TRAILING TRISHA - A Black Hounds Motorcycle Club Romance (The Fox and the Hounds Book #2) (5 page)

Trisha got him some refreshments and chastised him for working so hard. The man was in his element working hands-on with a vehicle. Then again, so was she with making sure the farm was running effectively. She had to drag Dante from the hood of the truck when the sun came down.

To any onlookers, the two of them looked like a normal couple. There was no reason to act or be someone they weren’t. It was pure and simple fun.

“I think I figured it out,” he said triumphantly, drinking down a glass of freshly squeezed lemonade. “It’s one of the pistons in the engine. Its run cycle is behind the other pistons. That’s where the noise is coming from. It’s about a one in six million chance of that happening as a manufacture’s defect in a brand new vehicle. Usually, it occurs from wear and tear or consistently driving in harsh conditions.”

Trisha brought him a plate of pasta primavera. “Sounds serious.”

“No, it’s more of a performance issue than a safety hazard that keep your from driving,” he said, immediately scarfing down the food. “Still, I’d call up the dealership and give them hell. They’ll probably give you a fleet of trucks to hush you up!”

With his shirt stained with dirt and engine grease, the man looked more rugged than ever. His eating habits were much less refined. The man ate like a puppy at a banquet. Then again, it could be taken as a sign of appreciation. “I cooked enough for another serving.”

Suddenly, Dante looked serious. “Trisha, what do you feel about doing an interview with me for an automobile website?

“An interview?” she asked. Then she realized that she didn’t have much of a choice. This was now her job. “Sure, I guess I’m up for it. What do I have to do?”

“I’ll be doing most of the talking since it’ll be about our business,” he began. “The idea is make it look like I’m committed to a healthy relationship. Lucia and her staff will coach you through what you have to say.”

Trisha leaned forward in interest. “As long as I don’t have to take any pop quizzes on the history of motorcycle clubs.”

“The only thing you’ll be quizzed on would be how romantic I was when I proposed to you.”

“Proposal?” Trisha said, before slapping her forehead. “I forgot about that. You and Lucia are really serious about this, aren’t you?”

Dante chuckled, holding up his hands in defense. “It’s a good thing I led up with that interview. I think it’ll probably look better if we get engaged before going on another media blitz. It’ll make us look more official. Are you ready for that, Trisha?”

“Who is ever ready for engagement?” the woman giggled nervously. “I suppose I’m ready for a fake engagement. I hope the diamond ring you have for me is real.”

The biker grinned. “Trust me, we’ll be breaking the budget on that rock.”

Trisha shrugged and rubbed her forehead. “Hopefully, there isn’t any controversy when we separate...”

“Maybe we’ll end up having a wedding if our IPO gets delayed!” Dante joked, trying to lighten the mood. “We’d have to hire a wedding planner just to set up everything. I guess you’ll have to get involved to really sell the ceremony. What wedding is complete without the blushing bride to be micromanaging everything?”

The farm girl sighed. “To tell you the truth, I’ve never given much thought to getting married.”

Dante did a double take. “Seriously? I thought fretting about their big wedding day was genetically hard-wired into women. Even Lucia told me of her perfect wedding back when we were kids.”

“Did it involve a motorcycle race to win her hand in marriage?” Trisha smirked before becoming serious again. The Kaplan family never had much money to their name. As a child, she dreamt of the farm becoming successful rather than any romantic aspirations. “I never thought that I’d ever leave Foxtail Farms. I always believed I’d live and die here.”

The biker glanced around the house. “There are a lot worse places than the home you grew up in. At least you built this place up with your own two hands.”

Trisha knew he was thinking of his dead mother but didn’t say anything. “When you choose me, you probably didn’t expect me to be so boring.”

“You’re everything I expected you to be and more, Trisha.”

The man knew how to work his God given charm. Trisha turned flush as she took away Dante’s empty plate. “If it comes down to a wedding… I have no clue who I should invite. All my relatives are in the grave or so distant that they might as well be second cousins living on Mars.”

“You can invite your workers,” Dante suggested. “They might as well be your family.”

Trisha nodded. “Hypnotically, who would you bring to a wedding? I’m sure Lucia would be there. Your uncle too?”

“Uncle Cass was never much for shindigs like weddings,” he chuckled. “He even declined being my father’s best man so that honor went to his sergeant at arms. Still, Uncle Cass did give a very generous wedding gift to my parents.”

“What was it? A down payment on their new house?”

He leaned back in chair and folded his arms behind his head. “A Ducati Apollo!”

“Boys and their toys,” Trisha said, rolling her eyes. “I’m sure your mother was thrilled.”

“She rode it around a few times before deciding she definitely preferred vehicles with airbags,” Dante grinned, recalling the memory. It was before his birth but he had seen the wedding photos. There were even a few videos on thirty-five millimeter film and VHS. “Besides, she got some nice earrings from Uncle Cass as an extra present.”

