The Rodeo Man's Daughter (Harlequin American Romance)

by White Daille, Barbara

  Her footsteps neared. He stood his ground, and when she saw him in the doorway, she froze.

  He caught her gaze and held it long enough to send his message. Then he backed a couple of paces and swung the door open wider.

  She sighed and waited.

  So did he.

  It could almost have been a replay of that first night he’d spent at the inn. Only now, a lot more had passed between them. A lot of empty words. No one pitied you, Caleb. Not everyone thought less of you. When he’d asked her if she’d felt that way, she had shaken her head.

  Yet she’d kept his daughter from him.

  She stepped into the room, closed the door and turned to face him. She had freshened up, pulling her hair back with some sparkly combs, putting color into her cheeks. Adding something shiny to her lips that made them look softer than ever and ready for a kiss.

  And damn him, he wanted to kiss her again.

  She leaned back against the door, as if wanting as much distance between them as she could get. “Can we just let this go?”

  Anger fired through him, making his hands shake. “I don’t know,” he said, proud of keeping his voice low. Not so proud of his struggle to drag his attention from her mouth. “You could try distracting me.”

  The flare of anticipation in her eyes almost crushed him.

  She didn’t want him, she just hoped to put off having this conversation. To avoid making the truth known to everyone.

  Disgusted with himself, he moved over to the bureau and pawed through a drawer for a couple of bandannas. It would be hot working outside in the sun.

  Not as hot as he felt inside this room.

  In the mirror, he could see her staring at him. Could almost see her thoughts turning in her head. She might not want him, but he sure as hell felt the need for her—to make love or to settle a score, he couldn’t tell right now. Just as well he’d never find out.

  “No sense getting off course, is there?” he asked. “That’s what brought us here today.” He faced her again, opened his mouth, then shut it. Wincing inwardly, he thought of what she’d said to him in the truck earlier.

  Don’t be so crude.

  He had the right to what he was going to say now. But he didn’t have to be offensive about it. Despite everything, she had done a good job raising their daughter, with no help from him. He had to give her that.

  That’s all he’d allow.

  “I’m going to talk with Nate.”

  “No.” She surged forward, stumbled to a stop halfway across the room to him. “I won’t let you do that.”

  “Let?”

  She lifted her hands palm-up, then dropped them to her sides, but not soon enough for him to miss seeing she was the one shaking now. “All right. Then I’m asking you, Caleb. Don’t do this.”

  Unable to stop himself, he laughed shortly. “Did you think I’d just walk away and forget what you told me?”

  “No, I didn’t expect you to forget. But walk away? Yes. Why wouldn’t I think that? You’ve done it before.”

  “And you’ll never let me off the hook for it.”

  She shoved her hand through the air, pushing his words away. “That’s not what I meant. Not what we’re talking about. It’s Nate I’m thinking of. We can’t just tell her this now and then go out for the day as if nothing had happened.”

  Being called crude, he’d accepted, but he’d be damned if he’d let her think him cruel and not defend himself. “What the hell makes you think I’d do that? Give me some credit, Tess. I won’t tell her today. And I won’t hit her point-blank with the news. You can pave the way for the conversation. But I’ll be the one to tell her.”

  “What good will it do for you to talk to her? You’re leaving again soon. She’s never known about you. She doesn’t need to know now.”

  “Who said that’s for you to decide?”

  “I’m her mother.”

  “And I’m her daddy.”

  “Yes,” she shot back, “and it will be better for her if she never knows that.”

  The heat of her words slammed into him. She couldn’t have made her feelings more plain, her rejection more final. He’d wanted the real reason behind her refusal to tell him about Nate even after all the years. Now he had it.

  Even after she had said she’d never looked down on him.

  He had to take a breath before he could respond. Before he could think at all. Still, her belief didn’t make him any less determined.

  He crossed the room, walking past her without looking, and threw open the door. “I’m telling Nate the news, Tess. When I do, you can be there for the conversation or not. Your choice.”

  CALEB DROVE the final nail into the wood and eyed Sam Robertson’s new chicken coop with satisfaction. Amazing what a little hard labor could do for a man’s aggressions.

  All afternoon, he’d managed to act as though he hadn’t a worry in the world.

  The way Tess had kept up her lies for all these years. How hard had that been for her? And after the truth she’d kept from him, why should he care? Because she was the mother of his child?

  The thought made him hot and cold at the same time. He swung the hammer again.

  “Not bad for amateurs, huh?” Sam asked.

  A few of his ranch hands had helped with the work, but they’d all taken off to shower, leaving the two of them to finish up.

  Caleb dropped the hammer into the box with the other tools. “Looks like a pro job to me. Besides, I wouldn’t call you an amateur. I saw that workshop of yours in the bunkhouse. And Dori told me you made the sign over the door at the Double S.”

  Sam shrugged. “Thanks.” He finished rolling up the last of the tarps they’d used.

  “I could do with a couple of those for next week,” Caleb said. “I’m getting ready to do some painting over at the Whistlestop.”

  He’d already told Roselynn he’d do the work. Besides, he planned to stick around, no matter how Tess felt about him. No matter how much he wanted to walk away from her now. He wouldn’t leave until he’d told Nate the truth.

