Lillie rose early after a restless night. The more she thought, the more certain she felt she must reveal everything. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to find out you had a dad and a stepmum who’d left you to grow up in a herd of children raised by strangers. She prayed that what they felt for each other would help soothe the hurt she knew the truth would inflict.
Beau stretched and groaned as she dressed, then followed her as she hurried downstairs and through the kitchen. When she stepped into the morning chill, the sound of shouting and galloping horses greeted her. Her breath caught as she looked out over the practice field.
Swain was pure poetry astride Black Astor. They moved as one animal, wheeling and charging, dodging and chasing the ball. She wielded her mallet like a broadsword, swinging it high over her head, then downward with deadly accuracy.
Although the morning fog had barely burned off, the sweating ponies indicated the stick-and-ball session was well under way. On impulse, Lillie ducked back into the house and grabbed her camera. She adjusted her settings and went to work.
Swain and Rob jostled for position while Javier stood ready to defend the goal. Astor gave Rob’s pony a hard bump and whirled back toward the ball. But in mid-turn, Swain’s head jerked up at the sight of Lillie. Her distraction was enough for Rob to recover and slam the ball past Javier.
“Woot!” Rob crowed. “What is it you tell us, boss? Eyes on the ball at all times.” He waved a greeting at Lillie.
“Yeah, yeah. You got lucky.” Swain waved her mallet at the two men. “You guys go ahead. I’ll cool Astor off.”
She reined to a stop in front of Lillie and bent over, smiling. The breeze feathered and danced Swain’s disheveled hair across her forehead, her eyes blue strobes beneath the dark locks. Lillie lifted her camera and clicked off a few frames.
“You’re up early. Are you here just to shoot pictures? Want me to saddle Finesse for you to join us?” Swain asked.
“Thank you, but no. I wanted to talk when you have a chance, but I can wait.”
Swain dismounted. “We were finished with the training session and only having fun now.”
They walked toward the barn, Swain leading Astor and Beau running ahead. Lillie couldn’t stop smiling. Swain’s exuberant mood, the pheromones rolling off her were intoxicating. They gazed at each other and laughed.
“You have to stop looking at me like that,” Swain murmured.
Like what?”
“Like you want to tear my clothes off.”
Lillie shuddered and glanced away. For a moment, she was afraid Swain’s gaze, her words would make her orgasm without even being touched. “You’re partly right.”
“Partly?”
Their flirtation was calming Lillie’s fear, her nervousness. If she could hold Swain close enough as she told her, perhaps that would temper her reaction. She turned back to Swain, smiling more broadly. “I want to tear off your clothes and lick every part of that gorgeous body.”
Swain stumbled, then caught herself. “Jesus, woman. Are you trying to give me a heart attack? I never knew the British were so naughty.”
She handed Astor’s reins to a stable hand with orders to cool him out.
“Can we go upstairs and talk for a bit?” Lillie asked when the boy led Astor away.
Swain looked back at her hungrily. “Lillie, if we go upstairs, I’m pretty sure we won’t be talking.”
“You were the one who said we should wait.”
“True, but I didn’t know you’d make waiting so hard.”
“The office then.”
Swain frowned. “You really meant ‘talk,’ didn’t you? Is something wrong?”
Lillie didn’t know where to begin, but standing in the hallway of the barn with horses and stable help walking past wasn’t the place to do it. She led Swain into the barn’s office to share a long, affectionate kiss that ended in a tight hug.
“What is it, Lillie?”
“I can’t believe how much I’ve come to care about you in such a short time,” she murmured against Swain’s neck. She felt Swain relax.
“And I care about you, Lillie. More than I thought possible.”
“I need to tell you some things, love. Things that I hope won’t change how you feel about me.”
“Nothing could change how I feel about you.”
Lillie tightened her hold. “Before Grandmum died—”
The barn phone began ringing.
“Ignore it,” Swain said. “Go ahead. You were going to say—”
Lillie’s cell phone also began to ring, and the cacophony was too much to talk above. They stepped back from each other with apologetic smiles and each answered her phone. After they concluded their calls, they looked at each other.
“That was Mr. Whitney. He’s ready to read Grandmum’s will.”
“That was Bonner’s secretary calling me. I guess they want both of us there.”
This was their moment of truth, the first step toward the future—together or apart.
*
Bonner stared out the window of his plush office and ran his fingers through his hair. His firm had offices near the state capitol in Columbia, but he had grown tired of politics and shifted most of the practice there to his son and younger partners. Nowadays, he preferred the quiet, slower pace of the office his father had established in Aiken many years ago. Lately, even that was too much.
The burden of keeping and protecting the legal secrets of his clients, many of them friends, had grown heavier with the years. He had just celebrated his seventieth birthday and he was tired. The Wetherington estate was his last. After this was settled, he planned to turn the practice over to Hoyt and spend the rest of his days on the golf course.
But he had this one last confidence, the heaviest of his burdens, to unload from his shoulders. Jim Wetherington had been his closest friend since childhood. Because of their friendship, Bonner had protected Abigail and their family secret even after Jim’s death, even after that secret came to live with Abigail six years ago.
Today wouldn’t end his business with the Wetheringtons, but everything would finally be in the open. Swain’s brother might not be worth much, but she had deserved better than the lot they had dealt her in life. Today, she would finally get her due.