Page 9 of Tempted at Thoroughbred Lake

CHAPTER FOUR

BRENNANFIGUREDRUBYhad a whole lot of doubts about this date. So did he. Not the same doubts as she did since hers almost certainly centered around not wanting to get hurt again. His were more about making sure that hurt didn’t happen at all while they both tried to come to terms with the blow their kids had dealt them.

It was those things—the blow and the doubts—that had made Brennan decide to keep this date low-key. That wouldn’t have happened had they gone to any of the restaurants in town, where they would have stirred up gossip and felt as if they were in a fishbowl for all to see. Instead, he was driving Ruby to his ranch, where he planned to grill them some steaks.

A grilling date like that wouldn’t give the gossips any fodder. Well, not much, unless some of Ruby’s neighbors had noticed her getting into his truck and driving away with him. If so, there’d be speculation that the two people who’d had the hots for each other were finally going to do something about it, but even that speculation would take a back seat to news of Seth and Vivian’s elopement.

Of course, Brennan’s mind was on that hasty marriage, but it was on Ruby, too. He could blame the kisses for that. Hard to block out thoughts of a woman who had been firing him up for decades. And she had, indeed, fired him up. That was something his body wasn’t going to let him forget. First, though, he wanted to open up a different kind of emotion. Venting, maybe. Maybe pure “pissed off” anger. Maybe resignation. No matter which, he thought it was best to go ahead and get this marriage out in the open.

“I guess this elopement makes you and me in-laws of sorts,” Brennan threw out there.

Ruby had stayed pretty much still and silent so far on this short drive, but that caused her to turn to him. “Yes. In-laws who’ll have to deal with the fallout if things don’t stay rosy.”

There was that. The non-rosy factor. Marriage could sometimes be a hard road. The wrong road, too. Brennan figured the first would definitely apply to their kids, but thewrongpart was still in the “to be determined” category.

“My folks got married at nineteen,” he reminded her. “They’re still together.” That was the only example of a success he could recall off the top of his head. “Of course, I got married at eighteen, and my marriage tanked.”

Ruby made a soft sound of agreement. “Ditto for my relationship. Too young. Too stupid. Too rash.”

All of which might apply to Seth and Vivian. “I considered standing my ground and telling them either they got an annulment or no college funds. But considering the too-young and too-rash parts, they’d probably just leave and never speak to me again.”

“Yes, and then we wouldn’t be there to pick up any pieces that might need picking up.” Ruby groaned, leaned her head against the window as he made the turn to Thoroughbred Lake Ranch. “Vivian and I talked while she was packing and she said something that’s niggling away at me.”

Brennan’s attention hadn’t strayed far from Ruby—again, he could thank those kisses for that—but that comment caused him to make glances at her so he could try to figure out where this was going.

“Seth told me Vivian’s not pregnant,” he stated, hoping like the devil that it was the truth.

“She’s not. That’s not what we talked about. It was about Alice.” She paused, maybe to let this shift in topic sink in. As best he could recall, Ruby and he had never discussed her former bestie and his late ex. “Vivian told me that Alice had regrets about what happened back in high school.”

“She did.” Brennan pulled to a stop in front of the house, but he didn’t turn off the engine. He just sat there, letting the memories from the past wash over him. “Alice knew what we’d done hurt you, and she regretted it. I regretted it,” he added, just in case Ruby didn’t know that.

In fact, it was the biggest regret of his life. When he’d been younger, he’d put the blame for his having sex with Alice on both of them being drunk, but there was no way he should have let things get that far. At that time, Ruby and he had gone on three dates, and he’d known that she had feelings for him. Hell, he’d had feelings for her, too, but he blew all that to smithereens by acting on impulse.

Ruby dragged in a long breath. “Alice’s remorse changes the slant I’ll take on the research for the Last Ride Society.”

Brennan had put that research way back in his mind, but it was obvious that Ruby hadn’t if she’d applied Alice’s regret to her research plans. “Maybe that means working on the report won’t be so hard for you.”

“Oh, it’ll still be hard, but I’m hoping I can remember some of the good times. Because there were good times.”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “One of those good times was us having our kids. I’m hanging on to that, hoping it’ll get me past the point of wanting to throttle Seth for being so...eighteen.”

Ruby smiled. Then she chuckled. He thought it was a good thing they’d moved on to something other than the shock and anger. Then again, the kisses had probably helped them cut some corners there.

Still smiling just a little, Ruby looked out the window at the pastures and the house. “It’s beautiful here.”

“Thanks,” he muttered, and then it occurred to him that this was the first time she’d been here since he had inherited the place. He had brought her here when they’d been teenagers, but he’d made a lot of improvements since then. “It’s the only place I’ve ever wanted to call home.”

Not exactly small talk. It was the truth. He was anchored here, and he’d hoped that Seth would be, too.

Ruby made another of those sounds of agreement and shifted in the seat again to look at him. Ruby’s gaze stayed locked with his for several moments. The kind of eye lock a person had when they were trying to suss out something. Brennan was right there on the same page with her, and he nearly said they probably wouldn’t be working out anything tonight.

But then, once again, he remembered those two kisses.

Those had certainly seemed to work out, well, something, and that something was that this heat between them was not only still there, but it also wasn’t going away anytime soon. Apparently, Ruby felt the same way, because she moved toward him just as Brennan leaned in her direction.

And the third kiss happened.

Oh, man. It was as good as the others. Better, since they weren’t dealing with the initial shock of their kids’ elopement. The shock had worn off, some, and that made plenty of room for the heat.

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