and the leader invited the congregation to worship. Adam took Riley’s hand in his as they stood.
She hadn’t known this guy for a full week yet, but already his warm, firm grasp felt comforting and solid. She’d kissed Adam more in one week than she’d kissed Raul in an entire year. Why hadn’t she realized sooner that something major was missing?
What she had with Adam wasn’t the real thing, either, even though it felt like it compared to Raul. She was some mixed up when what she knew was fake looked better than what she’d thought was real. For one thing, Adam belted out the songs, even though he wasn’t always quite on key. Raul had a decent voice but mumbled the words.
Why couldn’t she have met Adam like a normal person instead of launching herself at him and demanding a kiss? Even now her cheeks flushed at the memory of how forward she’d been. Yes, panic-struck with Scotty’s determination she stay with him, but did that excuse her behavior?
Her mother would be mortified. Her father would be disappointed. And Raul? He’d wonder why she’d never felt that sort of passion for him, her betrothed.
She knew the answer now, but she hadn’t known it then.
By the time she got to her third engagement — if she ever did — she’d be a wiser Riley.
When Pastor Marshall took the podium, Riley was ready to hear the Word.
Chapter Ten
Life settled into a rhythm over the next couple of weeks. Adam’s brothers had moved most of the cattle from the high meadows before he returned home. They’d shipped a couple of truckloads of calves, but Declan kept most of them back to bring to slaughter weight at Rockstead. That meant more chores over the winter, but Running Creek’s vast haylands supplied the feed, and there were enough hands to do the work, even with Noah gone several days a week, hauling his blacksmithing trailer around the area to shoe horses.
Adam had to hand it to his stepfather. The man was business savvy. He paid his sons fairly, offered room and board, trucks and horses, and kept Rockstead operating firmly in the black. And Declan definitely worked just as hard as he expected them to. He led by example.
Which meant he was always around. Always watching... which suited Adam just fine. His stepdad had caught him kissing Riley more than once. Adam made sure most of that was on his own time, though. He didn’t want to be seen shirking his duties in the meanwhile.
It was a tough line to walk, because the more time he spent with Riley, the more time he wanted to spend with her. She was fun. She was interesting. And she was kissable.
Adam reined his thoughts in as he and Jupiter crested a rolling hill. Rockstead land flowed eastward from here, but he made out the glint of water and circle of trees that lay just across the fence line on Running Creek. The ranch once owned and operated by Joe and Kathryn Anderson.
Adam’s destiny, along with his brothers. There was land enough for the three of them.
A saddle creaked, and a horse whiffled. “Wool gathering?” asked Declan’s sharp voice.
Adam glanced at his stepfather seated atop his black gelding, Diesel. The man raised his eyebrows at Adam, waiting. Was this the chance Adam had been waiting for?
He nudged his chin toward the distant view. “I’ve been thinking about Running Creek. I’d like to make a home over there with Riley once we’re married.” He took a deep breath. “I think it’s time my dad’s land came back to his sons, don’t you think?”
Silence stretched long before Adam dared look at Declan again. The man’s gaze seemed to pierce his soul and bare Adam’s motives and morals. “We’re one family now.”
“No disrespect meant, sir, but I was twelve when my father died, not a baby. I remember him well. I remember life before cancer, when my parents loved and laughed.” Adam pinned a stare on Declan. Could anyone say the same of Mom and Declan, remembering a time when they operated as a loving unit? He doubted it. Even he and Riley had more going for them.
“Your father was a good man.”
Adam blinked.
“Much finer than his brother.”
“Uncle Jason?” They’d mostly lost touch with Jason’s family after the move to Rockstead.
Declan rolled his eyes.
Of course, Jason. Dad had no other siblings, but two brothers could scarcely have been more different. Jason was a whiny man whose brassy wife had kicked him