by Susan Crosby
Dear Mr. Ryder,
This is an awkward email to write, but it’s necessary. I heard you were looking for names of men who dated Ginger seven years ago. That would include me. You can call me and we’ll discuss. I admit to being curious, having made a guess about it already.
Sincerely,
Jason Humphreys
He listed an address in Seattle and a phone number.
Vaughn stared at the screen, then moved the email into his inbox and walked away from the computer.
It was too early to call, which meant he had lots of time to stew instead.
And stew he would. Because this could change everything.
* * *
Karyn didn’t even have to knock. Dori pulled open the door before Karyn had reached the steps.
“Where’s your shining armor?” Dori asked.
Karyn relaxed for the first time since Vaughn’s father had shown up earlier. “I left it in the barn with my trusty steed. It would’ve been hard getting into the car wearing it.”
“It’s difficult being a heroine in this modern world.” Dori hugged her. “Breakfast first. It’s all ready.”
“Now who should be wearing shining armor?”
“A little bird told me you might be hungry.”
“Tell Jim thank you.” She took a seat on a kitchen stool as Dori opened the oven and pulled out a plate piled with country fried potatoes, bacon, scrambled eggs and a biscuit. She set it in front of Karyn and added a glass of orange juice. “Yum. Vaughn would be so jealous.”
Dori brought her mug and took a seat, too. “I really appreciate your help. I shop online a lot, living in the boonies as I do, but not for clothes. Especially not for vacation clothes. But finding the right outfits in December for a tropical vacation would be impossible at the mall. I almost decided to go without a suitcase and buy what I need there.”
“You could certainly do that. You’d pay a fortune over there, however. Even with overnight shipping, I bet I can save you fifty percent. And if anything needs altering, I can do that, too—if you or someone has a sewing machine.”
“I do. I’m forever patching things.”
“Oh, man, this is so delicious, Dori. Can you show me how to cook potatoes like this? I always seem to burn mine, especially if I add onions.”
“The trick is to cook the potatoes on medium until they’re golden and crispy, then add caramelized onions you made ahead of time just long enough to warm them. Sometimes people are in too much of a hurry and use too high a temperature. Do you like to cook?”
“I cook to live. I eat out too much. Aside from all the cooking, what else do you do?”
“I grow most of the vegetables we eat, although now that we have Annie, I get a lot from her. She grows all year, and I’ve been a fair-weather gardener myself. I’m bookkeeper and buyer, and I help on the ranch when I’m needed. Jill-of-all-trades. My first aid skills are occasionally called upon for animals and people.”
“Raising six children must’ve taken all your time.”
“And was an utter joy. Honestly, I would’ve had a couple more if my body hadn’t decided otherwise. I’d love it if my children would all get busy having children of their own. It’ll be fun having a baby around again this summer. Mitch was born to be a father. He’s always been great with kids.”
“And Vaughn?”
“He surprised me. He’d never been one to talk about being a father, but he took to it right away. He’s done a good job of raising Cass.”
“I can see that.” Karyn bit into a piece of bacon and closed her eyes. “You can’t find bacon like this in a grocery store.”
Dori smiled. “We trade beef for pork with a friend. We both admit we’re spoiled.” She wrapped her hands around her mug. “Are you enjoying your stay?”
“Very much. It’s not an easy life, though, is it?”
“It has plenty of rewards.” She lightly touched Karyn’s arm. “You realize I have a lot of questions about you, and I would be asking them so that I could know you better, but I don’t think my son would appreciate it. He did tell me about your brother. I was so sorry to hear that.”
“Did he tell you we were twins?”
“No.”
“Kyle and I were extraordinarily close, as you can imagine.” She crumpled up her napkin, then carried her plate to the sink to rinse. “If you wouldn’t mind showing me your closet, I can get a better idea of what you like.”
“I’d like to wear boots like yours, but I’m sure I’d fall over.”
“In Hawaii?”
