For Her Child...

Chapter Two

Out of long habit Ty dumped the remains of his coffee into the sink and rinsed the cup, then turned it up on the counter to drain and repeated the action with Kara’s cup. Ten years of living out of the back of a camper had taught him that no one else would come along to do his chores. If he made a mess, he cleaned it up. The mess he’d made a long time ago was what had brought him back to Bootlick and the Tilted T. Trouble was, he’d stepped in a bigger mess as soon as he’d hit the place.

Nobody could have been more surprised than he to hold the deed to the ranch where he’d spent his summers during high school and college. He’d come back hoping to buy a place of his own, all right, but he hadn’t thought it would be the Tilted T. Ty knew Pete’s predilection for gambling, but he’d fully expected to return the deed as soon as the old man sobered up. That’s when Pete hit him with the truth. The ranch was sinking in a cesspool of debt, and if Ty didn’t take it, the bank was going to. Ty knew how devastating such an action would be to a man with Pete’s pride. Telling Ty had been hard enough. To have the whole county know he’d failed would bring the old rancher to his knees. To have his daughter know would kill him.

After three days of arguing and studying the ledgers, Ty saw Pete’s reasoning. With the money he’d put aside from his winnings, Ty could settle the debts and put the ranch back on its feet, and it would belong to him lock, stock and barrel. Pete only asked three things in exchange: that he be allowed to stay on as permanent foreman, that the agreement would remain their secret and, the toughest part of all, that Ty would have to take the backlash from Kara without telling her the truth.

Kara. A vision of her furious green eyes stabbed at him. They’d loved each other once, when they were too young and foolish to make good choices, and he felt a tug of regret that they couldn’t even be friends. Fact of the business, he’d felt more than friendship when she’d bumped up against him, smelling like an April morning. Kara had fanned an ember he’d thought long dead, and he’d had to fight the urge to hold her and explain.

He leaned an elbow on the counter and stared into the metal sink. Though he hated looking like a horse thief, Ty’s loyalty to the man who’d taught him everything he knew about ranching and all he needed to know about being a man was too strong to turn back now. To save Pete’s pride he would swallow his own and let Kara think the worst of him. He shook his head in self-mockery. She already did.

The good folk of Bootlick wouldn’t be surprised either that he hadn’t returned the Tilted T like all Pete’s other drinking buddies. They’d always expected the worst from him, too. He knew they’d pointed fingers and gossiped when he’d gone off on the rodeo circuit. “Just like his good-for-nothing daddy,” they’d most likely said. In the back of his mind dwelled the nagging worry that they were right.

For years he’d never stayed in one place long enough to see the seasons change. What if he couldn’t settle down? What if his daddy’s rambling blood was too strong to overcome? One thing for certain, taking over the Tilted T would force him to find out the truth about himself once and for all.

With a sigh he reached for a towel to wipe the sink just as Kara’s jean-clad backside came into view outside the kitchen window. Fists clenched at her sides, she stomped toward the foreman’s trailer like a mad bull. The blond ponytail bobbed through the hole in the back of a hot-pink bill cap, and her white tennis shoes churned the ankle-high grass.

Ty leaned forward to watch, and a grin broke through his somber thoughts. Jiminy Christmas, that woman gave off sparks!

She bounded up the steps and stormed inside the trailer, ready to do battle in the name of family honor. Crazy woman. If only she knew the truth. But she and old Pete had tiptoed around each other’s feelings as long as he could remember. Each thought the other expected perfection, and perfection was damnably hard to live up to.

He wondered what they’d do if he went over there right now, sat down at the table and made them both listen to the truth. He couldn’t of course. Pete had made him promise.

“Just look at this place,” Kara muttered as she eyed the old trailer house with disdain. The once maroon paint had faded to a dull violet. The skirting was pushed in at one side. The front door sagged. Even the lilacs blooming by the steps needed pruning. And to think her father had exchanged his beloved ranch house for this decrepit-looking old trailer. If she hadn’t already been furious, the notion would have made her mad enough to spit nails.

