Page 32 of Parading the Cowboy Billionaire (Bluegrass Ranch 4)

She cocked her eyebrows at him and folded her arms.

“I forgot.” He held up both hands in surrender, pulling a bit on Raven as he held her reins. “You don’t like baby. Climb up on that, sweetheart.”

She smiled, nodded, and stepped up on the block. “This is way better,” she said. She put her left foot in the stirrup easily then, and Cayden held Raven still while Ginny pushed with her right foot and swung that leg over the horse’s back.

“I can’t believe I just did that,” she said. “There is no way I’m getting off this thing.” She gripped the saddle horn like it would save her, and Cayden found himself chuckling again.

“Yes, you will.” He handed her the reins. “You’re in charge of the horse.” Raven would just follow Cayden, so he moved the step out of the way, got on Honey, and looked at Ginny.

“You just hold the reins here,” he said, demonstrating how he held them loosely in front of him. “You don’t really use them unless you want her to turn quickly. We won’t be doing any of that, so you basically just let her walk.”

“Let her walk,” she repeated, and it sure was nice to see some fear and apprehension on her face. She was always so confident, and she knew exactly what to say and do in every situation he’d seen her in.

“Yes,” Cayden said. Then he nudged Honey into that walk, expecting Raven to come right along easily. She did, and he smiled over at Ginny. “See?”

“I’m riding a horse.” She looked like an eight-year-old on her birthday.

“Yes, you are, sweetheart.” He took a long, deep breath of the afternoon air, and while it had started getting hot in Dreamsville the past few days, he still loved the scent here.

He couldn’t believe he’d told her he hadn’t been in love…yet. She’d asked, though, and he wanted to be truthful with her.

Truthful.

“Do you think this is really going to work?” he asked, not wanting to open a can of worms but needing to get this out in the open.

“I think so,” she said. “I think it’s going well so far, don’t you?”

“I do,” he said. “I’m just…I guess I’m wondering if you’re thinking long-term or not.” He glanced over to her. “To me, this doesn’t end unless your mother accepts me or dies. Like, honestly, Ginny.”

She said nothing, and Cayden wished he hadn’t brought it up.No, he told himself.Better to bring it up now instead of after you fall in love with her.

“Or we break up,” he added. When she still didn’t say anything, Cayden told himself to stop talking. She’d heard him; she had to decide what to do with the conversation next.

10

Ginny wished she could split herself down the middle. She’d send half of herself to the office in the skirt suits and heels, the plastic smile and the perfectly painted lips. The other half of her would wear jeans, ride these beautiful horses with this beautiful man, and soak in the afternoon sunshine every single day.

She had no idea what to say to Cayden. It felt like beating a dead horse, but she knew he deserved answers too.

Annoyance ran through her at the situation. She enjoyed spending time with him, and she’d liked all of the things she’d learned about him. He didn’t miss much though, and he could see through Ginny’s carefully crafted façades that no one else could. She actually liked that, except for when she just wanted to be left alone about a topic.

This was a losing conversation, in her opinion, and she’d been hoping he’d simply drop it. Cayden didn’t drop much, though. She wasn’t overly religious, but she tipped her head back and drew in a long breath of the heated air.

“The sun is nice today,” Cayden murmured.

Ginny found the strength she needed in his quiet and powerful voice. “I don’t want to break up,” she said in an equally quiet and powerful voice. “My goal, Cayden, is to bring my mother along gradually to the idea of us. That is not going to happen overnight, or even in a month.”

He looked at her, and she marveled that he could ride a horse without looking. She could barely stay in the saddle as it was, and her fingers tightened on the reins as she attempted to meet his eye.

“That’s not going to work,” she said, giving a light laugh. “I have to watch where I’m going or I’m going to fall off.” The movement of the horse beneath her wasn’t entirely unwelcome; it was just new, and she was still trying to calibrate how she sat so she felt balanced.

The weight and brilliance of his smile touched her peripheral vision. “What do you think is going to happen?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “That’s the point.” She smiled too, and it felt real and comfortable on her face.

He chuckled, but the sound didn’t last long. “It feels like I get two different Ginnys,” he said. “I’m not sure how you split yourself like that.”

“I’ve been doing it for decades,” she said. “That’s how.” The smile slipped away, and while something had interrupted them in the past, or Ginny had reassured him until he stopped asking, she wanted to hash this out. “I realize I’m splitting myself, but I can honestly say I haven’t lied to anyone. Mother has not asked me if I’m still seeing you. If she does, I suppose I’ll have to decide at that point if I’m going to tell her the truth or not.”

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