Dori laughed. “No. In general.”
“Oh. Well, would you like to try mine on? We look like we wear the same size. These have a shorter heel than most of my others.”
“Would I? Yes!”
Karyn loved watching Dori walk across the big master bedroom and back as if she were a model, giggling all the way. After, they settled at the computer. Using her contacts, Karyn chose vacation garments that would also work at home—for the most part. A bathing suit and cover-up wouldn’t get much use after the trip, but the two silky nightgowns would. They ordered a few things for Jim, too, as a surprise.
After almost two hours, they were done. “Everything should arrive tomorrow,” Karyn said, satisfied.
“That was fun,” Dori said, slouching, then rolling her shoulders. “But harder work than mucking the stable. And you do this every day?”
“I generally shop in person. I’ve built up relationships with a lot of retailers who treat me very well. I try to keep my business local.”
“What’s it like, being around movie stars?”
“It can be fun. And exciting sometimes, too. Every day is different.”
“How’d you end up in Hollywood?”
“Kyle decided to go to college out here, and I followed. I worked for a personal shopper for a few years, then she quit and I was able to keep her clients.”
“Well, you have a very good eye. I think I’m going to love everything.”
“I’m glad. We can return anything you don’t want.” Karyn glanced at the office clock. “I need to get going. I’ve got some photographs to take before the sun gets too high.”
Jim was coming through the door as Karyn left.
“Am I going to find a happy wife now?”
“I believe you will.”
“Bless you.”
Karyn laughed. “My pleasure.”
She drove around the countryside for an hour, finding it easy to get her bearings because of the stunning snowcapped Gold Ridge Mountain visible from every vantage point. According to Cassidy, Bigfoot lived there. She wondered if he was hibernating now.
Even in the winter, the landscape was gorgeous—harsh and barren on the surface but craggy with leafless trees that painted pictures against the sky.
She found several places she’d like to paint and marked their locations on the map, itching to start. She was excited about it, something she hadn’t felt in a long time.
Every so often she checked her cell phone, hoping for a connection to check her messages. She finally got two bars. She had seven messages from clients wanting her to do some returns of gifts, one from her mother checking to see how she was feeling and one from Gloriana: “Just checking on you, Karyn. I hope you survived Christmas okay. Give me a call when you can.”
She returned calls to say she was on vacation, called her parents and left a message on their answering machine, then headed back to the ranch house. It’d been a good day, with a lot of hours still left. She would get Cassidy to sit for a while today so that it looked like she was accomplishing something. Every free moment she had she’d been sketching, improving at the skill.
As she pulled into Vaughn’s front yard, Karyn wondered if they would have time for another make-o
ut session before Cass got home. Anticipation rose in her at the thought, but when she opened the front door he was standing there, waiting for her, his expression grim.
“There’s been a hitch,” he said.
Chapter Nine
“The test results are back?” Karyn asked, her face paling, her voice catching.
“No, although there’s a hitch there, too. I called the lab this morning to see when we could expect the results. They’ve got a backlog because they’re awaiting a replacement part for a piece of broken equipment and they have low staffing during the holidays. They’ll get to it as soon as they can, they said.” Vaughn wouldn’t have been annoyed about that because he wasn’t in a hurry to have Karyn leave, but now, after the message he’d received, it was a different story. He wanted to know now. “Let’s sit down.”
“This must be really bad news,” she said as they took seats in the living room.
Vaughn leaned toward her, resting his arms on his thighs. “This morning I talked to a man Ginger dated years ago. He’d been trying to find her. He reached her ex-roommate, the one who gave me Kyle’s name, and she told him I was looking for anyone she’d gone out with seven years ago. His name is Jason Humphreys. He lives in Seattle now.”
“And he thinks he could be the father?”
“Definitely could be, given the timeline.”
“Ginger was a busy woman.”
“That’s putting it nicely.” It proved how little he’d known her. He would never marry again without knowing someone at least a year.
