For Her Child.... Linda Goodnight
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All the steam seeped out of Kara.
Dang him. Why did he have to make sense? She’d just thrown a wall-eyed fit when he’d only been protecting the horse.
She knew she should apologize. Was trying to swallow her pride and find the words when Taffy and her bad leg decided they’d stood in one spot as long as they could. The mare shifted sideways. Kara stumbled backward at the sudden disappearance of her brace, the now unrestricted pressure of Ty’s body forcing her down. He fell, too, landing atop her in a pile of fresh alfalfa hay.
Ty’s black eyes blinked at her from a mere two inches away. The heat of his breath swept across her cheek like warm sunshine as they lay in a tangle, panting their surprise into each other’s face.
His hat lost in the fall, Ty’s hair lay in damp disarray against his forehead. Kara’s heart did a strange stutter-step. He looked the way he had in every dream that had haunted her sleep since she’d last seen him. Worse than that, he looked like the face that sat across from her every morning. He looked like his son. As if hypnotized, Kara lifted a hand to the errant thatch of hair and brushed it back. As soon as she touched him, the laughter disappeared from his face. Onyx-colored eyes searched hers.
“Kara?” he whispered, sounding as uncertain as she felt.
She knew she should move, should leap up and run out of the barn and off this ranch as fast as humanly possible. But for the life of her she couldn’t budge. She lay mesmerized by the smooth dark skin, the tiny crinkles at the corners of his eyes and the laugh lines bracketing his lips.
Before the next heartbeat Ty’s mouth closed over hers, and Kara felt herself drawn back into time, to a memory as achingly sweet as cotton candy. It was crazy. It was stupid. It wasn’t what she wanted at all. But her body hadn’t forgotten the magic that had blossomed between them all those years ago.
He was wonderfully familiar and tantalizingly different at the same time. A thousand conflicting emotions roiled within her. He felt so right, yet for her, he was so utterly, completely wrong. She’d loved him far too long, then hated him just as passionately.
The hay, the horse, the man all evoked memories of their last night together. She’d been desperate, foolishly believing if she loved him well enough, he couldn’t leave her. But he had. While his baby grew inside her, he was off somewhere betraying her with another woman.
Kara snapped into focus.
What was she doing? She’d come to rid the place of Ty Murdock, not be seduced by him. Hadn’t she already learned that lesson?
Though her heart thudded painfully, and her body ached in a strangely pleasant manner, Kara forced herself to remember the terrible price she’d paid because of Ty’s deceit.
Ty must have sensed her sudden withdrawal, for he stilled and lay with his warm breath puffing against her neck. His heart hammered erratically against her palms. Kara pushed at his chest, wanting him gone before the temptation proved too strong.
Several beats passed before he rolled away, stretching full length beside her, one arm thrown over his eyes, chest heaving. Kara lay in the prickly hay, senses zinging, mind reeling.
Cheeks burning, Kara sat up, brushing at her straw-covered clothes. The crinkle of hay told her he, too, had sat up. She made a motion to escape.
“Kara, wait.” Ty’s husky voice stopped her.
Though fearful of what he might say, she waited. When his strong fingers began carefully picking grass from her hair, an involuntary shudder ran through her. Letting him touch her again was not a good idea. With a jerk she pulled away and stood, anxious to make her getaway. Taffy, relegated to a corner of the stall, turned her tawny head and nuzzled Kara’s shoulder.
Ty stayed where he was, balanced on one elbow, looking up at her. “I’d apologize, but I’m not sorry.”
Fiercely, she scrubbed her moist, tingling lips with the back of one hand. The feel of Ty’s warm mouth wouldn’t go away. “Of course not. You think everything you do is justifiable.”
No doubt the conceited wretch thought a few kisses and a good roll in the hay would soften her, and she’d head back to the city and let him have the Tilted T. But he was wrong. She’d never be a fool for soft kisses and sweet lies again.
“What did you think, Ty? That you could seduce me out of fighting for my son’s birthright?”
“It never even crossed my mind.” His gaze lowered to the rapid rise and fall of her chest. “Especially since I never had to seduce you before.”
Kara stiffened, fists clenched. The truth in his words made them all the more humiliating. “You egotistical piece of—”
Ty held up a hand in a gesture of peace and shook his head ruefully. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.” He reached for his hat, dusting it off against his knee. “Face it, Kara, even if the ranch were yours, you can’t run it from Oklahoma City.”
“I was planning to move home.”
“When? After the place fell apart? Have you looked around lately? Do you know how much work needs to be done here?”
She hadn’t, but he didn’t need to know that. “I could see to it.” Kara’s chin jutted stubbornly.
“Excuse me if I disagree, Miss Taylor, but you can’t run a ranch on the weekends. Anyway, you never cared about this place. You sure couldn’t wait to get away from it.”
“I’ve already told you, I had my reasons.”
“Yeah, right.” He shoved the Stetson onto his head, dark eyes glittering. “Josh Riddley, wasn’t it? The dust had hardly settled behind me when you took up with him. So much for your promises of undying devotion. Both to me and to this ranch.”
She was shocked that he knew her former husband’s name. But that was good, she supposed. As long as he believed the worst of her, the secret would be safe. From the look on his face, he’d never had a single inkling that Josh was not Lane’s father.
“You broke a few promises yourself, cowboy. Not that it matters now.” She jabbed a finger at him. “I’ll just tell you the cold, hard facts as I see them. I’m staying. In my own house, in my own room, and I’m not leaving until you give me back that deed.”
Chapter Three
Ty stood in the corral, arms folded along the top edge of the fence rail, one boot propped on the bottom rung, studying the Tilted T in darkness. Tree frogs set up their mating song, competing long and loud with the katydids, and somewhere a mare whinnied for her colt. A quarter moon spilled light over the acreage so that the buildings and corrals, horses and vehicles all took on shadowy forms in the darkness. The sky above was a black velvet curtain studded with diamonds.
He glanced toward the house and saw the kitchen light come on. Kara, no doubt. His belly growled, a reminder that he hadn’t eaten supper, and here it was bedtime. But after Kara stomped out of the barn, he’d felt it wise to let her cool awhile.
He hadn’t meant to kiss her, but he couldn’t take it back. Didn’t want to as a matter-of-fact. Something had come over him when he’d felt her soft curves beneath his. Desire, he guessed. Any cowboy with a drop of testosterone would desire a woman like Kara. But there had been something else, too. Something he couldn’t quite put a name to. He wrinkled his forehead, trying to get a grip on the nameless emotion Kara stirred in him. Nostalgia. Memories. He and Kara went back a long way, regardless of the rift between them now—a rift so wide he’d need an airplane to cross it.
A door slammed and a male voice carried on the still night air. Pete’s, though he couldn’t make out the words.
Not until he heard the crunch of boots coming across the paddock did he realize Pete was headed his way. Illuminated only by the silvery moonlight, the old guy looked like a specter with a hitch in one leg.
“Knee