with a confused expression. He was still trying to get his horse settled for the evening, but Colt walked up and took over. I couldn’t help but notice the cowboy looked a bit relieved to be getting Rubin away from the animal. Not that Rubin would do anything to hurt the horse, more that he got too elaborate with everything, stretching each task out to oblivion.
That didn’t sit right with Sawyer and Colt. These were true-born ranch workers who needed to get things done as quickly and efficiently as they could because there was always more work to be done. This wasn’t for fun or for show. It was their lives. When we drove away from the ranch in a couple of days, the work would still be there for them. They didn’t have time to deal with his foolishness.
Rubin walked over to where I’d abandoned the potatoes and started finishing them up as my sister stole me away. Uncle Lucien and my father had gone into the bunkhouse, so we couldn’t go in there to talk. Instead, we went far enough away from the fire that we didn’t think anybody would be able to hear us talking, but close enough that there was still light.
The temperature was sharply colder here and I pulled my clothes more tightly around me. I wished I had one of the blankets that were folded over the bench. The thought of that brought heat to my cheeks and a ripple to my belly.
Which my sister promptly noticed.
“There!” she said, pointing at me.
“What?” I asked.
“I saw that look. What was that little smirk for?”
“Nothing,” I said, trying to play coy.
It did absolutely no good. Cecilia was nothing if not the queen of gossip, and she didn’t let even the smallest morsel of juicy news slip through her fingers. And this was far from a small morsel.
“Nothing?” she asked with an almost sarcastic, incredulous lilt to the words. “That little smile and your cheeks lighting up like Christmas lights couldn’t possibly have anything to do with your one-on-one time with Hunky Cowboy Number One, would it?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. We rode through the ranch, then we got here, took care of the horses, and started getting everything set up for dinner.”
“Right,” she said. “Absolutely nothing else could have possibly happened between the two of you. Nothing is behind that little smile you can’t get off your face or the way both of you keep looking at each other. Maybe you just forgot and I should ask Sawyer about it.”
I really wanted to keep it a secret. Not just because this was exactly what our father warned us about before we even left California but also because it felt so different than any other encounter in my life. This didn’t feel like just a tryst. It wasn’t an impulsive, spur of the moment thing that I was just going to toss aside and not think about again.
There was something so much more special about this, a connection I wanted to protect and keep close to my heart. I felt like if I didn’t share it, I could guard it and not risk it being hurt.
But I knew Cecilia wouldn’t just let me brush it off and accept it. She knew something was going on and she wanted to get it out of me. I knew from experience my sister wasn’t above manipulation and twisted little tricks like subtly dropping hints in public to make me open up.
Besides, this was my sister. If there was anybody in the world I wanted to tell about my happiness, it would be her. We shared everything.
“All right,” I finally said, giving in. I glanced back over toward where the rest of the family and both cowboys were now around the fire. They weren’t paying attention, but I stepped closer to her anyway. “I just spent the most amazing afternoon of my life with him.”
Cecilia’s eyes widened and she let out a squeal she promptly muffled with her hand clamped over her mouth. “I knew it!” she gushed, lowering her voice as she took her hand away. “How was it? What happened? Tell me everything.”
I let my grin fully open up across my face as the memories of the afternoon washed over me. “It was everything I could have possibly imagined it would be and much, much more. Everything you would think a cowboy would be? That was Sawyer. The way he is with the horses and the cattle,