The Secret Heir of Sunset Ranch

by Charlene Sands

  Kat tiptoed into Brett’s old room—which she now shared with her son—and made her way to the snow-white crib on loan from one of Matilda’s neighbors. She smiled at the sight of Connor asleep atop baby-blue sheets with cartoon monkeys printed on them. “You be a good baby now. Sleep tight,” she murmured, placing an air kiss over Connor’s cheek. “Mama loves you.”

  She lingered there a few extra moments, watching him breathe, in and out, his plump baby chest rising and falling. This little person, cozy in a terry-cloth sleeper decorated with brown footballs, filled her world with joy. She’d never get over the miracle of her unexpected but cherished son. It was hard to leave him, if even for a short while, but this meeting tonight had to happen.

  Kat hated lying to Aunt Mattie. But she couldn’t think of any way around it. At least a lie didn’t feel so much like a lie if there was some truth in it. So Kat had told Matilda she was picking up a check from Cecelia Tilton for the baby clothes she’d put on consignment at her boutique. A month ago, when Kat had mentioned Babylicious, her budding online store featuring the fashionable and affordable baby clothes she designed, a very gracious Cecelia had offered her a place in her shop to help promote her work. Cecelia’s home wasn’t far from Blossom and this afternoon Kat had phoned the woman to make the arrangements.

  Her conscience continued to nag her as she left the house and headed to Cecilia’s. But half an hour later, as she drove away from the shop owner’s home with a small check in hand, she felt a little better. Three hundred and forty dollars would go a long way in helping Mattie pay for her medications.

  Kat shelved thoughts of business as soon as she pulled up to Blossom. Her heart in her throat, she shook off tremors of doubt, straightened her frame, held her head high and walked into the deserted café. Blossom was known more for their savory hot breakfasts and so-so lunch salads. Not too many patrons dared their blue plate specials at this hour of the evening.

  Kat spotted Justin sitting in a corner booth with his head down, looking impatiently at his phone. Her tremors took on a different character as memories rushed in of that weekend she’d spent with him. She’d let down her guard for two days with a hot, charming, understanding man, who’d left his indelible stamp on her. She’d thought about him for weeks afterward but had convinced herself he wasn’t right for her. He hadn’t been enough. She’d wanted more out of life than he could offer. They’d ended things civilly with no illusions of anything else developing between them.

  On a steadying breath, Kat lifted her chin and ventured farther into the café. But a piece of broken grout between the floor tiles trapped her four-inch heel, throwing her off balance. Flailing her arms, she managed not to fall flat on her face. But darn if the perfectly dignified entrance she’d plotted in her head wasn’t shot to hell.

  Justin saw the whole thing.

  As she walked closer, he took in her clothes with his piercing gaze. She wore stretch blue jeans and a billowy white top tucked under a cropped jacket. A sterling silver rope chain made of entwined oblong circles dangled from her neck. On her wrist she wore a matching bracelet.

  The clothes were her own designs and had been rejected by every major fashion house in New York City.

  “You’re late,” Justin said, rising from his seat.

  “Babies aren’t predicable. It always seems to take longer than you think to put them down to sleep.”

  He gave her excuse some thought. Then his lips thinned. “I wouldn’t know.”

  Oh, boy. Kat got it. He wasn’t happy about the circumstances, but then neither was she. If they were going to accomplish anything, they would have to agree to civility. By this time of night, after a day of taking care of a baby and an aging woman, Kat was pooped and not up to verbal sparring. “I can leave and we can do this another time...when your attitude is better.”

  Justin swore under his breath. His mouth clamped down and he sent her a long thoughtful look. Then like magic, his demeanor changed before her eyes. His body visibly loosened up, as if on command, and he gave her a reluctant but gracious smile. “You’re right. I apologize. Please sit down so we can talk.”

  Accepting his apology, she dropped into a cushioned seat facing him and set her purse down beside her. As she looked across the café table, a quick zip of awareness caught her off guard as she really, really studied Justin’s handsome face.

