Once Upon a Valentine Read Free Page B

around Tiny. Barber adopted horses people couldn’t take care of anymore.”
    Andrew lifted his hands, obviously at a loss. “Maybe the new owner will want them.” But he picked up his pace, as if he was in a hurry to get to his father’s place. Summer clucked to Max so they could keep up with him.
    They rounded the corner, and the entrance gate to the MacMillan farm came into view. Summer saw it through Andrew’s eyes—wild and overgrown, the fence sagging, the mailbox rusted. In the distance, the stables looked dilapidated, the roof choked with tangles of woody grapevines. The building where Barber had once maintained his veterinary office was almost completely obscured by bushes. And the house itself was rundown, badly in need of a paint job, flanked by clutter and sitting in an unkempt yard that was more weeds than grass.
    Andrew stopped and she saw his grip tighten on the urn. Emotions rolled off him. Sadness? Frustration?
    “I had no idea things had gotten this bad,” he murmured. “He didn’t tell me and I…”
    Didn’t ask. The unspoken words hung in the air.
    He reached into his pocket and pulled out the business card, juggling the urn while he pulled out a cell phone.
    Panic sparked in Summer’s stomach. “Andrew, everything looks ugly this time of the year. Please, don’t put the farm on the market until you’ve at least seen the horses.”
    “I’m afraid that won’t change my mind,” he said, punching in a number from the card. “Hello, Tessa? Andrew MacMillan.…Yes, thank you.…Yes, he was a good man.…I was wondering if you had time to stop by my dad’s place—”
    Summer plucked the phone from his hand, then disconnected the call.
    “What are you doing?” he snapped.
    She held his phone out of reach. “Your father dreamed of turning the Mane Squeeze into a horse-rescue center. Don’t you owe it to him to at least give it a shot?”
    Andrew shook his head, clearly perturbed. “I’m sorry, Summer. It’s a noble cause, but it would take a tremendous investment to turn this place into a rescue center. And all of my resources are invested in Manhattan.”
    The hard edge in his tone left no doubt he intended to sell the land to the highest bidder and hightail it back to New York. The horses would be left out in the cold…or worse.
    She angled her head. “What if I told you your father and I had a plan?”
    He frowned. “What kind of plan?”
    “A plan to make enough money to fund a horse-rescue center.”
    He rolled his eyes. “Another one of my father’s harebrained ideas, no doubt.”
    She pulled her long braid over one shoulder and held it up. “Not hare… hair. ”

3
    ANDREW STARED AT SUMMER. The woman had already knocked him for a loop with her golden good looks and lithe body. Now she was telling him she and his father had been scheming to turn the Mane Squeeze into a horse-rescue center…and it had something to do with her magnificent mane of hair?
    “I’m not following,” he said.
    She held up the end of her thick braid. “Your father invented a hair formula we were going to market.”
    He squinted. “Come again?”
    “He originally developed it for the horses’ manes and tails, but years ago I noticed how long and silky they were and I started using it myself. When I told my friends about it, they all started using it, too. Barber couldn’t make it fast enough. We were going to market it and use the money to fund the rescue center.”
    Andrew blinked. He vaguely remembered a generic spray bottle of some concoction his father always used to groom the horses, hanging on a hook in the stable. “A homegrown hair-growth formula?”
    “More like a conditioner. In my case, it makes my hair stronger and it grows longer.”
    He couldn’t deny she had gorgeous hair, but still.... “My father never mentioned anything about this to me.”
    “I know,” she said, suddenly unable to make eye contact. “He didn’t want to take advantage of your position.”
    Andrew