Taking Charge (Lone Star Burn #4)(8)
Facing Kimberly’s father had felt a bit like the first time a reporter had asked him how he’d come to training horses as a career. David had given a vague answer that had satisfied the reporter temporarily, but the question had resurfaced within his circle of friends. He’d told them there was nothing to tell about his life before he’d taken the job with Evan Staten, and then he’d changed the subject. He preferred not to think about the past.
Evan Staten wasn’t the reason David dreaded Thursdays, though. No, the fault for that lay squarely on the shoulders of Melanie, Tony’s ex-housekeeper, and Sarah, Tony’s wife. The two had taken it upon themselves to cure him of his bachelorhood, although they hadn’t used those words exactly. They’d asked him if he would give riding lessons on Thursdays as a way of raising funds for the local children’s hospital. A man would have to be mighty hard-hearted to refuse such a request, so David had agreed to do it. What he hadn’t anticipated was that each Thursday his schedule would be full of women who had very little interest in the only kind of lesson he was offering.
It wasn’t that David minded female companionship, but his heart wasn’t into dating. The women who showed up each Thursday were looking for a husband. Some were brazen enough to say it. Sarah and Melanie had practically taken out an ad proclaiming him single and financially stable, and in some parts of Texas, that was enough to cause a stampede.
David didn’t welcome the attention. Not on Thursdays and not through the fund-raising that was now a regular part of life on the ranch. He didn’t want to be the face that was shown when the Double C promoted an event. He’d often accused Tony and Melanie of hiding out on the ranch, but truth be told, he’d withdrawn from the world himself. Life had been much more comfortable when everyone had kept out of each other’s business.
David didn’t know how much longer he could stay if something didn’t change. Lately he’d been thinking it was time to move on. To where, though? Not knowing the answer to that question held him back. All he knew was he was no longer where he wanted to be. Something was missing.
“Knock knock,” Sarah said cheerfully as she entered his office without pause.
David turned and tossed his Stetson on his desk. “Not one of the women who came for a riding lesson today was interested in getting on a horse.”
Sarah shrugged and smiled. “They paid, though. Think of the good you’re doing. Your lesson program brings in thousands every month.”
“Thousands?” David arched an eyebrow. “How much do you charge the women to come here?”
With a shameless grin, Sarah said, “I keep raising the price, and they keep agreeing. Does it matter? It’s for charity, after all.”
David shook his head. “You’re misleading them, Sarah. I’m not looking for a wife.”
“I tell them that, but they all want a chance at being the one who changes your mind.”
David ran a hand through his hair in frustration and sat on the wooden chair by his desk. “I’ll never understand the female mind.”
Sarah plopped onto the other wooden chair in the small room. “Speaking of women you don’t understand, I spoke to Lucy today.”
David kept his face deliberately blank. “How is she?”
“Single again. She said she called off her engagement to Ted.”
David stood and frowned. If that bastard did something to hurt her. “What’d he do?”
“Nothing. She doesn’t love him, David.” Sarah tended to blurt things out as fast as she thought them. It was something David had become used to over time and occasionally appreciated. On a ranch where most people spent years avoiding talking about anything of significance, Sarah was a bubbling well of information—welcomed or not.
David walked to the door of his office and folded his arms across his chest. “Getting engaged to him suggests otherwise.”
David took a deep breath. It was far too easy to give in to his memories of Lucy Albright. He remembered every accidental touch, every brush of her skin against his, the way she smelled like lavender and soap, the desire in her eyes when he’d almost kissed her. Seeing her at Sarah’s wedding had been torture. They’d been forced to be in the same room often enough for him to be sure he was still powerfully attracted to her.
She’d said at the time they met she wasn’t ready for anything more than friendship, but he’d thought he found the woman he’d spend the rest of his life with. He’d been so sure that he’d been careless when it came to concealing his enthusiasm. When news of her engagement to another man hit Fort Mavis, people couldn’t help but jabber on about it. Soon everyone in town was convinced David was a jilted soul in need of a good woman to heal his broken heart.
But really, he was just a damn fool who’d imagined something where there’d been nothing.
Sarah walked up to stand beside David. “Lucy doesn’t like to talk about her problems, but she has had some rough years lately. Remember how angry I was with her for changing her mind about wanting me to stay with her and her brother that summer? I wouldn’t have been if I’d known what she was going through. It was bad enough to lose both her parents, but watching her brother drink and then leave her—that couldn’t have been easy.”
David didn’t answer, but Sarah wasn’t expecting him to. She was perfectly happy to keep the conversation going on her own.