Excerpt from Chapter 12 of Ginger’s Heart, a modern fairytale, by Katy Regnery. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
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An hour later they stopped by the Glenn River, eight miles downriver from Ginger’s house and two from the distillery where Cain had partied last night.
“We should water them,” he said, reining in Thunder and dismounting with the ease of a lifelong horseman.
She reined in Heath, who nickered in protest, and grinned down at Cain who reached up for her. His hands lingered for an extra moment on her hips as she slid down the front of his body. Leaning her head back, she stared up at him, daring him to pull her closer, to kiss her, to admit that this whole “friends” thing was bullshit on fire. But, he clenched his jaw, cleared his throat and dropped his hands.
“Thanks,” she murmured, her voice husky in her ears as he stared down at her, his eyes flinty and dark.
Taking Heath’s reins with a grunt, he turned away from her, leading the horses to the river’s edge and leaving her to follow behind. She leaned down to pick up a flat stone and skipped it across the slow moving water.
“Not bad,” said Cain.
“You were always the best.”
“Nah,” he said. “Woodman was better.”
“Nope,” she countered, picking up another stone. “Woodman was good, but you were better. Remember that Fourth of July that you skipped eleven times? Eleven times. It was a record.”
Satisfied that the horses were calm and drinking their fill, Cain leaned down and grabbed a rock of his own, skipping it over the dark water.
One-two-three-four-five-six-seven…
“Wow!” she said, clapping lightly. “You’ve still got the touch!”
He turned to her, grinning. “You always get excited about the littlest things. What’s it like gettin’ a kick out of everythin’, Gin?”
“What’s it like gettin’ a kick out of nothin’, Cain?” she asked, her voice full of sass.
“I’m gettin’ a kick out of you right now, princess.”
A charge zapped between them as the words left his mouth, and her breath hitched and held for just a moment, but she looked down and picked up another rock. She was enjoying today too much to go back to Awkwardland.
She skipped her rock, which sunk after three measly hops.
“Remember when you saved my Cabbage Patch doll from certain doom in this river?” she asked him.
He screwed up his face as her. “Wasn’t me. Must have been Woodman.”
“It was you!” she insisted. “Not Woodman!”
“Savin’ a dolly? Please. That has Woodman written all over it. I couldn’t have cared less if it drowned.”
“But I cared,” she said softly. “Which is why you saved it.”
“Fine. Have it your way,” he said, sitting down on a large rock near the water’s edge.
She sighed, squatting down to wash her hands in the clear water before looking back at him. “Why do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Let Woodman take credit for all the good things?”
He shrugged, looking away from her, out at the water. “I don’t.”
“You just did. Twice.”
He sighed, giving her a long-suffering look. “If somethin’ good happened, chances were, it was Woodman’s doin’.”
“How do you figure?”
“He’s the better man, Gin,” said Cain, his eyes severe, his words deliberate.
She stood up slowly, turning her body completely to face him. “Do you really believe that?”
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~ABOUT KATY REGNERY~
Katy Regnery, award-winning and Amazon bestselling author, started her writing career by enrolling in a short story class in January 2012. One year later, she signed her first contract for a winter romance entitled By Proxy.
Now exclusively self-published, Katy claims authorship of the multi-titled Blueberry Lane Series which follows the English, Winslow, Rousseau, Story and Ambler families of Philadelphia, the four-book, bestselling a modern fairytale series, the standalone novel, Playing for Love at Deep Haven and a standalone novella, Frosted.
Katy’s first modern fairytale romance, The Vixen and the Vet, was nominated for a RITA® in 2015, and four of her books: The Vixen and the Vet (a modern fairytale), Never Let You Go (a modern fairytale), Falling for Fitz(The English Brothers #2) and By Proxy (Heart of Montana #1) have been #1 genre bestsellers on Amazon.
Katy lives in the relative wilds of northern Fairfield County, Connecticut, where her writing room looks out at the woods, and her husband, two young children, and two dogs create just enough cheerful chaos to remind her that the very best love stories begin at home.
~CONNECT WITH KATY~
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