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“You think so?” Henry placed his hand over hers, their fingers brushing against one another. If anyone were to exit the house at that moment, there would be no hiding that they were romantically involved.
She stared down at their hands as she spoke. “I do. I can’t be certain, but I think he’s been hurt before. Maybe not physically… but something happened to turn him against the ordinary cowboy.” Her words were thoughtful and slow. They made his heart ache, and his thoughts immediately returned to that day when she’d confessed that she had her own painful baggage.
“You should do it.”
Athena lifted her eyes.
Henry continued, “The competition. You should be the one to ride Beast.”
18
Athena
Athena laughed and the only thing that caught her off guard was the surprised look on Henry’s face. “You’re not joking?” she said as her laughter died in her throat. “Henry. Please tell me this is one of your jokes.”
“I won’t do that.” His eyes confirmed his statement. “I’m not going to tell you that you shouldn’t do it because I think you’d be amazing at it. Beast would trust you to blindly lead him through fire.”
“I would never do that.”
“All the more reason you should be his rider.”
“I’m not trained.”
“Neither is he.” Henry chuckled. He wasn’t making fun of her or trying to belittle her in any way with his laugh. Strangely enough, it was comforting. He laced his fingers through the hand he’d covered and pulled it from the railing. “I think if you work with him, you’ll catch on real quick.”
“I’ve literally ridden a horse three times in my life.”
He peered at her. “You’ve ridden Beast three times.”
“Exactly.”
The peculiar look on his face said it all. He was putting it all together now. Henry couldn’t possibly expect her to do what he was suggesting. She wasn’t a cowboy. She didn’t know how to ride a horse like all the fancy people in the videos she’d watched. It was impossible.
“I think you should still try,” Henry said quietly. “You don’t know what will happen until you do.”
“Except I do.” She took a deep breath to steady her nerves. The feeling that had started to grow inside her was familiar. It was the same thing she experienced when she felt cornered. Henry wasn’t doing it on purpose. He wasn’t trying to make her feel like she needed to escape. This was the first time since the night they met that the sensation had returned.
Athena closed her eyes and found her center. She couldn’t show Henry that side of her. It would scare him off. Deep down she knew he would look at her differently if she showed any kind of weakness. Hadn’t he said how strong and brave she was—over and over again?
Opening her eyes, she lifted her chin. “I would lose.”
Henry shook his head, understanding flooding his features. “Who cares?”
“Who cares?” she all but choked on the words. “Who cares? Your brother, for one. Maybe all of them. They wouldn’t see me as someone who was a valuable member of this team anymore. They’d see the person who dragged them all down.”
“You realize that the competition you’d be entering would be for beginners, right? Most of the people competing would be at your skill level. It would be for fun—to give Beast a taste of what’s to come.”
She wasn’t surprised to note that his words weren’t all that comforting. Everyone who worked the ranch regularly had certain jobs and expectations to be met—well, all except Lucas, from what she could tell. He had a knack for getting out of almost anything.
“Come on, think about it. If it turns out well, then you can say you tried something new. If it doesn’t…” He shrugged. “Then you can say you tried something new.”
Athena rolled her eyes.
“Don’t give me that. You’re trying new things all the time.” He adjusted his hold on her so he could trace the back of her hand with his thumb. “You stayed here, didn’t you?”
The warmth in her belly started to climb into her chest.
“You chose to talk to me when you didn’t have to,” Henry continued.
