1
July
Lakewood, CO
Raine Diamond wasn’t used to being ignored. She may be twenty-five, but she was still the baby of her family, and the only girl out of five kids. She’d graduated valedictorian of her high school class, and summa cum laude from the University of Texas.
She was a world-class show jumper, having already won a gold medal in the Youth Olympic Games at eighteen, with aspirations of making the U.S. Olympic team in the near future. Possibly even next year. Her grandfather was a real estate mogul, her parents ran a multi-billion dollar investment firm, and one uncle was a senator, the other head of a jewelry empire.
She was a Diamond.
And what was he? A stable boy.
Well…man. A stable man who made her pulse race like never before—and that scared the crap out of her.
She fidgeted with the seam on the back pocket of her jeans as she stood in her uncle’s kitchen with her cousin, Shelby, her brother, Axel, and Reyes Torrez.
She didn’t usually act like an entitled little rich bitch, but for some reason, Reyes triggered the need to prove she was worth looking at. By him. But while her heart went completely haywire at the sight of his thick-lashed green eyes and sun-kissed, caramel-colored hair, he gave her a cool, heat-inducing once-over, met her gaze long enough for her to offer a nervous smile, and then dismissed her without a second glance.
As he easily joked and laughed with her cousin and brother, she battled a foreign insecurity that left her confused and annoyed. Then he left without so much as a, “Nice to meet you.”
Who was he to act as if she didn’t even exist?
If he’d been into Shelby, she’d have understood. Heck, even if he had a girlfriend, he could’ve simply been pleasantly polite. That’s what people did when they met someone new—or were reintroduced after nearly ten years. But the way he’d openly ignored her had been an outright snub. The more she thought about it, the more offended she became.
She stewed all through brunch, only briefly distracted when her cousin Merit dropped a bombshell on the whole family that he and his girlfriend, Mae, were having a baby. Apparently, the girlfriend part had been news, too?
Uncle Mark didn’t take it well, and after a dramatic argument, Merit stormed out, Mae followed, then Aunt Janine. After the meal came to an awkward end, her brothers and cousins and their significant others cleared the table and did dishes before settling back around the patio. While they discussed the drama and caught up, she couldn’t stop glaring across the lawn toward the stables.
After a few minutes, she got up and wandered inside the house. They were staying one more night, so she’d have plenty of time for visiting, but right now she was restless. Bored with the conversation around the table—and irritated by repeated flashes of Reyes’ rude slight.
If only she hadn’t sent Diamond Fire home to Texas with their trainer. After they’d won their event yesterday, he’d more than earned a few days rest at home, but now she couldn’t go down to the stables with the excuse of checking on her champion baby.
Seeing her mom and Aunt Janine coming down the stairs, Raine seized on a different idea. “Aunt Jan, would it be possible for me to borrow one of your horses for an hour or so?” She rarely went a day without riding, but she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been on the back of a horse just for fun.
“Of course.” Her aunt gave her a distracted smile, clearly still focused on the earlier brunch drama. “Just ask Estefan or Reyes who could use some exercise.”
Her pulse skipped at the mention of the second name. “Thank you.”
She hurried upstairs to change and tucked her black V-neck T-shirt into tan breeches before pulling on black, knee-high, leather riding boots. She felt a little bad not asking Shelby to go with her, but her cousin knew her too well and would see right through this move.
When she reached the stables a few minutes later, she had a hard time catching her breath, and it had nothing to do with her speed walk down the curvy driveway. As she approached the open doors, her heart lodged in her throat, and a mass of anxiety writhed in her stomach. She desperately wanted to see him, yet also hoped he was nowhere around, because really, what was she going to say?
Notice me.
Yeah, that wouldn’t sound pathetic and self-centered at all.
She stepped inside the barn and scanned for Reyes, only to find the place deserted. Initial relief was quickly replaced by disappointment, until she realized just because she didn’t see him didn’t mean he wasn’t around. Shelby had said he lived in an apartment above the barn.
Squaring her shoulders, she held her chin high as she ventured farther inside. Like at home, the aisles were immaculate, and a deep inhale filled her lungs with the beloved scents of horse, hay, and leather. Heads turned her way, delicate ears swiveling and perking up as pairs of curious brown eyes watched her approach.
She stopped in front of a stall halfway down the aisle and studied the bay thoroughbred inside. The gelding’s shiny coat was a rich red, complimented by a silky, jet-black forelock, mane, and tail. He was a big boy like Fire, his withers the same height as her five feet, two inches, putting him at almost sixteen hands tall.
He turned his head with a soft whicker, and she stepped back when he moved forward to extend his head over the stall door. She let him sniff her hand, then stroked his neck as he lipped at her palm.
“Hello, gorgeous.” While rubbing his forehead and laying her cheek against his velvety soft black muzzle, she glanced at the engraved name plate on his stall door.
RazMaTaz.
“Tell me big guy, do they call you Raz, or Taz?” she mused out loud.
“That’s Taz.”
Her breath caught as she whirled around to see an older gentleman step through a door off to her right. He carried an English saddle over one arm, and a bridle in the other hand.
“Raine?”
“That’s me,” she confirmed with a smile.
“Hi. I’m Estefan. Janine called and said you were looking for a mount.”
Earlier, she’d heard Shelby tell
Merit’s girlfriend Estefan was Reyes’ father. She could also see the resemblance to his son in his olive-toned features and brown eyes from their Spanish heritage. The elder Torrez had a mustache peppered with gray in comparison to his son’s neatly trimmed goatee.
“Can I ride him?” she asked hopefully as she stroked the bay’s nose. Forget going for a trail ride, she’d love to see what the horse could do on a course.
“Taz is my son’s horse,” he advised with a hint of apology in his tone. “No one rides him but Reyes.”
She blinked in surprise to learn he had his own horse here. None of their employees kept their horses at the Diamond stables in Texas. Not to mention, the gelding looked to be easily worth twenty grand. Maybe more.
“I’ll be saddling Stimpy for you. He could use some exercise.”
Stimpy?
Did he not know what she did for a living? She smoothed out her wrinkled nose as she turned, anticipating an old, gentle gelding for beginners.
Estefan slid the stall door open, giving Raine a good look at a regal chestnut with a mass of wavy, reddish-brown mane. Smaller than Taz, the more delicate build and refined features pointed toward Arabian, and she grinned with anticipation. Okay, she could definitely live with Stimpy—which upon a closer look at his nameplate, looked to be short for Rumplestiltskin.