by Leigh Duncan
“Whatever.” Noelle’s go-to phrase had lost its usual sarcastic quality. “Watch what happens next. The guy’s gonna slip in the water, and the bucket’s gonna come down on his head.”
Sure enough, it did, and along with it, Paul gave a garbled response.
Amazed at the first sign of involvement her grandfather had shown in the three days since the stroke, Kelly fought tears. “You’re pretty good with him,” she said, tiptoeing into the room when the program went to commercial.
Noelle sprang to her feet. “Sure. Whatever.” She rubbed her stomach. “I saw a little store in the lobby. Can I have a candy bar?”
Kelly gave the child a squeeze. “You’re such good medicine, you’ve earned it.” Eager to see her grandfather’s lopsided smile for herself, she turned to buss his cheek. But the eyes that only seconds earlier had focused on the golden-haired child were now drifting shut. Kelly tried to ignore the little voice that whispered he’d turned away from her on purpose. Swallowing, she faced Noelle. “You ready to head out, kiddo?”
“Can we do this again?” Noelle asked a short time later, while she munched on her snack.
“I’d like that,” Kelly answered, without hesitation. She had enjoyed spending the day with the child. Besides, she told herself, someone should show an interest in the girl. Because, apparently, Hank had better things to do than spend time with his only child.
* * *
INTENDING TO DELIVER a quick report before he headed for the Bar X, Hank poked his head into Ty’s office. “The solar array is up and running. I swung by the bunkhouse at Little Lake. Spotted a couple loose boards and a few screens that need replacing, so I sent Josh and two of the men there overnight. No sense waitin’ till the trail rides in November to start getting things in shape for our guests.” His plan to move on derailed when the owner pushed away from his computer and stretched.
“I sure appreciate the way you’re keeping tabs on things. I can’t seem to get away from all this paperwork.” Ty gestured toward the piles of bills and ads. “Are the men staying busy?”
Hank considered his answer carefully. Though no one slacked off on the Circle P, the ranch had its down times. “It’s always a little slower between the summer roundup and late fall.” Which might work in Kelly’s favor, if and when she asked Ty for his help.
The owner squinted at the calendar. Half the days in September were already crossed out. “Won’t be long before things pick up again. Our birding tours are booked solid from Christmas into spring. I’ve already started a waiting list.” In the five years since he’d taken up the reins on the busy South Florida ranch, Ty had focused on diversifying the Circle P’s interests. By opening the winter cattle drive to tourists and expanding his wife’s tropical flower business, he’d rescued the ranch from near bankruptcy. His newest venture—overnight trail rides at the height of the migratory bird season—could finally put the Circle P’s bottom line soundly in the black.
Ty gave the calendar another glance. “Garrett’s baby is due next month, isn’t it? Have you heard anything from him?”
Hank rolled his shoulders. “I spoke with Mom last week. Arlene’s still in the hospital. She’s gotta be bored out of her mind.” Enforced bed rest and a long hospital stay had accompanied the high-risk pregnancy. “I know she’ll be glad when this part’s over.”
“Oh, but that’s just the beginning. At least, that’s what they tell me.”
The dinner bell sounded, and Hank waited for the final note before he continued. “I’ll have the boys move the cattle into the south pasture tomorrow. Should be good grazing there for a month or so.”
Ty rose from his desk. “Walk with me to the kitchen?”
“Nah. I’m headed to the Bar X. The door to Tompkins’s hayloft is hanging by a prayer. I promised to fix it if Kelly watched Noelle today.” Something glinted in his friend’s eyes, and Hank paused, uncertainty tugging at him. “You don’t mind my doing a few things over there, do you? Kelly’s given me the listing. I think I have a buyer for it.” He’d contacted all of his old clients about the ranch. Only one—John Jacobs—had shown any interest, but he was flying in to look at the place in a couple of weeks. “He wants everything to be damn near perfect, so I’m trying to fix what’s broken.”