Well, the trailer would have to do for both of them. Until she could figure out a way to get the ranch back from that smirking maniac, she had no choice but to stay on the premises. Who knew what madness Murdock might dream up if left to his own devices? Though she didn’t want to stay anywhere near the black-eyed devil, if she left now, Lane would never own what was rightfully his. And Ty Murdock would steal another piece of her life. She and her dad would do just fine in the trailer until this thing was settled, and Murdock was gone for good. Even at that she’d have to work quickly. Though Lane was in good hands with her roommate Marietta, Kara had no intention of staying away from her son more than a few days. Bringing him to the ranch near Murdock was out of the question.

Stomping up the wooden steps, Kara yanked at the storm door. It stuck. She yanked again, viciously this time, and when the door gave without warning, she found herself backing rapidly down the steps. Somehow she managed to hang on to the door handle and pull herself back onto the porch.

With a beleaguered sigh she opened the inner door and was greeted by the yeasty scent of homemade bread. Sally, whoever she was, had just gone up a notch in Kara’s estimation.

Inside the tiny, cramped trailer, Pete’s familiar old recliner was settled beneath the west window, and Pete was in it. Kara couldn’t help the smile that tugged at her lips. Her father looked as content as a cat in a sunny windowsill.

“Well, I see you got over your fit long enough to come eat.” Pete flexed his knees, popping the footrest back into the chair. “Hope you got that out of your system. A man don’t appreciate being took to task in front of another man.”

That insufferable pride. Kara shook her head, the guilt of embarrassing him stronger than her need to be right.

“I’m sorry, Dad. Ty Murdock just makes me so mad.”

“Always could make you madder or happier than any other human being around.”

“That was a long time ago.”

“Uh-huh.” He scrubbed at his whiskers with one hand. “More reason for the two of you to get along now. Especially since he’s the new boss around here.” He held up one hand. “Now don’t start in on me. I won’t back down from a debt, and you know it.”

“I don’t understand you, Dad. How can you let a lifetime of hard work and memories go without a fight?”

“I’m not going to fuss with you about this, girl. Now, that’s the end of it.”

Kara clapped her lips together and fumed.

“Stop your stewing and come meet Sally.”

A gentle-faced woman with salt-and-pepper hair rounded the kitchen and stepped into the living area. A slight flush graced her plump cheeks, and the thought that she was obviously anxious about meeting Pete’s daughter caused no little speculation in Kara’s mind.

The two women exchanged greetings, then Kara said, “I do hope that bread is for lunch. My mouth has been watering since I opened the door.”

Sally smiled her appreciation. “As a matter-of-fact, lunch is ready. Come sit.”

As they settled at the table, the older couple looked at each other, their eyes holding for several seconds. Kara watched transfixed at the gentle expression on her father’s face. What was going on here?

Pete chose that moment to clear his throat. “Kara, honey, there’s something me and Sally want you to know.”

Unease tightened Kara’s chest. She watched the pair over the rim of her tea glass.

“The two of us…Sally and me…we’re keeping company.”

Keeping company? Did that mean what she thought it meant?

Before she could ask, Pete rose from his chair, circled the table and placed both hands on Sally’s shoulders. His fingers looked worn and gnarled against the flowered print of Sally’s cotton blouse.

“Sally’s been living here in the trailer and cooking for me over to the ranch. What with Ty taking over and all, well…”

Realization dawned. Sally and Pete were living together.

While she and her son were struggling through life, biding time until they could come home for good, her father had fallen in love. Part of her resented Sally for taking her mother’s place, and part of her was glad to see her father happy. Still, finding out that her father had a paramour was a shock. Worse yet, she couldn’t imagine asking Pete to let her stay in the cramped little trailer with him and his lady friend.

Another half hour passed before lunch was over and Kara found a reasonable excuse to exit the trailer. Thanks to Ty and her father, she had a lot of thinking to do, and the only place left to do it was the horse barn.

A long breezeway separated the two sides of the barn, stalls lining each side. In bad weather the breezeway could be closed off, but today, fresh spring air swept through, stirring the smell of horse and hay. Kara drew in the scent as if it were roses. A familiar equine head poked over the third stall and whinnied in greeting.

“Taffy.” Kara rubbed a hand over the velvety nose. A barrel racer, Taffy had been Kara’s faithful friend throughout her high school years.

