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She looked like she was thinking about it. But then she shook her head. “It would be a mistake. It would screw up our friendship.”

And open them up to something even better. “I don’t see why.”

“Sex always complicates things.”

“It doesn’t have to.”

“And this would be why I need to talk to another woman.” She turned her horse back the way they’d come. “Come on. I need to get back.”

Damaris had admitted she thought about him sexually. Things were definitely looking up.

*

Damaris stewed about her dilemma while she mucked out stalls. Naturally, she was the only one around to do it. Their teenage helper was at some school event. Her brothers were off somewhere with their wives. But it was mindless work, so she used the time to mull over her problems.

She kept a lot of things to herself. But when she had a problem, she talked to her friends about it. Jaclyn would be the obvious choice. She wouldn’t talk to Marshall if Damaris asked her not to. That didn’t mean she might not accidentally slip, though. Besides, she didn’t want to make Jaclyn keep secrets from her husband. Which also ruled out Chantel and Ella.

She’d thought about calling her mom but ruled that out pretty quickly. Not because she was afraid she’d tell anyone, but because she had a feeling her mother would think the whole thing was a bad idea. Honestly, she might be right.

She could talk to Ruthie. But their housekeeper adored Nate and Damaris didn’t think Ruthie could look at her situation objectively. She’d be more likely to ask her—for the thousandth time—why in the world couldn’t she see that Nate was perfect for her?

She walked into Cinnamon’s stall to see her favoring one of her legs. She felt the mare’s fetlock and found it hot. “Crap, that’s not good.” She’d thought the mare might be a little gimpy yesterday when she brought her in from the pasture, but she’d checked her over carefully and hadn’t found anything. She called Hazel Forrester, her friend who ran an equine water therapy business, to see if she could bring the mare over.

“Of course,” Hazel said. “Whenever you want. We’re not busy at the moment.”

Half an hour later she’d loaded Cinnamon into the trailer and driven out to Hazel’s place. Hazel checked her out too. “I think she’d benefit from some cold salt water therapy. Do you know what she did or when she did it?”

“Not a clue as to what happened. She was okay yesterday when I brought her in but this morning she was like this. It must have come up overnight.” She gestured at the mare. “I thought about calling Jason but I figured he’d just tell me she needed therapy.”

“Let’s see what we can do and then we’ll call Jason if necessary.” Hazel and Whiskey River’s large animal vet, Jason Barrett, frequently referred clients to each other.

Hazel and Damaris put the mare onto the underwater treadmill and sat back to watch. Wait a minute, Damaris said to herself. Hazel is the perfect person to talk to. She doesn’t gossip, she keeps to herself and she’s been a friend of mine since she moved here.

“Damaris, why are you looking at me so strangely? Do I have something in my teeth? Or on my face?”

“No, I was thinking I need a woman’s point of view about something.”

“Okay. I take it your sisters-in-law won’t do?”

“No, it’s a secret. And while they’ll keep it quiet, my brothers all have big mouths.”

Hazel laughed. “And you don’t think they’ll keep it from their husbands.”

“They wouldn’t purposely tell them. But I think it’s easy to slip when you’re sleeping with someone.”

Hazel nodded. “True enough. Shoot.”

Damaris drew in a breath. “I guess you’ve heard that Nate and I have been dating.”

“Hasn’t everyone?”

“I suppose,” she said gloomily. “The thing is we’re not really dating.”

“What do you mean? Either you’re dating him, or you aren’t.”

Damaris explained the situation, beginning with Nate asking for her to pretend to be dating him and why. “He was so worried. You know Nate’s fairly macho, but he’s putty for his grandma. And you know I love his grandma.” She didn’t talk about the possible eventual fake engagement. For one thing, she wasn’t sure they’d make it that long, or if they did, that they’d need to take it that far.

“I don’t know Nate that well, but I’ve always thought you liked him more than you let on, which is why I never could figure out why you’re always setting him up with some female. Including me.”