Page 25 of Rainwater

“A year. They died in a plane accident. My father liked to fly. They were on their way to Vegas.” She laughed. “My dad loved craps and Mom loved the slots. They always had a budget. When they lost what they had set aside, they came home as happy as clams.”

He saw the fond memories in her eyes and winced. He envied Jennifer her memories. “My parents are dead, too, and my little sister.” He picked up the brush again, unable to stop the flash of emotion that sliced into him.

“I’m sorry.”

His chest filled and he didn’t trust his voice.

Two little words and they meant so much to him.

Silence lengthened and thickened in the barn as once again Corey’s curiosity about Jennifer’s husband surfaced.

Could that fall she had mentioned been her breakup with her husband?

Had this man hurt her? The thought made him angry.

Without examining the reason that he wanted to know, he asked the question that had been plaguing him since he’d met her. “So where’s your husband, Jennifer?

The unsuppressed anger in his voice had her eyes lifting from the buckle she was fiddling with on Monster’s bridle.

“Gone. I found him in bed with a trick rider. Our bed, where Ellie was conceived. It did something to me, changed me.” She let out a quick breath.

“I guess that would change anyone. I haven’t trusted a man since. ”

Corey stopped brushing and walked over to the stall door. “He cheated on you?” His face showed his disbelief and confusion. “He had a woman like you and he wasn’t satisfied? He wasn’t happy with the little life he’d created inside of you? He threw it all away? The stupid bastard.”

Corey couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The man must have been a moron. He had all that Corey had ever wanted. He had it in his hands. “He threw away this—” he caressed her cheek with his fingertip feeling the response in her as she shivered “—for one night of lust.”

Jennifer’s throat tightened. “Not one night, Corey. Many, many nights. Trick riders, barmaids, barrel racers, anyone who was willing.”

“The fool. The monumental fool.”

He forced himself to move away from her, thanking God that there was a stall door in the way.

He felt that fierce yearning built in his chest, churning his gut, and Corey cursed the man who was stupid enough to throw away what was so infinitely precious to his own self.

A family. A beautiful family. “And what about Ellie?”

“He’s never seen her. He even insinuated that she wasn’t his.”

Corey wanted desperately to hit something.

The deepening pressure in his chest built.

He wished the man was here right now so that he could take him apart.

“He wasn’t worthy of you, Jennifer. You’ll find someone.

” Why did that hurt? Why did those words stab into his gut like knives?

He walked back to the big gray and continued grooming.

“Yeah,” she agreed.

“Yeah,” he echoed, his tone changing.

“Enough about me. What about your parents? You must have gotten that amazing talent with horses from your father,” she offered, not put off by his short, irritable tone.

“What makes you say that?” he asked scathingly, shame and the old fear bubbling up in his throat. He’d gotten a talent from his father, all right, but it wasn’t his way with horses.

“Your last name is Rainwater, not a traditional Anglo name. I assume that the Indian blood you have came from your father’s side of the family.”

“Naturally.” He gritted his teeth. Half the blood that flowed in his veins came from his father. He held the brush tighter, the seething anger making its way closer to the surface.

“So, I assumed that he was the one who taught you how to handle horses.”

He straightened slowly, the anger vibrating through his body exploding in ringing force.

It wasn’t anger directed at her, but the power of it swept through him like a brushfire out of control.

He threw the brush across the barn, a devastating fury crossing his face.

His anger was even more fearful because it was so sudden.

“The only thing I learned from my father was how to hate.” He stepped out of the stall, causing Jennifer to back up quickly.

He cringed inside even though he hoped the violence he had inside of him would be contained.

He didn’t like the frightened look on her face.

He latched the gate angrily, his movements choppy.

“Ms. Horn?”

At the sound of Jimmy’s subdued voice, she turned around. “What is it?” she said sharply.

“I was checking the fences on the north pasture and, well, someone shot Sidewinder and Happy-Go-Lucky.” His young eyes were stricken at the brutality.

She covered her mouth and tears filled her eyes. “The vet?”

“I already called him, and the sheriff, too.”

“I’ll come right away. My horse?”

“Saddled and waiting, Ms. Horn.”