Kara lifted the latch and slid inside the stall, automatically reaching for the currycomb hanging on the wall. With slow, steady strokes she groomed the animal, letting the rhythmic motion soothe her jangled nerves just as it always had.

“You’ve got a lot of tangles here,” she said, pulling the comb through the mare’s winter mane. “And so do I.”

Unfortunately, the mare’s tangles were more easily remedied than Kara’s. She couldn’t leave until this ownership fuss was settled, but there was no place for her to stay in the meantime.

The trailer was out, leaving only the house, the barn or the back seat of her car, none of which sounded too appealing. She’d come home fully expecting her old room to be ready and waiting as usual.

To think she might never again lie in her childhood bed and watch for shooting stars in the vast Texas sky or see the early-morning mist rise over the pond filled her with homesickness. Lane deserved to know those pleasures, too.

Thinking of her son put starch in Kara’s spine. Since Lane’s birth she’d faced more than her share of unpleasant situations, and she would not back down from one this important.

She paused, resting her hand along the horse’s warm sturdy neck. “This is my home and Lane’s inheritance. No one is going to take it from us, especially a man who might jump up and run off with the rodeo—or a woman—at the drop of a hat.”

If Ty thought she’d hightail it back to Oklahoma City without a fight, he didn’t know her at all. If she had to beg, steal or lie to secure her baby’s future, that’s what she’d do. Even if it meant bunking in the same house with the enemy.

The very idea of sleeping under the same roof with Ty Murdock sent shivers running through her, shivers she didn’t understand. Was she afraid of what Ty might do if he discovered Lane was his son? That had to be the reason. She didn’t trust him any farther than she could spit a Volkswagen. And she dang sure wasn’t about to let a man have the upper hand in her life. Not ever again.

Sucking in a cleansing breath of hay-scented air, Kara chuckled softly and hugged the old mare’s neck. Ty had better get ready. He was about to have an unexpected houseguest.

“Come on, Taffy, let’s have a look around and make sure Murdock is taking good care of my property.”

Replacing the comb, she gripped Taffy’s halter and pushed the gate open. The crunch of boots on wood chips had her spinning around before she was halfway out of the stall.

“What do you think you’re doing?” The loathsome cowboy stalked toward her.

She tossed her nose into the air. “Going for a ride.”

“No, you’re not.”

Ignoring him, Kara led the mare forward. Ty’s hand shot out and grabbed her arm with such strength that she halted. She dropped her gaze to the fingers digging into her flesh.

“Get your hands off me.”

She yanked. Ty refused to budge. Instead, he closed the gap between them, forcing her backward into the stall along with the mare. Inside the narrow cubicle, Kara found herself trapped between two familiar bodies, one warm and welcoming, the other hard and unyielding.

“Well, aren’t you the tough guy?” Kara hissed sarcastically. The electricity that sparked between them made her even madder. “Stealing from old men and pushing around women half your size. How impressive.”

Ty relaxed his grip the tiniest bit. He should have known better. Perhaps he didn’t remember as much about her temper as he should have. Kara jerked her hands free, doubled up her fists and slammed them into his chest, letting go with six years of pent-up pain and rage.

“You sorry, low-down, rotten, lying, cheating, thieving…” The invectives went on for a full minute. She lambasted him in every way imaginable. By the time she got to his kinfolk, his intellect and his relationship to lower forms of life, it occurred to her that Ty made no attempt to stop the pummeling of his upper body. His body relaxed, he held her captive against the mare, flinching only when she came too close to his face.

“Kara,” he said in a far too calm and sensible voice when she slowed for breath.

She shot a left hook to his shoulder. “And if you think you can waltz in here and keep me from riding my own horse…”

“Kara,” he said again in that same close-to-laughter voice.

This time she stopped whacking him long enough to notice the quirky grin pulling at his devilishly handsome face.

“What?”

“Taffy has a cut on her left hock. I had the vet out this morning to sew her up, but she’s not fit to ride just yet.”

“Oh.” All the steam seeped out of Kara.

Dang him. Why did he have to make sense? She’d just thrown a wall-eyed fit when he’d only been protecting the horse.

She knew she should apologize. Was trying to swallow her pride and find the words when Taffy and her bad leg decided they’d stood in one spot as long as they could. The mare shifted sideways. Kara stumbled backward at the sudden disappearance of her brace, the now unrestricted pressure of Ty’s body forcing her down. He fell, too, landing atop her in a pile of fresh alfalfa hay.