  My God...Connor looks exactly like him.

  Yes, their hair and eyes were the same color, but Connor shared Justin’s wide full mouth, too, and a deep dimple that popped out on the left side when they smiled. She couldn’t begin to count how many times she’d kissed that disappearing dimple on her baby’s face. Their skin tones were smooth and olive and she imagined Connor would easily tan golden-brown just like Justin when he got older. They shared the same hairline that cut a neat straight line across their forehead. Connor would have the same arrow-sharp nose, too, when he grew up.

  Her son’s adorable baby features were a precursor to Justin Slade’s adult appearance.

  His brows furrowed. “Who’s watching the baby?”

  “Aunt Mattie and Doris Brubaker are with Connor.”

  She went on to explain, “Doris is a neighbor. We’re friends, and I asked her to stay with Aunt Mattie until I got back. They’re having tea and I don’t want to impose on them any longer than necessary.”

  “Okay. Let’s get on with it, then. Ladies first.”

  “You told me you were Brett Applegate. I want to know why you lied to me.” Then she added, “I would appreciate the truth.”

  “Just remember that when it’s my turn to ask questions.”

  A waitress wearing a snappy blue outfit and white tights showed up at the table with a notepad. “Hi, I’m Toni, and I’ll be serving you tonight. Have you looked at the menu yet? Just so you know, the blue plate special is—”

  “Decaf coffee for me,” Kat said. Her stomach knotted at the thought of food. “That’s all I’d like.”

  “I’ll have the same,” Justin said, nodding to the young girl. “Thank you.”

  “No cherry pie or apple cobbler?”

  They both shook their heads. “Okay, I’ll be back with your coffee in a sec.”

  Kat watched the waitress walk away and then turned to Justin. “You were about to tell me why you lied to me that weekend.”

  The muscles in Justin’s face pinched tight, a distant look in his eyes hinting at regret. “I lost a bet.”

  Kat blinked. “You lost a bet? What does that mean?”

  He leaned forward, his elbows flat on the table. The material of his navy shirt pulled taut across his broad shoulders, and it wasn’t hard to remember what he’d looked like with a shirt off. She could almost feel the sensation of touching his golden skin and ripped muscles under her fingertips now. “It means Brett beat me at arm wrestling. Best of five.”

  Kat didn’t like where this was going. “So?”

  “So, I made this stupid bet with him, because I never thought I’d have to pay up. He was egging me on in front of my men until I finally thought, what the hell. I’d never lost a match to Brett before. If he won, I’d have to trade places with him the next time we had time off. We’d switch wallets—and the cash and credit cards inside—and assume each other’s identity with...” Justin’s lips snapped shut. He ran his fingers over his mouth and winced.

  Kat caught on. “With women?”

  He gave her a slow nod.

  “So, the weekend you spent with me was to pay off a bet? You used me...lied to me...had no intention of ever telling me the truth?”

  Something hard flickered in his eyes. “I didn’t use you. If you remember correctly, I didn’t pressure you for anything. And you made it clear you wanted no ties to a hick from a small town, remember? We didn’t exchange so much as cell phone numbers when I walked out your door.”

 
; That was beside the point. He’d been amazing that weekend and by the time the second night rolled around, Kat couldn’t imagine not sharing her bed with him. He’d been compassionate and kind and patient and just what she’d needed at that moment in her life.

  Maybe he’d assumed more than Brett’s identity that weekend; maybe Justin had taken on Brett’s personality, as well. That weekend helped heal some of her old wounds. She’d needed a strong shoulder and an understanding heart. It hadn’t been all fun and games between them, it had been unexpectedly more. “I’d put it a little gentler than that, Justin. But yes, it’s true. I couldn’t get romantically involved with a man that wouldn’t—”

  “Serve your purposes?”

  She tried harder to explain. “Didn’t fit into the life I wanted. Don’t forget, you lied about who you were and that might have altered my decision about the weekend.”

