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“He hasn’t seen Black Beauty yet!”
“After dinner, sweetie,” I promised. “I need to show him around.”
Funny enough, Nash wasn’t in a rush to escape Claire’s tutorial. He looked more relaxed than I’d ever seen him, with hislong legs hanging over the edge of the porch and his hands busy making the horses gallop.
Had he played cowboy as a kid, once upon a time? Did he have a mom as strict as Abby — or aunts as doting as Pippa and I? Had his father been as dedicated as mine, or had the man been as absent as my mother? And what about Nash himself? Would he make as good of a father as the image I’d had made him out to be?
I rubbed the bridge of my nose, pushing away stirring emotions.
“Hey, Claire.” Pippa lured our niece away. “I need help making dinner — and dessert. Can you and Black Beauty help?”
Claire giggled. “Black Beauty has hooves, not hands.”
“Well, she can supervise,” Pippa said, then waggled her eyebrows at Nash and me. “Have fun, you two.”
Fun was not on the agenda. I wanted to show Nash the lay of the land in case we needed help protecting the ranch. But Lord, I hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
“Your niece, huh?” he asked once we were a few steps away.
I nodded. “Abby’s daughter.”
He studied the sky warily. Did he expect enemy forces to helicopter in? Or, worse — dragons?
Slowly, he turned in a circle, then stopped, staring at our dragon-shaped weather vane.
“That was one of Abby’s first projects in the smithy,” I explained. “It came out really well, didn’t it?”
Sadly, our mother hadn’t noticed, but Pippa and I loved it.
Nash nodded, genuinely impressed. “Very realistic.”
“Come on. I’ll show you around.”
I gave him a quick tour of the ranch, warring with myself the whole time. Should I show him the vortex?
If he had pushed to see it, I would have probably refused. But seeing as he didn’t… I glanced over, then made up my mind.Nash wasn’t one of the bad guys. On the contrary, he had a lot going for him — a lot more than I’d originally given him credit for.
He respected that I was the boss at work.
He hated Harlon as much as I did.
And he shared nachos.
So, there. Lots of admirable characteristics.
“Now, the vortex…” I said, then hesitated.
“You want to blindfold me?” he offered with a little grin.
I bit back a bad BDSM joke.
“I hope it’s not necessary,” I said.
“I promise it isn’t,” he said, dead serious.
I nodded, then led him to the base of the cliffs by the head of the canyon.
Nash looked up at the figures etched into the stone by an ancient hand. The way he stroked his chin convinced me he must have had training in such things at that agency of his. The air went still, and a faint hum registered in my ears, like a live wire crackling with energy.
