by Leslie Kelly
"I'll be back to see you this evening, Dad," Nicole said as she pressed a kiss on her father's forehead. "I think Maria will be in this afternoon."
He nodded and smiled before closing his eyes to rest. Blowing him another kiss, she followed Dr. Kendall. “Doctor, you're sure he'll be up to going home next week? He suddenly looked so tired."
"Yes, but that's to be expected. It's very important for Josh to take it easy for several weeks."
"Guess I'll be sticking around for a while, then."
"Is that so bad?"
"No, I love spending time with him. I just need to make some arrangements."
“You’ll be the best medicine he can get. He perks up every time you walk in the room.”
“Thanks.”
He hesitated, then cleared his throat. “Listen, if you get bored while you’re in town…”
"She won’t be bored,” a voice snapped.
Nicole jerked her attention toward the door and saw Wyatt standing there, wearing the frown she'd grown so accustomed to in the short time she'd been back in Florida.
"Hello, Wyatt," she managed to say.
Wyatt forced himself to offer her a small nod of greeting, wondering why the hell he’d walked into the room and inserted himself into what had obviously been a private—intimate—conversation. The supposedly oh-so-professional doctor had been about to hit on his patient’s daughter. Yeah, Nicole was a grown woman, capable of making her own decisions. But damn it, there had to be something in the doctor rule book that said they couldn’t make moves on the vulnerable family members of their patients.
"How's Josh?" he asked, not trying to hide his frown.
“Better. He'll probably go home next week,” the doctor said. Then, saying he had another patient to see, he turned to leave. Wyatt noticed the intimate smile he gave Nicole, and the way he brushed his hand on her arm before departing.
He nearly bit the inside of his cheek to force himself to keep his mouth shut. Telling himself it was none of his business, he sent up a silent prayer that she wouldn't be able to tell he was the least bit bothered by the other man's obvious interest in her.
"Dad won't be back to work for a while," Nicole said when they were alone. "He asked me to check on one of your mares. I thought I’d come out to the ranch today if it's convenient."
"Are you sure? I mean, if you and I can't hold a civil conversation, maybe I'd better make other arrangements."
She drew a deep, visible breath, as if she’d been steeling herself for this conversation.
Well, that was appropriate. So had he.
"Look, Wyatt, I was tired and angry the other night. We both opened up some old wounds. I don't want to revisit the past right now, it’s just not the time for it.”
He gaped. “You really think we can just ignore the past, that we have nothing to talk about?”
A bitter laugh escaped her pretty mouth. “We have a million things to talk about. Believe me, I’ve been wanting to have this conversation for a long time—years.” She swiped a hand through her hair, then rubbed at her weary-looking eyes. Finally, still not looking up, she whispered, “Are you even going to ask about him? About Justin?”
His body rigid, he shot back, “No. I’m not. I honestly don’t give a damn.”
“You rock-headed son of a bitch,” she snapped, jerking as if he’d slapped her. “You still don’t trust me, still think I’m a liar.”
He wasn’t sure what she meant, or why she’d imagine he gave a flying leap about whether she lied about this boyfriend of hers or not. That hint of hurt in her voice—buried deep below the anger—made him wonder. His resolve softened a little, and he almost apologized.
But then he reminded himself of all the reasons he had not to trust her. More importantly, he remembered why he needed to keep a firm wall in place between them: because she still affected him more than any woman ever had. So he said nothing.
Not that she waited for an answer. Nicole spun around and strode across the room toward the exit. But rather than bursting through it, she stopped, shook her head, and muttered something under her breath. He studied her stiff, straight back, knowing a major argument was going on in her head.
Finally, she turned back around. “I have to work with you, I have no choice.”
And she hated that, he’d lay money on it. Which made him smile. “Guess not.”
“Right now, the most important thing is Dad’s recovery. And if taking care of his practice—including working for you—helps in that recovery, then our epic blow-out will just have to wait.”
“Epic, huh?”
Her eyes narrowed in visible resentment. “Beyond epic. But until that day, can we just pretend we have no history? Act like we never knew each other? At least until Dad’s better.”