“What you do in your free time is none of my business.” Ty’s gaze wavered for a second before it steadied. “Pity you’re gonna miss supper, though. Sarah’s got a meeting in town tonight, so Jimmy and me are bachin’ with the rest of the boys. Chris fixed a Mexican casserole. We’re gonna see who can eat the most of it.”
Relieved when Ty didn’t say anything about him and Kelly, Hank tracked the boss’s long strides down the hallway. He’d seen the concern flicker across his friend’s face, but honestly, the man had nothing to worry about. He’d help sell his former girlfriend’s ranch and earn a big commission in the process. After that, they’d go their separate ways.
Determined to stick to the plan, he crossed the great room to the front door. Stepping onto the porch, he clamped his hat tighter, lest a freshening breeze send it skittering. The northerly wind was a sure sign they were in for a change in the weather, and he made a note to check the forecast before the men headed out in the morning. While a late-season storm might bring a much-appreciated drop in temperature, lightning was dangerous on the flat countryside. And, as long as he managed the Circle P, it was up to him to keep the ranch hands safe. Which meant not sending them out when a storm threatened.
By the time Hank drove his truck onto the Bar X, the golden sun balanced atop a cloud bank at the distant edge of the horizon. Lights in the barn drew him away from the house and, walking across a yard so hard-packed it didn’t give grass a chance, he wondered how much he owed Kelly for her spending the day with his daughter. If Noelle had kept her sullen shell wrapped around her, he suspected not even repairing the barn door would be enough. Had he been wrong to insist the child spend the semester with him instead of sending her to boarding school like his ex wanted? He shook his head. Their time together hadn’t gotten off to a great start, but things would get better.
Halfway to the barn, he caught the sound of laughter. He paused in the shadows, meaning to stop only long enough to find out what had intrigued his daughter and Kelly.
“He’s so tope,” Noelle gushed as she brushed Tompkins’s mare.
“So, you like him? Or what?” Kelly’s tone contained so many questions, Hank didn’t need to see her face to know her eyebrows had skyrocketed.
“Well, duh. He’s tope. That means he’s the best. And he likes me, too. Last time Mia and Shelly and I went to the mall, we ate at the food court. He stopped by our table to talk. My friends said maybe he’s going to ask me out.”
Ask her out? Hank’s back teeth slammed together. At ten, he was pretty sure his daughter ought to be thinking about ponies and multiplication tables, not which boy was the cutest. He started forward, but stopped at Kelly’s easygoing manner. Her words drifted over the divider from the next stall.
“Are you allowed to date?”
Noelle’s voice dropped so low Hank had to lean in to hear her.
“Mom says I have to wait till I’m fourteen.” A stronger gust of wind rattled a shutter against its frame. When his daughter spoke again, the old attitude was back, equal parts self-pity and protest.
“That’s so not fair. A lot of my friends have already been kissed. Do you think he’ll even remember me when I get back?”
“Well, you said he was a smart boy. He’d be a fool if he forgot you.” Kelly spoke with conviction. “I don’t know if I’d be in such a hurry, though. Your dad and his brothers pulled a lot of practical jokes on me when I was your age. Once, they convinced me to sneak out and go snipe hunting in the middle of the night.”
“What’s a snipe? Did you catch one?”
Hank smiled at Noelle’s breathy questions. He’d been qu
ite taken with the new girl in town from the moment Kelly had walked into their fourth-grade classroom, but his brothers would have teased him mercilessly if he’d let it show. That didn’t stop him from watching out for her. Take the night of the snipe hunt, for instance. Keeping out of sight, he’d trailed her through the palmetto and scrub oak to keep her safe.
“It was a trick. There’s no such thing as a snipe,” Kelly said solemnly. “You’ll be better off if you forget about boys till you’re fifteen or sixteen.”
Hank stifled a groan. He and Kelly hadn’t been much more than that when things had gotten serious between them. He resettled his Stetson and wished he was the one having the heart-to-heart with Noelle. He’d tell her to wait until she was twenty, at least, to fall in love. Maybe then she’d avoid the mistakes he’d made and the heartache that, twelve years later, he still felt whenever he thought about the girl who’d dumped him. Rubbing his thumb over the tender spot in the center of his chest, he pushed away from the side of the barn he’d been holding up. He let his boots ring against the cedar flooring as he moved farther into the wide aisle between the stalls.
