Authors: Vicki Lewis Thompson

Tags: #Fiction, #Romance, #Contemporary, #Western

Riding Hard (17 page)

BOOK: Riding Hard

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“You believe me!” He scooped her up and twirled them around. “Thank God. Oh, thank God.” Setting her down again, he held her face with both hands. “Tracy Gibbons, will you marry me?”

“Yes.”

“We can live anywhere you want. You love this place, and I want you to be happy, so I—”

“Don’t be silly.” She wrapped her arms around his waist. “We’re moving to Virginia, and we’re starting an equine-rescue facility, and I’m going to get my psychology degree, and we are going to have a fabulous life.”

“Wow. But I’ll give you plenty of time to rethink that when you’re not standing on a magic rock.”

“It’s not the rock. It’s you. I told you that you are magic. Drake, I don’t care where we live! That wasn’t my problem at all! I was just afraid you had deluded yourself that you loved me because I was the person who helped you figure out some things. In psychology they call that transference, and I—”

“Good grief.” He smiled and shook his head. “I had no idea that’s what you thought. I’ve heard of transference. I took an introductory psych class as a freshman.”

“It’s a legitimate concern!”

His gaze warmed. “It is if you love someone so much that you want to keep them from makin’ a big mistake, even if you’ll suffer the consequences.”

She basked in the love glowing in his expression. “That would be me,” she said softly, “loving you that much.”

“I know.” And he kissed her.

It was an easy, gentle kiss, but he packed plenty of love into it. Then he added just enough sizzle to remind her of the heat they shared.

With a soft groan, he lifted his mouth from hers. “I wish we didn’t have to leave.”

“But we do. The critters.”

“One more and we’ll go.” He started to kiss her again, but then he stopped abruptly. “Oh, Tracy. Open your eyes.”

She did and was surprised at how well she could see him. Then she realized why. “The sun’s coming up.”

“It surely is. Let’s watch it.”

“Absolutely, after you drove like a maniac to get here in time.”

“A maniac? Is that any way to talk to the love of your life?”

“It was kind of exciting. You were being all manly and intense.”

“That’s better. Manly and intense, huh?”

“Yes, but don’t let it go to your head.”

“That’s exactly where it’s going, sweetheart. I may need to buy me a bigger hat.”

She was happy to discover that the silly side of him hadn’t disappeared. Feeling her world click into place, she nestled against his side as a rim of gold slid over the horizon. “It’s a new day.”

“It’s the best day of my life.”

“Mine, too.” Then she smiled to herself.
So far.

Epilogue

J
EANNETTE
T
RENTON
PACED
the living room of Drake’s small cabin, across from
the boundary of the Last Chance Ranch. Regan, her ex-fiancé, had wanted to
honeymoon at the ranch, but she’d convinced him they should fly to Paris.
Instead, they’d had no wedding and no honeymoon because she’d cheated with
Regan’s best friend. Her parents’ nonrefundable deposits on the expensive venue,
gourmet food and top-notch entertainment had gone down the drain.

Seven months later her folks were still angry, although they
claimed to have gotten past it. Jeannette couldn’t tell which they’d hated more,
being embarrassed in front of their high-society friends or losing all that
money. She’d also shocked them to their toes. Their perfect daughter, who’d
never given them a moment’s worry, had made a public and very humiliating
mistake.

Jeannette regretted causing them pain, which couldn’t be helped
now. She had offered to pay back the money, but they’d refused to take it, as if
they didn’t want to give her a chance to redeem herself. Apparently she wouldn’t
be forgiven for a long, long time.

She had a little more hope that Regan might forgive her,
though. Four days ago she’d flown to Jackson Hole at Drake’s invitation, and
wow, it had felt great to see him and find out they hadn’t ruined their
friendship, after all. The first hour or so had been pretty damned awkward, but
then Drake had cracked a joke and just like that, the tension had
evaporated.

In a few minutes she’d face her second big challenge, seeing
Regan for the first time since he’d moved out of their condo seven months ago.
He and Drake were coming over for what Drake had insisted on calling a reunion.
She’d love to believe it could be that, but oh, God, was she a nervous
wreck.

It helped that Drake and Regan had each found someone. Drake
had moved into Tracy’s apartment above Spirits and Spurs, leaving this little
cabin available for her. The location was good, if remote and a tiny bit scary.
She wasn’t used to hearing wolves howl at night or raccoons rattling the garbage
cans.

Tracy and Lily weren’t coming along for this initial encounter,
and Jeannette thought that was just as well. No telling how the meeting would
go.

Still, Regan and Drake had patched up their friendship, and
she’d almost achieved normalcy with Drake. She had her moments of embarrassment
and regret, and she’d bet he did, too, but mostly they’d returned to the easy
banter they used to enjoy.

That left Regan, the injured party. Seven months ago he hadn’t
given her the chance to apologize, or even to talk about what had happened. He’d
left Virginia as if his tail had caught fire. She couldn’t blame him.

But Drake said Regan was no longer bitter or angry, and she
hoped to hell that was true. She was about to find out. She heard Drake’s SUV
pulling up, and she took a deep breath.

