on him.
As a kid, he’d lain in bed next to his mom when her headaches put her down for the count. He’d read stories to her, and it always seemed to help. Since there was no reading material nearby, he began to talk.
Kade started out talking about the ranch, about Imp. He spoke of his grandparents and growing up on their small ranch outside of Davis, Oklahoma. He talked about OSU. About getting hired by Cyrus Barron. About making the Crown B his home. Without a conscious decision, he opened up to Pippa. He voiced his bewilderment at going from the only child of a single mother to having five brothers who’d grown up with their shared father, and expressed his concern over how they viewed him. Eventually, he got around to the feelings of betrayal engendered by his mother’s deceit—a deceit he wasn’t ready to confront her with yet.
He spoke until he was hoarse, hoping that Pippa had fallen asleep so she didn’t hear the catch in his voice when he said, “Then the lawyer dropped Cyrus’s ultimatum on the table. If I want to stay here, keep my home here, keep the Crown B...” He had to breathe before he could continue. “And it would mean keeping the ranch as CEO of the Barron Land and Cattle Company, it would mean owning Imp.” And having more money than he could wrap his brain around.
Her hand pressed against his chest. “What do you have to do, Kade?”
“Turn my back on the only family I’ve ever known.”
“I don’t understand.” Pippa’s voice was soft as she craned her head to see his expression.
“To keep my place here on the ranch—to have absolute control over it, I have to change my name. I can’t be a Waite. I have to be a Barron.”
“Is that so bad?”
Kade almost shoved her away, remembered the pain she’d been in and forced his muscles to relax. Still, he needed distance so he eased out from under her and stood. What did she know about anything like this? Pippa was the beloved daughter of the Duncan family. They were rich, like the Barrons, while he’d worked for everything he had—all of which could be ripped away at the whim of the man who’d donated his sperm to create Kade.
He paced away from the bed then whirled to face her. “What would you say to someone who came to you and told you that you weren’t a Duncan, could no longer be a Duncan? That you were someone totally different.”
“But you wouldn’t be somebody totally different. You’d still be Kaden. The name doesn’t make a person. It’s just a label.”
He stalked to the edge of the bed and glowered at her. “Being a Waite shaped who I am, Pippa. My grandparents. My...” Anger surged again. He’d always been close to his mother. He’d adored her as a boy, respected her as a teen and admired her as a man. He’d never questioned their love for each other. Until that damn attorney read Cyrus Barron’s will.
Pippa sat up on the edge of the bed, watching. After a moment, she spoke. “I’m going to repeat myself. The man you are is the man you’ve always been. Your family—the one that raised you—had a profound effect on who you are. You could change your name to John Doe, and you would still be the same man who is standing in this room. Understand?”
Her stomach picked that moment to grumble. “You need to eat,” he said, relieved at the interruption. “Me, too. Do you feel up to food?” At her nod, he added, “I’ll go see what’s in the fridge.”
“Okay,” she replied. As he started to turn, Pippa slanted twinkling eyes at him. “But I need something else first.”
He wrinkled his brow, not quite trusting her expression. “What?”
She crooked her finger, beckoning him, and when he stood before her, she crooked it again. As he leaned over, she laid her hands on his cheeks. Urging him to come closer still, she stretched up and pressed her lips to his. “You’re good medicine. Thank you.”
He enjoyed the kiss, brief though it was. Pippa was an attractive woman. Lying there in the darkened room with her, just talking, was intimate in unexpected—and not entirely undesirable—ways. “Okay. But I’m going to feed you now. Food is better medicine.”
Kade slipped away from her. When she started to get up, he shook his head. “No. Stay put. I’ll serve you dinner in bed.” Which sounded far sexier than he’d intended.
In the kitchen, he made soup and sandwiches on autopilot while thinking about Pippa and what he knew about her. She was a sweet woman who wanted to make the world a better place. She needed to help people, and this was her way of helping him, he decided. Somehow, in spilling his guts, he’d become one of her charity cases. Just like he’d been for Cyrus Barron. His father. The word twisted in his gut. Bitterness welled up, but Kade reined it in. That wasn’t fair to Pippa. She wasn’t part of this mess. And while Cyrus might have been despicable, his sons had never really jerked Kade around. He needed to get a grip on his emotions.
The microwave dinged and he reached in to retrieve two bowls of homemade chicken noodle soup.
“Can I help?” He almost dropped the bowls at the sound of Pippa’s voice.
Concentrating, Kade set the dishes on the counter without burning his hands or spilling the contents. He turned to gaze at her. She leaned against the door jamb, her eyes still looking a little bruised from the pain but her lips—and he knew what they tasted like now—curved up.
“No, I’ve got it.” He glanced around. “I guess since you’re vertical now, we can eat at the table.”
Pippa laughed, a deep, throaty purr that caused Kade’s brain, and other parts of his body, to go places far beyond the gentle kiss they’d shared. “And forfeit the opportunity to eat in bed? Not on your life!” She whirled and was gone.
Gathering up bottled water, utensils and napkins, Kade set up the tray and followed her. She was sitting cross-legged on the bed, her back against the headboard. He handed her the tray to steady, then settled opposite her, doing his best to hide his body’s reaction.
“This is nice,” she said after finishing her soup. “Sitting here with you like this.”
“Yeah.”
“Want to know something?”
“Sure.”
“I had a big crush on you in college.”
“Uh-huh.” Was she blushing? Kade swallowed hard, feeling a little more Neanderthal than he was comfortable with. “I kinda figured that out.” She didn’t reply and he fumbled for something else to say. “You were cute, sitting on that fence mooning over me.”
Tilting her head, she studied him, a half smile on her lips and mischief twinkling in her eyes. “I had lots of dirty thoughts about you while sitting there.”
Kade opened his mouth but no words came out. Dirty thoughts? His libido overrode his brain. “How dirty?”
Laughing now, Pippa shoved the tray away. “Really dirty. Sexy dirty. Cowgirl-style dirty.” She pressed her hand against her mouth. “I can’t believe I’m telling you this. I blame the chicken soup.”
“What’s going on, Pippa?”
She glanced down at her hands clasped in her lap and her cheeks pinkened.
