Page 8 of Tempted at Thoroughbred Lake

Tears watered Vivian’s eyes. “Oh, Mom.” She hauled Ruby into a full bear hug. “I love you, too. I just want you to be happy. And I want you to be happy for Seth and me,” she quickly tacked on to that.

Ruby wanted to say that she’d be happier if they’d waited at least a couple of years before getting married, but that would no doubt just lead to another argument that would have Vivian storming out with her messily packed suitcase.

“Look,” Ruby said, “you can’t expect me to be jumping for joy about this. I had dreams of being there with you when you said ‘I do.’ But I can be happy for you if you’re happy.”

“Oh, Mom,” Vivian repeated.

Ruby held her close and got a flood of the wonderful memories of watching her baby girl grow. There’d been plenty of hard times, of course, but they were overshadowed by the joy Vivian had brought her. Still, she was hoping Vivian would hold off on adding that kind of “joy” to her life.

Vivian had that giddy smile again when she pulled back. Ruby preferred the giddiness to the anger, but there was something else she needed to get off her chest.

“You two are using protection, aren’t you?” Ruby asked.

That earned Ruby another eye roll and a huff. “Of course. We don’t want to make the same mistakes his parents and you did. Sorry,” she added in a mutter, and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

Ruby wasn’t offended in the least, and hearing this meant she could breathe a little easier. Well, breathe easier about an unplanned pregnancy, anyway. The marriage would no doubt give her a boatload of concerns.

She frowned when she heard the knock at the door, because she so wasn’t in any mood to deal with a visitor, but then Vivian’s phone dinged with a text, and she announced, “It’s Seth. He’s already packed his things and he’s here to pick me up.”

Vivian practically started running to the front of the house before Ruby could ask where they were going. She followed her daughter, intending to get an answer to that, when Vivian threw open the front door. Yes, it was Seth all right. But he wasn’t alone. Brennan was with him.

Despite everything else going on, Ruby’s heart did a little leap, and for just a second she got a reminder of what it was like to be a teenager in the throes of an attraction. Obviously, Vivian was in the throes, too, because she jumped right into Seth’s arms and kissed him.

Leaving Brennan and Ruby to stare at each other.

Since it hadn’t been that long since they’d done their own kissing, the memories were fresh enough to give Ruby another slam of heat. She might have sighed in a different kind of way, of a woman looking at one seriously hot guy, but the kids ended their lip-lock, and Seth turned to her in such a way that Ruby could see he had something to tell her.

“I’m going to take Vivian on a short honeymoon,” Seth explained. “Nothing big or long. Just a couple of nights at a hotel on the Riverwalk.”

The Riverwalk was in San Antonio, less than an hour away, so at least they wouldn’t have a long drive ahead of them.

Apparently, Vivian approved of that, because she clapped her hands while dancing on her tiptoes. She kissed Seth again, and when she slid her hand to cup his chin, the glint of her new wedding rings flashed in Ruby’s eyes. Talk about an “in your face” reminder that her daughter was married now.

“Seth and I have agreed to disagree on this marriage,” Brennan added. “And I transferred some money to his account so Vivian and he can have some nice meals while they’re in San Antonio.”

Since Ruby had had the idea of doing the same, she couldn’t fault Brennan for that. So, she was in the “agree to disagree” boat right along with them.

“I’ll get my suitcase,” Vivian gushed, and she ran back toward her room.

Ruby expected an awkward silence, and there was a couple of seconds of it, but her daughter broke speed records going to and from her bedroom. With her rolling suitcase, Vivian rushed back into the foyer, hooked her free arm around Seth and got them moving toward his truck.

“Have fun,” Brennan muttered, sounding as concerned as Ruby was.

Their kids clearly had no concerns, though, because they were smiling ear to ear as they waved goodbye to go on their honeymoon. Ruby was glad she didn’t have to say that last part aloud because it would have stuck in her throat. Of course, she was aware that Vivian and Seth were already lovers, but it was another thing to consider them going off for a weekend of married sex.

“Yeah,” Brennan added, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking.

They stood there watching until Seth’s truck was out of sight. Then the awkward silence came. It was accompanied by the heat that was steamrolling through the door. Ruby hadn’t noticed the heat when she’d been focused on the kids, but she was sure as heck noticing it now.

Noticing Brennan, too.

It was impossible for her not to be aware of him because they were standing shoulder to shoulder. Touching. And with those vivid memories of their kiss just hanging in the air.

“Well, we’ve got some options,” he said, looking down at her. “We can stand in this doorway and roast. We can go inside and get drunk. Or we can go on a date.”

As options went, that was a wide range. Roasting was a definite no-no. Ditto for getting drunk. That would only lead to sex. A date might do that as well. Then again, anything and everything with Brennan might lead in that particular direction. And that was why Ruby didn’t even try to fight it.

She was going on a date with the man who’d crushed her heart six ways to Sunday. And if she wasn’t careful, he’d get the chance to do that again.

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