Don't Dare a Diamond (Must Love Diamonds Book 5) Read online

  Don’t Dare a Diamond

  Must Love Diamonds - Book 5

  Stacey Joy Netzel

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  Contents

  Newsletter

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Epilogue

  Thank You

  About the Author

  Other Titles By Stacey Joy Netzel

  Chasin’ Mason Blurb/excerpt

  Nikki -

  You know how they say you can pick your friends but not your family? Well, if we weren’t family, I’d still pick you.

  I am so thankful to have you (and the rest of your family) in my life.

  Love you always!

  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 all.

  She stepped inside the barn and scanned for Reyes, only to find the place deserted. Initial relief was quickly replaced by disappointment, until she realized just because she didn’t see him didn’t mean he wasn’t around. Shelby had said he lived in an apartment above the barn.

  Squaring her shoulders, she held her chin high as she ventured farther inside. Like at home, the aisles were immaculate, and a deep inhale filled her lungs with the beloved scents of horse, hay, and leather. Heads turned her way, delicate ears swiveling and perking up as pairs of curious brown eyes watched her approach.

  She stopped in front of a stall halfway down the aisle and studied the bay thoroughbred inside. The gelding’s shiny coat was a rich red, complimented by a silky, jet-black forelock, mane, and tail. He was a big boy like Fire, his withers the same height as her five feet, two inches, putting him at almost sixteen hands tall.

  He turned his head with a soft whicker, and she stepped back when he moved forward to extend his head over the stall door. She let him sniff her hand, then stroked his neck as he lipped at her palm.

  “Hello, gorgeous.” While rubbing his forehead and laying her cheek against his velvety soft black muzzle, she glanced at the engraved name plate on his stall door.

  RazMaTaz.

  “Tell me big guy, do they call you Raz, or Taz?” she mused out loud.

  “That’s Taz.”

  Her breath caught as she whirled around to see an older gentleman step through a door off to her right. He carried an English saddle over one arm, and a bridle in the other hand.

  “Raine?”

  “That’s me,” she confirmed with a smile.

  “Hi. I’m Estefan. Janine called and said you were looking for a mount.”

  Earlier, she’d heard Shelby tell
Merit’s girlfriend Estefan was Reyes’ father. She could also see the resemblance to his son in his olive-toned features and brown eyes from their Spanish heritage. The elder Torrez had a mustache peppered with gray in comparison to his son’s neatly trimmed goatee.

  “Can I ride him?” she asked hopefully as she stroked the bay’s nose. Forget going for a trail ride, she’d love to see what the horse could do on a course.

  “Taz is my son’s horse,” he advised with a hint of apology in his tone. “No one rides him but Reyes.”

  She blinked in surprise to learn he had his own horse here. None of their employees kept their horses at the Diamond stables in Texas. Not to mention, the gelding looked to be easily worth twenty grand. Maybe more.

  “I’ll be saddling Stimpy for you. He could use some exercise.”

  Stimpy?

  Did he not know what she did for a living? She smoothed out her wrinkled nose as she turned, anticipating an old, gentle gelding for beginners.

  Estefan slid the stall door open, giving Raine a good look at a regal chestnut with a mass of wavy, reddish-brown mane. Smaller than Taz, the more delicate build and refined features pointed toward Arabian, and she grinned with anticipation. Okay, she could definitely live with Stimpy—which upon a closer look at his nameplate, looked to be short for Rumplestiltskin.

  “Your aunt assures me you can handle some fire?”

  “Of course.” She gave Taz a final, longing stroke along his muzzle before crossing the aisle. “I’ve been riding my Trakhener, Diamond Fire, since I was seventeen, and I can assure you, he lives up to his name.”

  He nodded, clearly well-versed with the athletic attributes of her jumper’s breed.

  “Is it okay for me to take Stimpy out on the trails? Just for an hour or so.”

  “You remember them?” he asked with an arch of his brows.

  “I do. I know it’s been a while,” she said with a shrug, “but as long as they haven’t changed…”

  “No, no changes,” he assured her. “Warm him up in the arena, get a feel for how he handles, and you should be good.”

  He wasn’t telling her anything she didn’t know, but she nodded anyway. “Thanks.”

  Used to taking care of her own mounts, she stepped forward to saddle the gelding, but Estefan would hear nothing of it. Minutes later, he gave her a leg up and a few tips on the Arabian’s personality, then left them with, “Enjoy your ride.”

  She didn’t remember him.

  Reyes knew the moment Raine Diamond gave him that warm, interested smile up at the main house, she didn’t remember treating him like a smear of manure on the heels of her polished English riding boots during a summer visit ten years ago. His sixteen year old ego had taken a hit, but the memory of two fifteen year old girls drooling over his older brother wasn’t what rekindled his resentment after all this time.

  It was the fact she hadn’t even seen him back then. Dev had been twenty at the time, home on military leave, enjoying his R&R at the pool while hanging out with Loyal and Asher. Reyes had been invisible down in the stables, mucking stalls, sweeping aisles, stacking hay. Fine, he had a job to do. But when he’d finished his shift and joined the rest of ‘em, the pretty, brunette Diamond cousin hadn’t given him the time of day as she pranced around in her little red bikini.

  To her, he’d just been a stable boy. The hired help who’d been shoveling manure while she and Bells went for a joy ride earlier that morning. Of all the years he’d grown up hanging with the Diamond kids, even knowing the gulf of privilege that separated their families, he’d never once felt less than any one of them—until that day.

