Behind Closed Doors by Debbi Rawlins Page A

Kitty was fond of him, too, but if he ever got serious about getting rid of the garden she’d probably serve him his balls for breakfast.
    Woody was leading the new mare toward the east corral when Nathan walked out from between the hedges. Big John and Troy were loading fence posts onto one of the trucks, and all three men did double takes. Hell, it wasn’t that big a deal. A man had a right to walk through his own garden.
    He cringed...even the thought sounded weird. Hoping to avoid Woody’s meddlesome observations, Nathan veered toward the stables.
    If he heard Beth’s name one more time, Nathan was going to gag the old man. Better yet, call his bluff and force him to go on the vacation he’d been threatening to take for eight years. The minute Nathan had returned from town yesterday, Woody had started with the questions and making noises about it being time Nathan got back in the saddle before certain body parts stopped working. It would’ve been funny if the old man wasn’t serious.
    Even if Nathan was considering dipping his toe in the water, Bethany wasn’t the woman for him. Not for the long haul anyway. She was pretty and outgoing, but she wouldn’t last long in Blackfoot Falls. He’d bet she’d bought the old boardinghouse on a whim and hadn’t given enough thought to the renovation. She should’ve been going full speed, getting the outside work finished before the first snow, then moving to the inside on wintry days. And not installing new shutters that would have to come down again, just to make the place look nice. That dilapidated old building needed a lot more than shutters to look anywhere near decent.
    She had a lot of energy and enthusiasm, he’d give her that. And looking at the glass as half-full wasn’t a bad attitude. That same sort of optimism had helped him get the Lucky 7 off the ground. But it only worked with a healthy dose of common sense. No, Bethany wasn’t the type for him. He’d already had one idealistic woman in his life, and that had ended tragically. For everyone.
    Nearing the stable, he saw Craig brushing Romeo outside the tack room up front. Anne had named the stallion. He was a handsome chestnut, and the lousy name had stuck in Nathan’s craw, but again he’d allowed her that small win.
    He never made decisions—especially ones that mattered—based solely on emotions. He didn’t understand whimsical thinking. Maybe that was why he hadn’t known his own wife. Though she’d apparently understood him well enough to hide certain things from him. Fanciful things. Like her dreams of being on the stage, in the spotlight. She knew he would’ve been confused or assumed she was joking. He might’ve blamed her friend Bella for filling Anne’s head with nonsense and dragging her to those crazy auditions. But it was more likely that he’d have dismissed the whole thing.
    He just wished he’d had a clue. Then maybe Anne wouldn’t have ended up on the highway headed for Kalispell that night. Maybe she wouldn’t have died.
    Craig looked up from brushing Romeo, but Nathan wasn’t in the mood to talk so he skirted the stables and kept walking toward the equipment shed.
    Dammit, he didn’t need all this crap surfacing again. He’d rehashed everything a thousand times already. He would never know how their lives might’ve turned out if they’d been more honest with each other. If he’d realized she had a dream of her own. One that hadn’t necessarily included him.
    If he wanted to feel guilty, he had plenty of other reasons. The strained ties with his family were all on him. He’d shut everyone out. The worst part was, he’d isolated himself for so long he wasn’t having an easy time letting people back in. Not even his brothers. And Clint and Seth had always been his best friends.
    Yet spending time with Bethany had been surprisingly easy. If she knew anything about him, or about Anne, which wasn’t farfetched in a place like Blackfoot Falls, Bethany hadn’t let