a Percheron mix. They were originally bred as warhorses.”
“He’s enormous.”
“Eighteen hands, over two thousand pounds,” Beau replied, looking pleased. “A stallion.”
I was running out of semicompetent questions. “The rider, that’s your niece?”
“Yes,” he said, “my thrice-great niece, Odessa.”
“She knows about you?”
“About vampires, yes.” He raised an eyebrow, as though daring me to challenge him. I didn’t take the bait.
The path continued along the length of the paddock, but Beau stopped at the end of the paddock, where he leaned his forearms against the fence like it was his default position. I stood next to him, watching as the rider wheeled her horse around and guided him over several jumps. I had thought Deimos was graceful when he was running, but he soared over the jumps like he’d been waiting his whole life to do it. It was beautiful.
After a few minutes I caught movement out of the corner of my eye, and spotted a golf cart zipping along the path toward us from the direction of the barn. “That’s Elliot,” Beau said to me without taking his eyes off the horse and rider. “One of my grooms.”
The driver stopped well short of us and hopped out, climbing easily through the fence and circling toward the horse’s head with practiced caution. Odessa caught sight of him, and they exchanged a few words. Then she swung her right leg over the saddle and landed on the ground with a simple ease that suggested years of practice. She handed the reins to Elliot, patted Deimos’s neck, and jogged toward us.
As she got close I saw that Odessa was older than I’d first thought, maybe eighteen or twenty. She wore a green button-down tucked into tight jeans, with knee-high black riding boots spattered with mud. She was small and muscular, with dark hair pulled into a tight bun. A few little wisps had pulled free, framing her tanned, pixie face. She bounded up to us, blue eyes bright with excitement. For a moment I was reminded so much of Sam that it took my breath away.
“Is this her? Hello!” she cried, reaching out to pump my hand. She was wearing skintight riding gloves, the leather as soft as flannel. “I’m Odessa Calhoun. It’s so lovely to meet you, Ms. Luther.”
“Lex,” I said, my eyebrows raised a tad. “Nice to meet you too. You looked great out there.”
Odessa beamed with pride, but Beau said in a harder tone, “I thought we agreed that you would wear a riding helmet, Odessa.”
She reddened, but tore her eyes off me long enough to give Beau a contrite look. “Uncle Beau, I absolutely meant to, but I was so excited to see y’all I forgot to grab it, and Deimos seemed just as anxious to get out. Can you forgive me, just this once?”
She smiled prettily at him, her cheeks dimpling, and I thought, whoa. This was a girl who knew how to get what she wanted.
“Of course,” Beau said, appeased. He looked at me. “Odessa has been looking forward to meeting you, so I promised we’d come say hello.”
“Oh,” I said, not knowing what else to say. Odessa was looking at me with huge eyes. Was it possible that I had . . . a fan?
“Could we maybe grab lunch or dinner while you’re here?” Odessa said hopefully. “I’d just love to hear about you—” She cast a quick glance at Beau and added, “And of course, I’d like to welcome you properly to Atlanta. We so appreciate you coming. What do you say?”
“Sure.”
“Wonderful! What time—” Odessa began, but Beau cut her off.
“You can work out the details with Maya in the morning.” He turned toward the groom and raised his voice. “Elliot, do you have a spare helmet in that golf cart?”
“Yes, sir!” The groom practically dived for the back of the golf cart. Elliot was no fool.
“There,” Beau said to Odessa, who managed not to look disappointed. “Run along and put Deimos through the rest of his paces. I’m sure you and Miss Lex will get together soon.”
For a moment, I thought the girl would argue with the powerful vampire, but Odessa just smiled, going on tiptoes to kiss Beau on the cheek. “Of course, Uncle.” To me, she added, “Lovely to meet you.”
“You too.”
Beau stood there, quiet and still, while Odessa turned around and sprinted along the clay path toward the cart, where Elliot held out a black riding helmet. She snuck a look over her shoulder to see if we were watching, and I