When It's Right (25 page)

Just the moment they needed to break the tension. Gabe's shoulders relaxed. Ella laughed and the rest of the ceremony flew by, ending with a steamy kiss.

The wedding party finished the photos and headed into the elegant tent that looked more like a ballroom, with a hanging chandelier, dark blue, cloth-­draped tables covered in gleaming silver, crystal, white dishes, and overflowing blue vases with white flowers. Blake found Gillian talking to a few of Ella's friends.

“Hey pretty lady, come with me.” Blake took her hand, smiled at the other ladies in apology for interrupting, and drew Gillian toward the dance floor.

“The wedding was beautiful. This place is amazing.”

“You're beautiful. You're stunning in that dress.”

“I'm so used to you in jeans, I can't get over how handsome you are in a tux.”

“Only for my brothers—­and you—­would I wear one of these monkey suits.”

He didn't know if she got the meaning of what he was trying to tell her, but he hoped she understood that unless it was their wedding, or one of his brothers', you wouldn't catch him dead in a tux again.

As instructed, Blake, Caleb, and Dane stood to one side with their ladies. One of Ella's bridesmaids stood beside Dane, since he didn't have anyone special in his life right now—­or ever.

Someday, the right woman would show up and take him on the ride of his life.

Ella and Gabe walked in to a round of applause. The singer of the country cover band Ella hired announced, “Please welcome Mr. and Mrs. Gabe Bowden for their first dance as man and wife.”

They stepped out onto the dance floor and lost themselves in each other's arms. Halfway through the slow song, Blake, Caleb, and Dane escorted their partners to the dance floor and joined the newlyweds. Over the next few songs, Blake, Caleb, and Dane took turns dancing with the bride—­their new sister. Ella danced with their father, making him tear up, and Ella looked forlorn for her lost family. Gabe put the smile right back on her face when he pulled her close for yet another kiss as everyone tapped their spoons to their champagne glasses.

The rest of the night was a lot of food, fun, and more dancing until Gabe shot Ella's garter right into Dane's face with a “You're next, bro.”

Dane shook his head no and swore, “Never going to happen.”

Ella tossed her bouquet to five single ladies, including Gillian. Blake's mother had nearly dragged her to the dance floor to participate. She caught the bouquet.

“See, that makes more sense,” Dane said and turned to him. “You're next, bro.”

Gillian stared at him, the bouquet of roses up to her nose as she inhaled their sweet scent.

Yes, she'd make a beautiful bride. His bride.

 

Chapter 25

G
illian rode over to the track with Jeff beside her. They'd been working secretly with Boots for more than two weeks. The wind caressed her face. She turned her gaze up to the bright blue sky and let the heat of the sun warm her skin. She loved the warmer May temps and riding every day.

She spotted Blake by the rail, watching several horses speeding down the track. He held a stopwatch and a clipboard and wrote down the horses' times. She rode toward him. Jeff rode Daredevil beside her, an all-­black colt that had a wild disposition. Boots was ready to run. He saw the track, and she worked hard to keep him from taking off from under her.

“Hey honey, taking Boots out for a ride?” Blake asked.

“Yes. I'm going to give him what he's been asking for, for weeks now.”

Blake eyed her atop the horse and turned a penetrating gaze on Jeff. “You aren't seriously thinking about putting him inside the gates and racing him.”

“Yes. I am.”

“That wasn't a question. That was my way of saying, hell no. No way. Never going to happen.”

“Blake, Boots is a racehorse. I nursed him back to health. He wants to run. He'll only let me ride him. He bites the other riders. I want to get him into the gates and race him once. I hope he likes it and lets another rider up on him.”

Blake's scowl deepened.

“Jeff helped me,” she said.

“Great. Get me killed, why don't you?” Jeff took a step back from Blake and his murderous glare.

She ignored Jeff and tried to make Blake understand. “He's ready. He needs a chance to prove himself.”

Blake sucked in a breath, ready to talk her out of this. For her safety. But nothing he said would deter her.

“Gillian, I know how hard you've worked to get him to accept you as a rider. I figured you'd keep him as your own. Not race him.”

“Blake, his bloodlines are some of the best on this ranch. He'll make a great stud, and his babies will grow up to be champions. He's finally feeling like his old self. He needs to race again.”

“You don't know what he used to be like.”

“He was a champion racehorse. I'm just asking you to give me a chance to prove to him that he still is. Do you know what it's like to be beaten down and have to drag yourself back up? He needs this.”

No, Blake conceded, she needed this. She might think this was about Boots, but this had everything to do with her. Boots was healthy again. Gillian was healthy again. Gone were the nightmares that had haunted her nights for months. She didn't see her father in others anymore and had even started to get to know her uncle over the last ­couple weeks. A good man, even if he was protective of Gillian and gave Blake dirty looks, warning him all the time not to hurt his “baby girl.”

