The Rancher's Unexpected Family. Myrna Mackenzie
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“Just out of the blue like that? Planning to move to a ranch, are you?” He looked mildly amused. As if he was trying to keep from laughing.
Oh, no. Did he think she was flirting with him, pursuing him?
“No. I’m looking for a job in a city, but odds are my baby will be born here, and I want to be able to tell her a bit about her birthplace.” As she said the words, Kathryn realized it was true. She did want her child to know something of her history. Because that kind of anchor had been missing from her own life. Her parents had moved constantly. They’d never discussed their lives before she’d been born. They’d never talked much at all without arguing or criticizing their only child for being a disappointment. Her ex-husband had continued the trend. Control by ignoring or criticizing her. Or making her feel that she was being unreasonable or demanding. It had been an effective system. Kathryn had always fallen into line. This time had to be different. She couldn’t let Holt’s opinion daunt her.
“So you want a history lesson and a tour. And you decided this when? This morning?”
She took a deep breath. “I—no—yes—no. I made that up about thirty seconds ago,” she admitted, in part because Holt made her far too self-aware, but also because she just didn’t want to get in the habit of lying. Good mothers didn’t lie. And, oh, she really wanted to be a good mother.
Holt shook his head again. “If you want a history lesson or information on how a ranch runs, I’ll point you in the direction of some books.”
“I want more than that.”
That had probably been the wrong thing to say. There was always the chance that he knew how big a crush she’d had on him when she was young. She hoped not, but the dark, fierce look in his eyes … the heat that rose within her …
Kathryn took a step backward. She caught her foot on something, a rock or … Suddenly she was slipping.
Just as suddenly, she wasn’t. Holt’s big hands were on her arms. He was pulling her upward, toward him. Her heart was thundering, her breath was erratic. And then she was free, standing on her own. Trying to act as if she was perfectly fine.
“I’m perfectly fine,” she said.
A look of something that might have been amusement flitted across his face and then was gone. “Good. I was going to ask that in a minute.” Even though he’d had no reason to ask. She hadn’t even gotten near to hitting the ground. His quick reflexes and strong arms had seen to that. But his tone—was the darn man teasing her?
“I—I assumed as much,” she said lamely, flustered, not happy that she was letting Holt get to her. But hadn’t she always? Had she ever seriously thought they could be a couple when she was a starstruck teenager? She must have been insane. He was the worst kind of man for someone like her. Too intimidating, entirely too physical. His very presence made her feel as if her brain had gone missing. And her plan to butter him up, to humor him? The one that had seemed so right his morning?
It wasn’t going to happen. He wasn’t a man who craved adoration. If he had been, he would have scooped her up in high school and had all the adoration he could handle. She sighed.
“What?”
She forced herself to look straight into his eyes and not flinch. “I came here intending to schmooze you.”
“I see. And how exactly were you going to do that?”
She looked at Daedalus. “Nice horse,” she said weakly. “Nice hat.”
He almost looked as if he wanted to smile.
Kathryn sighed again. “I’m afraid I’m not very good at schmoozing,” she admitted. “I feel totally silly.”
“Well, I’ve been told that I don’t know how to accept a compliment, so …”
Yeah, it had been a bad, unworkable idea. “I should go.” Kathryn realized that she was still standing far too close to Holt. His sheer size, the breadth of his shoulders, was forbidding. He was quite possibly the most masculine male she could ever remember meeting.
Not that it mattered. Even if she hadn’t been extremely pregnant, she was never going to allow herself to think of a man that way again. Especially not a man like Holt. He was the type who could swallow her soul and mangle it, when she had barely escaped her mistake of a marriage with her soul intact. Still, with her retreat she felt her grand plans evaporating. Holt wasn’t going to help her. She would have no project to her name, nothing to put on her résumé, probably no means of supporting herself and her child once the clinic closed. And her friends she wanted to help … that wasn’t going to happen, either. She was going to fail at all of that. Just because of this stubborn man.
No, that wasn’t right. It wasn’t him. She was the one who had to convince him to help her. Winning others’ cooperation would be a big part of her job if she ever managed to get a job in her field. This was her proving ground.
Kathryn forced herself to look straight into Holt’s eyes. “Don’t you care about the people of the town?”
He didn’t answer that, but his brows drew together in a scowl.
“I see them,” she said. “Every day. People who come to Dr. Cooper with serious, frightening problems.”
As if she’d said something offensive, his expression turned colder. Without thought, she shoved her hand out and blindly touched his shoulder. Instantly, his muscles flexed beneath the pads of her fingertips. Her hand tingl her heart took an extra beat. Kathryn jerked back as if she’d touched fire.
The look in his dark eyes was deadly. “Don’t make the mistake of thinking I’m going to discuss my feelings.”
No, she could see that would be a mistake. “I won’t, but—”
He raised one dark, sexy brow, and Kathryn had to work to stay focused. “But what do you think will happen if people don’t have a clinic or a doctor in Larkville?” she continued.
“It’s not something I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about.”
“Of course not. You’re clearly an incredibly healthy man.”
He blinked, as if she’d said something shocking when all she’d said—did he think she was ogling him?
Most likely. Women would. She had in the past, and if her circumstances and her life and her entire world hadn’t turned out the way it had … No, no, no.
“I only meant that you’ve obviously not spent a lot of time in doctors’ offices,” she said a bit too quickly.
He didn’t respond.
“But there are people who need regular treatments or who need help quickly. If a doctor isn’t nearby, they may put off going at all. They might even die. Think about that.”
He frowned at her. “I’m thinking,” he said. And clearly what he was thinking wasn’t anything good. Why, oh, why was Holt the man she had to work with in order to get this thing done?
Holt felt as if he’d been kicked in the gut. By something a lot bigger and more lethal than this fragile woman standing before him. Kathryn wasn’t just looking for a favor. He was used to doing small favors. Like it or not, they were part of the ranch’s role in the community. But Kathryn wanted more than a small favor. She wanted him to ask for favors, and that wasn’t his style. The thought of opening himself up that way, begging, burned him like fire. What’s more, for a minute he had thought she’d wanted him to discuss his feelings. And he definitely wasn’t that guy. He worked, he did his duty, but discussing what he felt—or did not feel—was for other men. Actually, indulging in those deeper emotions was for other men, too.
Still, he looked down into those pretty eyes and realized he could no longer ignore her request for a favor. His father, Clay, had died of pneumonia when he’d refused to see a doctor until it was too late. And his