“And I promised Perla I’d fix that leaking pipe in the kitchen,” Crockett said, right behind his brother.
“I won’t hear none of it.” Pa’s stern voice stopped Austin and Crockett in their tracks. “You two go with Hays and show these young ladies around the 7 Heart.” He held the door open for Emma’s folks and then showed them into his office without waiting to see if his sons listened.
Emma and her sister stood in the dining room with Hays, Austin, and Crockett.
Maybe Hays could still get Emma alone. “Do you enjoy riding, Emma—?”
“Would you like to see the new colt?” Crockett spoke at the same moment.
The brothers stopped and stared at one another—Austin stood off to the side, as if he wasn’t quite sure what to do with himself.
Emma looked between the brothers and then nodded. “I do ride—and so does Hope.”
Hope giggled. “Only sidesaddle, mind you.”
“We still have my mother’s old sidesaddle.” Crockett motioned to the door. “Shall we?”
Without invitation, Hope circled her hand around his elbow and sashayed down the hall.
Hays turned to Emma. “I hope you don’t mind spending the afternoon with me.”
Her eyebrows tilted. “As long as I don’t find more of those posters hanging around.”
Hays put his right hand over his heart. “You have my word.”
They moved through the hall and out onto the porch, with Austin following.
Emma was quiet as they walked, her eyes scanning the property. Hays tried to see it from her perspective. Directly behind El Regalo, a large barn, low bunkhouses, and a spacious corral with some of the best horses spread out before them. Pride in the 7 Heart Ranch made him stand taller.
Crockett left Hope at the barn door while he went in to help Gage saddle the horses. Austin paused outside the door, looking from Hope to the sanctuary of the barn—but her incessant chatter prevented him from going inside. Her conversation flitted around the barnyard like the sound of a little bird, and Austin could only stare. Emma didn’t follow her sister, but walked toward the corral and leaned against the fence, her eyes focused on the far horizon.
It was the opportunity Hays had been waiting for. He joined her and lifted his boot to rest on the bottom rail.
There was something pensive in her gaze—and it made Hays pause. Ever since he was a child, he hated to see people sad. Some of his earliest memories were of his pa’s melancholy when his oldest sons left for the war, and the deep sadness after Mother died. Hays didn’t want to add to the pain, so he had learned how to make his pa laugh. Sometimes it meant that Hays had to cover his own grief and laugh through the hard times, even when he didn’t want to.
He stood silently as one of the mares strolled over to the fence and nuzzled up against him, looking for a treat in his pocket, no doubt.
Emma smiled at the playful horse, and Hays used the opportunity to speak. “You seem a little sad.” He caught her eye. “I hope it’s not because you’re forced into my company.”
She reached out and ran her hand down the mare’s long nose. “Being forced into your company does not make me sad.” She turned to face him. “Frustrated, irritated, and annoyed maybe—but not sad.”
Hays’s grin disappeared, and for a moment he didn’t know how to respond—until a faint smile tugged at the corners of her lips.
He dropped his foot and leaned against the fence, smiling at Emma as he crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re a great mystery to me, Miss Longley.”
“Oh?”
“Most ladies I know are quite easy to figure out—”
Hope let out an exuberant squeal and Hays jumped. The mare bolted and joined a group of horses grazing in the corral.
Crockett stood near the entrance to the barn holding the reins of a beautiful horse, and apparently Hope had been pleased. With Austin’s assistance, she tried to pull herself up into the sidesaddle, but her dress made it difficult, and she began to giggle. Austin attempted to help her, while Crockett retreated back into the barn.
Emma met Hays’s gaze, and he continued. “Like I said, most ladies are quite easy to figure out.” He refrained from making an example of her sister. “But you, on the other hand, are not so easy.”
There was no guile or pretense in her gaze as she studied him. “I’m not sure if that’s an insult or a compliment.”
Hope hopped around on one foot, while her other was stuck in the stirrup. She giggled so hard, she couldn’t lift her body into the saddle. Austin swallowed as he tried to assist her, but there was nothing he could do. His hands fumbled about, as if he didn’t know where to put them, and his lips had flattened into a thin line. Poor man.
“It’s a compliment,” Hays assured her, “of the highest order.” He tried to ignore Hope as best he could. “It makes me want to get to know you better.”