  “You mean if you’d known I was a loaded Nevada rancher, you might have taken me to bed one night sooner?”

  Her cheeks burned. His accusation was a hard slap to her face. He wasn’t going to get away with it. “You have no right to judge me. You have no idea who I am and what I’ve been through. I didn’t ask you to come over to me at that hotel bar.”

  “Why wouldn’t I want to meet a beautiful woman? It was obvious you were waiting for someone. You kept checking your watch. I figured some jerk stood you up. And I was right. He didn’t give a crap that your mother had recently passed away, did he?”

  That jerk had been Michael Golden, the heir to the entire Golden Hotel chain. It was a blind date. Later, she’d found out from her friend that he’d been called out of town suddenly and hadn’t gotten word to her. She’d been waiting for him more than an hour when Justin strolled up to her table.

  The waitress walked over and set their coffee cups down. Taking one look at the intense discussion at the table, she lowered her voice. “I’ll be in the back if you need anything else.”

  Justin gave her a sharp nod and she strode away.

  Steam wafted up from Kat’s ceramic mug of decaf and she moved it out of her line of vision. “I told you that night, I didn’t date soldiers.”

  “We told each other a lot of things.”

  “But what I said to you, what I confessed during those two days that we were together was the truth. You can’t say the same, can you?

  He pursed his lips and hung his shoulders. “No.”

  She leaned back in her seat and stared at him.

  He stared back. “I’d like to know something. How hard did you try to find Brett?”

  Her lids lowered. “I wrote to him and he never answered back. I don’t know if he ever received my letter.”

  “One letter was all he was worth to you?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “We were stationed in a forward operating base in Delaram, the third battalion of the 4th Marines. I know I mentioned that.”

  “All I heard you say was Afghanistan. I didn’t want to know the details. I didn’t remember anything else. It doesn’t really matter now. Clearly, it wasn’t Brett I slept with that night. It was you. But I didn’t know that because you lied about your identity.”

  Justin shook his head. “I didn’t know we’d conceived a child.”

  “Obviously,” she said. “I wasn’t planning on having a child, either, but I wouldn’t trade having Connor in my life for anything.” A surge of emotion brought tears to her eyes. “My son is everything to me.”

  When she’d finally looked Brett’s family up and come to Silver Springs to do the right thing, Aunt Mattie had given her the news of Brett’s death. Brett had died in action, and Kat couldn’t help but think if she’d tried harder to find him, he wouldn’t have taken chances. Maybe he wouldn’t have died at all and maybe Mattie Applegate’s heart wouldn’t have been broken. Now Kat understood that wasn’t the case at all because if her letter had reached Brett, he would’ve put two and two together and shown it to his buddy. He would’ve known the baby she carried wasn’t his but Justin’s.

  It was a sad set of circumstances and she’d lived with the guilt of not trying to find Brett sooner. But in the end, she had done the right thing. “I know there were some things I could have done differently. I...didn’t.” She shrugged a shoulder, not knowing what else to say. “I just didn’t.”

  Justin peered deep into her eyes. “There are things I would’ve done differently, too, had I known. Tell me one thing. Do you believe that Connor is my son?”

  She didn’t hesitate. She’d always known exactly when she conceived her little boy. “I know he is.”

  For a moment tears welled in Justin’s eyes. The hard planes of his face softened and his shoulders fell with relief. As he took it all in, he began nodding and Kat saw his expression transform suddenly. Determination set his jaw. “It’s been a year and a half.”

  “Yes. Almost.”

  He blinked and then blew breath from his lungs.

  Just then the waitress walked into the room and said, “I’ve got to start closing up, but you can finish your coffee. Don’t mind me.”

  She glanced at the two cups that had gone untouched and then looked away.

  Justin pulled a twenty out of his wallet and set it down on the table. Then he rose to his full six-foot-two height and reached for Kat’s hand. “Let’s get out of here.”

  “Where?”

  “Doesn’t matter. We need to finish this conversation.”

  Reluctantly, she took his hand and let him lead her out of the café.

