Free Our Red Hot Romance Is Leaving Me Blue by Dixie Cash Page B

horses, but also for the release of his own pent-up emotions.
    Not until he finished the grooming did he realize that the tightness in his neck and shoulders with which he had lived for months was gone. Stopping to wipe his brow and catch his breath, he stepped back to admire his work. The horses weren’t exactly ready for a show ring, but they looked 100 percent better. He wondered if regularly taking care of them could actually be therapeutic for him.
    “I promise to do this more often, girls,” he said. “I won’t ignore you anymore.”
    He had barely uttered the words when he heard the distinctive sound of an approaching car. He recognized the engine sound immediately. John Patrick.
    Glancing at his watch, Justin was stunned to see that two hours had slipped past and it was mid-morning. Early by John Patrick’s clock.
    As the Cayenne neared, Justin stepped up on the bottom rail of the fence and let out a loud whistle, waving his arm to draw his brother-in-law’s attention. John Patrick looked in his direction. He braked his high-powered SUV into a caliche-grinding halt and sent up a cloud of dust that hung over the corral like a film.
    John Patrick was laughing when he opened the door. He turned in the driver’s seat and planted his feet on the ground. “Man, I almost didn’t see you. I was haulin’ ass. What’re you doing in the corral? Thought you’d hired somebody to take care of these horses.”
    Justin couldn’t help but notice that the rotund man, balding despite the fact he had yet to see his thirty-fifth birthday, was still wearing the same clothes as yesterday. The surprise at seeing him so early gave way to understanding. John Patrick was out and about at this hour because he hadn’t been home yet and was most likely killing time before going.
    Justin didn’t understand this behavior. John Patrick’s marriage was more like having a roommate who shared all yourstuff and your money, except in John Patrick’s case, he had been the one who married for money. He had come from a wealthy family, but his father had believed in a man earning his own way. John Patrick’s solution to that dilemma had been to marry rich.
    “You got any coffee on?” John Patrick asked.
    “Sure,” Justin answered, shaking his head but laughing.
    “Go on up to the house. I’ll be there in a minute.”
    Justin watched his brother-in-law park and enter the house. It was pure irony that a marriage like John Patrick’s would probably last forever, while his own, as perfect a union as there ever was, had ended suddenly and tragically.
     
    John Patrick Daly parked his SUV and strode into his brother-in-law’s house, salivating for a cup of hot black coffee. After a night of partying hard, he dreaded the icy stare and caustic comments from his wife when he went home, so he had detoured by Justin’s place. He supposed one day he would push Felicia too far and she would kick him out, but he was willing to take the gamble. Life as a kept eunuch wasn’t his long-term plan.
    And if things progressed as he hoped, he would be escaping sooner than he had expected. He believed Justin was at a breaking point, and selling this house and land to his departed wife’s brother at a good price would be the most Christian thing he could do. After all, he was John Patrick Daly, Rachel’s brother and Justin’s “best friend.”
    Setting up mysterious happenings inside Justin’s homehadn’t been his plan this morning, but hell, the opportunity was too blatant, thus tempting, to resist. And Justin was so naive. John Patrick walked to the sofa and as he had done many times previously, mussed the neatly folded throw on one end, as someone lying in repose might do. He tossed the stupid horse magazine casually on the floor as someone might do if dropping off for a nap. Today, the roses would have to wait until another time when he was more prepared and had more than a few minutes. Justin could walk in at any time.
    Moving to the kitchen, he