Ty’s black eyes blinked at her from a mere two inches away. The heat of his breath swept across her cheek like warm sunshine as they lay in a tangle, panting their surprise into each other’s face.

His hat lost in the fall, Ty’s hair lay in damp disarray against his forehead. Kara’s heart did a strange stutter-step. He looked the way he had in every dream that had haunted her sleep since she’d last seen him. Worse than that, he looked like the face that sat across from her every morning. He looked like his son. As if hypnotized, Kara lifted a hand to the errant thatch of hair and brushed it back. As soon as she touched him, the laughter disappeared from his face. Onyx-colored eyes searched hers.

“Kara?” he whispered, sounding as uncertain as she felt.

She knew she should move, should leap up and run out of the barn and off this ranch as fast as humanly possible. But for the life of her she couldn’t budge. She lay mesmerized by the smooth dark skin, the tiny crinkles at the corners of his eyes and the laugh lines bracketing his lips.

Before the next heartbeat Ty’s mouth closed over hers, and Kara felt herself drawn back into time, to a memory as achingly sweet as cotton candy. It was crazy. It was stupid. It wasn’t what she wanted at all. But her body hadn’t forgotten the magic that had blossomed between them all those years ago.

He was wonderfully familiar and tantalizingly different at the same time. A thousand conflicting emotions roiled within her. He felt so right, yet for her, he was so utterly, completely wrong. She’d loved him far too long, then hated him just as passionately.

The hay, the horse, the man all evoked memories of their last night together. She’d been desperate, foolishly believing if she loved him well enough, he couldn’t leave her. But he had. While his baby grew inside her, he was off somewhere betraying her with another woman.

Kara snapped into focus.

What was she doing? She’d come to rid the place of Ty Murdock, not be seduced by him. Hadn’t she already learned that lesson?

Though her heart thudded painfully, and her body ached in a strangely pleasant manner, Kara forced herself to remember the terrible price she’d paid because of Ty’s deceit.

Ty must have sensed her sudden withdrawal, for he stilled and lay with his warm breath puffing against her neck. His heart hammered erratically against her palms. Kara pushed at his chest, wanting him gone before the temptation proved too strong.

Several beats passed before he rolled away, stretching full length beside her, one arm thrown over his eyes, chest heaving. Kara lay in the prickly hay, senses zinging, mind reeling.

Cheeks burning, Kara sat up, brushing at her straw-covered clothes. The crinkle of hay told her he, too, had sat up. She made a motion to escape.

“Kara, wait.” Ty’s husky voice stopped her.

Though fearful of what he might say, she waited. When his strong fingers began carefully picking grass from her hair, an involuntary shudder ran through her. Letting him touch her again was not a good idea. With a jerk she pulled away and stood, anxious to make her getaway. Taffy, relegated to a corner of the stall, turned her tawny head and nuzzled Kara’s shoulder.

Ty stayed where he was, balanced on one elbow, looking up at her. “I’d apologize, but I’m not sorry.”

Fiercely, she scrubbed her moist, tingling lips with the back of one hand. The feel of Ty’s warm mouth wouldn’t go away. “Of course not. You think everything you do is justifiable.”

No doubt the conceited wretch thought a few kisses and a good roll in the hay would soften her, and she’d head back to the city and let him have the Tilted T. But he was wrong. She’d never be a fool for soft kisses and sweet lies again.

“What did you think, Ty? That you could seduce me out of fighting for my son’s birthright?”

“It never even crossed my mind.” His gaze lowered to the rapid rise and fall of her chest. “Especially since I never had to seduce you before.”

Kara stiffened, fists clenched. The truth in his words made them all the more humiliating. “You egotistical piece of—”

Ty held up a hand in a gesture of peace and shook his head ruefully. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.” He reached for his hat, dusting it off against his knee. “Face it, Kara, even if the ranch were yours, you can’t run it from Oklahoma City.”

“I was planning to move home.”

“When? After the place fell apart? Have you looked around lately? Do you know how much work needs to be done here?”

She hadn’t, but he didn’t need to know that. “I could see to it.” Kara’s chin jutted stubbornly.

