by Susan Crosby
“When will you decide?”
Vaughn would’ve decided by now if everything were resolved with Cassidy’s adoption. He didn’t know how much time he might need now to deal with it. “Soon, I hope. How about you? Don’t you need to get back to work?”
“I’ve been in touch with almost everyone. They haven’t been exactly understanding that I needed a vacation, but they say they’ll wait for me to return. Frankly, they won’t want to do their Christmas returns themselves, so I’m not worried about that. Gloriana’s my biggest client. It would be hard to lose her.”
He’d had a glimmer of a thought that she might not return to her life there, but she spoke so casually about it now that he decided he was wrong. He wouldn’t mind if she moved nearby—for lots of reasons.
Vaughn rolled to his side and used his fingers to push her hair from her face. “We’re in bed, naked, and we’re talking business. How did that happen?”
“I’ve been curious.”
“I’m more curious about this place right here.” He pressed his lips to the soft spot of skin below her ear then nibbled on the lobe. She shivered. “I’ve found so many erogenous zones on you, Hollywood.”
“That’s because everything you do turns me on. You don’t even have to touch. You just have to look at me.”
Challenged, he tested her, not touching her at all, just looking. It wasn’t long before she was all over him, and he got swept away with her. He couldn’t remember being wanted so much, but then he’d forgotten just about everything about anyone else he’d ever experienced. She would be the standard now. The gold standard.
It wasn’t until much later that he remembered something she’d said the first time they’d met. How it had slipped his mind, he didn’t know.... Well, that wasn’t exactly true. She’d crowded his mind with temptation.
“Karyn?”
“Hmm?” She shifted a little after being completely relaxed against him.
“You said once that your brother left a will, including something about heirs. Did you look that up?”
“I brought it with me, in fact.”
“I’d like to take a look at it tomorrow. Do you remember what it said?”
“Not exactly.” She yawned and snuggled closer. “I think I need to sleep. You wore me out. Should I go back to my room? I don’t want Cass to get up before me, run into my room and find me gone.”
“She won’t be up until six at the earliest. I’ll tell you when it’s time. No way Belle won’t wake me up at some point.”
“Thanks.” She relaxed against him again.
He was wide awake, however, wishing he’d just asked her to get the document now instead of wondering all night. Damn Ginger. He was furious that she hadn’t answered his questions, had left him in legal limbo. Analyzing it now, he wondered whether she would’ve married him before the birth, if Cass hadn’t been a month premature. Had that been Ginger’s plan all along? To stall him? Would she have come up with more excuses until the birth, even if Cass had been full term?
If only she would call. He’d posted legal notices in several major newspapers announcing his intent to adopt, as the law required. Still he hadn’t heard from her.
But then, anyone who would abandon their child the way she had probably didn’t think twice about not keeping in touch.
Karyn’s quiet, even breathing settled him finally. He closed his eyes, kissed her temple and drifted.
Only two more days until Humphreys would go for his own test. Vaughn hoped it wouldn’t go that far.
More than ever, he wanted Kyle to be the one.
Chapter Fifteen
When Karyn came downstairs for breakfast the next morning, she brought the will with her. She handed it to Vaughn then gave Cassidy a hug.
“Good morning, young lady.”
“We fixed French toast.”
“I see. Looks good.”
“You slept a long time.”
Karyn poured herself a cup of coffee. “I guess I was tired.” Two nights in a row of little sleep could do that to a person. “I’d like to work on the sketches a little more this morning.”
“I have a playdate with my best friend, Marin.”
“Not until ten,” Vaughn said without taking his gaze off the document.
“Works for me,” Karyn said.
“I thought it would be more fun, sitting for a portrait,” Cass said, peeling a banana.
“It’s work. That’s why I don’t have you sit very long each time. When you’re all grown up, I hope you’ll appreciate it, however.” Karyn stabbed two pieces of French toast, transferring them to her plate.
Vaughn’s expression was serious as he flipped through the pages. He refolded the document and set it on the counter, then sat at the table, helping himself to French toast and bacon.
“I’d like to hear about Marin,” Karyn said.
“We’ve been best friends forever.”
“A whole year,” Vaughn said.
“She has pierced ears. And very pretty earrings.”
“You still haven’t given me that list, Cass.”
Karyn wondered about the conversation, apparently some kind of sticking point about getting her ears pierced.
“How old were you when you got your ears pierced?” Cass asked her.
It was apparent from Vaughn’s expression that he didn’t want her to say she was six, but... “Five.”
“See, Daddy? See? Younger than me.”
“My mom took me to a jewelry store in town right before I started kindergarten. I got to choose three pairs of earrings for when I was done healing. I got kittens, stars and hearts. Oh, but I wanted these long, dangly things that almost touched my shoulders. When I was old enough to buy my own and got some dangly earrings, I realized how much of a problem they were with my curly hair.”
“Now can I get my ears pierced, Daddy?”
“Write the list.”
