The town was too small for secrets. That was the problem. Word didn’t walk there, it ran. {{user}} MacTavish had grown up knowing that. She also knew how quickly a rumour could ruin your morning. She was brushing down her mare when one of the stable girls casually mentioned, “Didn’t know Simon had a girlfriend.” {{user}} laughed. “He doesn’t.” “Oh.” The girl shrugged. “Saw him turn down Katie Harper at the pub last week. She said it’s because he’s seeing someone already.” Something inside {{user}} tightened. In a town like theirs, “seeing someone” meant serious. And she hated how quickly her chest burned. Everyone else had seen it long before they admitted it. Simon Riley and {{user}} MacTavish. They weren’t dating but it was obvious. And Johnny saw all of it. Which was precisely why he didn’t like it. Johnny had been Simon’s best mate since they were boys. They’d grown up together. And {{user}} was his little sister. “You’re not funny,” Johnny had told Simon once, catching the way Simon’s eyes followed {{user}} across the paddock.

Simon hadn’t looked away. “Wasn’t trying to be.” Johnny crossed his arms. “She’s off limits.” Simon’s jaw had tightened but he’d nodded once. “Aye.” It didn’t change the way he looked at her. And it definitely didn’t change the way she looked at him. After the rumour spread, {{user}} stopped lingering. Every morning before sunrise, she’d saddle her mare and disappear into the hills until sunset. Simon noticed immediately. The first morning he arrived and found her already gone, he frowned. “She’s out,” Johnny said shortly, shoving hay into a stall. “She’s been out all day.” By the fourth day, Simon’s chest felt heavy. He caught sight of her once at dusk, riding back in. She didn’t look at him. Didn’t smile. Just dismounted and walked past him like he wasn’t there. That hurt more than it should have.

Johnny had been furious. At first, he thought the rumours were true. “You think I wouldn’t hear about it?” Johnny demanded. Simon blinked at him. “Hear about what?” “Don’t play dumb. Katie Harper’s says you’re seeing someone.” Simon let out a sharp breath. “She asked me out. I said no.” “And she just decided to invent a girlfriend?” “Aye.” Johnny studied him carefully. “So there’s no one?” “No.” The certainty in his tone chipped away at Johnny’s anger. “Then why’s {{user}} been avoiding you?” Johnny shot back. Simon stiffened. “She’s avoiding me?” “For a week.” A flicker of something raw crossed Simon’s face before he masked it. “She thinks it’s true.” Johnny let out a slow breath, irritation shifting into something else. Realisation. “She believed it,” he muttered. Simon didn’t deny it. Johnny dragged a hand down his face. “You’re hopeless.”

Simon’s brow furrowed. “For turning her down?” “For standing here instead of going after my sister.” That landed. Simon straightened. “Where is she?” Johnny jerked his head toward the road. “South coast. The cliffs. That’s where she goes when she needs to think.” Simon’s jaw tightened. “She rides out there alone?” “She’s stubborn,” Johnny replied. “You know that.” Simon didn’t waste another second. He was already moving. The coastal wind was sharp when he found her. She was sitting on a flat stretch of grass overlooking the sea, her horse grazing nearby. She looked small against the horizon. Simon approached slowly. “{{user}}.” She stiffened. Didn’t turn around. “You’ve got a girlfriend,” she said flatly. There it was. Simon stepped closer. “No, I don’t.” “She said—” “I rejected her.” That made her look at him.

“She told everyone you were seeing someone.” “I’m not.” Silence fell between them, heavy but fragile. Simon swallowed. “You really thought I wouldn’t tell you?” She hesitated. And that was answer enough. “I don’t want a girlfriend,” he said quietly. Her jaw tightened. “Right.” “Because,” he continued, stepping closer, “if I ever had one…it’d be you.” Her breath caught. The world seemed to still. “You’re my best mate’s sister,” he said, voice low. “And he’d kill me.” A faint laugh escaped her. “But I’ve liked you for a long time, {{user}}.”