Laurie said, her tone suddenly sobering. “Harlan Patrick and I debated whether to tell you, but I thought you’d want to know. And since I was up anyway, I figured I’d try to catch you at home.”
Heart pounding, Val sat upright at once. “Is it Slade?” she asked, instantly alert. “Has he been hurt?”
“No, though I find it interesting that you’re so worried about a man you’d vowed to put out of your mind.”
“If it’s not Slade, then it has to be Annie,” Val said, ignoring the taunt. “What’s happened, Laurie? Spit it out. She hasn’t run away again, has she?”
“Okay, yes, it’s Annie. And, no, she hasn’t run away. She is not hurt, either, but she had a few terrifying moments.” She went on to describe the riding lesson that had gone awry. “I’m not sure which one of them was more shaken, Annie or Slade. He’s absolutely beside himself that it was Harlan Patrick who thought to jump on Black Knight and go after her. Harlan Patrick’s worried about him. He told me Slade feels like he failed her again.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Well, of course it is, but you know Slade. All that macho pride has kicked in.”
“I’m coming back,” Val said, making up her mind at once. “I’ll check the flights the second we hang up and let you know when I’ll be there.”
“I think a phone call would do the trick,” Laurie suggested dryly. “It would mean a lot to Annie to know that you’re concerned about her.”
“No,” Val said firmly, thinking as much of father as daughter. A call wouldn’t settle anything with Slade. “A call’s not good enough. I need to be there. Those two will probably retreat into silence again unless somebody’s there to keep them talking.”
“They were talking just fine last time I saw them. They had their heads together planning Annie’s next riding lesson. Slade relented and said she could try again, even though he’s obviously not happy about it.”
“It might not last,” Val said, though her position was clearly weakened by Laurie’s reassurance.
“In other words, your mind is made up and you don’t want me bothering you with facts,” Laurie said, chuckling. “You’ve only been gone a few days. You weren’t, by any chance, just waiting for an excuse to come back?”
Maybe she had been, Val admitted to herself, though not to Laurie. Work wasn’t nearly as fulfilling as it had once been. And Nashville hadn’t felt nearly as much like home as she’d expected when she’d returned. Apparently, for better or for worse, she truly had left her heart in Texas.
* * *
“You’re not still beating yourself up over Annie’s accident, are you?” Harlan Patrick asked when Slade wandered into the barn at midmorning.
Slade hadn’t especially wanted to be reminded of the accident or his own guilt-ridden reaction to it. “Nope.”
“Because it wasn’t your fault.” Harlan Patrick went on as if Slade hadn’t spoken.
“I know,” Slade conceded. “Could have happened to anybody, anytime.”
“Exactly,” his boss said, as enthusiastically as if Slade had grasped a very tricky concept.
“Did you want something?” Slade asked, hoping to get him to move on.
“Not really,” Harlan Patrick said. He turned to leave, then paused. “By the way, did I happen to mention that Val is coming back today? She should be here anytime now.”
Slade came very close to gouging a huge chunk of skin out of his hand, when the pick he was using to clean Black Knight’s shoes slipped. “Is that so?” he responded, as if the news were of no consequence. After she’d left, he’d half wondered if she would ever set foot in Texas again. He’d had the uncomfortable feeling that he’d driven her away.
“Thought you’d want to know.” Harlan Patrick waited expectantly.
“And now I do,” Slade said tersely.
Harlan Patrick chuckled. “You are so pitiful. You know you want to ask why she’s coming back so fast.”
Because he did, Slade continued to pretend indifference. “Do I?”
“It’s because of Annie,” Harlan Patrick supplied.
Slade’s gaze shot up. “Annie didn’t go calling her, did she?”
“Nope, you can thank my wife for the phone call. She reported all the details about Annie’s accident, including the fact that your daughter is just fine. Val decided she needed to see for herself.”
Slade wasn’t sure why that aggravated him, but it did. It was more proof that Val cared as deeply as a mother would about his little girl. Yet she refused to make the role official. That meant her rejection of his proposal had everything to do with him.