Rupert cautiously approaches me again and rests his hands on my shoulders gingerly. “I guess I don’t have a good reason for you to. Other than in the name of trust. I promise you, I’ll figure this out and I’ll have an answer for us.” He’s staring deep into my eyes, his blue hues glistening with tears. “You know what I do with my nonprofit. You know I would never try and hurt people in this way.”
I shouldn’t fold like this. But I just… I can’t look into his eyes and see anything but panic and honesty. With hesitancy and softness, I remove his hands from my shoulders. “I… I believe you. But if you don’t have a good answer for me soon—”
“I’ll show myself the door if that’s the case,” he assures me. “Come with me to the office. We will get people on it right now. I want to show you that I mean it. That this is not an action of my own.”
“Fine,” I reply without thinking about it. I want to see the process for myself, to make sure that I’m not being fed lies. Peering behind me to Sierra through the door, I sigh and say, “You okay with that?”
She nods and folds her arm. “Better you see for yourself. I’ll handle the horses.”
Rupert dresses and in no time, we are headed outside to the truck. “We can go to the club. I’ll arrange for an employee of mine to get the truck and bring it here,” he says and starts tapping away on his phone. We climb into the cab, which we had just had sex in not even twelve hours before. I see the cab light illuminate his face and can see the stress etched into his features. I don’t know what’s taken place before now, but I know it didn’t involve him.
It doesn’t make total sense, since we don’t know one another that well yet, but I don’t think trust always does. Trust takes faith, and faith is hardly ever logical and concrete. Reaching across, I take hold of his hand and squeeze it. “I’m sorry for accusing you,” I breathe. “We will get through this together.”
He stares at me, the rollercoaster of emotions showing on his face. Shock, confusion, acceptance, and appreciation. Rupert’s jaw flexes and his hand squeezes mine back. “I’m going to make this right, and then I’m going to make sure nothing happens like this again.”
“I believe you,” I assure him.
He leans across and kisses my cheek. The tension dissipates, though the stress lingers. We will get our answers and move forward. I don’t know how I feel so confident about it, other than I know how I feel about him and how I feel with him. He feels right to me, and I want to believe that someone that makes me feel like this wouldn’t try and devastate me financially or use me.
As I pull onto the main road and head for the club, I know that this is the test of trust that will lay the foundation for our future.
Chapter Fourteen
Rupert
A Month Later
I’m full of nervous energy as I wait at the entrance of the Chuk Polo Club stables for Luce to get here. There’s so much to tell her and while I know she will take it well, there’s always the chance that I’ve misread the situation and really made a critical error.
Soon enough, however, I see her coming over the hill with a foal. It’s a beautiful Appendix foal with a soft white coat and a short mane. Luce looks more beautiful to me by the day. Her brown hair is down, her gentle waves shining in the sunlight that’s almost as glorious as the grin on her face.
She nears me and calls over, “You picked a good one.”
Luce is talking about the horse, but my focus is on her. “I sure did,” I call over with a hint of suggestion to my voice.
“You know he’s going to need a couple years,” she comments. “We would have been happy to board him for you until he’s of age to handle polo training.”
“I know,” I smile, but I don’t say anything else. We head into the stable with the foal in tow. She goes to approach Delmar’s stall, but I nod to the one next to it. Her brow furrows and we walk over. As we approach, another foal inside comes into view. It’s the one that Anders had once bought. Anders has been officially banned from the club after our match. There’s even an investigation pending after our own search for answers to the insurance claim made against Luce.
Anders had paid off my nephew, Bryson, to try and get me to move to Florida. Which included meddling in my love life. So Anders coming on to Luce, the match, and the claim were all made to drive a wedge between us so that I wouldn’t start putting down roots here. All so Anders could be the top player at the club. The motivation behind Bryson? He says it was drugs, and Anders was his supplier. I’ve been kicking myself for a while for not picking up on the fact Bryson was on something, but he hid it well. Or maybe I was just distracted…