“Does your mom live with you?”

“I built a guest house at the ranch. She insisted, even though I thought it wasn’t necessary. She didn’t want my girlfriends thinking I’m a mama’s boy, even though I’m comfortable enough to tell the world I am.”

Trina was silent.

That’s when he remembered her conversation about her late husband . . . and his devotion to his mother being so deep the man couldn’t deal with her death. “I’m not him,” Wade said. The smile from his face fell slightly. “I love my mother, and the day she passes will be excruciating, I’m sure. But I will live without her when it comes.”

Trina studied her lap. “I’m sorry.”

“No, I am. I should have realized that might be a hard thing for you to hear.”

“I’m okay.”

He reached over and placed his hand over hers. “Let me tell you about my home.”

Chapter Thirteen

Trina had inherited Alice’s ranch. The sprawling home was a little over six thousand square feet, complete with a stable for the four horses, a corral, and a barn large enough for the tools and equipment someone needed to maintain the land. She’d been in Texas long enough to see a couple of impressive spreads that people called home.

Then she pulled through the gates of Wade’s home.

The frontage of the ranch closest to the road was home to a six-foot, tree-lined cinder block wall, perfectly manicured and maintained, before it opened into a set of double iron gates. Wade pressed a remote and let them in.

On one side of the drive was a split rail fence with grass and trees that seemed to go forever. Horses almost looked like yard art sprinkled onto the landscape. “How many horses do you have?”

“Ten,” he said. “No, wait . . . twelve.”

“You don’t know?”

“It was ten before the tour, but I seem to remember taking on two of the neighbors’, who were having a hard time keeping them fed.”

Trina scanned the fence line. “You have neighbors?”

Wade laughed and drove right by the modest house.

“Isn’t that . . . ?”

“No, that’s my caretaker’s.”

They drove around a corner. “That’s my mother’s home.”

This one was a little less modest, more like a three-thousand-square-foot custom home that could be found on many tracts in Texas, only this one had a wraparound porch and a separate garage.

Trina swiveled around just in time to take in what had to be the grand finale.

“Wow.”

It was sprawling, it was ranch, it was two stories . . . and it was huge!

“Being cooped up in hotels all the time makes me want to spread out when I’m home.”

“This is monstrous, Wade.”

Instead of pulling into a garage, he parked close to the steps leading to the front door and jumped out of the truck.

She was already halfway out the door when he reached for her hand. “Let me show you around the outside before we go in.”

A deep breath of country air felt energizing. “Did you have it built?”

“Rebuilt. The bones of the original house were here, along with the small barn and grazing land. The land is what sold me, that and the lake and creek that feeds it.”

“You have a lake?” Most of the places she’d been to had ponds or a man-made lake, not the real thing.

They walked around the east end of the home to take in the back of the property. Trina gasped. The home actually sat on a small knoll, and the land behind the house went on for miles. There were stables that looked like something belonging to prize Thoroughbreds that won big purses at the races. The corral could play home to a rodeo, except that the viewing area was a covered brick and wood structure instead of metal stands. Before the land sloped into acres, Wade had a swimming pool with waterfalls and hot tubs, as in two. Why one needed two hot tubs in a pool was beyond her. A massive covered freestanding patio for entertaining hosted an outdoor kitchen. And people. The place was brimming with workers setting up for the party the following day.

“You might not believe it, but this is a working cattle ranch.”

“Seriously?”

“Just under a hundred head of cattle beyond the lake.” He pointed in the distance.

Trina couldn’t see the lake.

“I’ll show you later.”

“Why cattle?” she asked.

He put his arm over her shoulders and winked. “Because this is Texas.”

“Ohhhkay,” she laughed.

“Well, hello, and who do we have here?”

A man close to Wade’s height and weight and swagger made his way to their side.

“Ike, this is Trina, the woman I told you about.”

“You mean the woman you said you were picking up from the airport but otherwise I know nothing about?”

