Chapter 5

Sam pulled through the gate of the address that Rachel had given him. He let a low whistle through his teeth as he took in the house and outlying buildings behind it. He felt like he'd driven into one of those high class racing farms in Kentucky that he saw on the TV when he was betting on the horses. The house was large and beautiful, and all the landscaping was obviously professionally done. There were pastures on one side of the driveway, and fenced riding rings on the other. He'd known Rachel had money, but he hadn't been expecting this level of wealth.

Sam suddenly felt out of place and wondered what the heck he was doing here, until he saw Rachel sitting on the front steps lacing up a pair of hiking boots. He parked his truck and sat for a moment watching her. She gave a quick wave before working on her second boot. Somehow, watching her sit there, doing something so normal as tie her boots made him feel better. She didn't act wealthy, in fact she seemed to go out of her way to appear the opposite. She was just... Rachel. He had totally enjoyed dinner with her a couple of days before, and had been looking forward to spending more time with her. He'd already made up his mind that he wanted to ask her out on a proper date, and was looking forward to doing a bit of charming today.

He got out of the truck as she hopped to her feet and gracefully walked towards him. She was dressed in jeans and had a warm vest zipped up over a long sleeved shirt. She was beautiful. "So," he said, looking up at the house as she approached him, "you're really loaded."

Rachel paused, her face uncertain. "Yes, does that bother you?"

"If you were someone else, it probably would," he answered honestly. "But not you."

She gave him a brilliant smile and said, "Grab your jacket and I'll take you through the barns first."

He reached in and grabbed a fleece to throw over the long sleeved t-shirt that he'd worn with jeans. She led him around the side of the house and back towards the two large stables that dominated at least an acre of space.

For the next hour and a half, Sam learned more than he ever thought he could about horses and what it took to run a successful breeding farm. He was surprised to find that it wasn't as bad as he'd thought it would be. Okay, so the barns had a fairly strong odor when he first walked in, and that one horse went and blew it's nose all over him, but all in all, it was actually quite interesting. Rachel was proud of her horses and it showed in the way she dealt with them, stopping to pat each one of them as they passed by.

It wasn't until they were standing in front of Rachel's prized stallion in the middle of his corral that Sam's city roots dug in and no matter what, he was determined not to go anywhere near that animal. The horse was huge, and like all her other Friesens, was coal black in color. Sam took one look at the size of the horse's feet and decided that one of those to the head meant certain death.

"Regent won't hurt you," Rachel insisted, wrapping her arms around the massive stallion's neck and giving him a hug. "Friesens are known for their gentle nature."

"No offense," Sam said, taking a step towards the fence, "but I'll just stay over here."

"City slicker," Rachel teased.

"And proud of it," Sam answered, taking another step away as Regent stretched his nose towards him. "What's he doing?" he asked, his voice rising an octave.

"He's just trying to figure out what you are doing," she answered, grinning. She ran her hands down the horse's neck with a final pat before turning and walking towards the gate. Sam was planning on walking with her until Regent started to follow and Sam took off running and quickly went through the gate. He turned to hear Rachel burst into laughter.

"Laugh all you want," he said, just relieved to be on the right side of the fence again.

"Sorry," she said, closing the gate behind her and trying not to laugh. "It's just you are a big tough policeman with a gun, and you are running away like a little girl."

"A little girl? For your information," he replied, "I wouldn't have run if I was carrying my gun."

"Ah," she teased, "so it's just your gun that makes you tough."

"Yes," he answered, and crossed his arms in front of him with a cocky grin. "When I have my gun, I'm tough as nails, and when I'm not carrying then I'm all sweetness and sensitivity."

"That," Rachel laughed, "is a load of crock." She turned and led the way back towards the house. "Come on. I told Wanita that we would be in around now for lunch."

"Wanita?"

Rachel smiled and looked sheepish. "Yeah, my old nanny. She became part of the family. When Sally and I moved out here to Ontario from British Columbia, she came with us. She does all the house work and cooking for me so that I can concentrate on the farm." She made a gesture towards the large house. "That place is a full time job to keep clean."

"It's really amazing," Sam said.

"It's designed to be that way," Rachel answered. "I have hundreds of people coming here every year, some for expensive riding lessons and some for my breeding stock. They all expect to see a certain level of wealth which is a symbol of success in our industry. " She looked around her. "The barns and everything to do with the horses is what I designed myself when I bought this land, but the house and gardens were designed by someone else. If I had my way, I'd rather live in a nice little house with a small garden."

"I can see that in you," Sam answered, giving her a smile.

Rachel returned his smile and led him into the house through the back door. Inside, they passed through a large kitchen that had a delicious smell wafting from the oven. She led them through a large sitting room and out the far door into a glass enclosed solarium. The room looked out over the immaculately kept gardens, and was full itself of plants and flowers. In the middle of the room was a table set for two. Just straightening up from the table was a slight, dark haired latin woman in her late forties or early fifties. She turned to face Sam and looked him over from top to bottom before looking deep into his eyes. Sam felt as though she was trying to see into his mind.

"Wanita, be nice," Rachel chided, walking over to give her nanny a hug.

Wanita, apparently satisfied, stepped to the side and motioned them to have a seat. "Lunch come soon. Sit. Talk." Then she briskly walked towards the door.

Sam sat down and watched the older woman leave. "Protective, isn't she?"

Rachel shook her head. "Sorry about that. Wanita feels it's her duty to look out for me."

Wanita returned shortly with a caramelized carrot soup. Since Sam's regular meals consisted of take out, hamburgers, or steak and potatoes, he tasted the soup hesitantly. It was amazing and he quickly finished it off. When Wanita placed a plate of rosemary roasted potatoes, beets au gratin, and three rolls of rouladen in front of him, he didn't even pause as he eagerly scooped up some beets.

"This is amazing," he said, savoring a mouthful.

"Yeah, Wanita can cook," Rachel answered, holding a forkful of potatoes. "Normally I get her to make me a sandwich, otherwise I'd be four hundred pounds."

They finished their meal in a comfortable silence. Sam leaned back with a sigh and watched Rachel finish her last few bites. He was just starting to get to know her, but he already knew that he liked what he saw in her. She could talk about anything, but seemed just as comfortable not talking. And she was so emotionally level, he could hardly believe it. After a hard week at work, just sitting with her was relaxing, unlike most of the women he dated. He'd always seemed to find the high maintenance women, but from what he could tell, Rachel was about as low maintenance as they came.

"So, how bad was it going back to work after our dinner?" Rachel asked, breaking his train of thought.

"What?"

"Did your friends tease you?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Ah, Shaw and McNally," he said, chuckling. "Yeah, they interrogated me fairly well. But all I'd tell them was that I had a very nice time." He looked at her and winked. "I didn't tell them that I was coming here today. The teasing would have been merciless." He didn't mention to Rachel that everybody had been commenting on his good mood for the last few days. Even Best had asked if something was going on.

As he watched Rachel laugh, he felt confident that something was indeed going on between them, but unlike most times when he would make his move and then move on, Sam didn't feel the need to rush or the urge to move on. He wanted strings with Rachel, and he wanted something to last. He didn't know how he knew all this after so short a time, but what he felt was different, deeper than what he'd felt for anyone else. She'd been worth waiting for.