any ideas to the contrary, the quicker he forgot them the better for all concerned.
It was just too bad no one had given Clay the memo.
Friday morning Sophie opened her eyes and focused on the clock on the nightstand next to her bed. Seven o’clock. She had the day off. The local weatherman had predicted beautiful weather and she knew exactly how she was going to spend the day. After tossing back the covers, she stood from the bed and quickly pulled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. Clay was in Dallas attending a meeting with some of his stockholders, so the day was her own. She had a chance to take a beautiful horse and roam over fifty thousand acres of Texas hill country just waiting to be explored. Since moving his office to the ranch and her own relocation to Royal, Texas, she had taken advantage of Clay’s generosity in allowing her to borrow one of his many horses and ride to her heart’s content.
Foregoing her usual morning coffee and dry toast, she drove the six miles to the Lazy E Ranch. After pulling her car up next to the barn, she entered the main building and headed down the right-hand hallway. The smell of freshly cut alfalfa and sweet-corn molasses swirled around her on a gentle breeze. She heard Hopper nicker before she reached his stall.
Clay had been surprised that first day he’d found her in the main barn. After she explained that she’d been raised with horses and really missed them, he had quickly assured her she was welcome to ride any horse at the ranch during her time off. It became addictive. She’d chosen a black-and-white paint named Hopper. He seemed as eager to leave his stall for an adventure as she was to leave the office. In no time she had checked his hooves, given him a quick brush and thrown a saddle on his back. After that first glorious day, Sophie never missed the chance to go riding.
About the time she led him out of the barn toward the north gate, Clay’s voice hailed her. Surprised, she turned toward him.
“Well, good morning,” she said, coming to a stop. “Did you cancel your meeting?’
“Yeah. I have to go into Dallas next week anyway so I decided to meet with the stockholders then,” he explained. “It’s a beautiful day. Mind if I tag along?”
Yes. “Of course not.” She tossed the reins over Hopper’s neck near the saddle and gave him a friendly pat. “So has the doctor given the okay for you to swing up into a saddle?”
“I haven’t really asked for permission.”
“And you’re doing it anyway.” It wasn’t so much a question as a statement.
“I think I can still mount pretty good. I don’t expect to have any problems.”
Ornery man. She refused to take the bait. She’d glanced once at his face. His eyes glistened and a shadow of a smile touched those succulent lips. It was the look of a shared secret he was daring her to tell. Their night together had been incredible but it absolutely would not happen again.
Sophie watched as his long strides carried him toward the bank of stalls that housed some of the top quarter horses in the state. Clay’s limp was evident. The horses welcomed him with soft knickers; they watched Clay pass by with large brown eyes, their ears alert. The road to recovery had been long and she had to admire his tenacity, his determination to regain 100 percent dexterity. He had amazed the doctors whose predictions for his future were not so bright. She had firsthand knowledge of just how physically fit the man was, which was why his coming with her made her nervous. In the weeks after their night together, Sophie had used the increasingly busy days in the office as an excuse to prevent any mention of that night they’d shared. If Clay had picked up on what she was doing, he’d said nothing. He had never brought it up and neither had she. But this wasn’t the office. She owed it to him not to mention any business concerns and thereby allow him to escape the rat race for a few hours. But it also left her without the barrier to more personal conversation. She had no idea what she would say if he introduced mutual attraction into the conversation.
Today with the cooler temperatures, Hopper was full of spunk and ready for an adventure. Clay returned with his choice of mount, a large chestnut gelding. When both horses were saddled and ready to go, they rode toward the main gate that opened onto the eastern pasture.
It was an area much like where she’d grown up. The first time she’d saddled a horse and ridden out and away from the main homestead, she’d felt the stirring of homesickness for the first time in over a year. During her time off, she sat in the small house she was renting on the edge of town and wondered if she could ever dare to go home again.
Normally, Sophie rode toward the west, following an old cattle trail through the mesquite trees, passing by the mirror-still waters of the natural lakes found in that area. In the direction they were headed this time, the terrain was more rocky, the path steadily uphill.
“I thought I would check a fence as we go,” Clay told her. “The ranch hands keep repairing it only to have the wires go down again within a few days. Something’s going on that isn’t normal. I hope you don’t mind?”
“Not at all. I’ve never ventured into that section of your ranch.”
“The terrain is considerably more difficult to cross but once you reach the top, the view is amazing. It’s one of the reasons I bought this ranch.”
They rode for a while in silence. Then he said, “Tell me how you came to be such a proficient rider. Where did you learn your basic horsemanship?”
“At home,” she replied hesitantly. “My dad has a small dairy. We always had a horse or two around. My brother and I grew up riding every chance we got. Mom and Dad both love to ride. I guess I inherited it from them. There are not many things I’d rather be doing.”
She saw his lips purse as though he was hiding a grin. “I agree. There’s nothing like a good ride.”
“I wasn’t talking about bull riding.”
“Neither was I.” Clay leaned down from his mount and opened another gate. He waited while she rode through then closed it behind them. Sophie rolled her eyes and shook her head at his try at an off-color remark.
“How about you?” she asked. “Were you raised with horses, cattle and such?”
It seemed silly to ask the question of a man with his history but while she knew and certainly appreciated his abilities as a cowboy in the arena, she knew little about his childhood. Before moving his office from a downtown high-rise to the ranch, they hadn’t really had the opportunity to talk as they did now.
“Yep.” A slow grin lit his eyes. “I was put in a saddle when I was still wearing diapers. Being a cowboy was all I ever wanted to do until I hit my teens and discovered the opposite sex.”
“You were sure good at it.”
“I had my moments.” He glanced over at her, the lights in his eyes dancing wickedly. “I was a pretty fair cowboy, too.”
Sophie groaned and shook her head. She’d walked right into that one. But the quiet laugh from Clay made it worth it. Since the accident he never laughed, rarely smiled.
“In the years we’ve worked together, I don’t think you’ve told me anything about your life. Now I know you grew up on a farm. Tell me more.”
The
