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and glanced over her shoulder. “Thank you.”
    She grunted and stomped back into the house.

Chapter Four
    Andy couldn’t believe he was at the airport, picking up Alexis. He could have refused and not shown up, but that was not only poor manners but poor business. Although Andy didn’t much like the senator, he definitely wasn’t in the mood to spend any time with a spoiled rich girl. Andy was not a man who could be guided around by his nose hairs, which was exactly what his mother was doing by having him pick up Alexis. For the first time ever, he was actually following through. Usually, Andy would have no problem not picking up this rich, prissy thing, and he wouldn’t have really cared what people would think. The only reason he was there now was because of Jed.
    He loved his cousin. He’d come a long way in repairing their relationship. In the spring, Jed had set out on the new stallion he’d got at auction. He was training him, a raucous beast, to be his lead horse when he took riders out. What Jed had been thinking, Andy still didn’t know, but Jed loved a challenge, and that stallion had been nothing but. Red, the stallion, had thrown Jed up past the meadow, and it had been well past dark when he and a very pregnant Diana found Jed with a broken leg and cracked ribs. That night had brought them closer, helping to heal the rift between them that had been caused by what he’d done to Diana as a child. She was the woman he would go to his grave loving, a woman who’d never be his.
    Jed was the only Friessen to live off what he earned. He wouldn’t take a red cent from his daddy. Both he and Diana had worked damn hard to turn his unsuccessful horse-riding outfit into something with a reasonable income. The fact that Andy’s own mother was cozy with Senator Johnston and knew all about Jed and Diana’s expansion to therapeutic riding for disabled kids, and the funding they had approached the state for, set alarm bells ringing.
    Andy had always been careful with his mother, making sure that she never knew his weakness. She was sly, with all the characteristics of a black widow lying in wait. The bite was subtle, but a painful poison would spread through, taking hold of each victim. Andy had sworn he’d never be one, but here he stood in Paine Field, the small airport in Snohomish county, waiting for Alexis to disembark the private jet she’d just flown in on. The plane was now taxiing down the runway toward the terminal, and he watched through the window as the stairwell wheeled over to the jet and the door popped open. A tall, leggy brunette dressed in dark pants, heeled boots, and a white fur coat climbed down and strode toward the terminal. The door was opened by a security guard. The brunette had long, wavy hair, and she stopped just inside the terminal. She glanced around until she locked eyes with Andy. He, of course, could have made it easier and stepped toward her, but he was still pissed at being forced to be here, so his first impression of this chit was one of irritation. She may have been a nice enough girl or a snob, but even though she was quite lovely, he wasn’t interested in stoking her fire. She strode toward him, her head high and her shoulders back, with the powerful confidence of a woman who knew exactly what she wanted.
    “You must be Andy Friessen.” She stuck out her hand and stared at him with icy blue eyes.
    “I am indeed. You must be Alexis Johnston.” He accepted her soft hand, a firm handshake.
    She smiled, flashing brilliant, straight white teeth. She reminded him so much of the women he’d dated in the past, but it had been a long while since he’d dated anyone, and she did nothing to entice him.
    “You have bags?” Andy asked, just as a uniformed man pushed a cart with three large suitcases toward him.
    “Ma’am, where would you like me to put your bags?” The young, dark-haired airport employee stared at Andy.
    “My truck’s this way.” He started walking to the