  Three

  His hand across her lower back, Justin guided Kat out of the café. Darkness and the chilly night air surrounded them and Kat shivered. “Get your coat,” Justin said.

  “I didn’t bring one. Why, where are we going?”

  “For a walk. Give me a second.” He marched to his truck, ducked inside the front cab and came up with a leather bomber jacket. It was worn, its soft leather cracking a bit and the lambswool lining thick enough to warm a body in a snowstorm. “This will do,” he said. “You gotta know these nights get cold.”

  “I didn’t think I’d be spending a lot of time outside this late.”

  “It’s not late and we’ve hardly gotten started.”

  He wrapped the jacket around her shoulders and she fit her arms through the sleeves. The jacket was two sizes too big for her, the shoulder seams going partway down her arms and the hem nearly touching her knees. Watching her platinum curls bounce off the collar, he gripped the lapels and drew her closer. Her eyes, big and green and surprised, snapped up to his. She was unique, a throwback to a classic fifties movie starlet with that ice-blond hair, an innocent expression that proved deadly and a luscious mouth painted pink and rosy.

  “Warm enough?”

  She glanced at his mouth for a split second, a tempting little look that pulled his groin taut.

  “Uh-huh.”

  He hesitated to let her go.

  Moments ticked by as they stared into each other’s eyes. His grip tightened on the fabric, his knuckles grazing her torso just an inch from the two full ripe breasts that had given him a sliver of heaven once. He hadn’t forgotten.

  He heaved a big sigh and let go. Immediately, she tugged the jacket tight across her chest and crossed her arms.

  Justin put a hand on her back again, guiding her down the street. “When I drove up, I saw a town square. There’s a gazebo we can use. Or we can just sit in my truck with the motor running and the heater on.”

  She shook her head at that notion and he was glad of it. Kat warm and comfy in the cab of his truck wouldn’t serve either of them well. The last time they’d been alone together in close quarters they’d had a marathon of combustible sex. Justin still felt the pull of attraction to her, but the stakes were too high now for any wrong move.


  They walked south with light from the streetlamps leading the way. A few people were out for a brisk stroll, and Justin and Kat both smiled cordially or nodded their heads in greeting while they pressed on. The gazebo was visible in the distance, marking the center of the town square. They walked past park benches and down a garden path until they reached it. Luckily, they had it all to themselves.

  Justin led her to a wooden bench that was painted white and she sat down. Behind her, past the lattice, flood lamps lit the surrounding shrubs, giving off enough faint light so that they could see each other’s faces. Justin paced for a second, pulling in his scattered emotions.

  “Tell me about Connor.”

  Kat’s face beamed immediately and her voice took on a whimsical, loving tone. “He’s an amazing little boy. He was born healthy and strong. His Apgar rating was ten.”

  “What’s an Apgar rating?”

  “It’s a test they do at birth, named after the doctor who invented it. It measures things like heart rate and breathing and muscle tone. Ten is the highest score a baby can get.”

  Justin nodded. Unfamiliar pride pierced his heart.

  “When I brought him home from the hospital, he took to breast-feeding right away. He’s a good eater and a pretty sound sleeper. You have to know a few little Connor tricks to get him to take a nap and I’m learning just like he is, every day.”

  “What kind of tricks?”

  “Well, first I give him a bottle. And then I sing to him. If that doesn’t work, I show him a Sesame Street video clip on my phone. He’s crazy about some of the characters. And once he’s mellow, I hum to him, some of his favorite baby tunes. When I get him to sleep, sometimes I just watch him breathe and thank my blessings for him every minute of every—”

  Kat stopped talking abruptly. “I’m...sorry.”

  Regret pumped through his veins. “So am I.”

  “It’s done, Justin. We can’t change the past.”

  “I’ll never get those months back, Kat. I lost all that time with Connor.”

  Sympathy settled in her eyes. “I know that. I can’t imagine what that’s like. But if you had known, it’s not like you would’ve seen Connor that much. You were serving in the military.”