She huffed out a breath and went back to shoveling French toast in her mouth. Karyn smiled. She loved when Cass asserted herself with him and loved that he stuck to his guns without seeming ridiculously strict, striking the right balance with his calm demeanor. Karyn wondered how long he would be able to manage that with the strong-minded girl.
After breakfast Vaughn disappeared into his office while Karyn sketched, using her colored pencils this time. She was seeing that her lack of training in portraiture was showing in a big way. She wasn’t happy with it, even at this early stage. She could probably manage Cass’s features okay, but skin tones would be another matter.
She started to erase parts of it to start again, but she noticed Cass getting antsy. Maybe she should take the day to practice creating believable flesh tones.
As if one day of practice would do it.
“Is it ten o’clock yet?” Cass asked.
“No, but we’re done for now.”
“Yay!”
“Will you do something special with Marin?”
“We’ll play at her house. I haven’t seen her Christmas presents yet. She got a computer.”
“She did? Do you use a computer?”
“Yes, but only when Daddy sits with me. We play games, and I’m learning to type QWERTY with all my fingers, not just my pointers.” She giggled. “I like that word, QWERTY. It’s funny. And Google. That’s funny, too. Could you put my hair in messy pigtails, please?”
The abrupt segue had Karyn smiling. “I’d be happy to.”
“I would like to wear my crown, but I think Marin would be jealous,” she whispered.
“That’s very kind of you to think of that.”
“She’s my best friend. I’ll get the stuff for my hair.”
Vaughn came into the kitchen as Cass raced to the staircase.
“That’s some kid you’ve raised, Mr. Ryder.”
“It’s not dull around here.” He looked at her sketch as she went back to erasing. “Not happy with it?”
“I’m a landscape artist, and it shows.”
“My daughter looks like a mountain? A tree?”
“More like a garden gnome.” He smiled, but his eyes looked serious. “Problem?”
“The will was a bit of a surprise. He appoints you as guardian to any of his issue should he die.”
“Is it legal?”
“It’s complicated. You couldn’t be guardian without there being no living parent, but he obviously wanted you to have rights. Did he ever talk to you about this? Did you discuss the possibility he might have fathered a child? Because this wasn’t in the body of the will but added as a handwritten codicil.”
“Sort of. He sent it to me just before he was deployed to Afghanistan. Cass was born seven months after he left.”
“She was one month premature. The timing is right.” He drummed his fingers on the table. She’d never seen him show nerves before. “Except, as we know, he wasn’t the only man she slept with.”
“I take it you’ve had Jason Humphreys checked out.”
“Thoroughly. He appears to be a decent person, and he lived in San Francisco at the right time. I’d be interested to know what you plan to do if Kyle’s the father.”
Cass came bounding down the staircase, her hair pick and bands in hand.
Karyn breathed a sigh of relief. She didn’t know what to tell Vaughn. He wasn’t ready to hear the truth—that she’d fallen in love with him and wanted to stay.
“I’m going to have messy pigtails,” Cass announced to her father.
“Did you drag Mr. Purdy’s pig around a mud hole?”
She giggled. “Not those kind of pigtails, Daddy. My hair.” She turned her back to Karyn, who stood, separated the mass of hair and banded each side.
“You do that efficiently,” Vaughn said.
“Twenty-eight years of practice.”
“Does that mean you’re twenty-eight years old?” Cass asked.
“That’s exactly what it means.”
She walked to her father and put her hands along his face, over his graying temples. “My daddy is old.”
“Hey. Granddad and Grammie are older.”
“Grammie doesn’t have gray hair.”
“She colors it.”
“With crayons?”
Karyn started laughing and couldn’t stop.
“Maybe you should use crayons on your hair,” Cass said seriously to her father, turning his head one way then the other, examining him. Then she planted a big kiss on his mouth. “I love you.”
“I love you more.”
She grinned. “Is it time to go yet?”
He glanced at Karyn, regretfully, she thought. He’d wanted an answer to his question.
“I have to meet with a couple of clients, then I’ll pick up Cass on the way back.”
“I’ll walk the pooch now and then.”
“Thanks.”
They both headed out, but after a moment, Karyn heard Cass’s boots on the floor as she ran back and straight at Karyn, giving her a big hug. “I love you,” she said.
Karyn’s throat closed. “I love you, too.” More.
Vaughn stood in the doorway staring, not giving anything away.
“Bye,” Karyn said, lifting her hand.
He touched the brim of his hat, a gesture that went straight to her heart. Her lawman. Her hero.
Karyn made herself move. If she dwelled on what had just happened, she would probably cry. What a lovely moment. And how much more difficult everything seemed right now.
Vaughn believed he needed to be with someone a year to truly know them. He liked her and was attracted to her, but he wouldn’t let himself fall in love with her—or anyone. He’d made that clear. And she knew for sure she loved him, wanted to be with him. She would be happy here, could start a new career. Have a family of her own.
What a strange family dynamic it would be. A father by right not by birth and a mother who was actually an aunt. How much more complicated could it get?