Forget they ever knew each other? It would be easier for Wyatt to forget to draw breath. For more years than he could remember he had defined his life and the man he was by the lessons he'd learned in his relationship with Nicole. He mentally ticked them off in an ugly litany: trust no one, love never lasts, it's better to be alone than betrayed.
Yet, what she said made sense. As much as he hated to admit it, he needed her help. Plenty of vets practiced in the horse country of north-central Florida. There were as many vets as there were ranches, and that was a considerable number. But, there weren't many he'd trust with his livestock.
Nicole had been born with a gift. Her affinity for animals had been obvious from the time she was a little girl, and he suspected she was as good with four-legged creatures as her father was. So what if she was lousy with the two-legged variety?
That didn’t matter. He didn’t want her around for his own sake, just for the sake of the Four C and the beautiful, valuable animals who kept the ranch in business. So it would be business only. Wyatt didn’t need to spend time with her, wouldn’t have anything to do with her outside of his own stables. Which suited him just fine.
"All right , I guess we don’t have any other choice," he muttered finally. "Our epic blowout will just have to wait.”
And hopefully, after it came, Wyatt could finally say what he had wanted to say for eleven years…and then get on with his life. Without any more thoughts of Nicole Ross.
CHAPTER FOUR
Nicole left her father's farmhouse about fifteen minutes before she was due at the ranch. The Four C was located five miles outside of Windover, off a main state road, and comprised about two hundred acres of mostly flat Florida ground. There were a few hilly spots, hilly for Florida at least, but nothing like the lush Maryland countryside where Nicole's mother lived. Still, the land was appealing. Only in Florida could one see a few small alligators swimming lazily in a ranch pond, just yards from where horses grazed in open pasture.
She pulled off the highway and onto the long gravel drive leading to the first stable building at the Four C. A few trucks stood outside, and she parked her father's SUV nearby.
"Well, if it isn't little Nicky!"
Nicole smiled at the greeting as Caleb, one of the old ranch workers came out of the barn wiping his hands on a rag. He looked the same as he had the last time she'd seen him, with a craggy, wind-burned, tanned face, long gray hair tied in a ponytail with a dirty strip of leather, faded jeans and scuffed brown leather cowboy boots. "It's good to see you, Caleb. Are you still the only one who knows what he's doing around here?"
The ranch-hand picked her up by the waist and gave her a hug so hard it squeezed the breath out of her. "Darn right. Though, young Wyatt has learned a thing or two. Billy, come out here and see who it is."
Another man came out of the barn, and Nicole also recognized him from her teenage years. "I'm glad to see some things are still the same around here. I almost didn't recognize the place with all these new buildings," Nicole said as she grabbed her father's suitcase full of medical equipment out of the back of his SUV. She glanced ruefully down at her sleeveless blue chambray top, now stained with grease...or worse...from Caleb's enthusiastic greeting.
Then she grinned. So what if she'd made a trip to the mall in Ocala to buy work clothes? The shirt, khaki shorts and work boots would soon be stained beyond recognition anyway. Besides, a little grease would loosen up the new material which felt stiff and scratchy against her skin.
"We sure are sorry about your pa being sick," Caleb said as he fell into step beside her. "But what a treat that it finally brought you home."
"It's good to see you, too. Is Wyatt around?"
Billy jerked a thumb over his shoulder, gesturing toward the stables. "He's in there, but you might want to wait a bit. He's not exactly in a great mood right now."
"Is he ever?" Nicole muttered as she walked past the men into the stable.
The building was huge, immaculate and state of the art. It was every bit as fine as the facilities at her mother's estate in Maryland. Nicole glanced into stalls as she walked past them, pausing to appreciate the exceptionally fine horseflesh she saw in each and every one.
As she neared the back of the stables, she heard men's voices raised in anger. "Dammit Brady, we don't need any more stock right now and you are not going to that auction in London. If you want to take a trip to Europe, go ahead. But don't say it's work related because I'm not paying for your vacation!"