  That feeling came roaring back again today. Didn’t matter that he’d caught a flare of interest in the now twenty-five year old’s hazel eyes, it was the knowing she didn’t recall snubbing him that hit the hardest. To her, he hadn’t even been worth remembering.

  The irony of that pissing him off was a real kick in the ass. These days, he wanted to fade into the background. Since getting out of the Army almost a year ago and coming home, he made sure his usual happy-go-lucky smile and carefree attitude kept everyone from seeing all the shit he kept bottled up inside.

  The only one who suspected how deep it went was Dev, but ninety-nine percent of the time he was training or on a mission, so other than the occasional email or text, he left him alone. The horses were his mental therapy, and with the stables relatively quiet now that the senator and Janine spent a lot of time in Washington, he’d been virtually invisible and glad for it.

  One look at Raine up at the main house had set his nerve endings buzzing with energy. His grip tightened on the windowsill of his above-the-stables apartment window as he watched her out in the arena astride Stimpy. Her slim form moved as one with the horse, her long hair streaming out behind her as she cantered him in figure eights with a firm hold on the reins.

  The chestnut Arabian could be a headstrong sonofabitch, but right now, he moved willingly under her guidance, his lead switches smooth as butter. Reyes couldn’t help but be impressed by her skill and grace in the saddle, though it wasn’t surprising given he’d heard Shelby bragging she was in the running for a spot on the US Equestrian Team.

  When she exited the arena for the riding trails surrounding the estate, he headed down to the stables. His gut clenched as his mind screamed to turn around and go back. It reminded him of being on patrol. Trouble was brewing, and he was heading right for it. But he could no more have kept himself from descending the stairs than he could’ve disobeyed an order from his commanding officer.

  The certainty of that left him itchy and restless, and he needed to do something with his hands. In Afghanistan, he used to clean his rifle, and then clean it again. Now, he’d have to make do with saddles. It was almost as good.

  In the tack room, he grabbed a cloth and some leather cleaner.

  His dad walked by, then back-tracked. Reyes looked up when he stopped in the doorway. “You headed out?”

  “Not quite. I’m waiting for Janine’s niece to get back from her ride.”

  “Is Mom done with everything up at the house?” They always rode together when his mom worked on Sundays.

  His dad shrugged. “She’ll keep herself busy until I can leave.”

  “You can go if you want. I’ll take care of things here.”

  “Got nothing better to do on your day off?”

  Reyes lifted a shoulder as he avoided making eye contact. “I’m heading out later, so just killing some time for now.”

  “Hmm.” His dad watched him quietly for a moment.

  His pulse thudded hard as he waited to be called out on the lie.

  Instead, his dad gave a shrug. “All right then, suit yourself. Thanks.”

  It didn’t suit him one damn bit, yet there he sat, scrubbing the already shining leather until the light sound of boot heels beat out a rapid rhythm on the cement twenty minutes later. He went on full alert as the steps came to an abrupt halt outside the tack room door.

  “Oh. Um…is Estefan here?”

  Reyes took his time looking up, partly to make her wait, partly to get his pulse to settle down. But one look at Raine’s windblown hair and those bright hazel eyes, and there was no reprieve in sight. “He went home. Why?”

  “I was hoping to get some jumps set up.”

  “Sure.” He gestured to the left with the oil cloth in his hand. “Out the main doors, you’ll find a large storage room on the left. Jumps are in there. Help yourself.”

  She blinked at him, her expression astonished. “Help myself?”

  “Yep. Just make sure you keep them under half a meter. Stimpy doesn’t have nearly the same level of training as your jumpers.”

  One hand propped on her hip, and her brow arched imperiously as her cheeks flushed with color. “You do work here, don’t you?”

  “I do.”

  Her gaze narrowed, and he deliberately returned to polishing.

  “And you aren’t going to at least come help me?”
>
  “I’m busy.”

  After a long moment, she pivoted on her heel and disappeared toward the storage room. Reyes rested his fist on the saddle with a heavy sigh, waiting for the sound of the wooden rails as she dragged them out to the arena. When all he heard was silence, he conceded maybe he didn’t have to be such an asshole because his pansy-ass ego was still bruised from ten years ago. Maybe he should go help—

  The clip-clop of horseshoes rang out on the cement.

  His brow dipped as he rose and walked to the doorway in time to see Raine leading Stimpy to the cross ties by his assigned stall. She didn’t deign to look in his direction as they passed the tack room.

  Leaning a shoulder against the doorjamb, he asked, “Change your mind about the jumping?”

  “Shelby texted me to meet her at the pool.”

  Her snooty tone grated across his nerves while his fingers clenched the cloth in his hand at the memory of that little red bikini all those years ago. A mental head-shake banished the image as she secured the gelding in the cross ties. Then she gave him a rub on the nose and flipped her hair over her shoulder while turning to walk toward the main house.

  Reyes couldn’t help but drop his gaze down to the sway of her ass in those tan, skin-tight pants. He swallowed hard against a rising tide of awareness.

  “Tell your dad thank you for the ride,” she tossed over her shoulder while bending to fish her phone from the front thigh pocket of her breeches.

  Reyes tilted his head slightly to watch the stretch of material—until he suddenly straightened from the wall with a jerk of indignation. “Whoa—hold on. Where the hell do you think you’re going?”