“You can certainly call him, but he doesn’t have anything to do with this.”

“You had a horse when you were a girl. You had anything you wanted, but you always tell me to wait. You never understand when something’s important. You never understand.”

“Fine. All right. I’m not going to fight with you now.” Because she was going to break, could already feel the first fissures forming, Laura turned and walked away.

“Get off the horse, Ali.” When her stormy eyes came to his, Michael reached over for the bridle. “Dismount. Now.”

“I haven’t finished my lesson.”

“Yeah, you have. Now you’re going to get another one.” The minute she hit the ground, he wrapped the reins around the fence rail, then plucked the girl up and sat her beside them so his gaze was level with hers. “Do you think you have the right to talk to your mother that way?”

“She doesn’t listen—”

“No—you don’t listen, and you don’t see. But I listened, and you want to know what I heard?” He jerked her chin up when it drooped. “I heard a spoiled, ungrateful brat sassing her mother.”

Her teary eyes went wide with shock. “I’m not a brat.”

“You just gave a damned good imitation. You think you can snap your fingers and get whatever you want or have a tantrum if it doesn’t happen, or doesn’t happen quick enough to suit you?”

“It’s my money,” Ali said hotly. “She doesn’t have any right to—”

“Wrong. She’s got all the rights. Your mother just came home from working her butt off so that you can have a nice home and food on the table. So you can have your lessons and your fancy school.”

“I’ve always lived here. She doesn’t have to work. She just goes away every day.”

“Open your eyes.” Something, he admitted, he should have done himself. “You’re old enough and smart enough to see what she’s going through.”

Tears began to leak now. “She divorced him. She made him go away.”

“I guess she did that just to make you miserable.”

“You don’t understand. Nobody understands.”

“Bull. I understand just fine, which is why I’m not tanning your hide.”

“You can’t spank me.”

He leaned closer. “Wanna bet?”

The very idea was so shocking, so unbelievable, that she closed her mouth tight. “Good choice,” he said and nodded. “This horse isn’t for sale to you.”

“But, Mr. Fury—”

“And you’re not welcome in the stables until you’ve apologized to your mother. If I ever see you sass her again, you will get your hide tanned.” He lifted her off the fence and set her down.

On her feet again, Ali fisted her hands at her sides. “You can’t make me do anything. You’re just a tenant.”