Gillian laughed, a sound so enthralling that he ached to hear again.
“Was it that bad?” she asked.
“The art was okay, I guess. Quite good, actually. It was the image I chose that was stupid.”
Curiosity lit her face. “What was it?”
“A butterfly.”
Her eyes widened. “I think that’s a wonderful choice!”
He laughed. “But not the most masculine one. I was a skinny college kid trying to impress girls. Telling them I had picked a butterfly tattoo because I liked the colors wasn’t the best pickup line in the world.”
“It would have worked on me,” Gillian said softly, then she flushed. “I mean, I’m an artist, so I like colors. May I see it?”
Again, Carter was surprised by the request. Gillian didn’t stand on pretense. She was forthright, yet in a way that made him want to accommodate her.
Carter removed his jacket, then rolled up the short sleeve of his shirt to reveal the small butterfly on his bicep.
“Oh, it’s gorgeous,” she breathed, stepping closer to him. Her slender fingers reached out to trace the intricate design.
His body tightened at her soft touch and he had to remind himself to breathe. Standing this close to Gillian made him realize how very long it had been since he’d held a woman in his arms.
Gillian stepped away from him all too soon. “I think it’s a perfectly wonderful tattoo and does not in any way qualify as a stupid mistake. At least you don’t cover it with a bandage anymore.”
“I’ve gotten past the embarrassment, for the most part. I’m certainly not a teenager anymore and stopped trying to impress people years ago.”
She cocked her head to one side. “So how old are you, Carter?”
“I’m thirty-three.”
She grinned. “I’m twenty-two.”
Her age his him like a punch in the gut. Twenty-two. The eleven-year age difference gaped as wide and deep as the Grand Canyon in his mind. She was barely out of her teens and he’d been fantasizing about her naked….
Carter closed his eyes, realizing that she was almost the same age as Noah, his impulsive and immature little brother. Noah had often scoffed at Carter’s stoic predictability and no doubt Gillian would feel the same if she got to know him better. They were both too young to realize that life had a way of interfering with your dreams.
“I’ll be twenty-three next month,” she proclaimed.
Next month he’d be back in Kentucky. He looked at her, aware that her age had come as a shock to him because Gillian had painted a portrait with such a mature and unique perspective. There was something about her, something he couldn’t name. That made her seem wise for her years.
The whinny of a horse drew their attention to the magnificent stallion in the pasture. He stood only a few feet from the gazebo, close enough for Carter to get a good look at him.
“There he is,” Gillian said with a note of awe in her voice. “Picture of Perfection. I think his name fits him, don’t you?”
Carter’s breath hitched. Picture of Perfection really was the spitting image of Leopold’s Legacy. “He’s a three-year-old?”
She nodded. “He turned three in February. I was there when he was born. I’ll never forget that night.” She looked up at him. “You’re a veterinarian, right? So it’s probably pretty routine for you.”
“A birth is never routine. It always feels like a miracle to me.”
She reached out to grasp his forearm. “Exactly! The only thing I can compare it to is the feeling I get when I’m painting a horse and everything is going just right. I’m completely focused on what’s happening in front of me and tuning everything else out. It’s like I’m….”
“Touching the horse’s soul?” Carter ventured, then realized how much of himself he’d revealed. That was how he felt whenever he participated in a birth, only he’d never been able to find the right words to describe the experience.
“Yes,” she breathed, staring up at him.
Their gazes locked for a long moment, then she looked away, breaking the connection. “I suppose we should head back. Herman’s making lunch today and he always worries if I’m late.”
He wondered why she lived with her godfather instead of her parents, but unlike Gillian, he wasn’t about to ask such a personal question.
“Why don’t you come to the house and I can introduce you to him?” Gillian suggested. “He wants to meet the man who bought his favorite painting. In fact, he’ll probably invite you to stay for lunch.”
The thought of spending more time with Gillian appealed to him. She had a way of making him forget his problems and that was a rare experience for Carter.
As they walked back to the house, Gillian made small talk all the way. She asked him about his work at Quest Stables and how he’d gotten interested in veterinary medicine.
To his surprise, Carter found himself talking about the injured squirrel he’d nursed back to health when he was ten and the horse camps he’d worked at as a teenager.
Then their conversation turned to Quest Stables and the horses running at Del Mar.
“Do you have any horses entered in the Pacific Classic?” she asked, referring to the annual million-dollar horse race at the Del Mar racetrack. “Picture of Perfection will be racing there.”
“Not this year.” Carter was surprised that she seemed unaware of the scandal surrounding Leopold’s Legacy, who had been scheduled to run in the Pacific Classic, too. The winner of the race earned an automatic berth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
“Quest Stables has several horses running their maiden race at Del Mar in the week prior to the Pacific Classic,” he continued. “We like the competition here and the quality of the track. It’s a good place for a horse to start its career.”
“Then I look forward to seeing you there,” Gillian said. “I want to paint Picture of Perfection at the racetrack. So far I’ve limited myself to pasture portraits, so this will be a whole new challenge for me.”
The challenge for Carter would be keeping his mind on his work if Gillian came around. His busy schedule usually didn’t leave much time for socializing, especially with a tantalizing femme fatale who was much too young for him.
The door opened when they reached the front porch and a big bear of a man walked out to meet them. He was the same height as Carter and twice as wide.
“Hello, Herman,” Gillian greeted him, confirming for Carter that this was Robards.
Herman grinned at his goddaughter. “Have I got a surprise for you.”
Three