Nicole rounded a corner and saw doors leading to an inner office. Inside, Wyatt stood toe to toe with his blond-haired cousin. She easily recognized Brady and wasn't a bit surprised to see the other man was just as breezily handsome as ever. He didn't seem to have his usual calm composure, however. Now his face was red and blotchy; his hands clenched like he wanted to strike out at someone. Namely Wyatt.
"One day you'll push too far,” Brady said. “I've let you get away with playing boss until now, because you seem to know what you're doing. But one of these days I'm going to start pushing back."
"Hello, boys. Still playing nicely I see?"
Audibly sighing, Wyatt turned away from his annoying cousin and looked at her. "You're late."
"I'm not," she shot back. "I was here five minutes ago, you were just too busy shouting to notice."
She sauntered closer, and Wyatt couldn't help appreciating how good she looked in the casual clothes. Without the pricey suits and silky blouses, wearing rugged shorts and boots, she looked more like the girl he remembered. And he again wondered if he'd made a big mistake in agreeing to let her come out to the ranch.
"Well, well, if it isn't Nicole Ross."
Wyatt heard the insinuating tone in his cousin's voice. Brady walked away from him, as if they hadn't been in the middle of a heated argument, and approached Nicole. "My, how you've grown," his cousin said as he looked her over from head to toe. “How about a kiss for an old friend?”
She frowned. “I don’t recall us being that friendly.”
"Seems to me you used to think we were very friendly," Brady said with a knowing smile.
Wyatt saw the confusion in Nicole's eyes. She didn't know what his cousin was talking about. Wyatt understood immediately, of course, but Nicole had probably never been told. Certainly her mother wouldn't have informed Nicole of what really happened all those years ago...that the reason Wyatt hadn't contacted her when he was in Europe was because his cousin Brady had been the one called home. Wyatt often wondered what might have happened if his grandfather hadn't gotten confused about which of his grandsons was the father of Nicole’s baby.
Too late. It didn't matter now. The past was long gone, and the baby with it.
"Get out of here, Brady. We've got work to do," Wyatt said as he took Nicole by the arm. He ignored the glare his cousin cast at him. Wyatt was so used to it he didn't know if he'd recognize Brady with any other expression. They had been at each other's throats for as long as he could remember.
Brady's resentment was the reason Wyatt and Nicole had needed to hide their relationship that summer so long ago. Nicole had begged Wyatt not to tell anyone they were together, worrying how his cousin would respond if he found out. And, he suspected, not wanting to be talked about as the girl who got dumped by the blonde, angelic cousin and then immediately took up with the devilish dark-haired one.
Brady hadn't wanted her once he figured out she wasn't going to have sex with him, but he'd have hated it if he'd found out she and Wyatt were together. Wyatt hadn't cared, saying there was nothing Brady could do to them. But he hadn’t been able to say no to her, and she’d been pretty insistent. So he had agreed to keep quiet for the remainder of the summer. The following year, he'd insisted, the whole world would know that they were a couple.
Who could ever have imagined how different their lives would be the following year?
"See you later, Nicole," Brady said. "I hope we can get together and catch up on old times."
Brady sauntered out of the barn as if he hadn't a care in the world, acting like he was still the heir apparent, and Wyatt still the bastard. That might have stung him twenty years ago. Fortunately, Wyatt had actually grown up. Maybe someday his cousin would, too.
"He hasn't changed much," Nicole said when Brady was gone.
"Still a bully. Still an ass," Wyatt muttered.
"It must have given you a tiny bit of satisfaction when your grandfather left you in charge."
"Tiny?" he said with a loud bark of laughter. "I laughed until tears came out of my eyes! God, Nick, you should have seen the look on his face. I mean, once his father, my Uncle Clay died, Brady walked around this place like he was lord of the manor. Two years later, when grandfather died, he was prepared to step in and kick me off the property. Can you believe it? He informed me after the funeral that he wanted me gone."
"Oh, wow, would I have liked to have been a fly on the wall during that will reading."
