For His Daughter's Sake

by Stella Bagwell

  “Living through a tragedy.”

  Yes, he’d lived through a tragedy, Tyler thought. Callie just didn’t know that the heartbreak had started for him long before Luanne died.

  He shifted around so that he was facing her and ran his fingers through her silky hair. “Oh, Callie, I want you to know that I’ve laughed and smiled more since I met you than I have in a long, long time.”

  Her brown eyes were glowing as she linked her hands at the back of his neck and pulled him toward her. “I’m glad, Tyler. I want to think I’ve given you some happiness. Because you’ve given me that and so much more.”

  Her words swelled his chest with emotions that were so raw and real they sent fingers of fear crawling down his spine. In an effort to ignore them, he closed the gap between their lips and kissed her thoroughly. But even though the taste of her filled him with desire, the pressure in his chest was still there.

  Why did he want to pull Callie into his arms and simply hold her until the warmth of her body melded with his? Until the fear of loving and losing was pushed completely out of his mind?

  “Callie, I can’t get enough of you,” he whispered against her lips. “Tell me you’re not getting tired of me. Of this.”

  Groaning, she slipped her arms around his neck and scooted closer so that the front of her body was pressing into his.

  “Never, Tyler. I’ll never get tired of us being together.” She brushed a light kiss against his lips, then stood and reached for his hand. “I don’t think it’s too early to go to bed, do you?”

  He rose, then bending at the knees, picked her up and cradled her against his chest. “Not a bit too early. We need our rest.”

  The bedroom was only illuminated by a night-light near Maeve’s crib, but the glow was enough for him to see his way to the side of the bed.

  After he’d set Callie on her feet, he went to lock the door, then returned to her side and began to slowly and methodically remove her clothing.

  Something was different with him tonight, he realized as his hands slipped over her smooth, creamy skin. The desperate urge to relieve the sexual tension inside him had undergone some sort of transformation. The need to be inside her warm body, to experience the give-and-take between them, was still there, burning in his loins, but there was something else, too. Something precious and tender was working its way right to his heart.

  Momentarily stunned by the feeling, he paused, his hands on her shoulders, to rest his cheek against the top of her head.

  “Tyler? Is something wrong?”

  No. Yes. Oh hell, he didn’t know anymore. How could a man want to hold on to something so tightly, while, in the back of his mind, wanted to run as fast and as far as he could? He was having a breakdown, he decided. And he didn’t have a clue how to stop it.

  Chapter Nine

  “Everything is okay, Callie,” he told her. “I just feel like holding you—slowing down and enjoying this time we’re together. Is that okay with you?”

  She tilted her head back and in the semidarkness he could see moisture sparkling in her brown eyes.

  “It’s perfect with me,” she whispered.

  He placed a kiss on her lips before he removed the last of her clothing and started on his.

  While he finished the task, Callie folded back the covers on the bed and they climbed in together.

  Tyler pulled her into his arms and she pillowed her head on his shoulder. As they lay quietly in the dark room, he could hear the faint sounds of traffic in the distance, then a dog’s bark followed by the high-pitched voice of a child.

  Before tonight, he hadn’t noticed the muted sounds of town outside the apartment. But that was probably because he’d always been too honed in on Callie and the urgent need to make love to her. He had not heard anything other than her soft breaths and his own heartbeat pounding in his ears.

  But now, with a moment to ponder, he was remembering summer nights on the ranch when he’d lain in bed listening to the singing crickets and frogs, the call of night birds, and the howling of coyotes. The Flying A was where he truly belonged and he had a feeling that Callie understood that much about him.

  What would happen if he tried to fit Callie into his life on the ranch? She wasn’t the sort to crave bright lights and excitement. But that didn’t mean she’d be content to live in the country with nothing around her but cows and horses, and him and Maeve. It hadn’t been enough for Luanne. How could he expect it to keep Callie happy?

  These nights he was spending in her apartment were only temporary, and the more he looked forward, the more he could see the crossroads ahead. He was going to have to make a choice about Callie. He wanted what was best for her, for him and, most of all, for Maeve. His daughter had already lost her mother. If things didn’t work out with Callie, she’d be losing another one.

  The sober thoughts circling in his head were suddenly interrupted by the movement of Callie’s hand sliding gently across the middle of his chest.

  “I had lunch with my mother today,” she said. “And you know what I was thinking as I sat across from her?”

  “Hmm. Probably how blessed you were to have a mother. One who cares about you.”

  She said, “That thought is always with me. But today I was noticing exactly how beautiful she is. You’ve not met her, but if you did, you’d agree with me. She’s tall, blond, and her eyes are the color of the sky.”

  His forefinger gently stroked her cheek. “Well, her daughter has beautiful brown eyes and sable colored hair that shines like a piece of satin.”

  The corners of her lips tilted into a smile. “Thank you for the compliment, Tyler.”

  “My pleasure.”

  She said, “To be honest, I never got any special praise from my past boyfriends. Guess their egos were too big to tell a girl she was pretty or smart.”

  “Hmm. Just how many boyfriends have you had?”