Like Gillian, Blake imagined Boots had his own demons that haunted him. She saw that in him. She saw it in the other sick and injured horses. They responded to her. Boots wasn't the only horse she took care of now. She had an innate ability to get them to trust her.

He closed the distance between them and laid his hand on her thigh. “Sweetheart, is this about Boots, or you? If you think you need to prove something, you don't. You work hard on this ranch, and you've found your place. Aren't you happy here?”

He thought she had enough here on the ranch, but maybe he was wrong. Maybe she needed something more, and it wasn't here. The thought of her leaving the ranch to do something else terrified him. He loved working with the horses, couldn't imagine leaving. Could he leave to be with her? An easy yes came to mind. For her happiness, he'd make a life with her somewhere else, doing something else. He'd find a way to be happy as long as he had her.

“Blake, I'm happy here. I love the horses and the ranch. I delivered a foal yesterday. Do you know how amazing that is? Boots is in championship form, and I had a hand in that.”

Gillian traced her fingertips along his jaw and watched the muscles bunch. No one had ever worried about her the way he did.

“Boots and I have a lot in common. We were both abused. We were both neglected. We were both rejected. I don't have anything to prove to anyone but myself. I know you don't understand, but it's a constant battle to remind myself every day that I'm worth something when there's a tape in my head playing my past. What he did to me. What he said to me. What he made me feel. It is still a part of me. I need to remember that I'm stronger than he ever made me think or feel. I'm stronger than anything he ever did to me.”

She looked out at the track and saw the reddish brown dirt, the white fences circling the inner field of grass. She imagined herself flying around that oval on Boots's back and feeling the wind whip past her as she and Boots flew. The freedom of it called to her.

“I need to do this, Blake. I need to know that I can. I need to know that I gave something back to him.” She petted Boots from his head down his neck to his shoulder. He remained tense under her, like a spring ready to let loose. His anticipation became her own. He wanted to run.

“He needs to race and know that he's stronger than anything that man did to him. He needs to feel like a champion again.”

“And what is it that you need to feel?”

She stared down into his warm eyes. “I already do. I'm loved, Blake. I'm loved by a great man who sees me inside and out and loves me for all that I am. The good and the bad.”

“Ah, sweetheart. I have no words for that. I do love you, and I hope you feel that every second of every day. I hope I never make you feel anything less than what you are. Perfect.”

“Not perfect, Blake. We both know I can't be that. But I am strong and capable. This is different. I need to do this. I don't know how to explain it to you, but I need to take him out on that track. He won't do it otherwise. If he doesn't race again, he'll always wonder. I want him to go out a champion. Not a horse that was abused and reduced to someone's pet. He's better than that. I know he is. Now he needs to remember he is.”

“You do know how fast he's going to run around that track. You aren't a professional rider. Have you even had him at a flat-­out run?”

“Several times. I scared the hell out of Jeff the other day when we left him in the dust. I'm telling you, Blake, this horse can run.”

Blake hesitated. His hand clamped onto her thigh so tightly that she knew he held himself back from snatching her right out of the saddle.

She leaned down and whispered, “I'm not Abigail. I know Boots. I know me. If at any moment I think it's too dangerous, I'll rein him in. I promise, being safe, being with you is more important than any race.”

Blake sucked in a ragged breath and let it out. “You need a helmet and a vest. I'm not letting you on that track without proper gear.” The words came out as if he'd torn them loose.

“Jeff's holding both behind you.”

Blake turned to the other trainer. “You were in on this?”

Jeff gave Blake a wide berth and walked to Gillian to hand her the gear. “I gave her instructions on how to train him. She did the work. She's good. She retaught him everything, right down to saddling him and letting her up on his back.” Jeff took three steps back before he admitted, “Boots threw her twice.”

Blake's sharp gaze met hers. She hated making him this upset.

“What? Where did you think the bruises on my legs came from?”

“Damnit, Gillian. You could have gotten seriously injured or killed.”

“And what about you? What were you doing this morning?”

Breaking in a new horse, that's what he'd been doing. Blake had gotten the horse saddled with no trouble, but the animal had been waiting for Blake to try to get on. When Blake leaned over the saddle and put his weight on the horse, he'd gone ballistic and bucked. Blake ended up dumped on his ass and damn near stepped on to boot.

He'd concede this one to her. He'd learned to pick his battles. Hardheaded woman.

“I should have stayed in bed with you this morning. Maybe we both could have stayed out of trouble,” he grumbled.

Gillian's mouth dropped. “Jeff is right there, thank you very much.”

“Don't mind me,” Jeff said with a broad smile.

Blake narrowed his eyes. “Sweetheart, we're all anyone on this ranch talks about.”