Add in the possibility of a biological father and perhaps that man’s own family.
Karyn plunked her sketch pad on the kitchen table and opened it to the sketch she’d been working on, determined to clear her mind. Gold Ridge Mountain shimmered, taking up most of the page, with interesting clouds hovering. It was a traditional piece, nothing special, and yet it called to her. She wanted to see Bigfoot and UFOs. She wanted to hike up the mountain. Karyn Lambert, hiker? She would’ve laughed at that a couple of weeks ago. The most hiking she’d done was along the shoreline at the beach, looking for shells.
She lifted her pencil, then stopped. What could she tell Vaughn when he asked again about her plans?
Someone knocked on the front door. Startled, Karyn looked outside the window but didn’t see a car. The front door opened.
“Anyone home?”
“Jenny?”
“Hey, Karyn. I didn’t see Vaughn’s truck, but sometimes he puts it in the garage when it snows.”
“He took Cass to a friend’s house, then is taking care of some business. Can I get you something? Tea? There’s still some coffee left.”
“Coffee, if I’m not interrupting. I see you’re working.”
Karyn still held her pad, but she set it down. “Not having a productive day. You rescued me. How’d you get here?”
“Horseback.” Jen helped herself to the coffee, then they sat in the living room. “Have you enjoyed yourself on the ranch?”
“Very much so. Do you miss it when you’re at college?”
“Aspects of it. My family, of course. I was extremely homesick my freshman year, but between the studies and a part-time job, I stopped having time to be homesick.”
“What’s your major?”
“Ag science, with a focus on farm management. I’ve been working in a nursery all four years. It’s a huge organization, with a lab of their own and lots of hands-on training. I have plans. Did Vaughn tell you?”
“He keeps confidences very well.”
Jen smiled. “This valley is in sore need of active tourism. I’m working on a plan for that. I’d like to figure out something for Mom and Dad, too. The biomedical business they had as part of the business isn’t as lucrative as it used to be.”
“I’ve been doing the same thing.”
“You have? Like what?”
“It doesn’t matter. Vaughn didn’t seem gung ho about it.”
“You should talk to Mitch. He’s the innovator of the family, but Vaughn’s the sound business mind, so it’s good to listen to him, too. I have. Anyway, first things first. I need to graduate.”
“Is there a danger you won’t?”
She grinned. “No. That much is a sure thing.”
“Can I be nosy?” Karyn asked.
“You can try.”
“Do you have a history with Win Morgan? I know your family and his are, well, not mortal enemies but not friends. There was something in his expression when he asked about you at Annie’s farm.”
Jen set her mug on the coffee table. “Long ago. Long done.”
“He is one attractive guy. Hollywood handsome.”
Jen nodded. “How much longer are you staying?” she asked.
“I’m sorry. I was being too nosy.”
Jen lifted her mug in a toast. “Some things are better left unsaid.”
“I couldn’t agree more. As for your question, I’m not sure yet. Maybe on Monday. My clients are getting antsy.”
“Do you like your job?”
“Not as much as I used to.”
Jenny cocked her head and looked hard into Karyn’s eyes. “Looking for a change of scenery?”
“A change of something anyway.”
“Is Vaughn part of your potential change?”
“Some things are better left unsaid.” She smiled at Jen, who didn’t smile back.
“He’s a hard sell,” Jen said after a few seconds.
“I know. Believe me, I know. But some things are worth fighting for.”
Jen nodded. “True, but you also have to know when to give up the fight or risk an even worse hurt.”
Karyn heard something in Jen’s voice. Pain? Sadness? Regret?
“I need to get going,” Jen said, taking her mug to the kitchen. When she came back, she hugged Karyn. “Good luck. I want my brother happy. He hasn’t been happy, except as a father, for a long time.”
“Thank you.”
Karyn gave up sketching after Jen rode off. She put away her equipment then wandered the house, restless. She wanted to talk to someone about Vaughn and Cassidy and her own feelings. She couldn’t talk to her mother, and she knew she’d slowly abandoned her friends since Kyle’s death. Since then she’d been functioning but not participating in life.
Even Gloriana had seen that.
Karyn decided she should probably check in with Glori. They hadn’t spoken in several days, not since the trip to the Medford mall, where Karyn had reception on her phone. All along she could have used Vaughn’s landline, but she wanted the excuse of not having coverage as an out for not staying in touch.
Just as she picked up the phone she heard a car approach, a small red sedan, the kind often used by rental companies.
Ginger.
Karyn didn’t know how she knew that. She hadn’t seen a picture of the woman. But she knew.
She dialed Vaughn’s cell number.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“You need to get back here. Ginger’s just arrived.”
“I’m twenty minutes out.” He hung up.
What the heck was Karyn supposed to do for twenty minutes with a woman she despised? Was she supposed to invite her in? It was too cold to sit on the porch.
Her stomach doing flip-flops, Karyn opened the door.