The look in his eyes made her wish she could take it all back—especially the kiss. Or better yet, if only a twister would swoop out of nowhere and dump her in Kansas so she wouldn’t have to see that bitter, cold expression on his face. He stood up, inches from the deep end of the pool. She stood, too, because he towered over her and she didn’t like him looking down at her.
“You kiss like a little girl.”
She heard laughter behind her. Her cheeks were hot with embarrassment, but it was nothing compared to the pain just starting to seep into her heart.
He folded his arms over his chest. “Even if I hadn’t sworn off women, you’ve got three strikes against you.”
“Like what?” she asked before she could stop herself.
“You’re her sister. That kiss proves you’re a baby. And you’re skinny as a—”
“I know I’m not pretty,” she interrupted, not wanting the words to come from him. He’d just rubbed salt in an open wound. “I’m not pretty yet. But you just wait, Mitch Rafferty. I’ll show you.”
Without thinking, Taylor put her hands on his chest and shoved for all she was worth. He went backward into the pool, his cold expression changing to one of stunned surprise just before he went under. She turned but she knew he surfaced behind her. The spluttering was a big clue.
She walked away before he could see that the moisture on her cheeks had nothing to do with the splash his big body had made. With every step, she vowed she would show him if it was the last thing she ever did.
Chapter One
Ten years later…
Mitch Rafferty was back in town.
And she was going to see him any minute. Taylor Stevens looked out her living room window wondering if he would be on time. As the newly appointed commissioner of the high school rodeo association, it was his job to find a site for the state championships. It was an event she desperately wanted. When she’d found out Mitch was the man who held her future in his hands, she’d been stunned. Even now she wondered which of the gods she’d offended and how she could make amends.
She needed him to pick her—or rather her ranch, the Circle S. She had a lot riding on this. But if history repeated itself, she was in a lot of trouble.
The sound of a car engine drifted to her over the hum of the central air conditioning in the house. She cracked the shutter in the front room enough to peek out. The late-model, extended cab pickup crunching rocks and dirt as it came to a halt in her circular driveway was unfamiliar. Her stomach dropped; he was here.
Ever since finding out Mitch was back, she’d been as nervous as a small kitten up a big tree. And not only because he could impact her life. Over and over she’d repeated to herself that she didn’t care about him anymore. She was a big girl now and he couldn’t hurt her.
Tell that to her hammering heart.
She turned away and took a deep breath as she brushed her hands down her khaki slacks, then adjusted the belt, at the same time making sure her buttercup-yellow blouse was neatly tucked in. No point in meeting him wearing the dirty jeans and work shirt she’d worn to muck out stalls that morning. She might be country, but she cleaned up pretty good and wanted to put her best boot forward.
There was a knock on the door and she took a deep breath as she counted to ten. Heaven forbid she looked too anxious.
“Here goes nothing,” she said, opening the door wide.
Her heart nearly stopped. Mitch was a decade older, but he looked even better than she remembered. His eyes were still bad-boy blue and hinted of mischief. His hair was the same sandy-brown, and his well-formed nose crooked enough to keep him from being too perfect. The angular face and square jaw were somehow more rugged. Why did she find that so incredibly appealing?
Right there on her front porch stood Mitch Rafferty, the same man who had two-stepped on her tender, fourteen-year-old heart. Shock sanded ten years away. Feelings that were every bit as big and deep and painful as they’d been that night engulfed her again. She wished she didn’t remember, but she did. All too clearly.
The humiliation of their last encounter washed over her as it had countless times since. It had become the standard by which she judged all disasters. She’d said way too much. Followed by a kiss that even with a decade in between made her cheeks burn now. She couldn’t seem to form a coherent thought, let alone get a word past the Texas-size lump in her throat.
He looked at her for several moments before recognition jumped into his gaze. “Taylor?”
“Mitch. It’s been a long time.”
No kidding. It had taken him several moments to know her. But, she’d been a skinny kid the last time they’d seen each other. He’d told her she kissed like a little girl. If there was any cosmic justice, she would not blush at that thought. She was a grown woman now, not the kid who’d pushed him into the pool. The memory had dominated her recollections ever since learning he was the new commissioner.
Would he hold it against her? Even worse, would he recall how she’d bared her soul?
When her silence dragged on, he cleared his throat. “How have you been?”
“Fine. You?” she asked.
“Great.”
“Did you just get into town?” she asked.
He nodded. “I drove in from El Paso this morning.” He continued to stare at her. “You look great.”
“Skinny little me?” she asked, unable to resist the jab, testing the waters, so to speak. Then she smiled, hoping the nerves line-dancing in her stomach didn’t make her mouth quiver. “You don’t have to say that, Mitch.”
“I mean it. You’ve really changed,” he said grinning his good ol’ boy grin, the one that showed his even white teeth to perfection.
It was also the one that told her he said something equally flirtatious to all the girls. Although she’d tried to forget about him, over the years she hadn’t escaped reading about him in tabloid and magazine stories that had touted the sexy bull rider’s athletic and romantic conquests. Before dropping out of sight, he’d been linked to women she could never compete with. Why would he remember that they’d once been friends?
“You’ve grown up.”
“That happens in—” She paused for what she hoped was just the right thoughtful expression. “How long has it been? When did I last see you?”
Fiddle de dee, she wanted to say in her best Scarlett O’Hara voice. If God was her witness, Mitch would never know that she clearly remembered the last time she’d seen him he’d been going backward into the deep end of the pool.
“I can’t say. And I try not to think back too far.” For just a second, a frown chased away the mischief in his eyes. “Offhand I’d say it’s been a long time because I haven’t been back to Destiny for ten or eleven years.”
“That long?” she said with as much innocence as she could dredge up.
He