“Mostly it's that Blake is the luckiest son of a bitch on the ranch,” Jeff said, a rush of red brightening his face.

Blake slapped him on the back. “Yes, I am. She's the most beautiful woman in these parts.”

“Yeah, we're all wondering what she's doing with the likes of you,” Jeff teased.

Blake ignored the jibe. “Kiss me before you do this and get yourself killed.”

She leaned down and kissed him softly. He frowned at the chaste kiss she laid on him. He wanted more. With her, he always wanted more. She snagged his black cowboy hat, ran one hand through his hair, grabbed a handful, and pulled him to her to really kiss him. She ended the kiss tracing her tongue over his bottom lip. Sexy as hell. He fought the urge to drag her to the ground and have his way with her.

“Nobody's getting killed, cowboy. But I am going to show you what Boots can do. You're going to want to take him to the next race.”

“We'll see about that.” He reached for the reins. “I'll set you up in the gates, sweetheart. How about we put three other horses in with you to give old Boots here a run for his money.”

Maybe when she lost the race, Gillian would give up and let Boots live out his days with the mares on the ranch.

Ken stood next to one of the horses he'd been training for months. Blake walked Gillian to the gates. She felt Ken's gaze following her, but she ignored him.

“Ken, bring Diamond Deuce over. Let's run him, too.”

Gillian's stomach tied in knots. The fury in Ken's eyes frightened her. Angry men like Ken were a force unto themselves. He'd already proven that he'd resort to manhandling her to get what he wanted. She wasn't sure what he'd do if she showed him up in front of everyone.

Ken had kept his distance since she'd clocked him with the wrench and Blake had come home, but she caught him watching her all the time. Sometimes with purely sexual lust and other times tightly reined rage. One day soon, he'd make up his mind about which one of those he'd act on, and she'd have to defend herself against both. Unlikely to let things go and put the past behind them: no, men like Ken—­like her father—­had to win, no matter how wrong they were.

Well, she had a need to win, too. No way she let him beat her down and make her go running to Blake and her grandfather. She'd beat him once. She'd beat him again. Right now, she'd beat his horse to show him and Blake she had what it took to train Boots to be a champion again.

The other riders gave her a hard time about putting Boots up against their horses.

“It's like a tricycle against a ten speed.”

“A Tonka truck against a bulldozer.”

“Are you going to cry when you get my dust in your eyes?” Ken's horse's rider called. That one made her laugh.

She took the razzing in stride. She'd come to know everyone on the ranch. Like having an extended family, it made her feel good to be included.

Jeff helped her get situated in the gates as Boots made a valiant effort to stay out. Once inside, he tensed like lightning ready to flash. The anticipation built, and she tried to remember Jeff's coaching. Once the gate opened, Boots would take off like a rocket. All she had to do was hold on for the ride of her life.

Blake stood by the rail, eyes glued to the gates. Nervous. Anxious. Anything could happen to her. She could fall off Boots and be trampled by him or the other horses. He could take a fall and take her down with him and crush her. Every scenario in his mind ended with her lying dead on the track and him more alone in his life than he'd ever been.

Damn, but I love that woman.
He needed to do something about making her a permanent part of his life. He didn't know what twisted his gut more, the thought of buying her a ring, asking her to marry him, and her potentially saying no, or the possibility of her getting herself killed.

The gate swung open and Boots sprang out with the other horses. Blake's heart pounded as fast and hard as the horses' hooves on the track. Gillian rode Boots like a pro. At the first curve, she had one horse beside her and two in front of her. She took Boots to the rail and gave him his head.

Boots was fast, faster than Blake had given him credit for.

Gillian rounded the second curve just as Boots reached his pace. His hooves thundered over the ground and echoed in her heart. She'd never felt more alive. They passed the lead horse so close that her leg brushed against the other rider's. She coaxed Boots on, the finish line in sight ahead. Boots seemed to know he was almost done. He lengthened out his neck and stride and picked up speed with a last effort that stunned her. They were flying.

They crossed the finish line, and Gillian screamed with glee. She reined in Boots and brought him down to a nice trot. The smile on her face hurt her cheeks. If she smiled any wider, she'd break her face.

She turned and found Blake in the distance with an astonished, but proud, look on his face.

She patted Boots's neck and leaned down to give him a big hug. “That's a boy. Outstanding,” she cheered him as they trotted down the track. Boots practically danced on his hooves. Sweat glistened on his shiny brown coat. Proud of him. Proud of herself. She'd done it. She'd ridden him in a race and won.

Definitely a far cry from offloading fish at the docks for cash.

She stopped Boots down the track from Blake, and Jeff grabbed the reins. He'd cool down Boots for her.

“That was amazing, Gillian. I didn't think you'd win.” Jeff tried to get Boots to stop dancing. He brushed a hand down Boots's nose and kept a tight hold on the reins.