Page 27 of Nashville Cowboy
“Because…”
You don’t look like Eve anymore.
“Maybe it’s not you, but something is going on around here. I’m sick of my family keepin’ stuff from me. First, they don’t tell me Mima broke her arm and needed surgery—”
“You were touring.”
He ignored that. “Then Linc forgets to tell me you’re livin’ here until he picks me up at the airport.”
“And I’m sorry about that. I wish they’d told you soo—”
“But there’s something else they haven’t told me. I can’t put my finger on it, but something isdifferentaround here. I don’t like it. I spent all day with my dad, hoping he’d be the one to slip up and not even know he was doin’ it. But all I got was sperm talk and complaints about the prized bull he bought with a loan against the ranch. He apparently has a libido problem.”
And if he never heard another word about so-called prized-bull sperm for the rest of his life, he could die a happy man. But something told him he would not get that lucky.
“Hank had me check him out to make sure there’s nothing physically wrong.”
Jackson quirked a brow, trying to picture Eve examining a bull for sperm count. “That bull weighs fifteen hundred pounds.”
“I didn’t do it alone.”
He shook his head, clearing it of the picture of Eve, being trampled by an angry bull. Being a large animal vet could be dangerous, not that she’d ever admit that.
When she started walking, he did, too, leading Taco. “Doyouknow what else’s going on around here?”
“A wedding. That’s all.”
“No, there’s something else.”
“Why isn’t thatenough? Weddings are huge deals and make everyone nervous and anxious. Especially given our history. That could be what you’re sensin’.”
He grunted. “Not my favorite thing in the world, talking to you about weddings.”
“It’s not mine, either. But we have to do this for Sadie and Lincoln. We both agreed.”
“Doesn’t mean we have totalkabout it.”
“You started it. Youaskedme if I knew what was going on.”
Frustration bubbled up. She was keeping something from him, too. They reached the stable, and he removed Taco’s saddle, hung it up, and grabbed the brush. She stood by in silence for a few minutes, but then began to help, taking a spare brush to get Taco’s other side.
Jackson led Taco into his stall, then turned to Eve. “I obviously didn’t mean the wedding. Something else is going on.”
“Well, I don’t know then. Guess I can’t help you.” She studied the ground. “B-but while I have you here…um, Sadie said something today.”
“Yeah?”
She wouldn’t look at him. “Uh, she said that you and I never got…closure.”
He snorted. “Closure’s for doors.”
“But…you and I…” She studied the ground, one boot kicking at a small pebble. “One minute we’re gettin’ married, the next we aren’t even talking.”
“Yeah. I was there.” He simply stared until she finally met his gaze, that dark and stormy gaze of unreadable emotions.
A coyote’s wail burst through the night air, wrapping around him, sounding much closer than a mile away. Eve might have a heart for all animals, but he hated coyotes.
“Get in the house,” he ordered. “I’m right behind you.”