  “Only two serious boyfriends. Before that I only had a few casual dates. The ones I believed were serious both walked out on me. For a while I asked myself what I’d done wrong to make them end things with me. But now that I’ve grown older and wiser, I realize I didn’t do anything wrong. Each of them had commitment issues. The kind I couldn’t fix. But that’s okay, because I figure when I find the right man he’ll want to stick around and love me just for me.”

  Yes, Callie deserved that much from a man and so much more, Tyler thought.

  With a forefinger beneath her chin, he tilted her face up to his. “Listen, sweetheart, you deserve every compliment I give you and more.”

  “Tyler, you don’t have to say those things. As long as you’re here next to me, that’s enough.”

  Enough for how long?

  Tyler didn’t let the question linger in his thoughts. He lowered his lips to hers and let the sweetness of her kiss carry him away to a place where there were no doubts or fears.

  When he finally pulled his mouth from hers, he planted a row of kisses along her jawline then down the side of her neck. Eventually, he closed his lips around one rosy-brown nipple and teased the bud with his tongue. She reacted by twining her legs around his and pressing her hands against his buttocks.

  “Tyler, I want you. So much. More than you can feel. More than I can tell you.”

  Her voice was thick with passion and the sound of it dialed the heat in his loins to an even higher level. The need to be inside her, to feel her velvety softness surround him, was rapidly turning into an unbearable ache.

  “I’m on fire for you, sweetheart,” he whispered huskily as he untangled himself from her embrace. “Let me get the protection.”

  He left the bed long enough to roll on the condom, but when he returned to the mattress to position himself over her, she was quick to place a hand on his shoulder and push him flat against his back.

  “It’s my turn on top this time,” she whispered
as she quickly straddled him.

  Entranced by this new, cheeky attitude, he planted his hands on either side of her waist and guided her onto his hard erection until there was nothing left to give her.

  “Oh, Ty. This is too good.” Her raspy words were disrupted with groans of pleasure. “You’re too good.”

  “No, Callie. I’m nothing without you.”

  He pulled her mouth to his and sensations slammed him from all directions as her hips began to move against him and her hands skimmed over his heated skin. All thoughts of tomorrow and the crossroads ahead were suddenly and completely wiped from his mind. All that he could think was that Callie was taking him to places he’d never been before and he didn’t want the journey to end.

  It was long after midnight when they finished making love a second time. By then, both were spent and close to falling asleep.

  With Callie’s warm body spooned against his, he nuzzled her silky hair and closed his eyes. The alarm on the nightstand was set for five. Hardly enough sleep. But even jumping out of bed at five still made it a race to make it to the ranch in time to get Maeve situated with his mother and meet up with his father and brothers.

  Pressing a kiss to the edge of her temple, he said, “You’re ruining me, Callie girl. You’re making it harder and harder for me to leave your bed in the mornings.”

  “Mmm. I wish we could stay here for days.”

  Days? Weeks or months? Would that be enough to satiate his desire for her?

  “Days might kill me,” he told her.

  She didn’t reply and from the steady, even sound of her breathing, he realized she was falling asleep.

  “We’ll sleep tomorrow night,” she murmured drowsily.

  He stroked his fingers through her hair, wondering how many tomorrow nights they would have before something ripped them apart.

  Shutting his mind to the question, he whispered, “Good night, Callie.”

  “Good night, my love.”

  For a few seconds, Tyler wasn’t sure what he’d heard and he stared down at her in a trance of wonder and unease. Had she really called him her love? Had her feelings for him grown that deeply?

  What about your feelings for Callie? Have you done the unthinkable and fallen in love with her?

  Icy fear washed over him and his first instinct was to leap from the bed and get out of the apartment as fast as his legs could carry him. But he couldn’t do that just yet. He couldn’t chance moving around the room and waking Callie. No, he’d sneak out later, after she’d fallen into a deep sleep. That way he wouldn’t have to admit to her face that he was a sniveling coward.

  * * *

  Instead of being roused by the buzzing sound of the alarm before daylight, Callie opened her eyes to sunlight streaming through the window and the digital numbers on the clock reading six forty-five.

  Oh! What happened to the alarm?

  She flipped over to find Tyler’s side of the bed empty. That fact had her bounding off the mattress and racing over to Maeve’s crib.

  The baby wasn’t there.

  Confused and just a little worried, Callie hurried out to the kitchen. Before he left in the mornings, Tyler always made coffee and filled his vacuum cup to drink on the drive to the Flying A. But there was no coffee in the machine, nor was there a sign that any had been made earlier this morning.

  And then she saw the simple note tacked to the refrigerator with a heart-shaped magnet.

  Had to leave. Talk soon.

  Dumbfounded by the short message, she stared at the small scrap of paper. Had an accident occurred with his family? Had Maeve become ill in the night and he hadn’t wanted to wake Callie?

  No. That didn’t make sense. Something else was going on with Tyler to send him driving off without a word to her.

  Feeling sick to her stomach, Callie tossed the note into the waste bin and hurried to the bathroom. She didn’t have time to figure it out now. She had to get ready for work. Later today, if she didn’t hear from Tyler, she’d contact him.

