Her ears went flat, but she backed up a step.
“You need to leave,” Nash said.
“Not until I speak to you,” Kirsty said.
“Speak to the woman,” Ford said. “For pity’s sake, you’re a grown man. Act it.”
His brother grabbed a handful of Monica’s mane and walked away.
Nash jammed his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Around him he heard the murmur of voices and stomp of hooves. He loved this place. Loved everything it stood for. Hard work and generations of his family doing what they did best. Ranching. He didn’t want the woman who had broken his heart to sour that by being here.
“I shouldn’t have left you, Nash. I know that now.”
“I’m not going to lie, it hurt,” he surprised himself by saying.
“Neil and me, well, we worked out for a while, but I realize now he didn’t love me, not really.”
“It took you two years to work that out?”
“I was impressed by what he had, Nash. That makes me shallow, I know, but when you didn’t have much in your life and you meet someone like him, and you think about all the things he could give you, it blinds you. Plus, you were all about the work and not having fun. I knew you were planning for our future, and I wasn’t ready for that.”
“I loved you,” he said.
“I know, and it wasn’t until a few months ago that I worked out what that meant to me.” She took his hand in both of hers. “But I felt smothered sometimes by you.”
He’d loved her too much, and he’d needed to show her that by working hard and talking about what they’d have together. Looking back, he could see now he’d been too intense.
“Will you give me another go, Nash?”
He looked at her, studied the high cheekbones and soft lips slicked with gloss, and felt absolutely nothing.
“I don’t think that’s—”
“I’m not giving up this time. I want us to be together.”
“No, Kirsty.”
She cut him off by kissing him. He grabbed her arms and forced her back.
“Don’t do that again.”
“I’m not giving up on us, Nash.”
“Well, you need to, because what we had has gone, and that makes me realize that us breaking up was probably for the best. There is no future for us, Kirsty.”
“I don’t believe you, not after what we had.” She tried to press into him again. Nash took a step back.
“Go home, Kirsty. We’re done here.”
“Is there someone else?” Her eyes narrowed.
“No, but that’s no business of yours anyway.”
“I’ll fight for us,” she said, and he knew that look; he’d seen it enough. If she went after something, she did so with all the weapons she had in her arsenal.
“I don’t want to see you again,” he said, just to reinforce it. “I don’t love you anymore or feel anything for you.”
“You can’t turn off a love like we had,” she said.