She returned his stare without apology.
His curse was hot enough it should have melted the snow gathering on his hat brim.
Kenzie only arched a brow.
“You’re baiting me, so I won’t apologize for my language.” He dragged a hand down his face, over his mouth, and then wrapped it around the back of his neck. Tension sang off his body. Sensing his anxiety, his horse fidgeted. Eli ordered the animal to settle. The command proved as effective as telling an alligator to go vegan. The big gelding wanted none of it.
“If you don’t calm down, you’re going to end up in the dirt,” Kenzie offered with casual indifference.
“Probably.” Eli relaxed his grip on the reins, settling his butt into the cantle before visibly forcing his shoulders to relax. “I’m just going to lay it out there, then. Cade and I are both sure you’re lying about this whole partnership thing.”
She sucked in a breath and the pervasive cold burned her lungs. Before she regained the ability to speak, and therefore respond, Eli pressed on.
“Problem is, we can’t prove it. Ty doesn’t remember anything from the point he entered the ring to the actual moment he woke in the hospital. You could make any number of absurd claims and there’d be nothing we could do to refute it.” He shot her a shrewd glance. “That doesn’t mean the absurdity of the claim will hold in court, mind you.”
“Get to it already.”
One corner of his mouth twitched upward before he forced it into neutral submission. “Cade and I talked about it, and I drew the short straw of discussing our plan with you.”
“So far, you haven’t discussed a dang thing,” she ground out, her nerves so frayed she wondered they weren’t sparking.
“We want you to stay and get Ty on his feet—”
“No.” Her response was immediate.
“Not negotiable. In return, we won’t challenge your claim to Gizmo’s stud services. You’ll get him, on your property, for ninety days.” He rubbed his red nose. “We’ll also repay you everything you’ve spent on my brother and his horse. It’ll take us a while to figure out where the money’s going to come from, but we’ll make it work. With interest as well, though it’ll have to be reasonable or the dude ranch will suffer.” He did grin when he met her gaze this time. “Unless you’re willing to take Monopoly money.”
She huffed out a laugh, her breath condensing on the air. The snowflakes had become little beads of ice, pelting her exposed cheeks as the wind whipped around her. “I’m afraid I tried the Monopoly-money approach at age five after I broke one of my Dad’s trophies.”
“Yeah?”
“I tried to pay him off in pink bills and hotels. Ironically, he took it. I still ended up grounded for breaking the trophy when I’d been warned to leave it be.” The memory was a fond one now that she could look at it through the lens of time and with the benefit of age. Her dad had been so serious, accepting her payment and then sending her to her room. He’d come up later and revoked riding privileges for a week after lecturing her on responsibility. Michael had sneaked her out twice in the following seven days to ride with him. Man, she’d loved him so much.
“Sounds as if you had a good father.”
Kenzie’s throat tightened. “I had... My family’s amazing.”
“Why the past tense?” Eli asked, openly curious.
“I lost my brother when I was a kid.”
“I’m sorry.” Eli reached out and fleetingly touched her arm, then withdrew. “I can’t know the reality of losing a brother, but I do know the horror of thinking I lost one.”
“Yeah.” The word was little more than a breath lost to the wind’s next gust.
“Stay, Kenzie. No matter the fight earlier, whatever you were to him hasn’t died. That much is obvious.”
“What do you expect me to be able to do that the doctors and therapists can’t?” she demanded. “I’m the one person he’s hell-bent on despising at the moment.”
“Don’t be so sure he despises you.” He shot her an amused glance, his smile revealing dimples no woman should have to combat. “And you’re a woman with resources. I doubt there’s much you can’t accomplish when you set your mind to it. Particularly where this man is concerned.” He snorted and moved his horse a few strides away from her and Indie. “Let’s just say the doctors and therapists don’t hold the same type of influence over him that I’m willing to wager you do.”
“You want me to—”
“Help him find himself again, Ms. Malone. You’re the only one he’s responded to, the only one he seems willing to engage with. Bring him back, not only to himself but to us. Please.” When she didn’t immediately respond, he pressed on. “Do this and...we won’t contest yourrightto Gizmo’s stud services.” He glanced up at the sky. “Looks as if it’s about to get ugly.” With that, Eli spurred his horse forward.
“The weather or this thing with Ty?” she shouted to the eldest Covington’s retreating form. He didn’t answer, so she shouted a second, more relevant question. “What does Tyson think about this arrangement?”
If he answered, she didn’t hear him. The snowstorm had intensified to near whiteout conditions, Eli’s silhouette fading fast.