One Night With His Rival. Robyn Grady
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flared as she crossed her arms. “If you’re trying to embarrass me, it won’t work.”
For the love of God. “I’m trying to understand why you didn’t pick up the phone.”
He didn’t get how she could be all prickly one second and turned on to the hilt the next. Was she an ice queen or too hot to be believed?
She hesitated before taking two steps closer. “I’m guessing you didn’t tell Lanie about that night.”
What the—?
“Of course not. That’s between you and me.”
Cringing, she darted a look toward the party pavilion. “So put away the megaphone already.”
He rubbed the back of his neck, lowered his voice. “I’m confused, okay? We don’t need our parents’ consent. We’re not kids.”
“Right. We’re adults making up our own minds.”
He groaned. “Still confused.”
“I don’t regret what happened between us that night. In fact, I’ll remember it as long as I live.”
So he hadn’t imagined it. He wasn’t going insane. But when he stepped closer, happy to get back on track, her hands shot up, stopping him dead.
“Ajax, you are wonderful in every conceivable way,” she said. “I love spending time with you. The problem is… I’m not the only one. You’re always in news feeds with models, actresses, designers, female ranch hands, trainers… There’s been an endless string of women over the years. For God’s sake, you’re known as the Stud.”
Ajax exhaled. First he’d had Lanie bleating in his ear. Now this?
Sure, his brothers had ribbed him about that stud label, a name some features reporter had come up with for a story a while back. But Griff and Jacob knew who he was.
“I’m a normal and, let me emphasize, single guy. Like you’re a normal single woman. Dating is not a crime.” His shoulders went back. “And there’s nothing wrong with us wanting to see each other again.”
“Wanting something doesn’t necessarily make it good for you.”
“Unless it is.”
She tried another tack. “I don’t approve of the business that you’re in.”
Say what now?
“You mean the stud farm? Which has stables for racehorses, which is the exact same business that your father is in.”
“That doesn’t mean I like it.” She asked him, “Do you have any idea how many people lose their shirts at the track?”
“Veda, I can’t help that.”
“Like a dealer can’t help an addict who continues to use?”
“Not the same thing.”
“I’ll fill you in on the definition of addiction someday.” She went on. “The worst part is the number of horses that are manipulated and hurt, too. Just last week, one of your own was put down after a fall.”
He stiffened. “And let me tell you, I was upset about it.”
“Not as upset as the horse.”
He opened his mouth, stopped, and then sought clarification. “So you don’t want to see me again because I own horses?”
“You use horses.”
Whatever you want to call it. “That’s not gonna change.”
“No shit.”
He had to grin. Veda could be direct when she wanted to be.
“Just please set me straight on one thing,” he said. “You don’t approve of keeping horses, but I don’t hear you bawling out your bestie, the dressage champion.”
“Lanie? That’s…well, it’s—”
“Please don’t say different.”
“Ajax, I’m not sleeping with your sister.”
“Right.” Stepping closer, he lowered his head over hers and ground out, “You’re sleeping with me.”
His whole body was a heartbeat as she gazed up with eyes flooding with questions. Veda might have her reasons for staying away, but he could tell a big part of her wanted Saratoga again at least as much as he did.
Finally she stepped back, took a breath.
“We’re here for Lanie. This is her night.”
He cast a look toward the twinkling pavilion and nodded. “Agreed.”
“So we need to put this aside.”
“That won’t work.”
“At least for now. For your sister’s sake.”
He slowly smiled. “You’re a shrewd negotiator, Darnel.”
“And you’re a persistent SOB.”
“One way to fix persistentness…because that’s absolutely a word.”
She didn’t hide her grin. “Okay.”
“The point is, yes, we should rejoin the party, and have one drink together.”
She cocked her head. “One drink?”
“Don’t know about you, but I’m drier than a dust storm.”
They continued down the path until Ajax had another thought and stopped again. “One more thing before we go in.”
Veda sighed. “I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?”
“I need to say how amazing you look tonight. That dress. Your hair.” He slapped a hand over his heart. “And that’s all I’ll say on the subject. No more compliments.”
And he meant it. Foot on the brake.
But one drink could always lead to two. Could maybe lead to…more.
The woman who stopped beside Veda at the tent’s buffet table came right out and said it.
“He’s something else, isn’t he?”
When the woman sent Ajax an approving look—he was talking with guests by the birthday cake—Veda’s cheeks went warm. While looking over the desserts, every so often she had flickered a glance his way, obviously not as discreetly as she had thought.
And who was asking, anyway?
The woman was somewhere in her fifties and dressed in an elegant peach-colored sequined sheath. Her shoulder-length auburn hair was tucked behind an ear, revealing a dazzling teardrop diamond stud. Based on the woman’s maternal smile as she continued to watch Ajax, Veda took a guess.
“You’re Susan, aren’t you? Hux Rawson’s…housekeeper.”
After many years, it was known among relevant circles that the pair was less employee and boss these days and more a couple without the legal formalities.
Susan’s dimpled smile grew. “I met Ajax when he was a teen. Now he’s like my own. The other kids, too.”
After Veda introduced herself—leaving out her last name, which might complicate things at this time of night—Susan looked Ajax’s way again. As she leaned back against a column, her expression deepened. “Did you know that boy is the reason I’m here?”
“Really? How’s that?”
The lights