why is she here? The spring season hasn’t ended for her ballet company. Why come all the way to the ranch for a short recovery?”
Bud’s bushy eyebrows hiked up. “You don’t know?”
Nate shook his head.
“The recovery isn’t as short as all that. She was injured four months ago.”
Four months and she still hadn’t recovered? Then the injury was more involved than Beth had led him to believe. For a few seconds he wondered if Kit might be back for good. Hope flared for an instant, only to be iced over with dashed dreams. She’d been injured before and went back to dancing—every time.
Nate released a long breath. “I’d better make sure Cinnamon is still all right.”
“Yeah, I totally agree. I’m sure Kit will want to ride Cinnamon as soon as possible. She always does when she comes home to visit.” Bud bent over and lifted a bale of hay, then sauntered toward the last stall.
Nate threw a glance over his shoulder toward the cabin. Would he see her again tonight? And why do I care? She’s made it clear that all we could ever be is friends because her life is dance.
* * *
When Kathleen stepped out onto the porch, she took a deep breath, the scent of mowed grass and roses from the multitude of bushes comforted her. She’d forgotten how much she missed this place, especially the horses. She’d missed Cinnamon. Hopefully the mare wasn’t dangerously ill. Although her brother didn’t seem to think it was anything serious, she needed to hear the diagnosis from Dr. Harris.
Noticing the red truck still parked near the paddock, Kathleen made her way toward the barn. When she entered the large black structure, where she’d spent many hours as a child, it took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to the dimmer light. Unless Howard moved Cinnamon, the mare usually stayed in the second-to-last stall on the right when she wasn’t in the pasture. Kathleen headed toward the stall, limping slightly, her leg throbbing. The day’s travel had been hard on her injury. She’d use that as a reason to cut the evening short.
A large man, dressed in jeans and a long-sleeve, light blue shirt backed out of the stall, grasping a brown bag. Beneath a tan cowboy hat, dark, almost black, hair curled at the top of his collar. With broad shoulders and slim waist and hips, the man wasn’t Dr. Harris. She halted. Something was familiar about the guy with his back to her.
Then he turned toward her.
Nate Sterling. Her high school sweetheart—until he went away to college and she left to pursue a career as a ballerina.
She swallowed her gasp as his soft, gray gaze settled on her. The corners of his eyes crinkled with a smile lighting his features. For a few seconds she was whisked back to eight years ago when she’d said goodbye to him. He was a year older than her and had been a sophomore at Auburn in Alabama, where he was attending on a football scholarship.
The long distance hurt their budding romance. The summer after she’d graduated from high school, she’d left Cimarron City for San Francisco to be part of a ballet company, and they’d drifted further apart over the months. When she was offered a position in a corps de ballet for a New York company, she’d told him it wasn’t working and they needed to cut their ties all together. Worrying about their relationship drew her focus away from her dancing. New York was her big chance. She needed to concentrate on her career while she was young, not on a man over halfway across the country.
“Hi, Kit. I heard you were coming home.”
Her throat closed, the sound of his deep husky voice shivering down her spine. In the years they had been apart, it had grown huskier and deeper. Nate was also taller than he’d been by at least a couple of inches. He must be almost six and a half feet. His features—an aquiline nose, high cheekbones, square jaw—were sharper. Clearing her throat, she forced herself to speak. “You’re a vet now? I thought you were thinking about medical school.”
“In high school, sure. But during my sophomore year in college, I realized I wanted to treat animals, come back here.”
Whereas Cimarron City could never offer her what she wanted. “Oh,” she murmured, pressing her lips together, trying to remember if he had ever told her about his changed plans. By then they were only talking a couple of times a week that soon turned into only once a week. By Christmas of his sophomore year, she’d known it was over. She’d figured he felt the same way. He’d been troubled and not his usual self and for the first time in their relationship, not communicative. They had been going in opposite directions ever since she’d graduated from high school and become focused totally on her career.
He seemed to be waiting for her to reply. She needed to say something or go. The urge to escape was strong, especially when his gaze brushed down her length. Did he know about her leg? She’d asked Howard not to tell others in town, and with long pants it was easy enough to hide her deformity. “How’s Cinnamon doing?” she finally inquired, needing to ask about her horse before departing.
“I can treat her colic with antibiotics. She should be better in a few days. I’ll come back and check on her, but you should be able to ride her by next week.”
“Oh, good.” She concentrated on walking without limping toward the stall. She wasn’t ready to answer a thousand questions concerning her injury and her leg. But the act of doing that caused her leg to ache even more.
Nate sidled away to allow her to look into the stall where Cinnamon stood. The quarter horse neighed at the sight of her and came to the door, nudging Kathleen with her head. She stroked Cinnamon, her coat reddish-brown—similar to Kathleen’s own hair color. That was what had drawn her to the filly when she was born on the ranch twelve years ago. When she wasn’t dancing, she had been riding. Those had been her two favorite activities as a teen. She couldn’t dance anymore, but she should be able to ride. The thought boosted her spirits.
“I’ll be back tomorrow to check on you, girl.” She rubbed her hand down the white blotch on the mare’s nose, then blew her a kiss, something she had done from the very beginning whenever she was leaving Cinnamon.
Kathleen rotated toward Nate, her mouth lifting slightly in a smile. “Are you working with Dr. Harris?”
“Yes, I’m his new partner. He’s great to work with, and his practice keeps expanding. I’m handling all the big animals and the house calls to the ranches.”
“Then you must be on the road a lot.”
“Usually half my day. We should go out to dinner and catch up while you’re still in town. I imagine you won’t be staying long. How’s your injury? When will you be returning to New York?”
Her chest constricted. Her breath burned her throat. He knew about her leg? “My plans aren’t settled yet. I’m just focusing on recuperating for now.” How much did he know? Surely her brother and Beth wouldn’t have betrayed her and told Nate.
“If you want to go to dinner, let me know. You’ve got to do something while you’re here healing.”
Something in the tone of his voice indicated he wasn’t totally convinced having dinner with her was a good idea, and she had to agree. He was the past, and at the moment she didn’t have much of a future.
“My plans are up in the air right now. I just arrived today. I’ll call you when I can.” Kathleen slowly backed away. She couldn’t see
