“Grows?”
“Marijuana,” Eric said from behind her.
“Oh.”
“Hey, Taylor, are you carrying?” Nate called to Austin.
“Does a bear shit in the woods?”
A grin on his face, Nate turned his stallion and led them out of the corral and onto a trail that cut across a sweeping meadow of tall green grass and wildflowers, pausing once to glance over his shoulder at Vic. “How are you doing?”
“Great.” Baby Doe was so docile that she probably would have followed Nate up the trail even if Vic were a sack of potatoes. “I get the feeling she’s done this before.”
He laughed. “You’re right about that.”
For a time, they rode in silence, the landscape quiet apart from the chatter of birds and the plodding of horses’ hooves. Vic found herself awed by the beauty that surrounded her—blue sky, rugged peaks, quaking aspens. Nature lulled her senses, the rocking motions of the animal beneath her soothing away stress, fresh air and sunshine melting the tension she’d been carrying since last night.
Soon the ranch house was far behind them, the trail passing through shady groves of aspen that eventually opened to reveal a lake.
“Oh!” Vic stared. “It’s so beautiful!”
The still surface of the water was a perfect mirror for the sky and the mountains, reeds near the far shore swaying in a breeze, and—
A moose!
It grazed among the reeds, velvet on its broad antlers. It paid no attention to them, but continued to feed, walking on absurd, spindly legs.
“Oh, I wish I’d brought my phone.” She’d left it behind, wanting to escape Abigail’s incessant emails for a few hours.
Eric’s voice came from behind her again. “Got you covered, city girl.”
She looked over her shoulder and saw that he was taking a photo for her with his phone. “Thanks.”
They watched the moose graze for a few minutes, then moved on, Vic now acutely aware of the man who rode behind her. In her mind’s eye, she could see him straddling his gelding, strong thighs guiding the animal, cowboy hat shading his face. With that image in her head, she didn’t feel stupid for asking him to kiss her last night. In fact, her request seemed sensible, even necessary.
And, God, it had been incredible—every brush of his lips, every stroke of his tongue, every caress. Not to mention what he’d done with the rock-hard torpedo in his pants. She hadn’t known it was possible to come like that. Yes, it had been amazing—right up to the moment when she’d lost it and ruined everything.
How on earth was she going to explain last night to him?
* * *
Eric knewthe point of this ride was to enjoy the scenery, but he couldn’t take his gaze off Victoria. She constantly surprised him. She’d taken on wakeboarding, and now she was riding a horse like she’d done it all her life. She sat with perfect posture in the saddle, her dark hair hanging down her back, that white cowboy hat on her head. And those ridiculous boots—all leather and embroidered roses.
What would it be like to see her in those boots—and nothing else?
The thought came out of nowhere, ambushing him, turning his blood hot.
Get your mind out of the gutter.
It was almost one o’clock when they stopped for lunch, dismounting and turning their horses over to waiting ranch hands who had driven up via an access road. Eric would have helped Victoria dismount, but she did just fine on her own.
A short walk from the road, they found a shaded picnic area, where Jack West and the rest of the West family waited by two large picnic tables that had been covered with linen table clothes and set with real dishes.
“This is classy,” Eric said to Austin. “I was expecting to sit on the ground eating baloney sandwiches.”
Lexi looked just as surprised. “Yeah, me, too. This is amazing.”
A pretty little girl marched over to Austin, wearing little cowboy boots, a lacy skirt, and a dinosaur T-shirt, a tiara perched on her blond head. “What the hell took you so long?”