Wade looked pleased with himself. “Yup, this would be her.”

Ike put out his hand and Trina took it. “If it makes you feel any better, he hasn’t told me a thing about you either.”

Ike laughed. “I do feel better.”

Another man approached from the other side.

Big guy, half a head taller than Wade, and eyes that looked through you even when he had a half smile on his face. “You must be a bodyguard.”

That half a smile fell.

Ike slapped the man’s arm. “She has your number already, Jeb.”

“What do you know about bodyguards?” Wade asked.

“I’ve had my share,” she said, glossing over his question. “I’m Trina.” She stuck out her hand for Mr. Muscle to shake.

“Jeb. Wade’s personal bodyguard.”

With a strong handshake. “I knew it.”

“Incoming,” Ike said under his breath.

Wade turned, his gaze falling on a blonde bombshell in blue jeans. The ex-girlfriend? She looked a little older than Wade, but who knew. Trina braced herself for confrontation and felt some relief when Wade placed his arm over her shoulders again.

Jeb and Ike stood aside, and Wade led her forward.

“Don’t be nervous,” he whispered in her ear.

“Too late,” she whispered back.

The blonde eyed her with a cautious grin.

“Mama, I’d like you to meet a friend of mine.”

Mama? This is Wade’s mother?

Trina was certain she showed the shock on her face.

“Trina, this is Vicki, my mother.”

“This is certainly a surprise,” Vicki said. Her eyes kept shifting between Trina’s and Wade’s.

“It’s a pleasure.” Trina extended her hand.

Vicki moved forward a little too quickly. “Trina, did you say?”

“Yup. Trina and I met in Florida at the end of the tour.”

“You’re the reason Wade took his time coming home.” There was a bit of ice lacing Vicki’s words.

“I am.”

“Let me guess, you met Wade after one of his concerts?”

“No, actually. I’ve never heard your son sing. Except for on the radio, but that would be hard to miss.”

Vicki offered an unbelieving laugh.

Trina glanced at Wade, whose face sat stoic.

Vicki slowly stopped laughing. “You’re not kidding.”

“No, Mama, she’s not.”

Awkward silence filled the space around them.

Trina attempted to fill it. “This looks like quite the party you have planned.”

“Yes, it is. I should get back to it. Will you be staying with us?” Vicki asked.

Trina almost said no.

Wade cut her off. “Yes.”

Vicki lifted her chin, smiled. “I see. Welcome, then. If you need anything . . .”

“Thank you.”

Vicki turned and walked away, leaving them alone.

“That was . . .”

“Uncomfortable,” Wade finished.

“Yeah, a little bit.”

They both watched the woman walk away in silence.

Trina cocked her head to the side when she saw one of the men unloading straw bales check out Vicki’s ass.

“Don’t take this the wrong way . . . but did your mom have you when she was twelve?”

Her question cut the tension. Wade pulled her close. “She wasn’t quite that young.”

“I thought she was your ex at first.”

Wade shook his head as if her words stung. “Lord, no.”

Trina turned her gaze away from Vicki and up at him. “If the chill from Mom was that cold, what will it be from the ex?”

Wade looked over her shoulder, offered another smile. “I have a bodyguard standing by.”

Trina dropped her forehead on his chest. “Oh, great.”

Wade showed Trina the room he wanted her in, the one closest to his, and encouraged her to make herself at home. Their weekend date wouldn’t be intimate by any stretch, but he did want to find a couple of hours for just the two of them. But first he needed a word with his mother.

He admitted that he didn’t often bring women around his mother, but she’d never been cold in the past. Why Trina was different was something he was going to get to the bottom of before the party.

Vicki stood by an outdoor stage, a semipermanent structure Wade had sung on many times since he’d had the home rebuilt to his needs. He half expected to see Jordyn by his mother’s side but was told by Ike that she wouldn’t be arriving until the next morning for a sound check.