“Excuse me if I disagree, Miss Taylor, but you can’t run a ranch on the weekends. Anyway, you never cared about this place. You sure couldn’t wait to get away from it.”

“I’ve already told you, I had my reasons.”

“Yeah, right.” He shoved the Stetson onto his head, dark eyes glittering. “Josh Riddley, wasn’t it? The dust had hardly settled behind me when you took up with him. So much for your promises of undying devotion. Both to me and to this ranch.”

She was shocked that he knew her former husband’s name. But that was good, she supposed. As long as he believed the worst of her, the secret would be safe. From the look on his face, he’d never had a single inkling that Josh was not Lane’s father.

“You broke a few promises yourself, cowboy. Not that it matters now.” She jabbed a finger at him. “I’ll just tell you the cold, hard facts as I see them. I’m staying. In my own house, in my own room, and I’m not leaving until you give me back that deed.”

Chapter Three

Ty stood in the corral, arms folded along the top edge of the fence rail, one boot propped on the bottom rung, studying the Tilted T in darkness. Tree frogs set up their mating song, competing long and loud with the katydids, and somewhere a mare whinnied for her colt. A quarter moon spilled light over the acreage so that the buildings and corrals, horses and vehicles all took on shadowy forms in the darkness. The sky above was a black velvet curtain studded with diamonds.

He glanced toward the house and saw the kitchen light come on. Kara, no doubt. His belly growled, a reminder that he hadn’t eaten supper, and here it was bedtime. But after Kara stomped out of the barn, he’d felt it wise to let her cool awhile.

He hadn’t meant to kiss her, but he couldn’t take it back. Didn’t want to as a matter-of-fact. Something had come over him when he’d felt her soft curves beneath his. Desire, he guessed. Any cowboy with a drop of testosterone would desire a woman like Kara. But there had been something else, too. Something he couldn’t quite put a name to. He wrinkled his forehead, trying to get a grip on the nameless emotion Kara stirred in him. Nostalgia. Memories. He and Kara went back a long way, regardless of the rift between them now—a rift so wide he’d need an airplane to cross it.

A door slammed and a male voice carried on the still night air. Pete’s, though he couldn’t make out the words.

Not until he heard the crunch of boots coming across the paddock did he realize Pete was headed his way. Illuminated only by the silvery moonlight, the old guy looked like a specter with a hitch in one leg.

“Knee acting up again?” Ty asked, the words as soft as the night air.

Pete shrugged away the question. “Ah. You know.”

Yeah, he did know. Knew very well that getting kicked, stomped and thrown on a regular basis took its toll on every cowboy. Age just made it hurt more.

“Kara Dean run you out of your own house?” Pete asked, leaving no doubt that aches and pains weren’t on his mind.

Ty stared out over the paddock at the big roan gelding ambling in his direction. “She’s plenty mad about this.”

“Told you she would be.” Pete pulled a can of tobacco from his pocket, took a pinch and stuffed it behind his bottom lip.

Ty dropped his boot to the ground and turned toward his old friend. “What’s happened to her, Pete? She’s the same, but she’s not, if you know what I mean.”

“I do know what you mean. Defensive. Sometimes I think it’s her mama dying so fast like that. Other times, I think it’s because of you.”

“Me?” The notion surprised him. “Wasn’t me she married.” Funny how that still disturbed him.

“Him.” Pete spat.

Ty squinted through the darkness, trying to read the older man’s face. “You didn’t like him, then?”

“Never knew him that well, but I always sensed something wrong between them. Never thought she was happy with him.”

Ty turned that over in his mind. If she wasn’t happy, why’d she up and marry the man? Why’d she have his baby? The obvious answer hurt more than he wanted it to. It wasn’t the first time he’d wondered if Kara had taken up with another guy and gotten pregnant soon after he’d joined the rodeo circuit.

“You think she’ll stay?” Ty gazed toward the house. The kitchen light was still on, and Kara’s silhouette moved past the window. His eyes strained to see her better. “To fight over the ranch, I mean?”

“Nah.” Pete draped one elbow over the rail, letting the fence take the weight off his aching knee. “That girl’s crazy over Lane. Won’t stay more than a day or two without him.”