realised that! She had got lost on Double K land, so it stood to reason, with the thousands of acres they owned, that she hadn't wandered off it. She felt even more foolish than ever. ‘What is this place?'
‘My men use it during branding, it saves time if they don't have to ride out each day,’ he explained with barely concealed impatience for her naïveté.
She resented his use of the word ‘my’ men, knew that he and Kenny were joint owners of the ranch. Although Kenny didn't seem to mind that his cousin gave most of the orders, had probably learnt from experience that Kyle was a man who simply didn't take or obey orders from anyone.
‘When can we get out of here?’ she asked abruptly.
He shrugged, very relaxed as he leant back in his chair. ‘Your guess is as good as mine.'
Shelby gave him a sharp look. ‘What do you mean?'
He tilted his head towards the door. ‘Hear that?’ he quirked dark brows.
‘The wind?’ she frowned.
‘The wind,’ he nodded mockingly. ‘The weather report forecast it will continue all night, possibly during tomorrow too.’ He gave her a meaningful look. ‘And while the wind keeps howling we keep sitting here.'
Shelby had gone very pale, swallowing hard. ‘You mean we could be—be snowed in here?'
‘I mean we already are snowed in here. Even if another drop of snow doesn't fall we're still stuck.'
‘There's no need to be sarcastic—–'
‘There's every need, damn you!’ Suddenly the relaxed pose had gone, to be replaced by a man full of fury, a fury that made his eyes glitter dangerously. ‘I don't have the time to spare to come chasing after a stupid idiot like you, let alone spend days out here baby-sitting!'
‘Baby-sitting!'
‘You heard me,’ he rasped. ‘You have no idea how to fend for yourself—–'
‘It isn't exactly a wilderness!'
‘No?’ He stood up, pulling her roughly to her feet, his calloused hand digging painfully into her nape as he dragged her over to the window to throw back the shutters. ‘Look out there,’ he ordered through gritted teeth. ‘And tell me what it is if it isn't a wilderness.'
She wanted to protest that he had no right to treat her this way, that even if he didn't like her he could at least treat her with a little respect. But the sight that met her eyes silenced any protests she might have made over his rough handling. Although the wind still raged the snow had stopped falling, and every way that she looked a deep white blanket stretched into the distance, no familiar landmarks in sight, just snow and more snow wherever she looked.
‘I had no idea…’ she breathed softly, in awe of the terrifying beauty outside.
‘Of course you didn't,’ he scorned, releasing her to resecure the shutters. ‘Like I said, you're a complete novice when it comes to surviving in conditions like this.'
Once again his contempt angered her. ‘And I suppose you're an old hand at it?’ she challenged recklessly.
Kyle folded muscled arms across his broad chest. ‘Let's put it this way,’ he drawled. ‘Which one of us, do you think, has the most chance of surviving out here alone?'
She flushed at his taunt. ‘That's an unfair question, you were born here—–'
‘Exactly,’ he nodded grimly. ‘So why don't you just bow to the inevitable and let me make the decisions from now on?'
‘That's something you're good at, isn't it?’ she was stung into retorting, not used to being treated as if she had less intelligence than a child. ‘Kyle Whitney gives the orders and everyone jumps to obey.'
His eyes narrowed to steely slits. ‘And that bothers you?'
‘No, it doesn't bother me,’ she flushed. ‘I just don't intend being another of the yes-men you surround yourself with—–'
‘Or women,’ he drawled mockingly.
‘Or women,’ she snapped irritably. ‘You chose to come looking for me, I didn't ask you to.'
‘Your sort never asks for anything, Mrs O'Neal,’ he bit out contemptuously. ‘But they take readily enough when something is offered to them.'
Shelby stiffened at his intended insult. ‘What are you implying I've “taken"?'
‘Kenny sent you the airline ticket to come out here, didn't he?’ Kyle reminded scathingly.
The plane ticket had been in Kenny's letter immediately after he had received her letter telling him she would go out for a visit. It hadn't been something she had asked for or needed, well able to pay her own airfare. But she had seen it as a gesture of Kenny's love. She certainly hadn't thought anyone would view her as a money-grasping mercenary because of it. Kyle Whitney didn't know how wrong he was!
‘You're wrong about me, Mr Whitney—–'
‘Am I?’ he derided harshly. ‘I don't think so. You're a young and attractive widow, and you came out here thinking Kenny would be a gullible meal-ticket.'
‘No—–'
‘Oh yes,’ he insisted coldly, his mouth turned back in a sneer. ‘When Kenny came back from England extolling the virtues of a beautiful widow I had some misgivings. When he dropped the girl he had been dating since high school because of you I knew I was right to be worried. But I thought time and distance would dull his memory of you, that he would soon get over the infatuation. But you didn't intend for him to do that, did you. Oh no, you wrote to him almost every day—–'
‘Twice a week,’ she defended indignantly.
The coldness of his gaze scorned her. ‘Whatever. It was enough to ensure that he didn't forget you, and that's the point I'm trying to make.'
Shelby had never been subjected to such injustice in her life before. Kyle Whitney didn't know the first thing about her, and yet he presumed to be her judge and jury on the insubstantial evidence he had picked up here and there about her. ‘Kenny is hardly a child that you need to—–'
‘He's two years younger than you are.'
She hadn't forgotten that fact; it had been one of the reasons she had been reluctant to become involved with him in the first place. But he had easily over-ruled that objection, and once she got to know him she hadn't really thought the two years mattered either. But as far as Kyle Whitney was concerned it was just another black mark against her. And his condemnation was unfair. Kenny had finished with his childhood sweetheart before leaving for London the previous year, and if his cousin didn't know that then it wasn't her fault, Kenny certainly didn't have to tell the older man everything. And she may have written to Kenny twice a week, but he had written much more than that, more like the every day Kyle Whitney had accused her of doing.
‘—although thank God he seems to have gotten over that now,’ Kyle rasped.
Shelby suddenly realised she had been so deep in thought