  “Help yourself,” Sam said. “Let me know if you need a hand. I can send some of the boys over your way.”

  “That’s not necessary. It’s only one small room. It won’t take much time.”

  Sam grinned. “Tess has you working, huh?”

  “Roselynn does.”

  “Good thing. It’ll keep you out of trouble.”

  “Maybe.” More than likely, it would keep him in Roselynn’s good graces, that was all. If she would still speak to him after she found out he’d confronted Tess.

  Roselynn and Ellamae had been working hard in the kitchen when he’d left to drive over here with Nate. And with Tess, who hadn’t said anything at all to him directly since she’d walked out of his room.

  “Let me get us a refill.” Sam went over to the insulated water cooler his wife, Kayla, and Tess had kept refilled.

  Caleb stripped off his T-shirt and felt the pull of the scar tissue on his chest. Remembered the feel of Tess’s hand as she’d touched him there.

  He used the T-shirt to scrub the sweat from his face. Along with working off aggressions, the hot sun and hard labor made for good physical therapy. His knee hadn’t given him much trouble at all. Too bad he couldn’t say the same about his thoughts.

  Despite everything, thinking of Tess while he’d worked had made him hot, bothered and troubled.

  Catching sight of her across Sam’s yard throughout the day hadn’t helped, either. She wore a pair of jeans that fit her well enough to destroy his concentration—a dangerous thing for a man with a hammer in his hand. If that wasn’t bad enough, she wore another blouse with an elastic neck that had him fixating on what had happened the day before.<
br />
  He’d obsessed over that damned blouse all day yesterday, waiting for the chance to slide it off her shoulders and do just what he had done. He shook his head at the memory.

  They had experienced some intense times as teenagers, but he’d never felt the way he had in that truck. Their talk had broken new ground, too, carrying them to the verge of a closeness they’d never arrived at years ago.

  A closeness that could lead him into making promises he couldn’t keep.

  That morning, as he’d sat staring at her during breakfast, his mind had kept running through the whole list of reasons he didn’t want to get involved with her.

  Now he had to get involved. At least at some level.

  Sam returned and handed him an oversize tumbler filled with cold water. He downed a gulp of it and settled back against the fence beside the coop. Across the yard, Tess and Kayla and Sam’s mother worked at setting up for the barbecue. Folks would start showing up before too long.

  On the back porch, Nate sat with Sam’s five-year-old, Becky. Their hands waved in the air as they talked to each other in sign language.

  “Looks like the girls get along,” he offered.

  Sam smiled. “They do. Nate’s a good kid to spend so much time with a little one like Becky.”

  Nate was a good kid, despite her frequent shortness with her mama. He’d begun to care too much about both of them. At the same time, he couldn’t stop thinking about how much he’d missed of Nate’s life—thanks to Tess’s lies.

  Why was he wasting time over thoughts that would only tear him apart? In the long run, obsessing wouldn’t change anything. He knew what he would do. His childhood here in town, his ten years in rodeo, his talk with Tess just the day before—they had all paved the way to his decision.

  He tightened his grip on the T-shirt he’d stripped off, trying to stop thoughts of yesterday. They came to him, anyway.

  Tess had wanted to know what knowledge he’d gained from being on the rodeo circuit. Chances were, his answer wouldn’t have pleased her. He’d learned a lot. And of all the lessons the circuit had taught him, he thought again of the one he’d learned especially well: No sense in forming personal ties. They don’t last.

  For some people, anyhow. They seemed to have worked out fine for Sam Robertson. Caleb could hear the pride in the man’s voice every time he talked about Becky.

  He swallowed another gulp of water that seemed to clog in his throat. Clearing it, he said, “Tess told me Becky came to live with you not that long ago. That must have made some big changes in your life.”

  “It sure did.” Sam looked across the yard at his wife and daughter.

  The smile on his face made Caleb feel suddenly envious. On the one hand.

  On the other hand, it made him want to bolt.

  What did he know about being a daddy?

  “I guess you’ve gone through a few changes lately, too,” Sam said.

  Caleb frowned. Then he realized Sam must have meant his rodeo career. “Been a crazy time,” he agreed. He paused, then went on, “Judge Baylor told me about you two coming to the hospital.”

  “Yeah. The news stories had started to slow down. Folks wanted an update on how you were doing.”

  “I wouldn’t think they’d send a posse as far as Dallas to find out.”

  “We figured firsthand was the only way we’d get information. We’d have gone clear to the East Coast, if we’d needed to. Trust me on that.” Sam picked up the water cooler. “I’d better go check the barbecue before I hit the shower.”

  Caleb nodded and watched the other man walk away.

  Somehow, he did trust Sam Robertson. They hadn’t run into each other much when he lived in town, but when they did, the man had always been decent.

  Sam said folks had cared when he’d had the accident. A big concept to wrap his head around. Growing up, hardly anyone had bothered about him. Yet, since his return, all the townsfolk had shown him interest and concern.

  Sam said pretty much the same things the judge had said.

  Did that mean he had to trust the judge’s words, too? About everything?

