Page 13 of Quarter Miles (Runaway 3)

I waited five breaths, then cracked an eyelid.

Katherine’s mouth was pursed in a hard line and if she didn’t let up on the steering wheel, her fingers were going to make permanent indentations.

“Hey.” I reached across the cab and brushed my knuckle over her elbow. “Don’t be mad.”

She jerked her arm away. “Prick.”

“I don’t want you taking this trip alone. Easton is right. It’s dangerous.” Too many things could go wrong. There were too many sick fucks in the world. “It’s for your own good.”

Kat gave me a sneer that would eviscerate most men. “I’m not some hopeless waif who needs your protection.”

“I know.” Katherine Gates was the strongest, toughest woman I’d ever met. That still didn’t mean I was sending her off into the unknown alone. “Then what if I just want a vacation too?”

“Take a vacation.”

“I am.” I grinned. “With you.”

“What about work?”

I scoffed. “Some of us are replaceable.”

That got her attention. Some of the fire in her crystal-blue eyes faded. “That’s not true. What about the expansion?”

My family was in the middle of expanding our operation to include a state-of-the-art equine breeding and training facility. It would be mine to run with Gemma. When Easton had announced his plans to expand the ranch, she’d invested as a partner.

“Now’s the time to leave, before we get busy. Besides, if I’m not there working, Gemma might actually relax.” My soon-to-be sister-in-law wasn’t one to sit when other people were standing.

Kat sighed. She knew I was right. “Jerk face.”

I chuckled and sat up straighter. “Why don’t you want me to come along? Are you mad at me or something?”

She’d been noticeably quiet on Friday night at dinner with the family and it wasn’t like her to exclude me from anything. It also wasn’t like her to arrange for a spontaneous trip without so much as mentioning it to me.

“Kat?” I prompted.

No answer.

Okay, she was mad. “What? What did I do?”

“Nothing,” she muttered.

“Then let me come along. Mom and Dad will check on the house. Easton already knows I’m leaving, so he’ll rearrange the schedule to cover my shifts.”

There were plenty of other guys on his payroll who’d be happy to lead the guided horseback tours and private lessons. I didn’t do many of those these days anyway with work ramping up at the training facility.

?

?Please?” I begged.

“What about Dany?” Kat asked. “Won’t she get the wrong idea?”

“Nah.” I shifted in my seat, slumping down so far my knees jammed into the glove box. “We called it off on Friday.”

The car jerked to the side.

“Whoa.” I sat up and glanced behind us. “What was that?”

“Uh . . . gopher.”