Victory Page 19

  Her eyes went wide. “We’re going horseback riding?”

  “Yeah,” Jake said. “It’s the only way.”

  “I’ll be fine then. It’s been a while.”

  Taking that cue, Eric went over a few ground rules with her and regular instruction, which he’d give to any of the guest riders, or first time students.

  “Jake, Mr. Melancholy is ready for you.”

  Missy laughed. “That’s the horse’s name?”

  “Fits him,” Eric confessed.

  Once they were on the horses, Eric secured the picnic basket to the back of the saddle. “Are you sure you don’t want us to meet you there with it? Susan puts china in there, you know.”

  “I know. I was carrying it. I’ll be fine,” Jake said and turned to lead them out of the barn.

  Missy followed his lead. She’d heard that the Walker ranch was vast, but she’d never seen it first-hand.

  Jake took her through fields and meadows. They stayed close to a small creek that ran through the property, and then he led her up a small embankment that overlooked the ranch.

  In the distance, she could see the big house, and in the other direction, the roof of the barn. But they were alone.

  “This is the far south side of the ranch,” he said.

  “I didn’t realize it was this big.”

  “Yeah. It’s been in the family for generations.”

  He stopped his horse next to hers and climbed off. Taking her reins and held the horse, guiding her as she climbed down. Then he took the picnic basket from the back of his horse.

  Missy followed him, with the quilt again, over her arms. He stopped when they came to three hay bales in the middle of the field.

  “And we’re here,” he said setting the basket on one of the bales.

  He took the quilt from her and draped it over one of the other bales, then began to disassemble the basket.

  Susan had packed everything for the perfect lunch. A white linen table cloth, which Jake placed over a bale. Clean white china, silver forks, and stemmed wine glasses. Each meal was individually packed so that he could plate each one.

  She stood and watched him arrange this meal his cousin’s wife had prepared for them. Already it was the most romantic thing she’d ever seen in her whole life.

  “I think we’re set,” he said stepping back and looking at the masterpiece he set up, thanks to Susan.

  “Susan does this as a business?”

  “It’s part of her catering business. Fried chicken, homemade mashed potatoes, coleslaw, honey biscuits, and strawberry pie for dessert. All of it prepared from scratch. She does a lot of the events for Lydia. Of course, she’s slowed down a bit now that she’s expecting, but she still puts together a fantastic picnic.”

  “So the hay bales weren’t just dropped here?”

  He grinned. “Strategically placed.”

  “Why here?”

  He picked up a wine glass and handed it to her. Taking the bottle opener from the basket, he peeled back the foil, twisted in the screw, and removed the cork.

  Missy held her glass out to him as he poured the wine into it, and then poured himself a glass.

  “Each of us gets an acre of land to build on. It was part of my grandfather’s plan. So far Eric is the only one to have built on it, but that was really rebuilding a structure that was there. Russell and Chelsea are in the planning stages for their house. It’ll be just east of the main house. But she’s expecting too, so it’ll be a bit.”

  “And you? Where will you build?”

  “I have to admit. I was never sure about building out here. First the animosity over my father…”

  She snorted out a laugh. “I don’t even want to talk about fathers.”

  He lifted his glass to her. “I’m a man who completely understands that. But no one holds that against me. You saw how they were. That’s this family. And I’m ready to be more a part of it than I ever have been, which means picking out a piece of land for when I’m ready to make the long trek to work and home.”

  “And that’s some of the consideration too, right?”

  “Of course. It’s forty-five minutes to town. A lovely drive if you have good music, an audio book, or a fine woman by your side.” He winked and the warmth spread to her cheeks. “I have part of that. But I also decided, it would be best to keep my racing cars out of town. Too many people could touch them.”

  “And did.”

  “I’m buying a new car.”

  “To replace the one my brother trashed?”

  He shook his head. “Insurance will cover that. No, this is a brand new one. See Lydia and her partner want to support a full team. They see great potential in advertising and marketing. So, I finance the cars, they finance the maintenance and races. I promote the restaurants all over Georgia.”

  “A team?”

  Jake moved to her, rested his palm to her cheek, and she eased into his touch. “The car is for you, Missy. I don’t ever want to race against you again. We’re a better team.”

  She batted her eyes. She’d cried more since she’d started kissing this man than she ever had. “That’s about the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

  Jake moved in and pressed a kiss to her lips. “I’m thinking that the road should come up this way,” he said motioning with his hands through the field. “The garage will be a six car. That leaves lots of room for racing cars and regular cars. The house doesn’t have to be huge. There’s so much land to roam and play in. Why stay in a house all day?”

  “It sounds like you have it all figured out,” she said smiling at him. “I’ve seen how you decorate. It’ll be magazine worthy.”

  “What color do you want to paint the front door?”

  “I’ve always liked red, but I’ve seen some orange ones, and…” She stopped, took a step back, and started at him grinning at her. “What color do I want to paint it?”

  “The only thing that makes me want to travel that far every day to work is knowing you’ll be there with me. I don’t think I ever want to go to work without you. And I never want to come home without you. This space right here seems like the perfect place for that garage and house, don’t you think?”

