an involuntary shudder ran through her. Letting him touch her again was not a good idea. With a jerk she pulled away and stood, anxious to make her getaway. Taffy, relegated to a corner of the stall, turned her tawny head and nuzzled Kara’s shoulder.
Ty stayed where he was, balanced on one elbow, looking up at her. “I’d apologize, but I’m not sorry.”
Fiercely, she scrubbed her moist, tingling lips with the back of one hand. The feel of Ty’s warm mouth wouldn’t go away. “Of course not. You think everything you do is justifiable.”
No doubt the conceited wretch thought a few kisses and a good roll in the hay would soften her, and she’d head back to the city and let him have the Tilted T. But he was wrong. She’d never be a fool for soft kisses and sweet lies again.
“What did you think, Ty? That you could seduce me out of fighting for my son’s birthright?”
“It never even crossed my mind.” His gaze lowered to the rapid rise and fall of her chest. “Especially since I never had to seduce you before.”
Kara stiffened, fists clenched. The truth in his words made them all the more humiliating. “You egotistical piece of—”
Ty held up a hand in a gesture of peace and shook his head ruefully. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.” He reached for his hat, dusting it off against his knee. “Face it, Kara, even if the ranch were yours, you can’t run it from Oklahoma City.”
“I was planning to move home.”
“When? After the place fell apart? Have you looked around lately? Do you know how much work needs to be done here?”
She hadn’t, but he didn’t need to know that. “I could see to it.” Kara’s chin jutted stubbornly.
“Excuse me if I disagree, Miss Taylor, but you can’t run a ranch on the weekends. Anyway, you never cared about this place. You sure couldn’t wait to get away from it.”
“I’ve already told you, I had my reasons.”
“Yeah, right.” He shoved the Stetson onto his head, dark eyes glittering. “Josh Riddley, wasn’t it? The dust had hardly settled behind me when you took up with him. So much for your promises of undying devotion. Both to me and to this ranch.”
She was shocked that he knew her former husband’s name. But that was good, she supposed. As long as he believed the worst of her, the secret would be safe. From the look on his face, he’d never had a single inkling that Josh was not Lane’s father.
“You broke a few promises yourself, cowboy. Not that it matters now.” She jabbed a finger at him. “I’ll just tell you the cold, hard facts as I see them. I’m staying. In my own house, in my own room, and I’m not leaving until you give me back that deed.”
Chapter Three
Ty stood in the corral, arms folded along the top edge of the fence rail, one boot propped on the bottom rung, studying the Tilted T in darkness. Tree frogs set up their mating song, competing long and loud with the katydids, and somewhere a mare whinnied for her colt. A quarter moon spilled light over the acreage so that the buildings and corrals, horses and vehicles all took on shadowy forms in the darkness. The sky above was a black velvet curtain studded with diamonds.
He glanced toward the house and saw the kitchen light come on. Kara, no doubt. His belly growled, a reminder that he hadn’t eaten supper, and here it was bedtime. But after Kara stomped out of the barn, he’d felt it wise to let her cool awhile.
He hadn’t meant to kiss her, but he couldn’t take it back. Didn’t want to as a matter-of-fact. Something had come over him when he’d felt her soft curves beneath his. Desire, he guessed. Any cowboy with a drop of testosterone would desire a woman like Kara. But there had been something else, too. Something he couldn’t quite put a name to. He wrinkled his forehead, trying to get a grip on the nameless emotion Kara stirred in him. Nostalgia. Memories. He and Kara went back a long way, regardless of the rift between them now—a rift so wide he’d need an airplane to cross it.
A door slammed and a male voice carried on the still night air. Pete’s, though he couldn’t make out the words.
Not until he heard the crunch of boots coming across the paddock did he realize Pete was headed his way. Illuminated only by the silvery moonlight, the old guy looked like a specter with a hitch in one leg.
“Knee acting up again?” Ty asked, the words as soft as the night air.
Pete shrugged away the question. “Ah. You know.”
Yeah, he did know. Knew very well that getting kicked, stomped and thrown on a regular basis took its toll on every cowboy. Age just made it hurt more.
“Kara Dean run you out of your own house?” Pete asked, leaving no doubt that aches and pains weren’t on his mind.
Ty stared out over the paddock at the big roan gelding ambling in his direction. “She’s plenty mad about this.”
“Told you she would be.” Pete pulled a can of tobacco from his pocket, took a pinch and stuffed it behind his bottom lip.
Ty dropped his boot to the ground and turned toward his old friend. “What’s happened to her, Pete? She’s the same, but she’s not, if you know what I mean.”
“I do know what you mean. Defensive. Sometimes I think it’s her mama dying so fast like that. Other times, I think it’s because of you.”
“Me?” The notion surprised him. “Wasn’t me she married.” Funny how that still disturbed him.
“Him.” Pete spat.
Ty squinted through the darkness, trying to read the older man’s face. “You didn’t like him, then?”
“Never knew him that well, but I always sensed something wrong between them. Never thought she was happy with him.”
Ty turned that over in his mind. If she wasn’t happy, why’d she up and marry the man? Why’d she have his baby? The obvious answer hurt more than he wanted it to. It wasn’t the first time he’d wondered if Kara had taken up with another guy and gotten pregnant soon after he’d joined the rodeo circuit.
“You think she’ll stay?” Ty gazed toward the house. The kitchen light was still on, and Kara’s silhouette moved past the window. His eyes strained to see her better. “To fight over the ranch, I mean?”
“Nah.” Pete draped one elbow over the rail, letting the fence take the weight off his aching knee. “That girl’s crazy over Lane. Won’t stay more than a day or two without him.”
“Why didn’t she bring him this go-round?”
“Boy’s in kindergarten. But Kara don’t like leaving him long, even with her roommate. She’ll be up and gone soon, you mark my words.”
Ty rubbed a hand over the soft, equine nose poking over the fence. He slanted a glance toward his old friend who stroked the opposite side of the roan gelding. Pete’s fingers, once so deft with a lariat rope, were bent and gnarled along the knuckles. White hair, once as dark as his own, glistened like snow
