Don't Dare a Diamond - Stacey Joy Netzel

1

July

Lakewood, CO

Raine Diamond wasn’t used to being ignored. She may be twenty-five, but she was still the baby of her family, and the only girl out of five kids. She’d graduated valedictorian of her high school class, and summa cum laude from the University of Texas.

She was a world-class show jumper, having already won a gold medal in the Youth Olympic Games at eighteen, with aspirations of making the U.S. Olympic team in the near future. Possibly even next year. Her grandfather was a real estate mogul, her parents ran a multi-billion dollar investment firm, and one uncle was a senator, the other head of a jewelry empire.

She was a Diamond.

And what was he? A stable boy.

Well…man. A stable man who made her pulse race like never before—and that scared the crap out of her.

She fidgeted with the seam on the back pocket of her jeans as she stood in her uncle’s kitchen with her cousin, Shelby, her brother, Axel, and Reyes Torrez.

She didn’t usually act like an entitled little rich bitch, but for some reason, Reyes triggered the need to prove she was worth looking at. By him. But while her heart went completely haywire at the sight of his thick-lashed green eyes and sun-kissed, caramel-colored hair, he gave her a cool, heat-inducing once-over, met her gaze long enough for her to offer a nervous smile, and then dismissed her without a second glance.

As he easily joked and laughed with her cousin and brother, she battled a foreign insecurity that left her confused and annoyed. Then he left without so much as a, “Nice to meet you.”

Who was he to act as if she didn’t even exist?

If he’d been into Shelby, she’d have understood. Heck, even if he had a girlfriend, he could’ve simply been pleasantly polite. That’s what people did when they met someone new—or were reintroduced after nearly ten years. But the way he’d openly ignored her had been an outright snub. The more she thought about it, the more offended she became.

She stewed all through brunch, only briefly distracted when her cousin Merit dropped a bombshell on the whole family that he and his girlfriend, Mae, were having a baby. Apparently, the girlfriend part had been news, too?

Uncle Mark didn’t take it well, and after a dramatic argument, Merit stormed out, Mae followed, then Aunt Janine. After the meal came to an awkward end, her brothers and cousins and their significant others cleared the table and did dishes before settling back around the patio. While they discussed the drama and caught up, she couldn’t stop glaring across the lawn toward the stables.

After a few minutes, she got up and wandered inside the house. They were staying one more night, so she’d have plenty of time for visiting, but right now she was restless. Bored with the conversation around the table—and irritated by repeated flashes of Reyes’ rude slight.

If only she hadn’t sent Diamond Fire home to Texas with their trainer. After they’d won their event yesterday, he’d more than earned a few days rest at home, but now she couldn’t go down to the stables with the excuse of checking on her champion baby.

Seeing her mom and Aunt Janine coming down the stairs, Raine seized on a different idea. “Aunt Jan, would it be possible for me to borrow one of your horses for an hour or so?” She rarely went a day without riding, but she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been on the back of a horse just for fun.

“Of course.” Her aunt gave her a distracted smile, clearly still focused on the earlier brunch drama. “Just ask Estefan or Reyes who could use some exercise.”

Her pulse skipped at the mention of the second name. “Thank you.”

She hurried upstairs to change and tucked her black V-neck T-shirt into tan breeches before pulling on black, knee-high, leather riding boots. She felt a little bad not asking Shelby to go with her, but her cousin knew her too well and would see right through this move.

When she reached the stables a few minutes later, she had a hard time catching her breath, and it had nothing to do with her speed walk down the curvy driveway. As she approached the open doors, her heart lodged in her throat, and a mass of anxiety writhed in her stomach. She desperately wanted to see him, yet also hoped he was nowhere around, because really, what was she going to say?

Notice me.

Yeah, that wouldn’t sound pathetic and self-centered at