Leaping Hearts(89)

“I don’t want to run Sutherland’s. I’m a rider, not a businessman. Besides, you’re fantastic at what you do.”

Her stepbrother stopped fidgeting.

“What the hell’s turned you into Glinda the Good Witch?”

“Let’s just say it’s a change in priorities. Not that I haven’t enjoyed bickering with you all these years on some level. Painful as it’s been, we’ve gotten off some real good ones.”

He managed a short laugh. “We sure have.”

“Peter, I don’t know if we’ll ever be friends but I know this: I’m ready to stop being enemies.”

He stared at her for a long time and she knew he was measuring her, weighing her new words against their long past.

“Talk to me,” she urged. “For once in our lives, let’s just talk.”

Peter looked around her room, dwelling on the boxes with her trophies and ribbons. “You were supposed to be gone when I moved in here.”

“You’re right. I should have taken my things out. I don’t live here anymore—”

“No, after their wedding.”

A.J. frowned.

“Before my mother remarried, she asked me what I thought of Garrett. I liked him a lot and I told her I wanted him, so when she walked down the aisle, I assumed she was doing it to bring him to me. I figured you’d go away so I could have what was mine. Imagine my surprise when I took up residence and you were still around. God, I hated living in the same house with you. You were the perfect student, the perfect daughter, the perfect everything. You rode well, sang well, wrote well. Not only didn’t I get the undivided attention I figured was part of the bargain, but I had to compete with a damn superhero.”

“But you did well in school,” she said, amazed.

“Not like you did. I’ve never done anything as well as you did.”

“That’s not true. You’ve run the stables—”

“I do the ledger but you’re the leader.” He laughed harshly. “You’ve always been the leader. I can remember, in the early days, I’d go down to the stables and see everyone looking at you with respect. You were half the age of those champions and yet they knew you were special. Everyone’s always known you were special. Even my mother.”

“Your mother despises me.”

“Only because Garrett loves a dead woman more than her. My mother’s never been her husband’s true love and never will be.”

“But they’ve been together a long time. I know he loves her.”

“Your father has one room in this house that’s his. Whose portrait is on the wall?” Peter shoved his hands into his pockets. “And as for you, you’re the spitting image of a rival she can never beat. But that hasn’t kept her from using you against me. Sometimes I think she likes you more than me.”

“Peter, your mother adores you. She’s always singing your praises.”

“In public, yes. Privately, she’s more likely to be nailing me to the wall and you’ve been her favorite hammer. All those trophies”—he pointed to the boxes—“every last one of them has been pounded into me. I know every score, every triumph over the odds, every facile maneuver you’ve ever made. I used to pray you’d fail just so I could stop hearing about it all. That woman has held me up to your gold standard since the day I first met you and I’ve hated you for it.”

“But the success of the stables—”

“Every quarter, I have to go to her and review the Sutherland accounts like I’m facing a board of directors. She’s always feared your little hobby was too much of a cost center. You know how she is about money. If it doesn’t benefit her, she’s highly suspicious. Every time you’ve found another thing to buy, some new piece of equipment or new facility, she’s badgered me about it. I’ve had to be accountable for every cent you’ve spent and I’ve loathed it. I can’t stand defending you.”

“I had no idea that was going on.”

“I know. You’re completely clueless about so many things and always have been. You bounce through life, running after one goal and another, not noticing how much other people have to do to accommodate you. And now that you’re gone, you have no idea how hard it is to go to that damn stable. People miss you and they blame me. They know I’m the reason you left.” He paused. “Every day, it’s like walking into an armed camp and all the guns are trained on me.”

“I didn’t think anyone cared that I left.”

“Of course, they do. Half the damn place is in love with you and the other half wants to be you.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“I assure you, I’ve spent a hell of a lot more time examining your life than you have.”

A.J. stared at him with wide eyes. She was shocked at his introspections and by what his words revealed about him. He was far more self-aware than she’d assumed him to be or would ever have thought him capable of being.

She said, “I never imagined you to be so…smart.”

“I think you mean that as a compliment.”

“I do.”

“Well, thanks.” There was a long pause. “People really do miss you down at the stables.”