  “You’re asking me to move out here with you?”

  “No, I’m doing a very poor job of asking you to marry me and live out here and race cars with me. I don’t have a ring. My money is wrapped up in getting the car but…”

  Missy wrapped her arms around his neck, carelessly spilling the wine, but holding tight to the stem of the glass. “I don’t need a ring. What would I do with a ring? I’d lose it under the hood of a car.”

  “I’ll buy you a necklace too then. You can wear it around your neck.”

  She pressed a hard kiss to his lips, then eased back. “This isn’t the time to think about them, but my dad, my brother…”

  “They aren’t you and me. Damnit, Missy, it’s always been about you and me. Why do you think we’d get so mad at each other?”

  Gathering him back up in her arms she kissed his ear, his neck, and his lips again. “Are you asking me to marry you just so I won’t run you off the track anymore?”

  Jake laughed. “Would that really keep you from doing that?”

  She shook her head. “Most definitely not.”

  “It’s a lot to ask of someone, to ask them to be a Walker. Especially on the side of Byron Walker.”

  “I only see you, Jake. You are Walker to me. I can’t think of anything that would give me greater honor, than to be Jake Walker’s wife. To race beside you. Work beside you. Live beside you.”

  “We race our own races now,” he said. “No one calls the shots but us.”

  “I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

  “And the best racer wins, but the victory belongs to us both.”

  She pressed another kiss to his lips and let it linger. “I’ve just achieved the best victory of all. I’m fairly sure that no car race will ever compete.”

  �
��Then you’re saying you’ll marry me?”

  “Yes, that’s what I’m saying.”

  “Good, let’s eat that chicken, and drink that wine. Then we’ll head home. I’m not supposed to go in to work until Monday. I’m wondering if we could find anything to do for the next few days.”

  Enveloping him, and letting her body mold to his, on the spot of their future home, she kissed him deeply. “I think I know what we could do for those few days. We have a victory to celebrate.”

  We hope you enjoyed Victory, book 6 of the Walker Family Series.

  Here is a preview of the next book.

  Walker Spirit

  Book 7, The Walker Family Series

  By Bernadette Marie

  Chapter One

  Wondering when her dress would turn to rags, and her high heels to slippers, Audrey Walker ducked out of the reception hall full of Walker family and half the state of Georgia, she reckoned. Leaned against the outside wall, she pulled off her shoes, and rested her head for a moment.

  It had been a long day. Her aunt had been planning a ball for the past month, and it was as sweet as the one Cinderella attended, she was sure. However, Audrey, had nearly single handedly made everyone at the ball look fantastic. She’d been doing hair and make-up, in the kitchen of her condo, since early that morning. And now, as the night inched toward late, she was exhausted.

  Perhaps she wouldn’t ditch the night all together. After all, where else could she snap pictures on her phone of her brothers in tuxedos? She wasn’t even sure Jake would wear one for his wedding, which had also been announced at the ball.

  Things were quickly changing around her, she considered as she heard the DJ change songs. Jake was going to marry a fellow race car driver, whom he’d always had a rivalry with. Missy Sheridan, however, wasn’t quite the enemy he’d made her out to be. Audrey hadn’t been around her too much, but she thoroughly enjoyed her.

  Then there was Audrey’s sister who married a Morgan. The Morgans had once been family enemies of the Walkers, but she couldn’t say she’d ever fully bought into that. Her sister had married Tyson Morgan, and for as long as she could remember, she’d been friends with his sister Lydia. And wasn’t it because of Lydia that Audrey was taking the plunge into owning her own business?

  With a grin on her face, she walked around to the front of the reception hall and out to the sidewalk that lined the shops in front of what her sister and Lydia coined their Bridal Mecca.

  Pearl owned the bridal store. Their sister Bethany worked part-time for the florist. Her cousin Dane’s fiancée, Gia, owned an Italian import gift store. And Lydia ran the reception hall, which was only one of her many businesses around town. Now Audrey would open her own hair salon in the same location. She wasn’t sure what thrilled her more, having her own business, or being close to her sisters every day.

  The sky was dark, with no hint of the moon. But she wanted to walk to the storefront where her salon would soon be.

  She looked to see if anyone was around. There was enough light from the street lights and sound coming from the reception hall, she was sure she’d be safe.

  Slowly, enjoying the warmth in the air, and the sounds all around her, she walked to the dark window that had a small sign that said Coming Soon! Audrey’s Salon and Boutique.

  In the past week the contractor had been working on getting the plumbing run. She’d opted for four shampoo sinks, though to start, she’d be working alone. But she didn’t know if that was forever. It was better to plan ahead, she thought.

  Audrey opened her tiny purse, which Pearl had loaned her, and made her swear to return in perfect shape so she could sell it. Inside, she fished for the keys. She just wanted to go inside and look around.

  Last month, when she’d walked out of the salon she’d worked at for nearly ten years, her brother Jake suggested she open her own salon. She’d planned on buying the salon she’d worked in, until they sold it out from under her. So she’d walked out. What else was she supposed to do? That day, she’d thought her career was over, but now, oh—the possibilities.

