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to a minimum. “I don’t think it’s the school so much as not having a choice.”
    His eyes widened. “Exactly! My path was mapped out for me and I didn’t think I could change it. Will’s the person who finally convinced me I could.”
    “I’m glad he did. You seem totally at home here.”
    “I am.” He sighed with obvious satisfaction. “My mom’s starting to accept my decision, which is nice. She was upset about the divorce, but Elise would never have adjusted to ranch life. She told me she’d married a guy who wore tuxes and three-piece suits. She had no interest in living with John Wayne.”
    Valerie didn’t know if the coziness of the dry barn had encouraged him to talk about himself, but she welcomed the chance to know him better. Poor guy. Neither his family nor his wife had valued the real Adam Templeton.
    “For what it’s worth,” she said, “I think you’re a vast improvement over John Wayne.”
    “You mean because I’m alive?”
    She laughed. “Well, there’s that, but I—”
    “Wow. That’s the first time I’ve seen you laugh.”
    “It is? That can’t be right.”
    “You haven’t laughed the whole time you’ve been coming out here. I would have remembered if you had.”
    She wondered if he realized how much he’d revealed with that one remark. He’d been paying attention to her, all right. Very close attention. The implication of that sent a shiver of pleasure up her spine.
    He cleared his throat. “So I guess you’re making progress, huh?”
    “I think so. I plan to tackle riding in the office elevator on Monday.”
    “Great idea.” He hesitated. “Want me to ride it with you?”
    “That would be silly.” But she had to admit the task would be much easier with his solid presence. “Comforting as it would be to have you there, I can’t ask you to come downtown just to ride an elevator with me.”
    “Then we’ll throw in lunch.”
    Her chest tightened. He was asking her out. She hadn’t accepted a date from anyone since the fire because she hadn’t wanted to risk an embarrassing meltdown. But he’d already seen her lose control. He knew all about her issues.
    “We don’t have to have lunch,” he said quietly. “I could just ride the elevator with you and leave.”
    She realized then that the invitation wasn’t all about her. If she’d guessed right, he hadn’t asked a woman for a date since before he was married. He might be rich, and he might be confident when dealing with his finances or with his horses, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t vulnerable in this area.
    “I’d love to have lunch with you,” she said. “And I’ll save my elevator ride for when you show up at my office. We’ll go down together.”
    “Okay.” He still seemed uneasy. “I’m not trying to push you into anything, though. It’s just lunch.”
    She met his gaze. “I like you, Adam. I like you a lot.”
    His response was velvet-soft. “Likewise, Valerie.” Heat flared in his silver eyes for a brief moment before his expression changed and he was all business. “We’d best get started on today’s project before the hour gets away from us.”
    “Right.” She took a deep breath and tried to regain her mental balance. She’d suddenly pictured how the hour could really get away from them if he moved even one step closer. “What’s on tap for today?”
    “Since it’s raining, we could work with Rocket Fuel in his stall, if you’re up to it. Might be good practice for the elevator ride.”
    “Sure.” During her last session she’d walked into the horse’s stall, clipped the lead rope onto his halter, and led him out to the hitching post. Grooming him in the stall shouldn’t bother her.
    “The caddy’s all set to go.”
    “I’ll get it.” She walked into the tack room and grabbed the plastic container. The barn had become a familiar place to her, and she loved feeling at ease there.
    As they walked down the aisle, she noticed heads poking out from most of the