Page 159 of Holiday Heir

He shrugs. "I thought it was fair." He reaches out and rubs Charlie's back. Then his gaze locks on mine.

My butterflies take off.

Alexander hollers from behind us, "Jagger! Quit romancing your woman and get your ass over here. Duty calls."

He kisses Charlie's forehead, then mine. "I'll find you as soon as I'm done."

"Okay."

He spins, sees Carla, and waves.

She waves back and comes over. "Come on. Ruby saved us seats."

We follow the crowd toward the grandstand and squeeze into the row with the rest of the Cartwrights just as the horses for the next race are called to the track. Charlie gets passed around when I'm ready to let others have a turn. Before long, Jagger's racehorse, Nightfire, is announced. My stomach knots as his horse loads into the gate. When the bell rings, all of us jump to our feet.

Jagger's horse loses.

Alexander's wins the next race.

Mason's comes so close, they have to enable a slow-motion replay to determine he lost by a hair.

It's a night of ups and downs and overall, super fun. But I know how competitive Jagger is. I've watched him work these horses. He takes every detail of their training seriously.

So when he comes back toward us after the race, I brace myself for frustration.

Instead, he takes off his hat, runs a hand through his hair, and says, "Well, shit."

I blink. "That's it?"

He looks at me. "What?"

"You lost."

"Thank you for the update."

I smack his arm.

He laughs.