“I guess that’s the cost of business for marrying a biker,” Trisha laughed. “It sounds like your mother made off like a bandit marrying the Alastair boys.”

Dante shook his head. “No, her family, the Fleur dynasty, were one of the wealthiest families in the area. They descended from some Count in medieval France. Compared to the rest of a very poor town, they considered themselves to be royalty. They thought of the Alastair family as trash that squandered their wealth on motorcycles and cheap alcohol. They also believed that said wealth came from robbery and arson.”

“I take it they didn’t take kindly to their daughter marrying your father.”

“My mother had to sneak out to meet him once her parents found out that their relationship was more than a simple friendship,” he continued. Trisha recalled that Dante’s father had begun a relationship with his mother to make up for his reputation. “When she became an adult, my mother ran away to elope with my father. Mom’s brother, Uncle Samwise, kept in contact with us. However, the rest of her family cut her off. She had her inheritance taken away. It was worth a king’s ransom at the time.”

Trisha’s eyes widened in shock. “They wrote her out of their will?”

Dante gave her a half-grin. “Honestly, I couldn’t blame them. Their prized daughter ran off with that trouble-making Alastair boy.”

“Still, throwing out family like she was like some leper…”

“We’ve patched things over with mom’s side of the family,” he replied. “They started talking after Lucia and I were born. Things weren’t exactly amicable but they were happy my mother was safe and taken care for. Then, our families finally mended those fences after mom got sick…”

It was her cue to change the subject. “So… I’ll be a bit busy this week just getting the farm to run without me. I figure it’ll be better in the long run if I do this now rather than later. It’ll give us more free time for each other.”

He reached out to touch her hand over the table. “Will you be free for dinner next week?”

His touch was electric as though she was doing electrical work without being grounded. “Next week sounds good, Dante.”

“It’s a date.”

Trisha knew they could make it work. Their relationship was a lie but it didn’t have to be an unconvincing lie. It didn’t have to be unenjoyable lie either. Besides, she would soon be engaged to him.

Dante was a sweet, charming man right out of her dreams. He was the knight in shining armor she had imagined as a child. Their time together would be short but there was no reason not to make the most of it. It was a fleeting dream before she came crashing down into reality.

She’d just have to keep her distance.

Dante pulled up the following week in a luxury sedan. The biker was just as home in front of a steering wheel as he was behind a handlebar. Any media presence that followed them would notice the playboy biker leaving behind his usual assortment of high performance motorcycles in favor of a more traditional vehicle. More importantly, Trisha would appreciate the comfort of riding on something that had airbags.

His date looked stunning as she descended the stairs.

Their interactions had been limited to phone calls and Skype exchanges over the past few days. He missed her like a man on a desert missed fresh water. The sight of her was like seeing an oasis after days of thirst.

The days at the office were already boring before he met Trisha. Now, it was practically torture waiting for a meeting to end. Dante recalled how he would count the minutes until the bell would ring in class during his childhood. Even when he was out riding through the countryside, his thoughts kept drifting back to her.

Lucia had shipped his date a silky black dress with a satin white sash. Although it revealed quite a bit of the farm girl’s legs, it was more modest than what she wore at the car show. She looked less Angelina Jolie and more Audrey Hepburn. More importantly, Trisha looked more confident this time around.

This would be the night he would propose to her.

He and Lucia had gone back and forth on this. She wanted to wait. He wanted to pounce on the opportunity when it was red hot. Media presence during the date would be minimum but it would undoubtedly gain traction.

More than anything else, he wanted to be with Trisha.

The biker had put on his best dress suit for the occasion. The feel of a nice Swiss stitched dinner jacket was alien to him. He preferred the weight and the texture of a leather jacket. Nevertheless, it was an easy sacrifice to make if he could play the role of the charming, sophisticated dinner date for Trisha’s sake.

He took her hand in his guided her to the car’s side door. Her skin was surprisingly cool against his. It was almost witchlike with how she did this to him. Then again, it could be the humid weather in the area.

Lucia had wanted a chauffeur but Dante decided to drive himself. Letting go off the standard nine-three steering hold, he reached out to place an arm around Trisha’s back. Her hair tickled his skin and her sweet yet spicy perfume caught his attention.

Over the phone, Trisha had revealed she made her own perfume from leftover fruit and peppers that weren’t good enough for eating. The woman’s practicality was endearing. He would’ve offered to buy her some high class perfume bottles if he didn’t enjoy her homemade scent. No manufactured perfume bottle could match her personal touch.

No matter how this went down, Dante knew he’d still support Trisha and her farm. Foxtail Farms reminded him of the Black Hound Motorcycle Club back in the old days. It was as much of a family as it was a business.