identity.
He opened his laptop after he checked the progress on the different computers and made sure all of his scripts were still running.
He launched his internet browser and searched for information on Amberley Holbrook. He wasn’t surprised to see her listed in a bunch of small-town rodeos, stretching from Texas to Oklahoma to Arkansas, as a winner or a top-three finisher in barrel-racing competitions. There was a photo of her winning run in a recent event and he clicked to open it larger in his photo application so he could zoom in on her face. There was concentration but also the biggest damn grin he’d ever seen.
That girl was happiest on the back of a horse.
Why?
He noticed how she was when she was off her horse. On her guard and waiting to see how everyone around her reacted. Given that he was starting to behave that way, he wondered what had happened to force her to build those kinds of walls. She definitely had them.
Why?
And why the hell did he care?
Because she intrigued him. She was different. Funny, sexy, sassy. She made him think of things he hadn’t in a really long time.
And he’d just walked away from her. He’d decided he had too much baggage to dally with a woman who was tied to Texas and this ranch. He wasn’t here for longer than it took to find the cyber coward Maverick, then he was out of here. And back in the Pacific Northwest, where he could slowly rot from guilt and grief.
That sounded damn pitiful. He had never been that kind of man and he wasn’t too sure that Faye was going to want a father who was like that.
He knew he had to move on.
Will had come here in part because Max had asked and also because he knew he had to get away from the memories, get away from the guilt and the grief. But he was in no position to move on. He had to keep moving forward until he figured out what he wanted next. Amberley had been a distraction but also something more. She was honest and forthright. He liked that.
He liked her.
If he were in a different place in his life then the zing of attraction that had arced between them...well, he would feel better about acting on it.
But he wasn’t.
And that wasn’t fair to her.
Who said life was fair... The words of his therapist drifted through his mind. He’d been lamenting the fact that Faye would never know Lucy and that it wasn’t fair.
Well, life might not be, but he knew he couldn’t just use Amberley for himself and then leave. That wasn’t right.
And he hadn’t changed at his core.
But she intrigued him...
* * *
Amberley blasted My Chemical Romance as she got ready to go out. It was Friday night and two days had passed since...whatever the hell that had been with Will. She tried to remind herself he was a city dude and she should have known better than to be attracted to him, but that hadn’t kept him out of her dreams for the last two nights.
So when her cousin from Midland had called and said she’d be driving through Royal on Friday and did Amberley want to go out, she’d said yes. Normally she was all for comfy jammies and binge-watching one of her favorite TV shows on Netflix, but tonight she needed to get out of her own head.
She was ready to dance to some rowdy country music, drink too much tequila and flirt with some small-town boys who wouldn’t walk away from her without a word. It had been a long time since she had blown off steam and it was the weekend. Even though she sometimes acted like she was ready for the retirement home, she was still young.
But she didn’t feel it.
There was a weight in her heart that made her feel older than her years. And when Will had said his life was complicated she’d...well, she’d ached because she knew complicated.
She knew what it was like to be a big, fat, red-hot mess masquerading as normal. She’d done that for a year after she’d lost the baby and then gotten the devastating news that she’d never be able to have a child. A part of her should have rejoiced that he’d only seen what she had wanted him to—a cowgirl who was damn good with horses.
But that connection she’d felt with him had made her want him to see more.
And he hadn’t.
He hadn’t.
She was wearing her good jeans—a dark wash that fit like a second skin—and a pair of hand-tooled boots that her brothers and sisters had given her for Christmas. They had a fancy design featuring turquoise and she’d completed her outfit with a flirty peasant top. She’d taken the time to blow-dry her hair and not just pull it back in a braid, so it fell around her shoulders.
She finished her makeup and put a dash of lip gloss on before grabbing her purse and heading out. She was halfway to her truck when she realized someone was in her yard. Not that it was really her yard, since Clay owned all the property, but that little area in front of her place.
Amberley glanced over and realized the someone was a dog. A ragged stray that was making mewling sounds that she couldn’t ignore. He was a rather sad-looking animal with a matted coat. She tossed her purse on the hood of her truck and turned toward the dog, careful not to spook it as she walked toward it. She crouched low and held out her hand for it to sniff once she was close enough.
The animal whimpered and then slowly moved closer to her. She held her ground, noticing that it limped. One of his legs was injured. Just the distraction she needed. Animals were the one thing on this planet that she was actually good with.
She waited until the dog came closer and noticed that there were some briars wrapped around his hind leg, and when she reached for the leg he moaned and moved away from her.
“All right, boy. I’ll let it be. But we are going to have to take you to get that looked at,” she said. She stood up, pulled her phone from her back pocket and texted her cousin that she’d be a little late. Then she went back into her place, got a blanket, a bowl and bottle of water. Then she grabbed a carrot from the fridge and went back outside.
The dog was exactly where she’d left him. Waiting for her.
“Good boy. You’re a boy, right?” she asked.
The dog didn’t answer—not that she expected him to. She put the bowl down in front of him and gave him some water and stood to watch him as he drank, then texted the small animal vet that Clay used to let him know she’d be bringing in an injured dog. Though it was after hours, Clay had an agreement for the ranch that included 24/7 coverage.
She spent the next hour getting the dog settled at the vet. He had a chip and the vet contacted his owners, who were very glad to find him. Amberley waited until they arrived before leaving to meet her cousin. But the truth was she no longer wanted to go out.
The dog—Barney—reminded her of how alone she was. Even the stray had someone to go home to. His owners had been really nice and so happy she’d found him and Amberley was gracious to them, but a part of her had wanted the stray to be a loner. To maybe need her.
