to meet it standing on his own two feet.
Like him, the Whittaker farmhouse had seen better days. Built of sturdy Montana pine, the framework looked as solid as ever, but the clapboards and roof were in need of some TLC. When the dog sprawled out near the front door caught sight of Ty, she jumped to her feet and trotted down to greet him much the way Sadie had.
“Hey there, Skye,” he said, ignoring the protest in his back as he hunkered down to pet the speckled Aussie. “How’ve you been?”
She answered him with a short yip, turning her head to lick his palm in an obvious bid for more attention. When Morgan paused beside them, he looked up to find her staring down at him, arms folded in a gesture he couldn’t quite read. When she didn’t say anything, he figured it was up to him.
“It’s nice to see some friendly faces,” he commented, carefully unwinding to stand up. She didn’t respond, and he decided to try some humor. “Even if they are furry and standing on four feet.”
A hint of the wry grin he recalled teased the corner of her mouth, and when she removed her sunglasses, he saw a glimmer of appreciation in those incredible blue eyes. Her waterfall of blond hair was tamed back into a ponytail that fell down her back beneath her straw cowgirl hat, but a few of the curls he’d always admired had escaped to frame her tanned face in a cloud of gold.
On the day he met her in first grade, he’d believed Morgan Jo Whittaker was the prettiest thing he’d ever seen. In all the years he’d been on the rodeo tour, he’d met dozens of women, but he’d never come across one who even came close to changing that opinion.
Morgan was one of a kind, he thought for the millionth time. Beautiful, smart as a whip, with a sassy personality that both frustrated and fascinated him. And he’d walked away from her. What an idiot.
Now she was looking up at him, wearing a curious expression that made him feel like a bug squirming on a slide under a microscope. Trying to appear calm, he endured the scrutiny in silence, hoping it wouldn’t last too much longer.
It didn’t. “What are you really doing here, Ty?”
“I told you in town. It was time for a visit.”
She took one step closer and stopped, those intelligent eyes boring into his with an intensity he’d rather not experience again. “You used to be a better liar.”
That was true enough, and he couldn’t keep back a chuckle. “Not enough reason to do it anymore, I guess. You want the truth?”
“It’d be a nice change of pace.”
Stepping onto the porch, he motioned her to one of the handmade rocking chairs. When they were both seated, Skye plopped down on a braided rug between them, and for a single insane moment, Ty got a picture of how their life might have been if he hadn’t messed everything up.
Behind them, a burly shadow appeared in the screen door, and Ty pushed himself to his feet. “Afternoon, JD.”
With a “hmpf” that gave nothing away, the owner of Whittaker Ranch came through the door, letting it fall closed behind him with a sharp crack. His battered boots thumped ominously on the old floorboards, and Ty got the feeling of standing in front of an old-time sheriff, waiting for some kind of judgment on his character.
Sliding a quick glance at his daughter, JD leveled a cool glare at Ty. “I oughta run you offa this place at the end of a Smith & Wesson for what you did to my girl.”
“I’m very sorry for everything that happened,” Ty began, trying to keep his voice steady. He respected JD for many reasons, feared him for others. Right now, he was just trying to hold his ground and remember that he was nearly thirty years old and not the dumb kid he’d once been.
“Did you apologize to my Morgan?”
Ty loved the way he said it, as if she was a little girl still in need of her daddy’s protection. Someday, if he was ever fortunate enough to have a family of his own, he’d be as fiercely protective of them as JD was of his.
“Yes, sir, I did.” Looking over at her, he added, “I’m hoping she’ll find a way to forgive me someday.”
The lady in question didn’t say anything, but she wasn’t glaring at him anymore, either. He took that as a positive sign.
Apparently, JD had noticed the same thing, because the old wrangler chortled. “I don’t see any fresh holes in your hide, so you must’ve done all right. Are ya thirsty?”
“Parched. I left Denver around six this morning and didn’t stop till I got here.”
“Long drive.” After a quick trip inside, JD came back with three glasses of lemonade. He handed them out, then settled onto the porch swing and crossed his boots on the porch floor in front of him. “So, what’ve you been up to?”
Ty nutshelled the past couple of years for his host, skimming over the worst of it to avoid a lot of questions he’d rather not answer just yet. Throughout the conversation, Morgan was unusually quiet, and he kept casually glancing her way to gauge her reaction to what he and JD were saying. Mostly, her face was maddeningly unreadable, and he found himself back in high school, wondering what was running through that quick mind of hers.
She’d always had a great poker face, and it seemed that she’d improved it over the years. Why she’d felt the need to do that, he couldn’t imagine. While it wasn’t any of his business, he couldn’t help wondering what had caused her to cultivate such a close-to-the-vest attitude.
Suddenly, Skye bounced to her feet and darted off the porch to begin an easy herding lope up the long driveway toward the road. When a yellow school bus appeared in the distance, Ty chuckled. “Her hearing’s better than mine. I never heard it till just now.”
“I’m convinced that dog can tell time,” JD announced confidently. “No matter what the school schedule is, she always seems to know when the girls are coming home.”
“Girls?”
“My girls,” Morgan explained, emphasizing the word my for some reason.
“I didn’t know you were a mom, too. Is there anything around here you can’t do?” Ty said, hoping to soothe her ruffled feathers with a little well-placed admiration. It wasn’t all that hard, he mused. She was still the same remarkable woman she’d always been. There wasn’t a day that went by when he didn’t kick himself for leaving her behind.
“Not so far,” she replied, arching an eyebrow in the haughty expression he recalled vividly. He’d been the target of that look far too many times to count, and it was burned into his memory forever.
The girls in question took their time walking up the driveway, with Skye flitting from one to the other in typical Aussie excitement. Ty got the impression that she was herding them toward the house, and he smiled at the picture. Country girls under a big, beautiful sky. Life didn’t get much better than that.
As they drew closer to the house, he noticed something about them that made him stare over at their mother in surprise. “They’re twins.”
Morgan didn’t respond, but JD proudly chimed in, “Allie and Hannah. Every bit their mama’s girls, that’s for sure. Hannah’s sharp as a tack, and Allie’s got a real way with critters,
