Shit!She needed to be vague with her answers so she wouldn’t get caught up in the tangle of lies. The less she told him thebetter.
“I do, but he’s a lot older than me, so I didn’t spend much time with him growing up. That’s why I felt like an only child,”shesaid.
Hopefully he’d believe her lame answer. She held her breath for the moment that it took him torespond.
“That makes sense,”hesaid.
“Families can be a challenge,”shesaid.
Thatwas the understatement oftheyear.
“I know what you mean. All of my brothers have found mates in the last few months,” he said. “Since I’m the only single one left, I think they’ve decided I need to find a wife too. They don’t get that I’m happy alone. Relationships tend to cause more grief than they’re worth, at least in my experience. If it were up to me, I’d be single for the rest ofmylife.”
* * *
Drew rode on,relishing the silence. Some women had to fill the emptiness with incessant chatter, but Sharon was content to simply enjoy the peacefulness. He appreciated having her with him more than he’d anticipated. She was a hell of a good rider. Hannah wasn’t usually skittish, but today she’d stumbled a few times. Sharon hadn’t flinched. She’d simply adjusted and had carried on,unfazed.
“Where did you learn to ride?” heasked.
“My family owned a few horses when I wasyounger.”
“Where did yougrowup?”
“Florida,” she said. “I’ve lived there mywholelife.”
“I thought you said you drove here fromVirginia?”
“Oh, yeah. I drove through Virginia to get here,”shesaid.
“FromFlorida?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“That seems like an odd route,”hesaid.
“I drove up the east coast then cut across,”shesaid.
“Hmm.Okay.”
“Anyway, in Miami, where I grew up, we had plenty of space forhorses.”
“I usually associate beaches with that part of the state,”hesaid.
“There are beaches, but there are areas forhorsestoo.”
“In Miami?” heasked.
“Yep.”
“I always thought of it as being veryurban.”
“What about your family?” she asked. “Have they always lived inMontana?”
“My dad grew up near here, but my mom was fromCalifornia.”
“California?” Her head whipped to the side and her eyes narrowed. “Where inCalifornia?”
“San Francisco. She moved up here near the end of the1960s.”
