Read Online Affair of the Heart by Joan Wolf - Free Book Online Page A

career. She wanted a man— the man—and marriage and a family. It might be considered a disgraceful ambition for a woman in this day and age, but still, there it was. It was all she had ever wanted, ever since she was a little girl playing with dolls. She held down an interesting job. She did it well, because she was bright, well-educated and conscientious. But she had always regarded it as a temporary thing.
    The career she wanted was marriage. It was that simple old-fashioned desire that accounted for her two abortive engagements. When she had gotten engaged to Cliff her college friends had thought she was crazy to tie herself down so early, but Caroline had known what she was doing. The problem was that Cliff had not been the right man. Nor had Gerald, although the life Gerald offered was the life she wanted: a big old house filled with dogs and (as soon as Caroline could manage it) children, a stable full of horses, beautiful countryside—a life more gracious than that at the Double Diamond but in essence not all that different.
    It was the sort of life Caroline knew she would love, a life close to nature, to earth and grass and animals, a life where people had roots in the land. But the place was no good unless the man was the right one. Caroline had always hoped that one day the man would appear who would provide the complete answer to all her longings. But so far, he hadn’t. So far ...
    At this point in her thoughts Caroline pulled herself up short. Good God, surely she couldn’t seriously be regarding Jay Hamilton in that light? There were sexual sparks between them, all right, but that was all. Marriage was a lot more than sex—although the sex had to be there too. It was a terrible pity, she thought sadly, that she hadn’t reacted to Gerald the way she did to Jay. The mixture of Gerald’s personality and Jay’s sex appeal would have been just perfect.
    She yawned, suddenly sleepy. Oh well, she thought as she got back into bed, no use stewing about it. She was leaving on Wednesday. She’d go to Maine, she thought, and spend some time with her uncle. He always made her feel better. On that thought Caroline fell asleep.
     

Chapter Seven
     
    Caroline awoke quite late the following morning. There was no one in the kitchen when she went downstairs, so she made herself some coffee and toast. Then she wandered down to the barn, which was deserted as well. Dusty was in the corral, and Caroline fetched a halter and lead line and brought him in. She curried and brushed him until he gleamed and then tacked him up. Spots and Danny, the spaniel and German shepherd, sat and watched her the whole time she worked. When she mounted and moved out of the yard, they made to follow her. “No, boys,” she said firmly. “I think you’d better stay here.” They looked dejected but obediently flopped back down, and Caroline walked Dusty down the road toward the end of the valley and the mountains.
    She rode for several hours and came back past the big grassy pasture that was a mile or so from the house. It covered several enclosed acres, and the horses were often turned out there to graze. Today, however, there was just one horse and rider inside and a lineup of men on the rails watching. Curious, Caroline rode over to see what was going on.
    The men turned when she arrived and thenexchanged glances among themselves. Caroline made the Double Diamond hands distinctly uncomfortable. She was too beautiful, too sophisticated, too out of their ken. They didn’t know how to talk to her. And they sensed Jay’s antagonism as well. So when Caroline offered a friendly smile and asked, “What’s going on?” there was a moment of uneasy silence.
    “Jim’s riding Mahogany,” Frank Adams finally said reluctantly.
    Caroline’s eyes went to the horse in the field. He was a beautiful dark bay stallion with the most gorgeous sweeping tail Caroline had ever seen. His mane was full too, and as he came down the fence line it billowed