“I have to go home. I have to take care of some things.”
“So that’s it? You’re just going to leave things like this? What about us?”
“Caring about you is a problem for me. I have to think.”
Something I’d been doing for the past two weeks nonstop. And even without realizing it, I’d been settling things all along.
I’d cleaned up all of my open cases, training Noelle as I went. I’d paid up my back rent with the pay I’d earned since coming home, and let Mrs. Cartier know I wouldn’t be renewing my lease. I’d even stayed with Mom this past week while I tried to figure out what I was going to do next. And we’d talked. We weren’t going to bridge our differences in a few days, but the lines were open.
In a month I would get my share of my father’s inheritance. Van had said he’d sign it over without a fight. That freed a whole new world of possibilities for me. The thought of opening my own agency charged me with energy.
A knock at my office door startled me out of my concentration. Van strode in, wearing an emerald-green polo shirt and khakis. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen him without a suit or wearing such a bright color.
“Van?” I said, squinting at him. “Okay, where is my brother, and what have you done with him?”
“Very funny, har, har.” He plucked at the shirt and sat in one of the two chairs in front of my desk. “Dana’s idea. We’re taking the kids minigolfing after lunch.”
I smiled. “Still couldn’t resist coming to the office on a Saturday, huh?”
“I tried to call you, but you weren’t home.”
I pointed at the pile of folders in my out basket. “Tying up loose ends. Everything will be neat and tidy on your desk by Monday morning. All those billable hours should make your partners happy.”
He tented his hands over his lap. “Who am I going to get to replace you?”
“Yeah, I know, it’s going to be tough to find someone you can harass and control as easily as me.”
“I’m trying to be serious, Sierra.”
“I know.” Forearms on the desk, I leaned forward and did an imitation of his scowl. “And I love you for it.”
I went around the desk and hugged him. “I’m going to miss you, too. But Noelle can do my job every bit as well as I can. With the internship she’s put in the past year, she’ll be able to get her P.I. license soon.”
Suddenly what I was going to do became crystal clear. “We both need to cut the cord, Van. You’ve been worrying about me for too long, and I’ve been depending on you to save me from myself for too long. You need to spend time with your family. And I need a purpose of my own.”
Van studied me for a long time. “I hope he makes you happy.”
Van had always been good at reading people—well, at least me.
Wyatt’s face popped into my mind, and I smiled. “I shake him up. He grounds me. It’s gotta mean something.” I rocked back on my heels and looked up at my brother. “It’s not like this is a permanent goodbye, you know. We’ll talk. We’ll visit.”
“I know.” He rose, taking me with him, and hugged me back bear tight. “It’s good to see you happy.”
I didn’t know what was waiting for me in Texas but I knew I had to try. “It’s good to be myself again.”
Monday, May 15
Ten Oaks. The thought whispered through my brain as the ranch appeared on the flat horizon. Not Sofia’s voice but my own. I could no longer hear her in my head, see her float above my bed or feel the static of her presence prickling my skin, but I liked to believe she’d found the peace she’d wanted when she first started to haunt me.
I turned into the driveway, and an unexpected rush of homecoming set my heart thumping hard. I parked by the main house. Lorraine, decked out in overalls and a floppy hat, looked up from tending her rosebushes and waved at me. She met me as I got out of the rental.
“It’s so good to see you again, Sierra.”
“It’s good to be back. Is Wyatt home?”
“He’s in the ring.” She tried to swallow her knowing smile but couldn’t quite manage the feat as she went back to her roses.
The soft sound of hoofbeats scrambled the arena dirt. Sinewy muscles on man and beast flexed and extended with power and grace. My heart raced as if it wanted to fly right out of my chest and into his arms. To hell with propriety. I climbed through the fence and into the ring.
Wyatt’s smile packed a wallop of sex appeal as he brought Ten to a halt right in front of me and dismounted, handing the horse to a ranch hand. “What are you doing here?”
“Thought I’d try my hand at running my own investigation agency.” I reached out and stroked the healing scar decorating the temple skimmed by Inez’s bullet. “I thought I’d see if there was anything more than Sofia between us.”
His eyes burned with intense heat. “Yeah?”
Needing to feel him, I threw my arms around his neck and let my mouth find his, drinking in the piney scent of his cologne. “I wanted to do that the first day I saw you.”
He circled his arms around my waist and grinned. “Don’t let me stop you.”
I leaned back and looked up at him. “Are you sure that this is what you want? That I’m what you want?”
“I wouldn’t break the law for just anyone.”
“For Sofia.”
He shook his head. “It’s your smart mouth and your sweet ass I was trying to keep out of trouble.”
“Thing is, Wyatt, you come from a long line of tradition.” I looked around me at the vast expanse of his ranch. “Five generations. Always passed on to the oldest son. I can’t have children. With all the antirejection drugs I have to take to survive, the odds aren’t good.”
He gave an easy shrug. “We can work on new traditions.” His grin turned wicked. “We can start right now.”
My body hummed in anticipation—like that moment right before jumping out of a plane—high about the jump, secure in knowing the parachute was properly packed. “Sex doesn’t solve every problem.”
Half his mouth quirked up. “But it’s sure a great place to start.”
Walking away into the noon sun wasn’t quite as poetic as walking away into the sunset, but heck, we were going to be breaking new ground every day.
There were no guarantees. The parachute could fail. I’d always known that. That didn’t mean I had to dive alone.
The heart was mine. So was my future. And I was going to make the most of it. Taking a chance with Wyatt was just the first step.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-5776-8
DETOUR
Copyright © 2006 by Sylvie L. Kurtz
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