EMMETT (The Corbin Brothers Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

is,” I reminded her. “This is a talk about horses. Something we both have an interest in.”
    “Yeah, I have an interest in them. Lots of knowledge. Lots of ideas.”
    Knowledge I had. It was the ideas that I was really craving, the inspiration to spark the right thing to say to my brothers to get the operation established on the ranch. Something that would make them interested in the thing I’d been passionate about all this time.
    “It’s your ideas I’d like to discuss,” I said. “I know what I need to know already, knowledge-wise.”
    She studied me before throwing her head back and laughing. “So arrogant.”
    “What? I take care of the horses on the ranch.”
    “Anyone can keep a horse alive, Corbin,” she said, sounding like her father for the first time. “Your arrogance is that you think you can do it for a living. You don’t have a clue.”
    “Then tell me. Tell me whatever you think I need to know about horses.”
    “For your research purposes.” She knew I was full of shit. She knew just as well as I did.
    “Yes. Research purposes only. Horses only.”
    Peyton checked her phone. “Twenty bucks.”
    “What? I just paid you.”
    She smiled prettily. “Fifteen minutes ago you did.” She showed me the display of her phone, which had been counting down on a timer. “Fair’s fair, Corbin. This is what I do for a living.”
    I snorted at her. “Dole out advice about horses priced at twenty bucks per fifteen minutes?”
    “Take it or leave it. I don’t give away anything for free. Maybe you Corbins can afford to, but others aren’t so fortunate.”
    “It’s Emmett,” I said, exasperated with being lumped in with my brothers like I was so often throughout my life. “Just Emmett. I’m a lot more than just a Corbin.”
    Peyton’s dark eyes drifted downward and back up again, and I knew she saw right through me and always would. It was a penetrating and judgmental stare, one full of contempt.
    “That’s the thing about privileged people,” she said, her eyes not shining with amusement any longer. “They go through such lengths to convince themselves and others that they aren’t privileged after all. That they’re right down there in the mud with you. So they can take advantage of you.”
    “I don’t want to take advantage of you.”
    “Twenty bucks, then.”
    I exhaled sharply and gave her another bill. Her demeanor instantly switched, smiling pleasantly. I’d bought that face, at least for the next fifteen minutes, and the feelings inside of me clashed and conflicted and swirled unpleasantly.
    “You want my ideas,” Peyton said. “Because you have everything else you need to know.”
    “I’m sure I don’t know everything there is to know,” I said, holding my hands up to stave off another disagreement — and try to keep our conversation on track so I wouldn’t waste any more time or money. “I’m just trying to figure out what it takes to run a breeding operation. Maybe sometime in the far-off future, it’s something I want to do with my time. Just not right now. This isn’t immediate.”
    “Why not?”
    “Why not what?”
    “Why not right now?” I’d forgotten that she could see right through me, that she knew that this was much more than simple research. What could I say to her that would protect my interests and my privacy? I was sure I would already be tasked with explaining to my brothers tomorrow why I was seen in the company of the … well, the town prostitute.
    Though putting it in those words sounded a little cheap right now. She was wily, but I had a tough time categorizing Peyton like that. She seemed deeper than that, somehow, though this was really the first time I’d interacted with her before. She’d been a grade behind me in school, and this town was so small that everyone remembered everyone else from getting our public educations. But even back then, Peyton had kept to herself. She was different from everyone — looked different, held