Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 94513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
I hadn’t let myself worry about the future. Bane’s actions. The way he looked at me. I felt loved. Cherished. Adored. But he never said he loved me. I never said it to him either. But not because I didn’t love him. I loved Bane so much that my heart felt as if it were going to burst with it most of the time.
The way he spoke was as if he would be there for my son and me, and it was him I saw by my side as I raised the little boy that I’d created with his brother. I wanted more than anything for Grissele’s words to be true. For Bane to be his dad. But I also knew not to hope for too much. To be thankful for every day I had and every moment I spent with Bane.
Grissele took a tissue from her purse and handed it to me, then took one for herself and dotted beneath her eyes as she smiled. “Whew,” she said. “I seem to be doing this a lot lately.”
I dried my face and slipped the tissue into the pocket on my leggings.
“Um,” she said, looking at me with uncertainty in her eyes, “can I hug you?”
I nodded, not so sure I wasn’t about to cry again.
Grissele closed the distance between us, and her slender arms wrapped around me. She smelled of wealth and sophistication, which was probably from a very expensive bottle of perfume.
“Thank you,” she said. “For saving him too.”
I wasn’t sure who she was talking about. Who had I saved?
When she pulled back and looked at me, she seemed to understand my confusion. “Bane. You saved Bane. He was on a destructive path, and I feared I would lose him too. But you brought him back. You were more powerful than all his pain.” She touched my cheek, then stepped back.
“Well, now that I have made us both cry and had my emotional outburst for the day, I will leave you to it,” she said, grinning.
I held up the gifts. “Thank you.”
She nodded her head once, then turned and walked back toward the stables.
Slingshot nudged my arm, and I turned back to him to give the needy fella my attention.
“I need to go put these things away. Then, I will be right back. It’s almost time for you to get brushed down and fed,” I told him.
He nodded his head, although it was just to get me to keep rubbing him, not because he was agreeing with me. Although he was smart. So, maybe he was agreeing with me.
I gave him one last pat, then placed the items back in my bag and headed toward the right side of the buildings. Bane had his own office here, which he was in very little. We ate lunch in there together—among other things. So far, we’d had sex on his desk, the sofa, against the wall, and on the floor. Several times each.
When I reached it, I went inside and put the bag down on the sofa before turning to leave. It was still another hour before he’d seek me out for lunch.
I stepped out of the office and almost ran straight into Adalee.
“Oh!” I said, startled, then smiled.
She wasn’t a fan of mine. Okay, that was putting it nicely. She hated my existence. When Bane was around, she was syrupy sweet to me. When Bane wasn’t around, she had me do things, like shovel out stalls, run to get her supplies from the storage room, make her coffee. I did it all not because she was my boss—because she wasn’t. I had thought I could get her to like me. She was the only thing about coming to the stables that was unpleasant. I was trying to melt the ice around her with kindness.
It wasn’t working.
“Are you seriously in there, resting? And you just left the foal in the round pen? Do I have to do your jobs too? I’ve already got enough of a load on me. If you’re just going to cause me more work, then why don’t you stay home? You can lie around and mooch off Bane all day that way,” she snapped at me angrily. Then pointed toward the stalls. “Now, go get the foal and put him in with his mother! You barely look pregnant. Stop acting like you need special privileges.”
She was in a temper today. I could handle this and her. I’d been raised by Iris. This was nothing new to me.
“Yes, of course,” I replied, knowing there was no reason to tell this woman that I’d had to put away a gift Grissele had brought me and that I was not resting.
She’d then go on a rant about me taking things from the Cashes and how I was manipulating Grissele. I’d heard that one already from her.