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His phone beeped, and he glanced at it, then groaned.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Yet another one of Anthony’s secretaries quit.”

“Oh. He’s having trouble keeping them?”

He sighed. “You could say that. No one lasts more than a few months. I believe one or two described him as an arrogant asshole before leaving.”

My eyes bulged. “That doesn’t seem like Anthony at all. He’s so friendly.”

“He is. Except with his assistants.”

“Why?”

“There’s a story behind that, but I’ll tell it to you another time.”

Hmm...Suddenly I wondered if Isabeau and Celine could have something to cure that. Possibly even lilac.

Oh, damn. I was spending way too much time with those two.

Another crack of thunder rumbled across the sky, and we both looked up.

“Let’s head to the stables and then go back to the city. Gaston kept saying that today’s storm will be sizable,” I murmured. Looking at the sky, I was certain that he was quite right.

The second we entered the stable, Starlight neighed. I swear he sensed my presence even before he could see me. Zachary and I walked to him together, passing the other occupied stalls along the way. The ranch acquired more horses in the past year. After much debating, we’d decided to ask Gaston and Felicia if they’d like to add more cabins, not just renovate the existing ones. They’d been ecstatic about it, so that’s what we did. With the increased capacity, they’d needed more horses.

“Hello, pretty boy,” I said, stopping in front of him. “What do you say about getting your hair done?”

Zachary grinned and pointed to a gorgeous silvery box at the side of Starlight’s stall.

“What is that?” I asked.

“I figured it was time Starlight got a new combing set.”

I melted. “You’re spoiling my boy. And me.”

I picked up the box, turning it around. It was by a very well-known combmaker for horses.

I loved Zachary to the moon at back for doing this. He knew how much Starlight meant to me.

I opened the box and took out the comb. Then I noticed there was a second box inside that looked quite different. It was velvet.

I furrowed my brow. “Do they make accessories for horses now?”

“I don’t know,” Zachary replied. His tone was playful but also tense.

I immediately took out the velvet box and put down the bigger one because I needed both hands to open it. I gasped as I did so. This was an accessory, all right, but it wasn’t what I’d thought.

I looked up at Zachary. He was smiling from ear to ear as he took the box from me and got down on one knee.

“Grace Deveraux, I’ve waited for this day for months.”

Warmth enveloped me as if he was giving me a hug. “Months?” I whispered.

“Yes. I wanted to do this on a day that meant something to us. Inaugurating the opening of our first project together is the perfect moment. I know that when we first met here at this ranch, things looked bleak. I never would’ve thought that one year later, we’d be standing here together. Although, I will admit that I thought you were smoking hot.”

I started to laugh and put both hands on my cheeks because my eyes were burning. In case I teared up, I wanted to brush them out of the way before Zachary could see them.