Wyatt laughed out loud again. "I have to admit, it gave me some malicious pleasure to torture him for a half an hour or so while I pretended to decide whether he could stay or not. Of course, I had to let him. He does own nearly half the ranch, after all." He paused and crossed his arms across his chest with a self-satisfied nod. "But I own the bigger half."
"I'm happy for you, Wyatt. You were born to run this place. Your grandfather was a wise man."
Wyatt suddenly stopped smiling and stared at her. "About some things, maybe. But, he had his failings. He made his share of mistakes. He gave me a lot, but he cost me a lot, too."
She looked at him quizzically. He could see she didn't understand. There was no way he would enlighten her. Because, intentionally or not, his grandfather had cost him the most important thing in his life.
Her.
Two hours later, Nicole felt sweaty, dirty and thoroughly happy to be back to work. She wasn't used to inactivity, and the last several days spent in hospital waiting rooms had taken their toll. Surprisingly enough, she and Wyatt had fallen into a comfortable camaraderie while they worked. Ignoring the past seemed to have lifted the tense, angry wall between them.
"You have some beautiful animals here,” she told him. “My mother would be green with envy if she could see Sultan's Daughter."
"That I'd like to see," he said with an unpleasant chuckle. "I don't imagine your mother's ever wanted something she didn't find some way to get."
Nicole heard the bitterness in his voice. She didn't understand it, since Wyatt had never met her mother. Perhaps he had picked up some prejudices in his friendship with her father. Dad was never nasty, but he definitely had a sarcastic streak when it came to Mother. "She's not so bad."
He stared at her, hard. Nicole felt herself squirming under his glance.
"She's not?" he finally asked. "Tell me, Nicole, has she ever let you out from under her thumb? Did you go more than fifty miles from home to go to college? Have you lived anywhere but at her estate, other than those summers with your father?"
She flushed and replied, "I am an adult, Wyatt. Yes, I live on Mother's estate, not because she demands it, but because she's done a great deal for me. She helped me with some very difficult times in my life. But beyond that..."
"Yes?"
"She needs me," Nicole replied, almost defying him to disagree with her.
"She needs you," he repeated slowly, drawing out each word. "That woman's never needed anyone in her life."
"How would you know? You've never even laid eyes on her."
Wyatt sucked in his breath. Nicole didn't know. Her mother had never told her about their one and only meeting.
He’d never considered that, but now, looking back, it made sense. He’d been furious when he left the rich Baltimore estate where Nicole had been raised. But her mother wouldn’t have taken any chances that the two of them might end up getting back together, even without the baby to entwine their lives. So of course she’d have kept his visit a secret.
"Right," he finally muttered. "You know her much better than I do."
It probably didn’t matter that Nicole had never found out he’d come for her. By the time he'd shown up in Maryland, she had already made her decisions about her future. The baby was gone, Nicole off in college. Wyatt had been raw with emotion and anger. So it probably wouldn’t have made a damn bit of difference.
"My mother has no one else in her life, Wyatt.”
“There’s a surprise…”
“It’s very sad,” Nicole insisted. “Her parents died when I was a baby, her marriage to my father was short-lived and miserable. She married again and that lasted less than a year. She's a wealthy woman who's led a lonely life. I'm her only child. Isn't it natural that she'd want to keep me close?"
Wyatt listened as she tried to explain. How typical for Nicole to come to the defense of someone she loved. She was intensely loyal, even to those who didn't deserve such loyalty.
For many years Wyatt had forced himself to picture Nicole growing more and more like her mother. When he let his thoughts dwell on the past, he found their faces overlapping until he practically remembered them as one person. And the anger—no, rage—he’d felt toward the older woman had somehow transferred onto the daughter.
But seeing her again had forced him to acknowledge the truth—Nicole was far more like her good-natured father than her spiteful mother. When he'd known her, Nicole Ross had been a sweet, gentle girl who wanted nothing more than to please the people she loved: her parents, and Wyatt. From what he'd seen the past few days, she hadn't changed much.