eyes and streaked brown hair were all ingrained in her memory just as much as his tall, solidly built body. He might not be the most handsome guy she’d ever laid eyes on, but he was darn sure the sexiest. And six months ago that latent sexuality had been her undoing.
For days afterward, she’d blamed her reckless behavior on the wine she’d consumed at dinner that night. But deep in her heart she’d known two glasses of wine hadn’t made her fall into bed with Liam Donovan.
She’d first met Liam seven years ago, when she’d been nineteen and just beginning to travel extensively with her father. She’d instantly been smitten with the man, not only with his raw, sexy looks, but also with his training skills. And since that time, little by little, she’d come to learn more about who he was as a man.
Around the track, he had a reputation for being fair and honest, but also hard-driven. Kitty would agree he was all those things and more. He was an extremely private man, who rarely talked about his personal life, which in a way had always made him seem just that much more intriguing to Kitty.
It had been through an offhand comment from her father that she’d learned Liam had lost his wife and unborn child in a car accident a little more than six years ago, but Liam himself had never spoken to her about such things. With her, he’d only discussed training methods, auctions, sires, the pros and cons of different tracks and all the other zillion and one factors that went into racing thoroughbreds. But those discussions had been enough to reveal glimpses of the man and his way of thinking. She admired him, she was wildly attracted to him and she feared she was even in love with him. Fear being the key word. Because from what she could see, Liam Donovan was a demanding perfectionist and never would be an easygoing family man. Along with that, her father had admitted, long before he’d died, that he’d tried to talk Liam into dating Kitty and that Liam had refused. If he didn’t want to date her, it was a cinch there wasn’t a hope in hell that he’d ever fall in love with her.
Oh, God, why didn’t she just go home to Desert End and let Clayton take care of things here? There was plenty of work at the farm to keep her more than occupied. A barn filled with up-and-coming two-year-olds, along with a mix of older horses in training for races later in the summer.
But no, she’d chosen to come here. Because she’d known Liam would be here and she’d wanted to see him and be close to him again. Now she had to find the courage to tell him that he was going to be a father.
Swallowing the ball of emotion lodged in her throat, she turned to her left and entered stall number thirty where Blue Snow, one of her prize mares, was housed.
A slight grimace tightened Clayton’s features as he looked around at her. “Sorry, Kitty. You’d think by now she would let someone else put these things on her. But the more I tried the more worked up she was getting.”
“The last thing I want is for her to get hot and unsettled. So when she acts this way, just let her be and don’t worry about it,” Kitty instructed her assistant. “The time to start worrying is when she won’t let me put them on.”
Kitty took the pair of blinkers from him, but instead of rushing at the mare with the piece of equipment, she simply began to stroke her neck and face and talk to her in gentle, soothing tones.
“Is anything wrong, Kitty?”
Not bothering to look at him, she said, “Blue Snow is a bit high-strung. Especially when you’re dealing with her head. And I don’t have to tell you how important this filly is to me—to Desert End.”
“I know all of that. I’m not talking about Snow. I’m talking about you. You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”
Liam was hardly a ghost. But he’d definitely haunted her thoughts for the past six months, Kitty thought. Ever since she’d gone to bed with him and a baby had been conceived.
“I’m fine, Clayton. I was just hurrying down the shed row and got a little winded, that’s all,” she explained.
The young man, who’d worked as Willard’s main assistant for the past year, cleared his throat. “Well—uh, I noticed you were talking with Liam Donovan. Is he causing you problems?”
Kitty inwardly groaned. Liam had certainly given her a problem, all right. Just not the sort that Clayton thought. But she wasn’t about to explain any of this to her assistant. At least, not yet.
Certainly everyone could clearly see she was pregnant. But no one knew who the father was or the circumstances surrounding her condition. And so far her family and friends had respected her privacy and stopped just short of pressing her for the father’s identity. She realized that eventually questions would have to be answered; especially to the few family members she had left. But first there was Liam to deal with and she had no idea how he was going to react to her and this news. The mere thought of confronting him left her ill.
“Why would you think he’d be a problem? His horses are stabled on the opposite end of this barn. He’ll be coming and going around here just like we will.”
The grimace on Clayton’s face deepened. “That’s exactly why he might be causing a problem. He’s damned picky and yells at his hands like they were slaves.”
She bit back a sigh. “He wants the best care for his horses and demands they get it. That’s all. No one is being forced to work for him.”
Clayton snorted. “He has the attitude that his runners are royalty and the rest of us deal in cheap claimers.”
Kitty stiffened. She liked Clayton and admired his work even more. She could always depend on him to keep things going whenever she wasn’t physically able to keep up. Still, she wasn’t going to stand by and let him badmouth Liam.
“That’s not true,” she said bluntly. “I should know. Liam is an old friend of the family. Weren’t you aware?”
The man’s face turned red. “Oh. No—I didn’t. I mean, I wasn’t aware of that.”
“He and my father were very close for many years.” She didn’t add that she and Liam had been even closer. Clayton and everyone else would learn that soon enough, she thought.
“Hmm. That’s surprising,” he remarked. “I’ve heard that Donovan can be a real hard-nosed bastard at times.”
“You hear all sorts of things in this business. I wouldn’t put too much stock in it. Success breeds jealousy.”
Turning back to the mare, she focused her attention on slipping the blinkers onto Blue Snow’s head. Thankfully the animal behaved and stood quietly while Kitty adjusted and buckled the equipment.
“That’s true,” Clayton agreed. “But frankly, I’m surprised your dad saw that much in the guy. They’re two different types of men.”
No, Kitty thought, Liam was very much like her late father. Maybe that’s why she’d gravitated toward the man in the first place. It was often said that women unconsciously sought out a man with a personality like their father’s. But on the other hand, it was because Liam was so strong-minded, so driven like Will, that she was now filled with angst.
When Will and Kitty’s mother, Francine, had divorced, he’d fought fiercely for the custody of his six-year-old daughter and eventually won. She didn’t want to think that Liam might do the same with this child. She wanted to believe he was a fair and compassionate man. But this was an entirely different
