Stallion Magic. Deborah Fletcher Mello

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СКАЧАТЬ you going to the high school reunion? Noah was just saying that he might go and I was thinking about it.”

      Catherine shrugged her narrow shoulders. “I really hadn’t thought about it. Too much on my mind with the IPO process. Speaking of, how are we doing with all the reports the underwriters need?”

      “Still on schedule.”

      She nodded, then without another word, headed in the opposite direction.

      Behind the closed doors of her office, Catherine moved to the window, hoping for one last glimpse of Noah Stallion as he maneuvered through the parking lot to his car. She caught sight of him just as he reached his vehicle. She stood staring as he removed his suit jacket and laid it on his backseat.

      Gone were the wire-framed glasses, and there was nothing nerdy, thin or awkward about the man. The former high school jock had blossomed nicely, she thought, her gaze following as he slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine. Seconds later he pulled into traffic and disappeared from sight.

      Catherine moved to the bookcase behind her desk, searching the tomes that lined the shelves. Her friends had sent her a package recently, trying to entice her to attend their high school reunion. When she finally found what she was looking for, a copy of their high school yearbook, she pulled it into her hands and placed it on top of the desk. She flipped through the pages quickly until she found Noah’s yearbook picture. There had been no change to his smile and the shimmer in his dark eyes, both just as they’d been when he’d been a teen. Catherine felt herself grinning foolishly as she flipped from one photo to another: Noah and the football team, Noah running track, Noah on stage in a theater production, Noah’s senior portrait.

      She reached for her cell phone, hitting the speed dial for her best friend Camille Trent. “Hey, do you remember Noah Stallion?” she asked immediately when the line was answered.

      Camille laughed. “Yeah, he’s a police detective now. One of his brothers plays professional football and the other is a doctor. And he has two sisters. Why?”

      “I was just asking.”

      “You don’t call me in the middle of the afternoon to just ask a question like that for no good reason. Something must’ve made you inquire. Spill it!”

      “Apparently he’s interviewing for a job here in the Utah office.”

      “I haven’t seen him since his mother’s funeral.”

      “You went to his mother’s funeral?”

      “My mother and his mother went to the same church. I took mama to the funeral.”

      There was a pregnant pause as Catherine fell into her own thoughts, staring back out the window. “I think I might go to the class reunion after all,” she finally noted.

      Camille laughed again, the hearty snicker ringing loudly through the receiver. “You liked what you saw, didn’t you?”

      Catherine laughed with her. “He’s all right.”

      “Girl, you know that man is foine! So are his brothers.”

      “You ever date any of them?”

      “No, I never dated Noah.”

      “I said any of them...”

      “You meant Noah.”

      “Goodbye, Camille!”

      “Are you flying back to New York or will you be in town for a while longer?”

      “I’m boarding a plane in thirty minutes. I’ve got tickets to the theater tomorrow, so I’m headed home.”

      “You have a dozen homes. It’s hard to keep up!”

      Catherine smiled. “I’ve got to go.”

      “You do that,” Camille said, still giggling. “And you might want to call Crystal. I think she might have gone out with him,” she said as she disconnected the line.

      As the call went dead, Catherine shook her head. Friends since the crib, she, Camille and Crystal had cheered together in high school. They’d been joined at the hip and had been dubbed the Three Cs by their classmates. Catherine thought of Camille and Crystal as the sisters she’d never had and trusted them both with everything. There’d been a code of conduct they’d established early in their history, rules they lived by. No dating men the others had dated being one of them.

      With a deep breath, she pushed the speed dial for Crystal Baxter, the other leg in their trio. As the device rang in Catherine’s ear she wished a silent prayer that she, too, had never dated the likes of Noah Stallion.

       Chapter 2

      The day had been a long one, and when Noah pulled up to his Arlington Drive home, he wasn’t expecting to see his brother’s Jaguar sitting in front of his garage door. Inside the house, the television was blaring Monday-night football on his big-screen television. Voices echoed from the kitchen, and the smell of freshly fried chicken permeated the air. Moving into the space, he saw his two brothers standing at the kitchen counter. The Stallion bloodline ran deep and there was no denying their kinship. They each had the same rugged good looks, their features chiseled and their eyes haunting. Their complexions were a warm caramel brown, each looking as if they belonged to each other.

      “Howdy, big brother,” Nicholas Stallion greeted.

      Nathaniel Stallion waved a hand in Noah’s direction.

      “Hey, what are you two doing here?” he questioned. He dropped his keys, badge, and gun to the countertop.

      The two men cut an eye at each other both shrugging their broad shoulders.

      Noah looked from one to the other then shook his head. “And you’re cooking. It must be serious!”

      “It’s not,” Nicholas chimed.

      “It is,” Nathaniel quipped.

      Noah shook his head. “Let me grab a shower and unwind before you two hit me with any bad news,” he said as he turned in the direction of his bedroom.

      “Dinner should be ready in thirty,” Nicholas called out as he checked on the meat in the deep fryer.

      As Noah made his exit, the two brothers started to bicker, their muffled voices echoing in the distance. He couldn’t help but smile. When the duo had been younger, he would always have to intervene and mediate their disagreements. Despite their respective ages, some things never changed.

      Some minutes later Noah felt like a new man. Showered and refreshed he moved back to his family room. The kitchen table was set for three, and Nick was filling oversized mason jars with ice and lemonade.

      “Hey, do you remember Catherine Moore from high school?” Noah asked, interrupting the conversation the two men were having. “She was a cheerleader.”

      Both men paused, eyeing Noah then each other.

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