person, a woman who never said a cross word to anything or anyone. With him, she’d always been warm, open and straightforward. He wasn’t feeling that now. She was holding back a part of herself and that troubled him. Even hurt him.
“I got here yesterday with the rest of my crew,” he told her. “We’re just now getting the horses and ourselves settled.”
She nodded stiffly. “I wasn’t aware until this morning that we’d be sharing the same barn. Did you bring many horses this time?”
“Twenty,” he answered. There were eighteen training barns and enough stalls to house nearly two thousand horses on the track, he thought, and somehow he and Kitty had managed to wind up in the same facility. At this moment, Liam couldn’t decide whether that was a stroke of misfortune or a piece of good luck.
She looked away from him and swallowed and he used the opportunity to let his gaze slide down to her belly. The soft mound beneath her sweater somehow made her look more feminine and vulnerable and an odd little pang suddenly struck him in the middle of the chest. He wanted to reach out and pull her into his arms so badly he could very nearly taste it.
“Oh. I only brought half that many,” she said. “With Dad dying, some of our training got put on hold. A few of the three-year-olds that belong to Desert End still need gate schooling. I may have them shipped out here later for the latter half of the meet.”
Desert End Stables, Kitty’s home and training facility, was located just north of El Paso, Texas. Liam had visited the place a few times in years past. It was a beautiful horse farm that sprawled for miles over the West Texas desert. Willard had not only been a highly successful trainer, but also a noted breeder in the business. Even though Willard had a son from a former marriage, Liam had heard that Desert End and all its holdings, which would amount to a vast fortune in itself, had gone to Kitty. He supposed the old man had made that decision because Owen had never had anything to do with the horse business and worked as a Deputy Sheriff for Hudspeth County in Texas. Still, Liam had no doubt that Willard had made sure his son had received a fair share of inheritance in monetary form. From all he knew, father and son had gotten along well.
“I miss the hell out of Will,” Liam said suddenly, his voice gruff with emotion. “I can’t imagine how you must feel.”
She looked back at him and he noticed a glaze of moisture in her blue eyes. Maybe he shouldn’t have mentioned her father, he thought, but Willard had been a huge presence in both of their lives. His memory could never be ignored or forgotten. It simply wasn’t possible.
“Nothing has been easy since we buried Dad,” she admitted, her voice low and strained. “But everyone loses a loved one at some time in their life. This time it just happened to be me.”
Yeah. He knew all too well what she meant about losing a loved one. One minute he’d had a wife and a baby on the way, the next minute they’d been gone, wiped out of his life when the car she’d been driving through heavy fog had careened off a mountain highway. Since the tragic accident, no woman had caught his interest in any way. Until Kitty. Something about her had made him want again, feel again. And now, with her standing only inches away, she was reminding him that he was a red-blooded man, full of needs and desires.
“I’m sorry, Kitty,” he said lowly. “Really sorry.”
Her eyes blinked and then she turned her gaze toward the stall to her left, where a black horse was nipping at a hay bag. The nameplate on the stall door read Mr. Marvel and Liam remembered the colt as being one of Willard’s favorites. No doubt that everywhere Kitty looked, she was surrounded by bittersweet memories of her father.
Even so, she obviously had other things to think about and plan for, Liam concluded. Like the baby in her womb and the man who’d put it there. Could that man possibly be him? No! It couldn’t be. She wouldn’t be standing here like this, ignoring the obvious. She would have already told him months ago. Or would she?
Dragging in a heavy breath, he resisted the urge to give his head a shake. This was crazy, he thought. It felt like there was a fire in the barn and both of them were standing there, ignoring it as though nothing was wrong.
Her voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts as she said, “I’ll survive, Liam. Dad expected the best from me. I can’t break down on him now and ruin everything he worked a lifetime to build.”
“Kitty.” She sounded so crushed and weary that Liam could hardly bear it and before he could think about it, he placed a comforting hand on her forearm. “Is there anything I can do?”
She didn’t answer immediately and Liam supposed his offer didn’t mean much. After all, she had the means to hire the best people in the business to keep her stable working efficiently and her win rate at a high percentage. As for emotional support, he figured she had plenty of friends and distant relatives to share her problems with. She certainly didn’t need Liam. The idea left him feeling strangely flat.
“I don’t know,” she answered finally, then lifted her gaze to his face. “Do you think you could have dinner with me tonight?”
This area of the state was known for its earthquake tremors and for a split second Liam wondered if the ground beneath his feet was tilting. She’d never invited him to join her anywhere, at any time, and he’d always talked himself out of asking her for a date or anything even resembling one. The only reason they’d ever spent time in each other’s company was her father. In fact, Willard had once approached him about dating Kitty. The older man had believed that Liam and his daughter would make a fine pair, considering they both loved the same profession. But Liam had dismissed Will’s suggestion. At that time his wife’s fatal accident had still been fresh in his mind and he’d not been interested in dating anyone. And now—well, he still wasn’t interested. Not with the loss of Felicia continuing to haunt him.
He was trying to gather himself enough to respond, when she said, “If you have other engagements don’t worry about it. We can get together some other time.”
He shook his head as his thoughts raced around her motives and his schedule. “I have to meet someone at seven this evening,” he finally said. “But that won’t take more than fifteen minutes. Will seven-thirty fit your schedule?”
She looked strangely relieved, a reaction that confused Liam even more. If she’d needed to see or talk with him, all she’d needed to do was pick up the phone and let him know. Her wanting to have dinner with him tonight seemed strange and out of the blue. Yet the idea of spending time with her excited him more than he wanted to admit.
“Seven-thirty would be great,” she told him. “You can pick me up at my office. It’s at the opposite end of the barn. I’ve already posted my nameplate, so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding it.”
“All right. I’ll see you then.” Realizing he still had hold of her arm, he forced himself to drop his hand. “Is there anyplace special you’d like to eat? I’ll make reservations.”
“I don’t need special. Just anywhere simple and quiet.”
“Fine. Seven-thirty then.”
A tiny smile lifted the corners of her lips and the sight encouraged him. No matter the situation with this woman’s personal life, he wanted her to be happy. Especially with him.
“Yes,” she agreed. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a temperamental mare waiting for me to put on her blinkers.”
“Sure,” he told her. “I have work
