Page 14 of The Texan's Secrets

“Nice of her. They do sound like good people.”

As they settled on the picnic table bench, the fire crackling beside them, Nico pivoted to face her. He raised his glass. “To first dates.”

“First dates,” she answered and leaned to click her glass to his before taking a sip.

Her eyes lit up. “Yum.”

“One of my favorites.”

Their gazes caught and held. He felt an inexplicable connection with her, and an odd warmth seeped from his limbs to his core.

One of the horses whinnied and shook its head.

Emilia glanced their way. “Do they mind waiting on us?”

“No. Like us, they’re happy to take a rest and have a snack. We’ll go down to the river later and let them drink.” As he spoke, he realized he’d left the water bottles back in the saddlebags. “Did you want some water?”

She grinned. “From the river?”

“I filled bottles at the house for the humans.”

“I’m fine with this right now.” She set down her glass and selected a small wedge of cheese, paring it with a cracker.

Nico did the same, adding a sausage round to his.

“There’s something about the fresh air,” she said. “It makes everything taste better.” She ate the cracker, then put together a second combination.

Having used the ranch as a refuge, Nico agreed that everything was better out here. “Do you spend a lot of time outdoors?” He wondered if she’d grown up in a camping or fishing family.

But she shook her head. “I’m a hothouse flower.”

He hadn’t expected that. “Why did you say yes to horseback riding?”

“You seemed enthusiastic about the idea.”

“We could have done something else—dinner, dancing.”

“I also thought it sounded like fun.” She took in his expression. “And it was fun. Is fun. I was curious about you, and this is telling me something.”

“Telling you what? That I’m too self-centered to figure out what a woman wants out of a date?” He honestly felt that way in the moment.

But she grinned and chuckled. “I’m having a perfectly fine time.”

“Wow. Fine. Music to a guy’s ears.” The statement came out sounding more peevish than he’d meant.

“Oh, get over yourself,” she said good-naturedly and took another sip of her wine. “If I’d wanted a fancy dinner, I’d have said so. And the sun’s about to set. Isn’t that why we’re here?”

He looked over his shoulder and saw that the light cloud cover was cooperating, and the horizon was turning pink and golden.

“It’s your chance to redeem yourself,” she said as she rose to her feet.

Standing side by side with Nick on the riverbank, Emilia stared in awe at the magnificent sunset. The small balcony of her bedroom faced east and was blocked by taller houses around it, so she rarely had the chance to sit still and simply drink in the sight.

The golden ball slipped between two mountain peaks, leaving nothing but a wash of pink, purple and gold sweeping across the sky.

“Wow,” she said under her breath.

Nick slipped his hand into hers. “Agreed.”

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