“Noelle? Kelly?” he called, as if he hadn’t spent the past five minutes eavesdropping.
“We’re back here,” Kelly called out.
“Is it time to go already?” Noelle’s tone switched to the slightly bored, mostly exasperated one she used whenever Hank put in an appearance.
“Not yet. I’m here to fulfill my part of the bargain. I brought my tools and a new hinge.” He turned to Kelly. “Mind if I get started?”
Kelly glanced up as if she could see through the flooring above them to the opening to the hayloft. The lips he’d once loved to kiss straightened into a thin line. “You’re going to need help supporting that door. I’m finished with Rusty.” She gave the gelding a final swipe with her brush.
Hank peered over the Dutch door into a stall where, if tufts of knotted hair were any indication, someone had spent far too much time talking and not enough tending to her chores. “Looks like you’ve got some more work to do on Lady,” he told Noelle. “When you finish with her, refill all the water troughs. If you need more to do, you can muck out the stalls till we’re done.”
“I wanted to text my friends.” Noelle’s hands landed at her waist. “They’re waiting to hear from me.”
Hank rocked back on his bootheels. He wondered if he’d ever get used to his daughter’s smart mouth. Or if she’d ever learn to temper it. Before he had a chance to repeat himself, Kelly interrupted.
“I’m sure your dad has a really good reason for wanting you to stay in the barn. Right, Hank?”
When Kelly stared at him with those big green eyes, he had no choice but to soften his stance. He cleared his throat and ripped his gaze from her. “The barn door weighs more than I do. It probably won’t fall, but if it did, I’d hate for anything to happen to you.”
Noelle’s focus shifted from Kelly to Hank and back again. Apparently their united front presented his daughter with too great a challenge, and her shoulders drooped. She picked up the curry brush and ran it through the horse’s coarse hair. “Okay,” she said, though her long-suffering sigh let everyone know she wasn’t happy with the situation.
Hank eyed Noelle for a long minute. Phrases such as “I love you” and “I’m so glad you’re here” tickled his tongue, but his daughter only shrugged a thin shoulder and turned away from him, murmuring softly to the horse while she brushed. Would he ever earn a place in the girl’s heart? He spun on one heel, crossed to the ladder and began to climb, determined to focus on tasks he could handle rather than on problems he couldn’t solve. But as he stepped onto the rough floorboards in the loft, the smell of sweet hay tickled his nose, reminding him of times when he and Kelly had snuck off to be alone in a place much like this one.
He cleared his throat. “I apologize for her behavior,” he said, concentrating on his daughter so he wouldn’t concentrate on Kelly. “I hope she wasn’t like that all day.”
“We actually had a good time together.” Kelly studied him. “Make sure you ask about her clothes. She picked out some nice things.”
Clothes. He fought the urge to slap his forehead. “Guess I shoulda asked that first, huh? I got a little distracted hearing her spill her guts to you about her boyfriend.”
“You heard that, did you?”
“Some of it. She should be talking about stuff like that with me, not with you.”
“Maybe if you spent more time with her, she would,” Kelly shot back. “If Pops had done that with me, maybe we wouldn’t be in the spot we’re in right now.”
Hank held up his hands. Being more involved in his daughter’s life was exactly why he’d insisted she come to the Circle P, but every time he tried, he seemed to make matters worse. To hide his consternation, he drew on his strengths. He was better at fixing things than he was at fixing relationships.
As he suspected, the bottom hinge had broken, leaving the heavy wooden door dangling from a lone strip of metal at the top. Certain it wouldn’t support the weight much longer, Hank tossed a rope over a rafter and gave an end to Kelly to hold. Then, fighting a growing wind, he muscled the door closed and threaded the loose end of the rope through the handle. Once he tied it off, he turned to Kelly.
“Keep tension on it,” he said.
