Читать книгу Rock Solid - Samantha Hunter - Страница 13

4

HANNAH WAS MORTIFIED as she glanced out the window at her car, sorely tempted to make a run for it before she bumped into Brody. She couldn’t believe she’d practically begged him to have sex with her the night before. He must think she had really come to him desperate for more of...that.

She’d awakened in his bed—still dressed and alone—but she hadn’t drunk nearly enough to have forgotten what a fool she’d made out of herself, or what a gentleman Brody had been about it.

Of course, it had to be less than attractive to have a drunk, depressed chick groping you and talking about the good ole days, she thought as she softly banged her head against the window frame. And it sounded as if he had enough of that in his life, from what his sister had told her.

What had she been thinking? Good going, Hannah.

Still, there was no way she could up and leave. She at least owed him a thanks and an apology. So she took a deep breath and went outside. He had to be around here somewhere, since his car was still parked in the drive.

On her way across the driveway, she rehearsed what she’d say. She’d thank him, tell him that if he did want to talk, she’d leave her number. That would be that. As she approached the path that led down to the barns, she had to stop and admire the sleek muscle car he drove. It defined power, she thought. It was made for speed and taking charge.

Hannah had never really cared about cars one way or the other until she’d hung around Brody and the track for a month. She still didn’t understand all of the intricacies, history, and all the models and so forth. She did understand, though, how people could connect with a vehicle on a very visceral level.

She and Brody had connected on the hood of his stock car once, and the memory made her feel warmer than the early-morning heat could be blamed for.

Hannah turned her attention to the beautiful grounds as she walked along the path. Quiet and peaceful, the only sounds came from birds and the whinny of a horse down in the barn. The rolling fields were a mixture of mowed lawn closer to the house, wildflowers, then longer grass and bushes beyond, all surrounded by mature trees, many of them draped in the Spanish moss she’d always thought was so pretty. It provided a nice mixture of sun and shade over the area.

She stopped and smiled with delight as she saw a small deer about fifty feet away, nibbling at some moss. It didn’t seem to notice her, content as it ate its breakfast.

She wished she had her camera; it wasn’t an exciting picture, but it sure was cute.

Figuring Brody was down in the barn, she continued in that direction. Indeed, she did find him inside, tending to several horses.

She paused for a moment in the entrance, loving the cool air that was thick with the smell of hay, wood, horses and hot summer. It reminded her of her childhood. She swallowed the hard lump in her throat as she watched him secure a lead rope around the neck of a beautiful red roan.

The interplay of muscles in his arms didn’t escape her attention, either, nor how his obvious strength contrasted with the gentleness he exhibited with the animal. He conversed with it in low tones, smiling as the roan seemed to answer his comments with snorts and nods.

As the horse fully emerged from the stall, Hannah saw it was a mare, and a beauty at that. She loved horses, and she’d had one of her own when she was very young, but they’d sold it with the farm, which had been one of the most heartbreaking parts of her youth. There was no room for a horse at their apartment in the city, of course, and renting stable space had been financially impossible then. The new owners had let her come back to ride the horse now and then, but it wasn’t really hers anymore.

Abby and Reece also had horses, and Hannah loved taking them for a ride or even helping out in the stables. Still, she never expected to find Brody with equine. She supposed in some ways it wasn’t such a surprise; Brody was drawn to powerful things. Fast, potentially dangerous things, she thought with a smile.

“She’s gorgeous,” Hannah said, making her presence known.

Brody turned, greeting her with a smile.

Well, that was a good sign. Hannah relaxed, stepping farther into the barn. Having the horses as a buffer helped somewhat, since she still wasn’t sure what she wanted to say to him.

“This is Sally,” Brody said, petting the horse’s nose.

“Hi Sally. You are such a sweetheart,” Hannah crooned, putting her hand out to the horse, who promptly stuffed her nose into her palm, snuffling for goodies.

“And who is this?” she asked, walking farther down the aisle and lifting a hand to another horse’s nose.

“Zip, meet Hannah. Hannah, meet Zip,” Brody said with a sidelong look at the horse.

“Nice to meet you, Zip.”

The horse nodded his head in greeting, snorting.

“Of course. They told me he was a ladies’ man,” Brody said as Zip nuzzled Hannah’s fingers.

“He’s absolutely beautiful. They all are,” she said, looking at the curious heads poking out over their stall doors. “But he’s...special, isn’t he?”

“That’s one word for him,” Brody teased, chucking the horse gently on the chin and receiving a tolerant huff in response.

“Were you taking them out to the pastures?”

“Yeah, they all go out for most of the day, then I clean up the stalls.”

“You don’t have people to do that for you?”

“I don’t mind the work. What else do I have to do?”

Hannah bit her lip, unwilling to pry at the moment, though his tone gave her another hint at his frustration.

“I’ll take him for you, if you want to go with Sally. I could help with the stalls, too.”

“That’s not a good idea. I know you’re around Abby’s horses a lot, but Zip is... Well, as you said, special.”

Hannah understood immediately from Brody’s tone. “He’s the one who threw you?”

“Yeah, and he enjoyed it, I’m pretty sure.”

“He does have a sparkle in his eye,” she said, grinning. “But I can handle him. He’ll be fine, walking out.”

Brody hesitated, but finally nodded.

“You take Sally—I’ll get him and we’ll take them out together. We’ll be fine, Brody.”

He relented, handing her the tack while he returned to Sally, who waited patiently. Hannah forgot the awkward encounter she’d been expecting and enjoyed the distraction.

She kept a firm hold on Zip, Sally on the other side with Brody. As she walked the thoroughbred, she let her shoulder gently bump up against his, like buddies walking along together. He seemed to like it.