The sound of their laughter as they joked with each other
outside made her smile. She used to love listening to them kid around. She
hadn’t realized how much she’d missed that until now.

One of them rapped on the door, and she hurried over to open
it. For one awful moment, they all stood and stared at each other. Then Regan
stepped forward and gathered her into his arms. “It’s good to see you.” His
voice was gruff with emotion as he gave her a tight hug.

“Same here.” Relief brought tears to her eyes, but she blinked
them away. Crying would make them all uncomfortable. As she and Regan moved
apart, she took a quick survey of her ex and smiled. “You look good. Happy.”

“I am.”

She could see the joy shining in his eyes. “I’m so glad, Regan.
So glad for you.”

“Yeah, yeah, we’re all glad,” Drake said. “Life’s a bowl of
cherries, but let’s don’t be standin’ in the door and lettin’ in flies.” He
shooed them both inside. “We need to pop the top on some beers and get this
party
started.
”

She laughed. “I found some Cheetos at the Shoshone General
Store.” Back in college that had been their favorite snack food.

“Perfect.” Regan grinned at her. “Can’t beat Cheetos and
beer.”

And good friends.
But she didn’t
say that. Back in the day, they never would have indulged in sentimentality. She
wasn’t about to screw up their reunion with embarrassing sappiness. Yet this was
her chance to apologize, and she wasn’t going to chicken out on that. “Regan,
please let me say that I am so—”

“I know you are.” His gaze was filled with warmth and
understanding. “Me, too. I wasn’t the right guy for you.”

Her smile trembled. “I don’t know if there is one.”

“Sure there is. Just keep looking.”

“And we’ll help scout him out for you.” Drake passed around the
beer as Jeannette dumped Cheetos into a bowl. “In the meantime, here’s to the
Awesome Three from U of V.”

Bottles clinked and they took hefty swallows of their beer, and
then spread out in the tiny living room, like old times. They talked about
movies and politics, about what books were worth reading and what TV shows
should be canceled for their sheer stupidity.

Jeannette soaked up the atmosphere of good cheer and knew that
yes, everything would be okay. Their friendship would survive. As for her love
life, she didn’t much care about that right now. She had her friends back, and
that was more than enough.

* * * * *

Can the Last Chance Ranch work its magic
for Jeannette,
too?
Read on for a sneak peek of RIDING HOME,

the next
SONS OF CHANCE
book
by
Vicki Lewis Thompson coming August 2014
from Harlequin Blaze!

S
O
THIS
WAS
the woman at the heart of the controversy. He had no trouble picturing that, because she was stunning. Apparently she’d known that he’d been staring. Maybe she was used to men looking at her, because if she’d been attractive in profile, she was breathtaking full-on. Those green eyes were show-stoppers, not to mention the full lips of her kissable mouth.

He cleared his throat. “Um, I didn’t mean to bother you. I heard you come in, and I thought maybe...” What? His mind went blank. Pretty embarrassing for someone who used to make his living as an entertainment lawyer, someone who’d dealt with A-list actors, directors and producers every day. She didn’t have to know that, though. He wasn’t that guy anymore.

“I was tryin’ to help with the food for Regan and Lily’s engagement party, but...” She gestured to her blouse. “As you can see, kitchen duty is not my talent.”

He walked closer. Yeah, now he noticed flecks of something that could be meringue or white frosting on the front of her blouse. “It sort of matches your pants.”

That brought out a sad little smile. “You know, I told them that very thing, but they were all worried about the blouse, which I surely appreciated, but they don’t have time to mess around with a klutz like me. I’d already dropped a bowl of chocolate chips. I thought I could frost that danged cake. I swear, how hard can that be? Turns out it’s harder than it looks on TV.”

He couldn’t help smiling back. “Everything’s harder than it looks on TV.”

“Isn’t that the God’s truth? Anyway, I decided to make myself scarce and just naturally gravitated to the barn.”

“I completely understand. You obviously know your way around horses.”

“My folks raise them.” She turned back to the horse. “Who is this, by the way?”

“Ink Spot. He’s nursing a sprain, so he didn’t get to go out.”

“His bad luck, but my good luck. I wasn’t thinkin’ the horses would be out in the pasture, but of course they would be on a fine day like this. Back home they tend to bring them into the air conditioning in the heat of the day.” She stroked the gelding’s neck. “And who would you be?”

Keep reading for an excerpt from DOUBLE EXPOSURE by Erin McCarthy.

Saddle up for a wild ride!

Catch these three titles in Vicki Lewis Thompson’s
New York Times
bestselling Sons of Chance series—featuring
Riding High
(June 2014),
Riding Hard
(July 2014) and
Riding Home
(August 2014). Available now in ebook format.

Looking for more Vicki Lewis Thompson? Be sure to catch all the titles in the popular
Sons of Chance
series, including:

Riding Home
Riding Hard
Riding High
Cowboys & Angels
The Heart Won’t Lie
Wild at Heart
I Cross My Heart
Feels Like Home
Lead Me Home
Long Road Home

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