  As she turned the key in the lock, and pushed open the door, she felt that wash of pride warm her. This was what she thought of as Walker style—doing something the way you wanted to.

  Everything in the salon would be right where she wanted it. The colors would be hers, the furniture, and even the magazines.

  “Hi. I’m sorry to bother you, but…”

  The voice of a man boomed behind her, and Audrey spun around, dropping the elegant bag to the ground and into the dust.

  First instinct would have been to gather the bag, but she was paralyzed looking at the dark shadow of a man standing in her doorway.

  “Oh, God, I didn’t mean to startle you. I am so sorry.” He stepped in further, and Audrey took a step back. “I’m just looking for Kent Black. I was told I could find him here.”

  Audrey blinked hard, trying to get her eyes to focus in the dark area. “Why are you looking for Kent?” she asked. Her sister hadn’t mentioned anything about someone coming for her husband. Audrey certainly wasn’t going to be the person to just give up his presence.

  “I’m with the film crew that’s going to be making the movie here. I was supposed to be in town yesterday when they all met.” She saw him shrug. “But you know, things come up.”

  Audrey scanned her memory for the conversation she and Bethany had had that morning while she was doing her hair.

  Bethany’s husband, Kent Black, was the famous sci-fi novelist, and they were making a movie of his latest book. And they were doing it right in Macon, Georgia. Why, she had no idea. Bethany had told her about the hundreds of meetings Kent had had in the past few months. Then when the talent was supposed to arrive, Gregory Bishop, the actor cast in the role of the main character, called last minute and said he’d had an itch to pull some slots in Vegas.

  Audrey narrowed her eyes on him trying to decide if this man, standing in her doorway, was actually Gregory Bishop. If he was, she had some mixed emotions. First of all, he’d been named one of the sexiest men on the planet, or something like that. From the shape of his shadow, she could see that he easily might fit that bill. In fact, just looking at the cut of his arms where the light from outside illuminated them, those were the kind of arms that carried a woman away. She swallowed hard.

  He was tall, she guessed six-four. The voice. She should recognize the voice. Because her evenings were spent with Netflix, she’d seen every Gregory Bishop movie, more than once. She’d recognize the satin sex in his voice, she thought. But as she hadn’t been prepared when he spoke to her to single him out as the hunky movie star. She needed him to speak again.

  “Kent is busy,” she said, and the man nodded, running his fingers through his hair.

  “Yeah, I know. On my drive from the airport to the hotel, I thought I’d better apologize. I was supposed to be here yesterday to meet with him about my character. Hollywood gets into my brain sometimes, but then I forget that people are depending on me. Kent expects me to play Lieutenant Price precisely, and giving into my senseless desires sometimes gets me in trouble.”

  Well, that was all she needed. This was indeed Gregory Bishop standing there in front of her, having an easy conversation, and acting as if he had a conscience.

  Suddenly her mind flashed to the picture of him on the cover of some tabloid at the store. She didn’t have to think about what he looked like under that shirt now. She knew exactly what he looked like, and other than he had a reputation for being quite an ass and a playboy—oh, she’d like to trace her fingers all over those ridges that made up his chest and stomach.

  But she remembered he was there looking for Kent to apologize for being too Hollywood. She could only imagine what that meant. Maybe she’d take him to Kent after all. Kent was too good a man to have someone treat him badly. Audrey decided she wanted to see what this Gregory Bishop was all about.

  She knelt to pick up the small purse she’d dropped. God, Pearl was go
ing to kill her for walking into a construction site in her borrowed dress. That she hadn’t thought about when she decided to look at her space.

  Hiking up her dress to a modest height, she carefully walked toward the door.

  “Something wrong?” Gregory asked as he stepped outside.

  “My sister loaned me the dress and the purse. I dropped the purse when you startled me. And it just occurred to me that the dust from the salon floor will now be on the dress.”

  She watched him scan a look over her in the dimly lit doorway.

  “Your sister is very picky, huh?”

  “What? No. She owns the bridal shop.” She pointed to the door a few down from hers. “These are samples that she hopes to sell. Can’t really afford to pay her for them right now. So if I mess them up…”

  “I’ll buy them for you,” he offered. “Consider them yours.”

  Audrey choked out a laugh as she pulled the door closed. “Brilliant. I’d like to put in an order for some Jimmy Choo shoes then so I could wear the ensemble again.”

  “What size?”

  He was toying with her, but she caught a whiff of his cologne, and as she swooned, she found she just didn’t care. “Seven and a half.”

  “It’s dark. What color is the dress?”

  She locked the door and turned right into him. His hands came to her hips to steady her. Lifting her eyes up to his, she realized that Gregory Bishop was holding her, in the dark, very intimately. Was there a woman on the planet that hadn’t fantasized about a moment like this?

  The air seemed to stick in her lungs and she fought for breath. Perhaps she was willing herself to faint so he’d have to administer mouth to mouth.

  What in the hell was wrong with her? This man had blown off Kent’s importance to the movie, and his job, then came to grovel.

  She stepped back, out of his ever so sensuous grasp. Finally inhaling, she ran her hands over the satin fabric. “Royal blue,” she managed as Gregory reached out and curled a loose strand of hair around his finger.