Free The Awakening by Jana DeLeon

off every man who sees you.” He smiled. “You look great.”
    She broke out in a smile that almost blinded him. “Thank you. That’s the best compliment I’ve heard in a while.”
    “I find that hard to believe.”
    She waved a hand in dismissal. “Stop or you’re going to make my head swell. I’m starving. Shall we?”
    He gestured to the stairs. “My pickup truck awaits your pleasure.”
    She started down the stairwell. “Aside from my horses, you’re likely to be the best company I’ve had in years.”
    He laughed and followed her outside. “That’s some good company, putting me up against the horses.” He opened the passenger door of his truck and she climbed inside.
    “I meant to ask you about the horses last night,” he said after he climbed in the driver’s seat and started up the road to town. “Things were kind of crazy and I forgot. They’re Arabians, right?”
    “Yes. I met a breeder on a shoot in France. His horses were magnificent. I’d never seen anything so majestic. We stayed at his ranch several weeks and I spent every spare moment shadowing him and watching him work with the horses. I’d helped my dad break and train quarter horses before, but this was different.”
    “You were already planning on getting some?”
    “Not then. I mean, I wanted one more than anything, but it wouldn’t have been possible at the time. My job was too demanding, and I was rarely in one place long enough to keep a cactus alive, much less care for and train a horse.”
    “So you got them when you came home?”
    She nodded. “I got really lucky. The breeder I’d met in France had a friend in the States who was retiring from the business. He’d had a heart attack and wanted to spend his remaining years on a beach and not in a barn.”
    “Not a bad plan.”
    “If you can afford it, it’s a great plan.”
    Tanner glanced over at her, confused by her tone. Franklin Bettencourt had been king of Miel, and Josie was his only child. Between her inheritance and what she must have made modeling, she should be able to buy a small island.
    “Probably not in my future, then,” he said. For whatever reason, Josie wanted to pretend she wasn’t wealthy. Maybe it embarrassed her, or maybe she thought he’d jack up the price if he knew what she was worth. He looked out the dashboard down the narrow road. None of it was his business. He needed to stick with the case and stop running off down rabbit trails.
    “So I guess you got some horses from the guy who retired?” he asked.
    “Yes. The breeder in France called and spoke to him. He gave me a really good deal because he knew Raul would help me with the training.”
    Tanner frowned. So it was Raul now. He wondered just how close Josie and the French horse breeder had become. He’d seen no pictures of Josie with a man in the house, but he hadn’t been in her bedroom, either. And being in a different country, she was likely calling him at a time when he wasn’t around to overhear.
    None of it’s your business.
    The repeating thought flashed through his mind again, then another came— to hell with it.
    “So are you and Raul...”
    “What? Oh...no!” She laughed. “Raul lives with a very nice man named Jacques.”
    “Ahhhh,” he said, not able to form a coherent reply to such an unexpected answer.
    “I vowed off relationships a long time ago,” she said. “Besides, I have more than enough to keep me busy. No time for much else. What about you?”
    “Me?”
    “Yeah, you. You must have your share of admirers.”
    “I spend most of my time in the swamp. It’s not exactly the best place to find a date, and I prefer it that way.”
    “Well, then I guess both of us are outside our comfort zone tonight.”
    “I guess so,” he said, not sure what to make of her comment. He’d been clear that tonight was about business, not personal. Likely, he was overthinking it. Thank goodness his brothers couldn’t read his mind. He probably wouldn’t look near