Maxine Morrey - Second Chance At The Ranch

Juliet pulled a hand out and laid it over the top of her sister’s. ‘Hardly. But I know the time difference will make things a bit more tricky.’

Hero gave a mirthless laugh. ‘Since when did my schedule ever stick to the 9 to 5 anyway. And you know what a bad sleeper I am. It’ll be nice to have someone to talk to next time I’m padding around at home at three in the morning.’

Juliet smiled but there was concern in her eyes. ‘How have you been sleeping here?’

Hero raised her perfect brows. ‘Surprisingly well, actually. Must be the air.’

‘Or maybe you’re more relaxed here, without so many people desperate for your attention.’

‘Desperate is a bit of an overstatement,’ she replied, glancing away.

‘I’m not sure it is.’

Hero poked at the vegetables. ‘How many more of these do you want?’ And with that, the subject was changed. Juliet frowned at the escape her sister had made but the last thing she wanted to do was start a fight with her. It already broke her heart to know she wouldn’t be physically close to her anymore, and she didn’t want her worries to come across as criticism. Her sister had an incredible work ethic, but sometimes Juliet thought it too much. She was always travelling, whether that was across the city or across the world. She didn’t eat anywhere near as much as she should, and when she did, it was often at strange times, or on the run. Hero wasn’t stupid. Jules knew her sister acknowledged the fact that her diet wasn’t the best it could be, but it wasn’t something that was easy to change. It was one of the reasons she’d brought up the subject of cutting back on the modelling jobs a few days ago. Tactfully, she’d wrapped it in the wish for Hero to be available to visit more often. Her sister had nodded and said she would definitely plan to get over when she could, but dismissed the idea of working less.

‘I will in time,’ was all she ever said when the subject came up.

‘But when will that be?’ Juliet had pushed her this time.

In return, Hero had smiled that big, beautiful smile of hers before hugging her sister, kissing her temple as she pulled back. ‘Stop worrying.’ The glossy hair swung as she shook her head, the smile still in place.

‘Well, that’s never going to happen,’ Juliet huffed.

Hero merely rolled her eyes and smiled.

***

The sun was fading as Hero made her way over to the stables, an apple in each hand. She approached the open door and smiled as Chester twitched his ears and clip-clopped over to her, his head already dipping down to find the food he smelled.

‘Wait a minute,’ Hero laughed.

‘He’s not great at manners.’ A deep voice came from behind her. ‘Sorry about that. We don’t tend to get many fancy guests out this way.’

Hero didn’t reply, but Nick could tell by the way her body tensed that she’d heard him. She held up the apple and the horse snaffled it with his lips, transferred it to his mouth, and proceeded to chomp his way noisily through it. Hero stroked his nose gently as he pushed his head against her, searching for the other treat he knew was still out there. Behind the curtain of her hair, Nick could just about see the smile on her face. It didn’t seem to be something she did very readily, although, to be fair, she seemed to do it far more in the company of others than with him. He shifted his weight as that thought jabbed at him. The land was quiet now, with only the odd ‘baa’ of a sheep or two carried on the soft evening breeze. Chester broke the silence once more with his crunching as Hero gave him the other apple.

‘I’d say I wasn’t a fancy guest, but I think you’d probably disagree. To be honest,’ she said, pulling a white handkerchief from her pocket and wiping her hands, ‘I think whatever I said you’d find a way to disagree with me.’ Hero glanced up, meeting his eyes.

A half smile hovered around his mouth. ‘You’re pretty fancy for around these parts,’ he replied, ignoring the rest of her comment.

Hero turned back to the horse who was now nuzzling her neck. She tilted her head to the side and leant against him as she stroked his nose. ‘I’m no different to Juliet and you seem to have adjusted to her being out here without any snide remarks. She seems to think you’re absolutely wonderful, although for the life of me, I can’t see why.’

The deep, throaty laugh took her by surprise. Looking up, she saw what appeared to be genuine amusement on Nick’s face.

‘I guess I deserved that.’

‘Deserved what?’

Nick shook his head at the confusion on her face. ‘Being put in my place.’

‘Oh …’ She wanted to come up with a witty retort, but right now the only thought in her brain was how sexy Nick Webster’s laugh was. Along with the rest of him. Hero shook her head, telling herself she must have been out in the sun without a hat for too long. She wasn’t attracted to Nick Webster! In fact, she couldn’t think of anyone more inappropriate to have a crush on!

He tilted his head at her. ‘Looks like you’re having a real conversation with yourself inside your head. Care to share?’

God, no!

‘I wasn’t thinking anything particularly,’ she said, doing her best to sound casual.

‘Mm-hmm, OK.’

Hero risked a glance, and in that moment she could see that Nick clearly didn’t believe a word of it. Well, tough luck to him, because there was no way she was going to tell him what she’d actually been thinking. She was pretty sure he and that ego of his would dine out on that little nugget of information every time she visited for the next several years. Instead she went back to the soothing, repetitive smoothing of the horse’s nose.

‘Isn’t this one of those Instagram moments?’ Nick asked, one dark brow slightly raised as he indicated her and the horse with his chin.

‘A what?’

‘An Instagram moment. Isn’t that what they call it? You take a selfie with the horse and then post it with something inane like “Hashtag blessed”.’

‘Oh. Maybe. I don’t really know. It’s not something I do.’

Nick let out a puff of air through his nose that signalled either amusement or disbelief or, seeing as it was him, quite possibly both.

‘Instagram or selfies?’

Hero dropped her hand and stood back from the stable door. ‘Both, I guess.’

‘You’re kidding, right?’

She shook her head, her face serious. ‘No. Why would I be?’

‘I don’t know. Maybe because everyone seems to be doing that these days?’

‘I’m not. Are you?’

‘No, of course not.’

‘You seem to know an awful lot about it,’ Hero prodded.

‘I don’t,’ Nick stated, his voice firmer this time. ‘I just had a fi… girlfriend who was heavily into all that stuff. It’s hard not to learn by osmosis when you never get to eat a meal until it’s been photographed and filtered and uploaded.’

Hero’s interest was piqued at Nick stumbling in his wording. For a moment she thought he was going to say fiancée, but she’d heard nothing from Juliet about him being engaged, which, knowing her sister, she most certainly would have. Maybe it was just all the talk of weddings and fiancées in general filtering through his head after a long day out working. ‘It’s pretty hard to work out which are the genuine emotions and which are faked just to make a good picture these days.’

She watched him as he took off his hat and ran a hand through his dark hair. For a moment the confident, tough guy carapace seemed to crack.

‘I think you’re right.’ This time it was Nick’s turn to look surprised.

‘Wait. Did we just agree on something?’ That hint of a smile became less of a shadow and more real.

‘I suppose it had to happen sometime.’