She liked him, too, but she also couldn’t help but be aware of the power of the horse. He walked as though he was barely holding back from bolting. It was much the same feeling she got from Brody a lot of the time, especially now. Strung tight, needing to be let loose.

“Where did you get him? I can feel the energy practically coming off him in waves,” she commented as they walked out into the sunlight.

“Thoroughbred rescue. He has a very impressive racing pedigree, but he was too unmanageable, so they surrendered him to the rescue when they couldn’t sell him. I know the owner of the rescue, and she knew I had open stable space. They wanted me to keep a few of their horses for a while, but they weren’t being adopted, so I took them on permanently.”

Hannah smiled. “That was a very kind thing to do, Brody.”

And more like the man she’d known, too, she thought to herself.

“He’s a bit...touchy. I was working with him, but he might need a better hand than mine, clearly. Jed will probably do better with him.”

“Jed?”

“He helps with the farm, has ever since my grandparents lived here. He’s excellent with horses, and he’s been working with Zip a bit each day since I hurt my back.”

Hannah nodded as Brody opened the gate to the pasture. He led Sally in, but told Hannah to wait.

“Zip goes over in a separate section—he has to until he’s gelded anyway.”

“Ouch. Poor Zip,” she said with a comforting pat.

“We’re hoping it will calm him down some.”

“You don’t sound entirely convinced,” she commented as they walked to the next corral.

“Well, you know...I sort of like him as he is, but I also don’t want him hurting himself or anyone else. I’m waiting to see how he responds to more training, but if we’re going to geld him, I want to do it before he gets much older.”

Hannah nodded, led Zip into the smaller pasture next door to Sally’s and then walked back out with Brody, leaving the horses, her buffer, behind.

“Um, listen,” she began, taking a breath as they walked back to the barn. “I have to apologize for last night. I was...in a weird mood, and I guess the wine really lowered my inhibitions,” she said with an embarrassed laugh. “But thank you for, well, being so considerate.”

“I owe you an apology, not the other way around. I wish you’d told me about your situation.”

She smiled at him. “Talk about pot and kettle.”

He laughed. “Well, we’ll call it even. As long as you promise not to go wrestling alligators or sharks.”

She laughed ruefully. “That’s an easy promise to make.”

“You feel like a ride? The other two horses in the stable need some exercise. Zip and Sally had a ride yesterday, but Salty and Pepper—my parents’ horses—need some exercise. I’ll put Snow, the other rescue, out with Sally. She’s older and just likes wandering around the pasture. Then we could go out on the trails for a bit.”

Hannah knew she should say no. She should say goodbye while things were settled and agreeable.

Instead, she looked up into Brody’s face, admiring the laugh lines around his green eyes and the way the sun played off reddish highlights in his brown hair. She liked the angle of his chin and his nose, and she especially liked his mouth. She liked his hair longer, and less severely cut. It suited him.

He looked better today. More rested. Had she been imagining how bad off he’d seemed to her the day before? Maybe she’d made too much of it?

“I was planning to leave after we talked,” she finally said halfheartedly.

“You can still go, later.” His eyes dropped to her mouth as he said the words, making her shiver.

“That’s true,” she agreed, knowing she was rationalizing, but so what? It wasn’t as though she had to answer to anyone about how she spent her time. No schedule to keep. New Orleans would still be there.

Brody turned back toward the barn, motioning for her to join him. Hannah paused before she did so, enjoying studying his other assets as he walked ahead of her, a smile twitching at her lips.

She met his parents’ horses, who were older and so impossibly sweet that Hannah fell in love with them immediately. Salty was a female white draft horse, and Pepper a mostly black quarter horse.

Salty was immense, and gave Hannah pause for a second, but the mare was a gentle girl and didn’t mind at all being saddled. In fact, she seemed eager to go.

“We can head down through the trails on the back of the property—it’s a nice, easy ride, and cooler under the trees,” Brody said as he pulled himself up on Pepper.

“You’re okay to ride?” Hannah asked, thinking about his back.

“I’m fine, particularly on these two. When it comes to Zip, I probably can’t ride him for a while. I can’t risk screwing up—uh—you know, making my back worse than it is.”

He sounded disappointed, and Hannah didn’t find that surprising. Of course Brody would want to get back on the horse that put him in the hospital. Riding Zip was probably akin to riding in one of his race cars—and potentially as dangerous. But he also sounded as though he had been about to say something else and then changed his mind.

What was Brody afraid of messing up? Did he have some kind of new venture in the works?

They headed toward the tree line at the edge of the corrals where a path opened into woods that were almost like a fairy-tale setting. Moss draped from trees, and tall pines weaved in between those, all blocking the heat and layering the dirt with a soft path of detritus where the needles lay. Hannah felt as if they had been transported back in time to some ancient forest.

Sun danced through the trees, illuminating a thatch of wild orchids, purple thistle, pine lilies and other plant species that she didn’t recognize, but they were beautiful all the same. A few insects buzzed by, but there were far fewer mosquitoes than she would have expected, and she mentioned that to Brody.

“We sprayed last fall, which cuts them down in spring, but also, it’s better during the day. At night, especially midsummer, it can be rough.”

The horses seemed to know their way without direction as she and Brody rode side by side without saying too much except for noticing things along the path here and there. Brody shared a few family memories with her, a tree where he used to hide so he could jump down to scare Brandi, or a secret hollow where he’d hid boyhood treasures. He seemed more relaxed, and she was, too.

Time melted away, and eventually they reached a point where the path widened out around a pond that was deep green and covered in water lilies. Frogs were singing all around, their baritone croaks making her laugh.

“Mating call,” Brody said with a grin and a wiggle of his eyebrows, making her laugh.