the early-morning mist rise over the pond filled her with homesickness. Lane deserved to know those pleasures, too.
Thinking of her son put starch in Kara’s spine. Since Lane’s birth she’d faced more than her share of unpleasant situations, and she would not back down from one this important.
She paused, resting her hand along the horse’s warm sturdy neck. “This is my home and Lane’s inheritance. No one is going to take it from us, especially a man who might jump up and run off with the rodeo—or a woman—at the drop of a hat.”
If Ty thought she’d hightail it back to Oklahoma City without a fight, he didn’t know her at all. If she had to beg, steal or lie to secure her baby’s future, that’s what she’d do. Even if it meant bunking in the same house with the enemy.
The very idea of sleeping under the same roof with Ty Murdock sent shivers running through her, shivers she didn’t understand. Was she afraid of what Ty might do if he discovered Lane was his son? That had to be the reason. She didn’t trust him any farther than she could spit a Volkswagen. And she dang sure wasn’t about to let a man have the upper hand in her life. Not ever again.
Sucking in a cleansing breath of hay-scented air, Kara chuckled softly and hugged the old mare’s neck. Ty had better get ready. He was about to have an unexpected houseguest.
“Come on, Taffy, let’s have a look around and make sure Murdock is taking good care of my property.”
Replacing the comb, she gripped Taffy’s halter and pushed the gate open. The crunch of boots on wood chips had her spinning around before she was halfway out of the stall.
“What do you think you’re doing?” The loathsome cowboy stalked toward her.
She tossed her nose into the air. “Going for a ride.”
“No, you’re not.”
Ignoring him, Kara led the mare forward. Ty’s hand shot out and grabbed her arm with such strength that she halted. She dropped her gaze to the fingers digging into her flesh.
“Get your hands off me.”
She yanked. Ty refused to budge. Instead, he closed the gap between them, forcing her backward into the stall along with the mare. Inside the narrow cubicle, Kara found herself trapped between two familiar bodies, one warm and welcoming, the other hard and unyielding.
“Well, aren’t you the tough guy?” Kara hissed sarcastically. The electricity that sparked between them made her even madder. “Stealing from old men and pushing around women half your size. How impressive.”
Ty relaxed his grip the tiniest bit. He should have known better. Perhaps he didn’t remember as much about her temper as he should have. Kara jerked her hands free, doubled up her fists and slammed them into his chest, letting go with six years of pent-up pain and rage.
“You sorry, low-down, rotten, lying, cheating, thieving…” The invectives went on for a full minute. She lambasted him in every way imaginable. By the time she got to his kinfolk, his intellect and his relationship to lower forms of life, it occurred to her that Ty made no attempt to stop the pummeling of his upper body. His body relaxed, he held her captive against the mare, flinching only when she came too close to his face.
“Kara,” he said in a far too calm and sensible voice when she slowed for breath.
She shot a left hook to his shoulder. “And if you think you can waltz in here and keep me from riding my own horse…”
“Kara,” he said again in that same close-to-laughter voice.
This time she stopped whacking him long enough to notice the quirky grin pulling at his devilishly handsome face.
“What?”
“Taffy has a cut on her left hock. I had the vet out this morning to sew her up, but she’s not fit to ride just yet.”
“Oh.” All the steam seeped out of Kara.
Dang him. Why did he have to make sense? She’d just thrown a wall-eyed fit when he’d only been protecting the horse.
She knew she should apologize. Was trying to swallow her pride and find the words when Taffy and her bad leg decided they’d stood in one spot as long as they could. The mare shifted sideways. Kara stumbled backward at the sudden disappearance of her brace, the now unrestricted pressure of Ty’s body forcing her down. He fell, too, landing atop her in a pile of fresh alfalfa hay.
Ty’s black eyes blinked at her from a mere two inches away. The heat of his breath swept across her cheek like warm sunshine as they lay in a tangle, panting their surprise into each other’s face.
His hat lost in the fall, Ty’s hair lay in damp disarray against his forehead. Kara’s heart did a strange stutter-step. He looked the way he had in every dream that had haunted her sleep since she’d last seen him. Worse than that, he looked like the face that sat across from her every morning. He looked like his son. As if hypnotized, Kara lifted a hand to the errant thatch of hair and brushed it back. As soon as she touched him, the laughter disappeared from his face. Onyx-colored eyes searched hers.
“Kara?” he whispered, sounding as uncertain as she felt.
She knew she should move, should leap up and run out of the barn and off this ranch as fast as humanly possible. But for the life of her she couldn’t budge. She lay mesmerized by the smooth dark skin, the tiny crinkles at the corners of his eyes and the laugh lines bracketing his lips.
Before the next heartbeat Ty’s mouth closed over hers, and Kara felt herself drawn back into time, to a memory as achingly sweet as cotton candy. It was crazy. It was stupid. It wasn’t what she wanted at all. But her body hadn’t forgotten the magic that had blossomed between them all those years ago.
He was wonderfully familiar and tantalizingly different at the same time. A thousand conflicting emotions roiled within her. He felt so right, yet for her, he was so utterly, completely wrong. She’d loved him far too long, then hated him just as passionately.
The hay, the horse, the man all evoked memories of their last night together. She’d been desperate, foolishly believing if she loved him well enough, he couldn’t leave her. But he had. While his baby grew inside her, he was off somewhere betraying her with another woman.
Kara snapped into focus.
What was she doing? She’d come to rid the place of Ty Murdock, not be seduced by him. Hadn’t she already learned that lesson?
Though her heart thudded painfully, and her body ached in a strangely pleasant manner, Kara forced herself to remember the terrible price she’d paid because of Ty’s deceit.
Ty must have sensed her sudden withdrawal, for he stilled and lay with his warm breath puffing against her neck. His heart hammered erratically against her palms. Kara pushed at his chest, wanting him gone before the temptation proved too strong.
Several beats passed before he rolled away, stretching full length beside her, one arm thrown over his eyes, chest heaving. Kara lay in the prickly hay, senses zinging, mind reeling.
Cheeks burning, Kara sat up, brushing at her straw-covered clothes. The crinkle of hay told her he, too, had sat up. She made a motion to escape.
“Kara,
