“Not really.”
“Then I’ll just keep my mouth shut.”
“There’s a first time for everything.”
“Wow.” Ethan put his hand on his chest in mock anguish. “Not feeling the love today.”
“Like I said, there’s a first time for everything. And it didn’t look like it was from lack of trying, either.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Brady’s look was steady. “Lily,” he challenged.
“You wanted me to apologize, and I did. End of story.”
“If you say so.” Brady’s lips twitched. “You know, I never really noticed her before. She’s quite cute. Nice legs. Shame I have to go back to the city tonight …”
Ethan knew when he was being needled, but it didn’t counter the sudden unpleasant and completely irrational need to knock Brady off his horse. Brady’s laugh only exacerbated that need. As if Brady read his mind, he dug his heels into Spider and the stallion leapt forward. Tinker reared up on his back legs, ready to go, and Ethan let him give chase.
It was good to be home.
Lily watched the two men banter as they rode away, the brotherly affection and annoyance obvious in equal parts. When Tinker took off in a gallop, her breath caught in her throat. Granted, the horse was beautiful, impressive, but the man on his back was far more so. Ethan looked like he’d been born in the saddle, moving easily with the horse and looking like some kind of centaur as he closed the gap between him and his brother easily. She could hear shouts and whinnies, and then the horses and their riders disappeared into the woods.
Over the past three months she’d figured out most of the Marshalls. They were a big family, with plenty of the private drama that came from the sheer number of them. There was also plenty of public drama—not unexpected, considering their wealth and power. Something always seemed to be swirling, whether it gave the tabloids their headlines or the eleven o’clock news its lead item or just had one or more Marshalls closeted in the former senator’s study. They often fought amongst themselves, but they closed ranks and presented a unified front when attacked from the outside.
It was nice, yet odd at the same time. She really had no frame of reference to help make sense of it, either.
And now, just when she thought she was starting to figure it out, Ethan appeared on the scene, totally unlike what the rumors had led her to expect, and completely changing the energy she felt on the estate.
Energy radiated off him and made her tingle in unusual ways. And, while it still flustered her a little to have those green eyes on her, she had to secretly confess that the fluster wasn’t all that bad a feeling. It made her feel … “Alive” wasn’t the right word, but it was close.
Rumor had it that he would be staying on the estate for a while. Something about his place being refurbished and unable to be lived in. She’d probably be seeing more of him—she pushed back the mental image of the more she’d almost seen this morning—and the fact she didn’t mind at all felt like a big step forward.
Too bad he had that whole thing about honesty.
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