Okay. I guess I can make that work.”
So now, instead of going over her accounts, preparing for her meeting or bothering with lipstick, Caitlyn was standing in Ramblin’ Man’s shadowy horse trailer, holding a lead rope attached to the stallion’s halter. Wild-eyed Ramblin’ Man had only put a single hoof in the trailer and was staring at her as if she were a giant.
“It’s okay, baby. Nothing to be scared of,” Caitlyn said gently. Snapping the lead line, she backed Ramblin’ Man out of the trailer before he grew more alarmed. “You were so brave to put a foot into the trailer.”
When she gave the command to retreat, a relieved Ramblin’ Man jerked backward and raced away. Caitlyn jumped out of the trailer and watched him run. She’d bring him back in a minute or two. He needed to build up his courage to work on what they’d already accomplished.
“Caitlyn!” Lisa squealed from the far side of the round pen. “Why didn’t you tell me Luke Kilgore was your mysterious appointment?”
Caitlyn recoiled, the name of her former lover slicing her heart like a knife.
Luke? Luke, who’d left her pregnant at twenty-one?
No … Why would he show up today, of all days?
She jerked her head around and saw the tall, dark man in the flawlessly cut business suit lounging against the rail beside Lisa. The sight of him looking so virile and smolderingly masculine made her mouth go dry. Once, she had longed for Luke’s return, dreamed of it. But now her dream felt like a nightmare!
Those gorgeous green eyes, the high forehead, the chiseled cheek and jaw, that classically straight nose and those mocking, sensual lips that had once kissed every inch of her body—they could belong to no one but Luke. The shock of recognition made her shiver with torrid memories.
He was as handsome as ever, but this elegantly dressed man couldn’t possibly be the same bitterly ambitious cowboy she’d loved.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded.
“My driver said he called and confirmed. You and I have an appointment.”
“You’re Raffi Bin Najjar?”
He nodded. “I’ve been known to answer to that.”
“What kind of man changes his name?”
“I have two names. The one I was born with and the one Hassan gave me when he asked me to be his honorary son. Hassan prefers to call me Raffi. So I let him. One of my weaknesses is indulging those I love.”
“You’re too old to be adopted,” she said, lashing out with her words.
“Who said anything about adoption?” His lips smiled, but his eyes didn’t. Obviously, he was a man of the world now.
“What exactly does it mean, then, to be an honorary son?”
“Ask Hassan. He probably made it up. Hell, for all I know I’m the only honorary son in the world.” He moved away from the rail. “Sorry my showing up here is such a shock,” he said.
“No, you aren’t. You deliberately tricked me!”
“Think what you like.”
“I don’t like anything about this situation!”
“Maybe neither the hell do I.”
Still, despite her fear and the nameless dark emotions engulfing her, his taunting, all-too-familiar, husky voice drew her, just like it had that first day when he’d stood on her porch asking if he could see her daddy because he’d needed a job and nobody else in the county would even talk to Bubba Kilgore’s son. She’d been a teenager and highly susceptible to the lure of the forbidden. Her crush had lasted several years—right up until he’d gotten her pregnant and left the county for good.
Well, at twenty-six, knowing what he was and what he’d done, she should be immune to his charms.
Right. If she was so grown-up and mature, why had the pace of her heart accelerated?
Her gaze darted past him to the house. Where was Daniel? She hoped, prayed he’d stay out of sight until she got rid of Luke.
“You’re looking good, Caitlyn,” Luke said, but his lips didn’t curve into the sexy smile that used to follow her name.
Not that she wanted it to.
“You, too,” she said reluctantly. The last thing she wanted to do was flatter him. “How is this possible?” she said, motioning to him, standing in her yard.
“What? The son of the county’s no-account drunk making good?”
Lisa’s sudden burst of flirtatious laughter was awkward. “Don’t run yourself down. You’ve come a long way since then, Luke. You never were anything like Bubba.”
“Thanks.”
“Caitlyn’s told me how rich your honorary father is! And how rich you are!” She moistened her lips and glanced at him slyly through her long, dark eyelashes.
Luke looked away.
Caitlyn winced. Her friend’s excessive interest in Luke bothered her. As did her words.
She remembered how Luke had once had a habit of making self-deprecating remarks. People laughed, as he’d intended, but she’d known his jokes had covered soul-deep shame for having Bubba as a father. Luke had always wanted to be more than he’d been. Well, now he was rich and powerful, but was he any happier?
Quickly she reminded herself that his happiness wasn’t her problem. He’d jilted her and moved on to better things, more beautiful women. He’d probably never hungered for her—as she’d hungered for him.
Or had he? He did seem as keenly aware of her as she was of him, which was hatefully gratifying.
As Lisa leaned closer to him, Caitlyn insinuated herself between them. “So, you really are Raffi Bin Najjar? I did some research, but couldn’t find much.”
Luke pushed away from the railing and stood taller. He’d filled out, but on him, the extra weight looked good. She was sure he was made of hot, solid muscle. The thought of touching him now made her own skin heat.
“I pay people to remove stuff I don’t want on the web,” Luke said.
“You can do that?”
“Most of the time. I’m not a movie star, so I’m not hounded by the paparazzi unless I’m out with somebody famous.”
“Like your supermodel girlfriends?”
His mouth twisted. “Jealous?”
“Of course not! But you should have told me who you were, you know.”
“Why? I’m here as a favor to Hassan. Not because I want to make your life easier. For some reason,
