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He stiffened. She’d met someone new? He’d lost his chance already?
“His name is Christopher Billings, and he lives one town over. He gave me a job and a place to stay, and—”
“I love you, Athena. And I can’t hold it in any longer. I don’t want you to leave because I’m madly, deeply in love with you, and these last two weeks have been torture.” Henry pulled away from her so she could see his eyes. “I don’t want to lose you again, and that’s why I’m telling you this.” He held his breath. This could go either way. What would it be? Would she run, or would she stay?
Athena’s eyes drilled into him—the wait far more painful than his confession had been. Then she stood on her toes and her mouth captured his in a firm, unyielding kiss before it softened into something more sensuous. “I love you, too, Henry,” she murmured against his lips. “I think I always have.”
His heart soared in that moment. Nothing else in his life would compare to this.
Athena loved him.
EPILOGUE
Six months later
Athena
Spring was setting in nicely. There were often colder mornings which made climbing out of bed to get to work that much harder. Athena had grown soft. That was what she told herself as she wrapped a wool blanket around her shoulders while she sat on the front porch and waited for her sister to show.
They’d been going out on morning rides for the last couple of weeks, and Athena couldn’t be happier about it. This was the kind of happiness she’d never thought was possible. From the time when she was a little girl to this very moment, she’d thought she’d be one of those people always chasing something she knew nothing about.
Well, now she knew what happiness was.
It was family.
It was the love of her life.
And it was Beast.
She’d been training the horse all winter long, and they were getting ever closer to signing up for the spring dressage events. She couldn’t wait to show the town of Copper Creek the kind of talent she had.
None of it would have been possible without Henry.
The door behind her swung open with a loud creaking sound and the heavy footfalls of a familiar pair of boots echoed across the fog-covered fields.
“You’re not going out in that, are you?” Henry dropped down to sit beside her as he held out her coffee cup. “What if you get lost? Then you’re gonna freeze.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’ve been here long enough to know my way around. I doubt that anything will happen.”
“I don’t know,” Henry said as he lifted his mug to his lips. “I really don’t like that you want to go out there. Maybe you should let me come along.”
“Nope,” she shot back. “This is sister time. But we’ll be back in time for lunch.”
“Lunch!” Henry said louder. “You can’t take a ride that long in this weather.”
“It’s just fog.” Athena laughed. “By the time the sun is fully up, it will have burned off the fields. We’ll be fine. I promise.”
“You can’t promise that when you’re riding Beast,” he argued.
Athena gave him a pointed stare. “That horse is probably the most reliable one we have around here. I’m taking him, and I’m not going to hear another word about it.”
Henry’s side-eye would have been hilarious if it weren’t for something behind his gaze that caught her off guard. She took her mug from her lips and peered at him with a more concentrated fervor. “What’s wrong?”
He shifted, then shrugged. “No one said anything was wrong.”
“You didn’t have to. I can tell when something is up, and something is going to the moon right about now.”
The fidgeting continued, which drew her laughter.
