Page 15 of Trails of Temptation

“He usually comes in for lunch a few times a week whenever he has to run errands for the ranch. I haven’t seen him in like two weeks… Since you started working there, now that I think about it. So, closer to three.”

“He’s a pretty busy guy.”

“Yeah.” Pete sipped from his wine and shrugged, turning to face me. “Well, how’re things up at the Hallston Ranch?”

I proceeded to tell him all about what I’d been up to, what I’d cooked, and how everything was going with Moira.

He listened to the best of his abilities but I could tell he was somewhat bored of the conversation.

I was thankful to change the subject away from the farm when I asked, “Do you really like living up here all alone?”

He shrugged, his dark blond hair rustling with the movement. “Yeah, I do. I run a noisy, busy bar all day long and appreciate the peace and quiet at the end of the day.”

I could have sworn I saw a flicker longing flash behind his eyes, the same color and shape as my own, before he drank the last of his wine and walked back to the kitchen to refill his glass.

“You’re always welcome here, you know,” he said softly, meeting my eyes as I turned around to face him. “I can tell something’s going on with you.”

“What do you mean?” I laughed. Internally, I was screaming. I’d never been afraid of my brother. He’d always protected me and been an extra father figure in a sense. But he was overbearing, I guessed. The idea of him knowing something was up with me, and that thing had something to do with his best friend since grade school? What was I even supposed to say to him if he started trying to pry information out of me?

“You just seem a little… I don’t know. Less sunny and irritatingly happy.”

“Maybe I’m finally doing what you’ve been telling me to do for years and growing up,” I responded with a curt laugh, swirling my wine.

“Maybe I was wrong to tell you to do that.”

“Maybe I was wrong to spend my entire life bouncing from one place to the next.”

“Well, I’d hate to see you end up like any of us,” he replied, easing himself down onto one of the leather sofas in the middle of the great room. “Old and alone.”

“You’re not old.” I laughed. Pete was just a year younger than George.

But he was right about being alone.

I was, too.

Eventually, I went back to the guestroom and got settled for the night. I’d decided to stay again tomorrow night and return Monday morning to get right back to work. I had some shopping to do tomorrow, and I told Pete we’d go for a long walk through town before having dinner at the bar. I hadn’t spent much time with Pete the past two years, and maybe spending time with the only family I had left would help take my mind off of George.

I felt a little bad lying to Pete about actively trying to seduce his best friend, but what could I possibly say?

I could tell him the truth, that I was in love with George, and had been since I was a teenager.

Nothing good would come out of it, though. It would ruin his relationship with George, and possibly me, forever.

Then I’d really be alone, and that was the last thing I wanted.

ChapterEight

George

Sunday was the one day of the week any of us who worked on the ranch had off. It was the time for the ranch hands to return home to their mothers and sweethearts or to do any necessary shopping before the week began.

I usually spent my Sundays at home, in my garden, or watching the game down at Pete’s bar. I couldn’t do that today for two reasons: One, one of the new bulls had gone right through the fence in the lower pasture and caused an incredible amount of damage that would likely take me the entire day to repair, and two, Keely was spending the weekend with Pete, and I’d already promised myself multiple times there was nothing between us worth chasing.

I grumbled to myself as I continued repairing the fence. The sun was beating down on my back as the morning turned to afternoon, the heat only getting more intense.

Daisy, my horse, knickered to alert me to the horse and rider approaching us, cresting over the top of a hill. I looked up to see King, Grant’s horse and a real pain in my ass, trotting toward us with Grant on his broad back.

“Damn,” Grant said, climbing off of King’s back. “You weren’t wrong about the damage.”

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