was. Help.

“I appreciate that sir. But I have lost so much time?—”

“You right, you have. But it's important that Ethan sees you doing what you love and what you're good at.”

I thought that was good advice. But the way Ryder’s face fell told me he didn’t see it that way. I wasn’t sure if Harry saw the change, but I was ready to step in if needed.

“Yes, Sir.”

Harry nodded. “You and I still need to have a conversation. I don’t like what you did to my girl and I need to make a few things clear.”

Yeah, I needed to step in. “I don’t think that will be necessary. This is not the nineteen-fifties.”

Harry ignored me and continued to stare down Ryder.

Ryder obviously got the message, I didn’t. “Yes Sir.”

With that Harry walked away and Ryder looked at me. “It's a guy thing, okay. I hurt someone who means the world to him. He’s going to have words, even if there are mitigating circumstances. I can assure you I would do the same for Ethan. Except I hope he never hurts a woman, like I hurt you.”

Well, how was I supposed to resist that? “Perhaps, but there is no need for him to get all duel-at-dawn on you. I can do my duel if I need to.”

Ryder narrowed his eyes and smiled at me. “I’m sure you can.”

“What’s that smile for?”

He let out one of those low sexy chuckles that drove me crazy. “I may not be the smartest man around. But I don’t think I should share what just ran through my imagination.”

Between the roughness in his voice and the sexy smirk that was almost a permanent fixture, heat ran down my spine and tingles raced in places they shouldn’t have.

A few minutes later, Harry brought out our meals and we were both quiet for a while. While I knew that Harry’s omelets were the best, some days, a greasy fry up with toast and hash browns and all the breakfast fixings was just what was needed.

After brunch, I took Ryder around town. I showed him where Minty’s was if he ever needed to carbo load with pastry and sugar. The bookshop where Tiffany organized our book club meetings every month. Then there was the florist, and the Town Hall.

“Can I ask you something?” I looked over at Ryder as we made it back to his car after finding an ice-cream truck. He nodded as he opened the passenger door for me. “Do you mind showing me the house you put an offer on?”

He tilted his head to the side as he hesitated for just a moment. “Of course.”

“You don’t have to, if you don’t want to.” Why was I suddenly nervous? “I mean, it's your personal space. I shouldn’t invade it without an invitation.”

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