She did, and he turned to the job at hand. He’d barely managed to tap the new hinge into place before a strong gust of wind rattled the barn. With a loud, grinding squeak, the door slipped off the chocks he’d wedged under it and swung wide. Kelly stumbled forward, the rope pulling her toward a gaping hole and a three-story plunge to the ground.
“Let go!” Hank called.
Unable or unwilling to do so, she clung to her end of the rope. Her boots slipped on the slick hay. Hank sprang to his feet, grabbing her as she slid past.
Suddenly, his arms were filled with familiar curves that belonged to the living, breathing woman of his dreams. For several seconds after the wind died down, he held her tight. Inhaled her scent. Breathed into her hair. Having Kelly in his arms again was enough to make a thinking man forget his own name.
Chapter Five
One second, she was sliding across the hay, hurtling toward certain injury. Or worse. The next, her body had slammed into a wall of muscle. Solid male muscle.
Kelly grabbed hold and held on tight. Her feet skidded to a halt. The rope slipped from her fingers.
Gradually, awareness seeped into her consciousness. Hank snugged her against his broad chest. His strong arms wrapped around her waist. Thighs as thick and solid as tree trunks pressed against her, sending a wave of delicious warmth coursing through her. Her head had landed on his shoulder, instinctively finding the tender hollow below his collarbone. She listened as his pulse picked up speed.
She stirred, intending to back away, intending to put some distance between them. Instead, her fingers clung to the downy softness of his T-shirt. She took a steadying breath, but rather than gaining strength, she sagged against him as her head filled with a familiar spicy, musky scent.
Memories of their last months together crowded forward. Back then, just one tantalizing whiff of Hank had been enough to drive her to distraction. Of course, they’d been teens then. Inexperienced. Awkward. Easily swayed by raging hormones.
But there was nothing awkward about the man who held her now. Nothing inexperienced about him, either.
Somehow, her hands found purchase on his wide chest. All thought of pushing away from him faded as she traced lazy circles across his T-shirt. His deep groan echoed through her midsection. His grip on her tightened until she tilted her head, wanting to see the same need reflected in his dark eyes. It was, and when his lips came crashing down on hers, it felt like the most natural thing in the world to open to him. Her mind reeled as long-buried wants and desires surged to the surface. Sighing in
to him, she sifted her fingers through his thick hair, which brushed the collar of his shirt. She curled her hand around his neck, drawing him closer, deepening the kiss. For a long minute, she gave herself to the touch, the taste, the feel of him. His grip on her waist eased in response, his long fingers climbing her ribs. As one thumb brushed her breast, she gasped.
“Hank, I...”
“Shh, baby,” he whispered. “For a moment there, I thought I’d lost you.”
But he had lost her. Long ago. And giving into whatever was going on between them now couldn’t happen. She wouldn’t let it happen.
She slid her hands down to his muscular chest, and, as much as she wanted to stay right where she was, shoved at the arms that held her.
“Dad? Kelly? You okay?”
She snapped back to reality the instant Noelle’s voice rose through the ladder opening. Hank’s hands dropped from her sides. The fine sandpaper of a five-o’clock shadow brushed her cheek as he stumbled back.
“We’re fine,” he called, his voice strained. “The door got away from us for a minute, but we’ll have it back where it’s supposed to be in a jiff.”
Staring into Hank’s blue eyes, Kelly knew he meant putting more than a barn door back in place. Regret rushed in on the cool breeze that filled the space between them. She pushed it down, insisting the interruption only reinforced a decision she’d reached on her own. A single kiss had nearly turned her brain to mush, nearly made her forget how Hank had let her down when she’d needed him most. What would happen if they let things go further?
Stifling the urge to find out, she took another step away from Hank. The best thing—the only thing—to do was to put some distance between them. She couldn’t let her old flame distract her. Her focus had to remain on taking care of her grandfather. On returning to Houston. To the big promotion she’d worked so hard to achieve. That meant getting the Bar X ready to sell while keeping things strictly professional between her and Hank. Which certainly meant no trading kisses with the man. Even if kissing Hank was like returning after a long trip to find an explosion of yellow ribbons and “Welcome Home” signs littering the front yard.