  He unclamped his fingers from his T-shirt and tossed it onto one shoulder. Slowly, he smiled. That chip Judge Baylor claimed he carried around had just started to slide out of place.

  Then he glanced across the yard again and felt his smile slide out of place, too.

  Since his return, all he’d gotten from Tess was the feeling she wanted him gone. Or was it?

  In the truck yesterday, he’d taken it upon himself to back off, out of respect for her. Before he’d done that, though, she had started warming up in a way he sure liked.

  She’d seemed willing enough to get close to him that morning, too. At least till Ellamae had shown up.

  He looked over toward the trestle tables in the yard.

  Tess’s face lit as she listened to something Kayla told Sam. Her cheeks flushed pink from sunshine or laughter or her movements as she leaned down to smooth a cloth over the tabletop. Even from here, he could see a sparkle in her eyes.

  What would’ve happened if he hadn’t backed off yesterday?

  And why the hell was he thinking about it?

  After that confrontation in his bedroom, nothing could happen between them now.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Tess looked over toward the porch, where Nate and Becky carried on their play, half in sign language and half in the way they moved Becky’s toys through a dollhouse Sam had made for her.

  Her puppy, Pirate, lay flat on his belly beside them.

  Every time they saw Becky, she and Nate picked up a few more signs. And Nate always enjoyed the little girl’s company. Still, knowing her tomboy daughter would much prefer to muck out the stalls in Sam’s barn than play with dolls, Tess couldn’t help but smile. Nate looked up, caught her gaze and smiled back.

  Tess blinked rapidly, fighting off a wave of tears.

  Prickly, exasperating and belligerent. No one with any sense could deny those words applied to Nate. Precious, loving and beloved did, too. How was she going to react when Caleb told her the news?

  Tess braced her hands on the picnic table. Hurt and humiliation washed over her. She had sworn Caleb would never know about their child. Too late for that now.

  Resignation flooded through her, too. Much as she didn’t want to admit it, she’d made the choice years ago to hold back from Caleb something he had the right to know. Now he’d found out. Now she had no choice. She had to accept his need to tell Nate the truth.

  He strode across the yard toward Tess, as if he’d heard her thought and planned to act on it that very moment. Even as a cold sweat broke over her, she told herself it couldn’t be true. He wouldn’t talk to Nate here.

  As he approached, she stared. He was shirtless again now, and the memory of touching him made her fingers tremble just as they had that morning.

  She wanted to touch him again.

  Her cheeks burning, she grabbed the pile of napkins Kayla had left on the table. Napkins now, sheets and pillowcases earlier today. None of them could occupy her hands well enough.

  She looked over her shoulder, but Sam, who might have provided some interference, had just entered the bunkhouse. Kayla had followed his mother into the house. Even Nate and Becky had left the porch swing and were rushing toward the barn, Pirate bounding at their heels. Everyone had deserted her.

  She tried to swallow, but her throat wouldn’t cooperate. Tried to rise, but her legs wouldn’t obey her.

  Then she got a grip on her napkin—and on her emotions. If she couldn’t be strong for herself, she’d damned well better practice being strong for her daughter.

  Just as Caleb neared her, she heard the sound of a car on Sam’s gravel drive. Th
e familiar chugging noise of its engine made her sag in relief. She’d fight Caleb for what she had to. But not here. Not now.

  Tess rose, and they both started toward the Toyota, where Roselynn and Aunt El had begun unloading the backseat. They seemed to have brought enough to feed the crowd on their own.

  “Let me take some of that off your hands,” Caleb offered.

  Aunt El looked at her, then eyed him up and down, her gaze lingering on the T-shirt that only partially hid his bare chest. “Seems like you might have enough on your hands already.”

  Tess felt her cheeks burn. What did she think the two of them had been up to? Then again, how much had she seen this morning? Sighing, Tess said, “Never mind, Caleb. You need to go shower. I’ll take care of these two.”

  He shrugged, then nodded and headed in the direction of the bunkhouse.

  “Hey, Caleb,” Ellamae said, “need someone to scrub your back?”

  He pivoted, his face split in a grin. “Why, thanks, ma’am, but I wouldn’t want to put you out.”

  She laughed. “Don’t be silly. I wasn’t offering to do it myself.” She looked at Tess.

  Shaking his head, he turned away.

  Shaking with fury, Tess turned on her aunt, but pent-up emotion made the words catch in her throat. The tension with Nate. The angry confrontation with Caleb. The years she’d spent keeping a secret that wasn’t a secret from those closest to her at all. Finally, she found her voice. “Aunt El. Mom. What is it you two are trying to do?”

  “Help you, sugar,” Roselynn said.

  “Like always,” Aunt El added gruffly.

  “Oh-h.” The word threatened to become a wail. Tess swallowed hard, her eyes misting. “I know you’ve always meant well,” she began. “I just didn’t realize how much, until today. Dana told me you both know…everything about me and Caleb.”

  “I heard tell you were out walking with him a few times,” Ellamae said.

  “‘Heard tell’?” Tess shook her head. She could laugh about it now. Sort of. “What you mean is, you sicced your spies on me.”