a horse. I wouldn’t believe that if I’d been away for a hundred years.” The horse that could unseat Adam Winchester hadn’t yet been foaled.
By unspoken consent, she and David had both started walking toward the baggage carousel that was already spitting out a steady stream of luggage, cardboard cartons girded with tape and various pieces of sporting equipment.
“It was actually one of the new ranch hands who got thrown,” David explained. “He managed to land square on Adam and knock him down. The rest, as they say, is history.”
She stopped to gape at David. “Daddy must have been furious.”
“Livid. Turned the air blue.” David’s gaze was on the carousel, his chiseled profile a sharp reminder of how much he had changed. The cute boy had become a ruggedly attractive man, and this was the longest conversation she’d had with him in years. Good thing she was immune.
“Which one is yours?” he asked without bothering to glance her way.
His disinterest reminded her that she, too, had changed. Besides her chopped-off hair, she’d lost weight. Not a bad thing, since Drew had been telling her she was getting too fat, but now her slacks and top hung on her and there were probably circles under her eyes, right next to the fairly recent scar on her cheek.
Lovely. Not that she cared what David thought, anyway.
Kim searched the carousel and then she pointed. “That big one and those two by the skis.”
His dark brows lifted. “Three bags?” He didn’t try to hide his smirk. “Gee, is this all?”
“For now.” Head high, she walked toward the exit, the fingers of one hand wrapped tightly around the strap of her shoulder purse as she left him to struggle with her luggage. Served him right for thinking she was a clotheshorse.
As soon as she’d taken a dozen steps, her burst of bravado was replaced with a new wave of exhaustion. Feeling dizzy, she sank gratefully into an empty chair and let her head fall back.
“What’s wrong? Are you sick?” David demanded as he caught up with her and dumped her bags to the floor.
Opening her eyes or answering was too much of an effort, as was shaking her head.
“Stay here,” he ordered her in a bossy tone. “Put your head between your knees if you feel nauseated. I’ll find you some water.”
Panic swirled around her. “No!” she finally croaked out, forcing open her eyes. Relieved to focus on his concerned face. “Don’t leave me.”
She hadn’t meant to say that. Biting her lip in self-punishment, she watched his expression change from concern to something more difficult to read. Angry tears over her slip blurred her vision, but she blinked them away and glared up at him.
Immediately he squatted down next to her chair, his gaze level with hers as he took her hand in his larger, stronger one. His warmth was a welcome surprise. She was so cold, always cold.
“Your hand is like ice!” he exclaimed.
She pulled away from his loose grasp. “It must be the air-conditioning in here. They always overdo it.”
“Actually, it’s fairly warm,” he contradicted. “When’s the last time you had anything to eat?”
“On the plane.”
He leaned closer. “Kim, what’s wrong with you?”
She wondered if he realized it was the first time he’d called her by name since she arrived.
“I cut my hair several years ago,” she said, hoping to distract him with a reply to his initial question. “It was just too much of a nuisance, and long hair’s gone out of style on the coast.” It wasn’t really true, but he wouldn’t know that.
She’d hacked it off to pay back Drew for being overly friendly with a short-haired paralegal in his office. He’d been furious and he had, of course, retaliated against Kim’s rebelliousness. Besting him, however briefly, had nearly been worth it, even though she’d never worn the yellow diamond pendant he’d eventually bought her as a peace offering. It had gone into her jewelry drawer, along with several other nice pieces she had acquired under similar circumstances.
Nor had she ever grown her hair long again, despite Drew’s insistence. But of course she didn’t tell David any of that while his unreadable gaze stayed on her like some kind of laser.
“Water would be nice,” she said when he didn’t comment. “Chilled, if you don’t mind, and bottled, not tap water.”
He straightened, a shutter sliding down over his expression, and tugged at his hat brim in a gesture she figured was more mocking than polite. “I’ll be right back. Stay here with the bags.”
She watched him walk through the crowd, his long strides eating up the distance to the nearest vendor, as if he couldn’t get away from her fast enough.
Well, why should he be any different? she asked herself silently on another trembling note of self-pity. What was there about Kim Winchester Sterling for anyone to like or admire?
As usual, not one thing came to her tired mind.
After Kim had gulped down the chilled bottled water David brought her and surprised him by stepping out of her ice-princess role long enough to thank him, he escorted her out to the car. She had spurned his suggestion of a wheelchair and he, in turn, had refused her offer to help with her bags. As he stacked two of them and hiked the strap of the third on his shoulder, she dug sunglasses out from her purse and slipped them on like a shield to hide behind.
“I’ll bet the weather seems different from what you’re used to,” he said conversationally as he wheeled the largest bags behind them.
“I grew up here, remember?” She pressed her lips together and turned away, as if she regretted her comment.
“I haven’t forgotten,” he replied. He might have said more, but instead he let the silence hang between them for a moment. When she didn’t lift her head, he shifted the bag on his shoulder and kept walking.
On the drive back to the ranch, he thought she might ask about her father or their mutual half brother, Jake, who was nine, and sister, Cheyenne, eight, or the rest of her extended family, but she didn’t.
“The old church on Dammer Road burned down,” he volunteered, his gaze on the road ahead. “They’re rebuilding already, brick instead of wood this time.”
Her response was a noncommittal hum in her throat as she looked out the window. Frustrated, David fell silent. She had grown up in Elbert County, but if she wanted news, she would have to ask.
Traffic wasn’t especially heavy and the road didn’t demand much of his attention, which left him free to speculate about the reason for Kim’s visit, her first in several years, and to wonder about the absence of a wedding ring. Perhaps she had lost it or was having it repaired or just didn’t wear one. Unlike some women with successful husbands, she wasn’t flashing a lot of fancy jewelry.
Back in school she had been a pretty girl with a warm smile and a budding figure. Now her face was all cheekbones
