Page 30 of Unyielding (Poplar Springs #3)

THIRTY

SHANNON

I sat at the kitchen table with my feet tucked under me, nursing my third cup of coffee and thinking about last night.

I still felt bad about turning Declan down at first when he’d arrived bearing food, but I had been sick of feeling like I was always last when it came to his list of priorities, and I’d wanted him to have a taste of what it felt like.

I was really glad that I’d changed my mind.

When we got back in the house, we’d taken the picnic basket upstairs and fed each other before starting on round two.

As much as I enjoyed the sensation of reverse cowgirl with every thrust rubbing against my g-spot with increasing intensity, what I really craved was the chance to look him in the eye and watch all the different emotions flutter across his face as we made love.

We’d fallen asleep in each other’s arms only to be awakened by his phone’s ring tone.

And just like that, he was off to an emergency, leaving me alone in bed.

I’d tossed and turned for almost an hour before rolling over onto the remains of the apple pie.

As soon as that happened, I was out of bed so that I could dump all my bedding in the wash.

My laptop sat open on the table. The presentation I was working on for Josh was still unfinished.

It’d taken days to transfer everything over from all the paper files to the pedigree app Declan had recommended, and I’d been delighted to see that the app allowed me to build family trees for all the horses.

Right now, I was looking at my mom and gran’s legacy.

That legacy wasn’t the paper files or the cutesy logo or the outdated methods.

It was the horses, going back generations.

I tabbed over to Iris’s tree. Brandon had given me access to Kingston’s full lineage and watching the data populate the tree back the full ten generations was amazing.

This right here was what I was working toward. A lineage that would live on long past me.

I heard boots stomping up the steps and looked up to see Fiona and Eli come inside.

“Morning, Shannon,” Eli said while Fiona grumbled something unintelligible and headed straight for the coffeepot.

I smirked at my sister who was never fond of getting up early. She thumped down in the chair next to me and looked at my laptop screen.

“What’s that?”

“It’s the family tree for Kingston,” I told her. Eli poured coffee into his travel cup and then came around the table to look.

“Who’s Kingston? Did you do a live cover and not tell me?” she demanded and I flinched at her loud voice. I didn’t want Josh to find out I was trying AI this way.

“No. Declan called in a favor with a friend and he shipped out some frozen semen?—”

“You used AI? You did?” Fiona practically vibrated with excitement and I shushed her.

“Keep it down, will you? It was a test run only—and I still haven’t decided yet if I’m going to integrate it into my breeding program. I don’t want Josh knowing about it until I’m ready. Got it?” I looked at both Eli and Fiona and they both nodded in agreement.

“Which mare did you use?” Fiona asked pulling the laptop closer to look at the data.

“Iris.”

“The Cremello?” Eli said, and I nodded. “She’s a good-looking mare and given this Kingston’s coloring, I bet the foal will be gorgeous.”

“I hope so, but we won’t know until next year.”

“So, she’s pregnant?”

I shrugged. “Not sure yet.”

Josh pulled up and slammed the door to his truck. I reached over to close my laptop. “I mean it. I don’t want Josh to find out this way.” Fiona mimed that her lips were sealed and I nodded.

Josh stomped into the house and looked at the three of us sitting around the table in surprise. “Hey there, folks. Fancy seeing you here.”

I managed to keep from rolling my eyes but Fiona gave into temptation, making Eli chuckle. Josh grabbed himself a cup of coffee and turned around, leaning up against the counter. He took a couple sips before speaking. “Since everyone is here, how about a quick meeting?”

Fiona groaned at that and pushed to her feet. “No thanks. No time. We have a small group coming in at eight and we need to get the horses ready.” She didn’t wait for a response before leaving.

Josh looked over at Eli who raised his hands in surrender. “Sorry, boss, but she’s right. We do need to get going. Happy to chat with you later.”

When Josh turned to look at me, I already had my laptop tucked under my arm and was pushing my chair in. “Nope. Not me either. Got things to do. Bye.”

I got out of the house before Josh could say anything and grinned when I heard him shout: “Fine then. It’ll just be a meeting of one!”

Heading into the barn, I almost ran into my sister and Eli locked in an embrace. “Oh my God, you two. Didn’t you just come from home?” Eli jumped back as if he’d been stung and Fiona laughed. I shook my head. “Don’t you have horses to saddle?”

“Oh, come on, Shan. We’re just having a little fun.”

I waved my hand in a shooing motion. “Have fun elsewhere. The barn is for work.” There was no way I was going to tell them that Declan and I had had sex up in the hayloft. I’d never hear the end of it.

“Don’t knock it until you try it,” Fiona said in a singsong voice. My eyes snapped up to look at her, and I could feel heat spreading across my cheeks. My sister’s eyes went wide, and she grinned. “Unless, of course, you already have?”

I started to hem and haw—but I was saved when my phone rang. I snatched it up, not looking to see who it was, and waved it at them. “Gotta go. Things to do. People to talk to.” I did an about face and answered the phone as I was walking away. “Hello?”

“Shannon?”

“Zoe? It’s early for you. Is everything okay?” Zoe was a night owl while Josh was a morning person. How those two managed to make it work was beyond me.

“Everything is fine, but Aurora called. The twins are sick and she thinks she was exposed to whatever they have, so she can’t make it to the cake tasting today.”

Fiona and I were supposed to meet Zoe at the Bite and Brew for the final cake testing late this afternoon. Aurora ran the popular eatery with her chef husband, Marc. If it had been me getting this news, I’d have fallen completely apart, but Zoe sounded as calm as ever.

“Okay, it’s just a delay, right?”

“That’s what she said.”

“Wait, are the samples finished? Because we could always do the tasting without her and just let her know what we think.” Marc was the one who was making the wedding cake.

Josh had offered to order it from a specialty bakery in Aurora, but Zoe had wanted to keep the purchases for the wedding local as much as she could.

“Oh. I didn’t think to ask. Let me call the diner and talk to Marc. It is way too early to have to think yet. I’ll call you back.”

We hung up and I went to check on and feed the horses, working my way from stall to stall.

Vida was up and nursing on Belle. “Good morning, Mama. Look at you, feeding your baby,” I crooned at the older mare.

“As soon as Vida is finished, we’ll go out to the paddock for some playtime.

” I left her food and moved on to the next stall to check on Iris, wishing there was a way to determine how well she was doing just from looking at her.

When women were pregnant, they were always told that they had a glow about them.

I can’t say I always saw that, but now, I wished it was true for horses.

I rubbed her favorite spot above her nose and brushed my hand up to her forehead.

I was almost finished when Zoe called me back. “Well?”

“He said they’d be ready around three.”

“Okay. Fiona should be back from her trail ride around lunchtime. She’ll need to get cleaned up, but after that, we’ll stop at the diner to grab the cake samples and pick up some dinner and meet you at your place. Sound good?”

“That’d be great. Thanks so much, Shan.”

“Hey, what’s a maid of honor for if I can’t come to your house bearing food and dessert?”

When I got off the phone, I went back to work.

In such a short time, so much was changing for us.

But at least it was all good. Josh was about to marry the love of his life, while my best friend was marrying the man of her dreams. Fiona and Eli were acting like newlyweds even though they were only recently engaged, and Eli’s son Patrick adored my sister like a second mom.

Lost Valley’s trail riding program was growing and if I played my cards right, my breeding program would soon be expanding in ways I’d only dreamed about.

The only thing missing in my life was a partner I could go to sleep beside and wake up next to each morning.

If I was being honest with myself, I wanted that person to be Dr. Declan Morris.

The only problem I could see was that I still wasn’t sure if he wanted the same thing.