“No! My little brother is off-limits!” He narrowed his eyes at her. “Robbie is to go to college first. Then he’ll meet someone. We just need to figure out what to do with you.”
“Put an ad in the paper? ‘Husband with a horse wanted’? ‘Send photo of horse.’”
He snorted. “It’s stopped raining. Let’s go.” He stood up.
“Maybe Robbie would show up with Xander.”
Adam was going out the door and shaking his head. Behind him, Kelly was smiling.
By the time they got home to the Hatten barn, the rain had stopped but they were still wet. They removed the saddles and began rubbing down the horses.
“Thanks,” Kelly said. “You made me feel better.”
“I enjoyed it. It was nice to be around someone who isn’t angry at me. And it’s good for you and me to get to know each other better.”
“I agree. Wherever we live, we’ll be family.” When Xander dropped a pile of manure, Kelly got the fork hanging on the wall and scooped it up.
Robbie’s voice came from outside. “Kelly? I saw your Jeep. Are you in here?”
Adam was about to call out to his brother, but to his shock, Kelly flicked the fresh, hot, steaming pile of horse manure onto him. It hit him smack in the middle of his chest, then began to slide down. “What the hell?” He wiped a piece off the side of his face. “Why did you do that?”
“We just spent two hours at the second-best make-out spot in the county. If we were seen sopping wet and smiling, by noon gossip will have me pregnant. With your kid.”
He grabbed straw and started wiping himself down. “I never thought of that.”
“Really? And you’re the brother with the brain?”
“It’s not my brain that would cause the gossip.”
She laughed.
“Kelly!” Robbie shouted. “Where are you?” He was close to them.
She raised her voice to an angry shout. “I told you, Adam Hatten! What I do or don’t do is none of your business. Stay out of my life!” As she ran past him, she mouthed, “Thanks,” then stomped toward Robbie.
Adam went to the door, but stayed in the shadows. Robbie was next to Kelly’s green Jeep, his back to the barn.
“If my brother is bothering you, let me know. I’ll deal with him.” Robbie sounded like he was about to strap on a six-shooter.
Adam rolled his eyes.
Kelly saw him and had to suppress a giggle. She got into her car and started it. “I can handle myself.”
Robbie put his hand on the door. “I hear Paul is leaving town for the summer. I don’t want you to think you have to be alone. You won’t have to miss out on any fun just because he’s not here. How about going to the dance on Saturday with me?”
Behind him, a smelly, dirty Adam was shaking his head in a vigorous no!
“It’s just a temporary separation,” she said. “I’m still engaged.” Immediately, Kelly regretted her choice of words. She meant engaged as in that she had other things to do. “I mean—”
But Robbie stepped back, his eyes wide. “You and Paul are engaged? That’s really big news.”
Adam was shaking his head at her lie. He held up his left hand, wiggling his fingers. She had no ring.
Robbie was still talking. “People are going to be disappointed to hear that you’re off the market. Where’s your ring?”
“Being resized. I have to go.” She put the Jeep in Reverse, turned it around and left the Hatten farm. The slip about the engagement was bad, but maybe she’d said it on purpose. She didn’t want to admit that Pauly had maybe dumped her. After he left town, she could tell everyone she had broken up with him. She was smiling. She’d started the day feeling very bad. She still had the same problems, but Adam had made her feel better. He’d made her believe there was a way to solve everything.
CHAPTER FIVE
Adam went back into the barn. He thought about sneaking out and getting cleaned up, but that would mean leaving Xander wet. As he started rubbing, he braced himself for the ridicule of his little brother.
Robbie didn’t disappoint. He looked at his brother, his chest coated in horse manure, and said, “What the hell happened to you?”
“I fell.”
“And kept your hands clean? No, it looks like you had a pile thrown on you. It was Kelly, wasn’t it? I heard her yelling at you. What did you do to her?”
Adam held out his towel. “Here, you finish this.”
Robbie didn’t take the towel. “I don’t want to go to town smelling like horse.”
“Then rub carefully. I need to go take a shower.”
Robbie still didn’t take the towel. “When Xander comes down with pneumonia, I’ll tell Kelly it was your fault.”
With a groan, Adam kept wiping.
“What did you do to her to make her do that to you? I know she dislikes you, but this is the worst yet.”
“Dislikes me? Kelly is going to be my sister-in-law. I’ve known her all her life. We’re friends.”
“Kelly can’t stand you. Everyone knows that.”
“Because Vera is going to leave with me?”
“No. Because you’re a know-it-all who thinks he owns the town. You’re a clone of Dad, but without his love of the place.”
Adam stopped rubbing and stared at his brother. “That’s not true. Dad lived in his own world. He was oblivious to anything outside it.”
“Just like you.” Rob was grinning, seeming to be glad that he’d upset his brother. “I gotta go. There’s no food in the house but I guess you’re too good to go to a grocery. The Great Hatten Heir. King on the football field, ruler of the basketball court, saving Africa, engaged to a girl who plans to change the world. It’s a wonder you don’t wear a cape and fly over us.”
The hostility behind his brother’s words left Adam speechless. He felt like he’d been hit with a baseball bat.
“See you at dinner. Maybe.” With a smile, Rob turned and left.
Adam thought he should demand to know where his brother was going, but he didn’t have the courage to ask. “I can’t wait to leave this place,” he muttered as he headed to the house and the shower.
* * *
Robbie wanted his brother to think he was heading off to some wild rendezvous but, as he often did, he was going to the Exton house. Vera was at work today, so there’d be no one to say, “Are you here again?” For the life of him, he couldn’t understand what Adam saw in her.