“Jennifer, do you want me to come with you?” Corey was filled with concern for her, his anger banked.

“No. That’s all right. You eat and work on the branding. I need you here. That’s why I hired you. You’re doing a great job. Thanks.” She avoided his eyes and he didn’t blame her.

She didn’t look back as she rushed out of the barn, and instinctively Corey knew that Jay Butler was involved.

He did as she’s asked. He ate and then returned to the branding.

When the day was complete, he once again took careful care of his mount.

When his chores were completed, the stallion bedded down and watered, he shucked his T-shirt and loosened his jeans.

Leaning back against the stall, he was surprised to find that the scent of her lingered in the air.

He closed his eyes and remembered how the soft, delicate perfume of Jennifer’s body had smelled their one enchanted night together. Remembered how her skin had tasted.

She wanted him to stay, maybe even wanted something more, but his mind closed down on that idea.

He couldn’t let himself even contemplate becoming part of their lives, but he couldn’t help wishing for things that could never be.

He groaned softly and raked his hand through his sweat-soaked hair.

He wanted to wake up beside Jennifer every day, to face Ellie every morning over the breakfast table and watch her animated face as she talked about things that interested her in the fast way children did, jumping from one subject to the next.

He wanted Jennifer to support him, love him.

He wanted to make a child with her, to watch her stomach grow with his seed, to hold his child in his hands and look into those young, innocent eyes and know that this little life he created was his responsibility.

But how could he be sure the secret fear he carried with him wouldn’t turn into a horrible reality?

He couldn’t. In that second, the dream he’d just created and built died and with it went more of himself.

He exited the dim barn and walked to the outside hose. Turning on the tap, he raised it over his head, sighing as the cool water brought him some physical relief.

Jennifer was lost in thought as she came around the corner of the barn, heading for the tack room to deposit her saddle and bridle. She would have to talk to Jimmy about mending her bridle. It was getting frayed.

Surprisingly, she wasn’t thinking of how she’d arrived at the pasture to find her bulls, Happy-Go-Lucky and Sidewinder, down in the field, lowing in pain.

They’d had to put down Happy-Go-Lucky. The bullet had shattered his leg and the vet had said there was no other choice.

She had done it herself. Destroyed thousands of dollars of prime stock that her father had carefully and dutifully bred and nurtured.

It had made her fighting mad. Her insurance would cover the loss, but the genetics and sheer promise of Happy-Go-Lucky were lost forever.

He had been in his prime with a lot of young yet to be conceived.

Thank God, Sidewinder’s wound had been superficial.

She had told Jimmy to post a guard on the pastures where her breeding stock grazed.

She had also told her suspicions to the sheriff. Fat lot that would do.

Instead, she was thinking of how dark Corey’s eyes had turned when she’d asked him about his father.

She thought about how much she wanted to soothe him and take away the pain and fear in his eyes.

What was he afraid of? She now discounted the goring.

At one time, she was ready to believe that he was drifting because he couldn’t face his failure.

She’d had all afternoon to think about why he would hate his father, and she could only come away with one conclusion.

Abuse. She’d recognized his pain when he first kissed her.

And she knew there was something embedded deep down inside him that made him do what he did.

Some reason that he wouldn’t allow himself to have children.

The sound of running water brought her thoughts back to the present. She looked up and stopped dead in her tracks. Corey was using the outside hose to cool off. He was rinsing off the worst of the day’s grit, she thought distractedly.

He faced her, his eyes closed, the water sluicing through his hair and over his smooth chest. Her eyes dropped down his powerful body, heat curling in the pit of her stomach.

The water was soaking into the waistband of his unsnapped and low-slung jeans.

He was breathtaking—even dirty, sweaty and wet.

As if he felt her presence, he stiffened and his eyes opened. His jawline tightened and his wonderful eyes flashed with the innate stubbornness that she had come to know so well.

“I thought you were down at the north pasture.”

“I…was…I came…finished…with...the…sheriff…” Her words trailed off and she was unable to pull her eyes away from him. She knew she sounded like an imbecile and she felt like an idiot.

“What happened?” he asked tightly, the concern evident in his voice.