  * * *

  Time crawled by for Callie. Even though Bronco Ghost Tours had a steady stream of customers throughout the day, she found herself constantly checking her phone for a text or a missed call from Tyler.

  By four o’clock, still with no word from him, she told Saundra she was taking a little break and carried her phone outside to the back of the building.

  She prepared something in her head to leave on his voice mail. She was taken by surprise when he answered on the second ring.

  “Tyler! Oh, I’m so relieved to hear your voice. I was afraid something had happened to Maeve or to you, or someone in your family.”

  There was a pause and then he said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for you to worry.”

  The sick feeling swimming in Callie’s stomach all day suddenly intensified to a burning knot.

  “I couldn’t imagine why you left without waking me.”

  “I knew you were tired,” he said. “I wanted to let you sleep.”

  She didn’t believe him. Not for one minute. There was a distant, strained sound to his voice. It was something she’d never heard from him before.

  “Okay. Well, that was thoughtful of you—only I much rather you had said goodbye in person.”

  In the background, she heard Maeve let out a squeal followed by the sound of banging. The baby was probably pounding her teething ring on the tray of a high chair, Callie thought. And the sudden urge to see the little girl, to hold her in her arms, caused her throat to tighten.

  When he didn’t immediately reply, she said, “I hear Maeve. I’m sorry, I should have asked you if you were busy. I can call back later.”

  “No. I’m not that busy. We finished up early today. I’m about to feed Maeve a little snack.”

  “Oh. Should I expect to see you later then? I still have about an hour and a half of work here at the office.”

  Silence stretched for so long that Callie pulled the phone away from her ear to glance at the screen just to make sure the signal hadn’t died.

  “No. I can’t make it tonight, Callie.”

  Callie glanced around her, but she wasn’t seeing anything in the quiet alleyway that ran behind the Ghost Tours’ building. Neither did she notice the clouds drifting overhead. Or feel the warm breeze that brushed her face and hair.

  Tyler was ending things. For some reason that she couldn’t begin to fathom, he had decided to put an end to their time together.

  All the guys I’ve ever seriously dated ended things with me.

  The words she’d spoken to Tyler last night as they’d lain in bed came back to her now and the irony very nearly made her burst out laughing. Except that she couldn’t laugh. Not when her heart was splitting down the middle.

  “If I was a nice girl, I’d say I understand,” she said crisply. “But at this moment I’m not feeling too nice. And I don’t understand. Are you needed at the ranch tonight? Something to do with your family?”

  Another pause and then he said, “No, Callie. I—I’m sorry. I get that I’m not doing this well—at all. But I don’t know how to say this. Except that things with us are moving too fast for me. I believe it would be best if we didn’t see each other for a while. I need some time and space to figure out what all this means for both of us.”

  Space. Time. Who was he trying to fool? Why didn’t he have the guts to simply spit out the way he really felt and tell her it was over?

  She wanted to fling the question at him. She wanted to tell him he should have the decency to make a clean break of things. Not keep her dangling. But she couldn’t force the words past her aching throat.

  Idiot that she was, she loved him. And the vulnerable part of her heart wanted to believe a span of time away from her might be what he needed to realize they belonged together.

  “Callie? Are you still there?”
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  His voice jerked her back to reality and she swallowed hard and spoke in the most benevolent voice she could muster. “Yes, I’m here. You’re perfectly right, Tyler. You need time. I do, too. It’s been fun. But I remember you saying that fun isn’t your thing and—”

  “Callie, I—”

  She interrupted, using the same charitable tone as before. “No, Tyler. I’m perfectly okay with your decision. I only ask one thing of you. Give Maeve a hug and kiss for me.”

  “Sure. I will.”

  She disconnected the call and pulled in several deep breaths before finally managing to compose herself enough to enter the building.

  Halfway down the hall to her office, she met Saundra hurrying toward her. “I was coming after you. I need...” She paused and peered at Callie’s strained face. “Callie! What in heck is wrong? Pardon the pun, but you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “Funny you should say that, Saundra. I just now encountered a real one. And you know what I discovered? You can’t fight a ghost. Don’t even try, because you’ll lose.”

  * * *

  Tyler carried Maeve into his parents’ kitchen and set the baby on an open area of the floor. His daughter promptly took off in a rapid crawl to her grandmother, who was standing at the sink washing up the last of the pots and pans she’d used to cook dinner.

  Hannah bent and spent a moment chitchatting baby talk to her granddaughter before she straightened and looked over to where Tyler had taken a chair at the kitchen table.

  “What are you doing in here? You’re supposed to be in the living room with your father and brothers. Hutch wants all of his sons’ opinions about investing in more land. That includes you, Tyler.”

  “I’ve already discussed the deal with Dad. Whatever he and my brothers decide is okay with me. Land is always a good investment. And we could use more grazing land. Plus, the price is right.”

  Hannah dried a saucepan and stored it away in the cabinet. “It’s good that you agree with your father. But it’s not often all five of you are together at the same time. I thought you’d be in there enjoying their company.”