“And you plan to help her do that by getting in between them as fast as you can?”
“That’s wrong,” Hank drawled, leaving his seat and heading away from the pool area.
“No,” Duke said, stopping him by taking a step in front of him. “What you’re doing isn’t right. She’s been through a lot of trauma. She needs to come to us when she’s ready.”
“Did you fail to notice who straddled who?”
Duke frowned. “I think it’s too soon.”
“You wouldn’t have thought so if you’d been lying under her. That’s for damn sure!” Hank shouted, leaving him to mull things over.
Duke trailed him. “Hank, wait a blasted minute, will ya?”
Hank stopped abruptly. He didn’t turn around. “I’ve loved her for over half my life. I’m thirty years old, and I don’t know how to love anyone else. She was mine from the moment I first saw her as a teenager, and now that I know what it feels like to lose her—and believe me after that crash, I thought she was gone—I’ll never let her go again.”
“You don’t have her yet,” Duke reminded him.
“Says you!” Hank yelled, believing after Julie responded to him as she did, there wasn’t anything to stand in their way now. She obviously still found him attractive, maybe even irresistible, and that chemistry between them was stronger now than in years past.
“Hank, you’re pushing too hard, too fast.”
“That’s what it takes. You oughta know that. If you want to make it to the winner’s circle, you gotta keep pushing.”
“So this is about racing,” Duke said, obviously put off by that possibility.
“Hell no. This here is about love. If the racing follows, and I suppose it will, then that’s all right. But if Julie gets back in a car again, that will be her decision. When she finds her place in my bed again will be up to her, too, but I intend to persuade her every chance I get.”
“Then I guess if I can’t beat ya, I might as well join you,” Duke casually pointed out, rubbing his jaw.
“Either that, or you may get left out in the rain when I decide to suit up and play.”
“You’re such a romantic,” Duke told him.
“Actually, I am,” Hank stated flatly. “I plan to love Julie like there’s no tomorrow. After I watched her almost die, I realized none of us have a guarantee for another day.”
“And if she leaves us again?”
“The thought will never cross her mind,” Hank assured him. “Duke, the only thing the time apart has done for Julie has made her more determined to get what she wants. She doesn’t know this yet, of course, but when she figures this out, she’ll go after what she wants…us!”
“You really think she’s here to stay?”
“Without a doubt.”
Duke chuckled. “And Julie thinks I have a problem with confidence.”
“I know, little brother. We both need to work on it.”
* * * *
Frank lit up the barnyard as soon as he saw her. He was already beet red from the sun’s favor, but there was something about the way he smiled that made him look like he was standing under heaven’s spotlight.
“Hey Frank!” she exclaimed from the cobblestone walkway. “I hear you’ve got a new plug down here.” She teetered toward him, convinced her legs were finally moving better than they had in weeks past. Soon, she’d toss the cane aside and walk without the aggravating crutch.
“Plug hell,” he grumbled, walking toward her. He swung his arm behind him and pointed toward the field. “That dappled grey Thoroughbred you see there is anything but a dutz.”
Julie giggled, and hearing her own laughter made her feel unusually happy, an emotion she hadn’t experienced in a long time. Frank had a bad habit of inventing his own language. A dutz, in Frank-speak, was anything considered undesirable, or not quite up to par. In this case, Julie agreed. The Thoroughbred was a far cry from a dutz.
“Where’d you get her?”