“So, now what?”
“We decided to wait on your DNA results before he bothered being tested.”
“You said he was looking for Ginger. Did he tell you why?”
“He didn’t volunteer the information, and I didn’t ask.”
“Was he the only other name you had as a possibility?”
“No.” There’d been a couple others, but he’d been able to eliminate them. He felt like such a fool for falling for Ginger, believing her story about the father abandoning her, offering only to pay for an abortion. Would he ever find out the truth?
“How was your day?” he asked Karyn, needing to change the subject.
It took her a few seconds to shift gears. “Um, I had a lot of fun with your mom. Your dad’s going to be very surprised at a couple of her purchases.” She wiggled her eyebrows.
He winced. “Too much information, Hollywood.”
She took great delight in his discomfort. “Think red and cut down to here—” She dragged her fingers down her chest to a spot between her breasts.
“I’m going to superimpose an image of you wearing something like that. No way I want to picture my mother.” He moved to sit next to her on the couch. “Do you own something similar?”
“Not that I brought with me.”
His pulse thudded. “Red?”
She nodded.
“See-through?”
“In places.” Her smile was mysterious.
“When’s the last time you wore it?”
She jabbed his arm. “Which is a sneaky way of asking me about my sexual past. If we reach that point in our relationship, I’ll volunteer the info, as I would expect you to also.” She laid her hands on his chest. “I believe the agreement we have for now is to make out a lot.”
He took that as an invitation, drawing her over him to straddle his lap. She leaned down, their lips brushed—
“So what qualifies as making out?” he asked against her mouth. “First base? Second? Third?” He slid his hands under her stretchy white top, resting them along her rib cage.
“We’ve already gotten to second. If third includes me getting to touch you, too, I’m game.” She rocked against him a little.
He drew a quick, hard breath, then cupped her breasts, her silky bra not a barrier for her hard nipples as he brushed them with his thumbs. “Something tells me it’s not going to be easy to stick to the plan,” he muttered.
“We can amend the contract as needed.”
“I do like that you’re flexible.”
She ended the conversation with her lips and tongue and teeth, tugging on his lower lip, sweeping his mouth with her tongue, pressing her hips to his. He let her take the lead—for the moment. Then he discovered the front clasp of her bra and flicked it open. Her breasts spilled into his hands, her warm flesh feeling like heaven. Her body was soft in all the right places and smelled faintly of vanilla. When he shoved up her top, she straightened, giving him free access to look at her, to taste her, to suck her puckered nipples into his mouth, using his teeth and tongue on her until she was moaning....
Karyn hooked her fingers into his jeans, holding on as he lavished attention on her breasts. She inched her hands closer together until she touched his own hot, hard flesh. His hips rose suddenly, violently. He groaned, a flattering, arousing sound.
He grabbed her hair and kissed her thoroughly, delightfully, taking charge. She loved how he could be so civilized most of the time, then such an alpha male when things turned intimate. She imagined him in bed, devouring her, delighting—
“Daddy! Come in, Daddy! This is Cassidy. Over.”
They jerked apart. Karyn looked around frantically.
“Walkie-talkie,” he said, helping her off his lap and then grabbing the device from the table by the front door. “Come in, Cass. Over.”
“Uncle Mitch says to tell you we’ll be home soon. I wanted to surprise you, but he said it probably wasn’t a good idea.” There was a pause. “Oh, yeah, over.”
He glanced at Karyn, his brows raised. “Did you have fun? Over.”
“Actually, it was kinda boring. Over.”
Vaughn smiled. Karyn figured he wouldn’t have to worry about his daughter wanting to repeat the experience anytime in the near future.
Karyn found her bra clasp and was about to hook it, but Vaughn shook his head. “Allow me,” he mouthed.
“How’s Belle? Over.”
“She’s resting up so that she can play with you when you get back. Over.”
“Fifteen minutes, Uncle Mitch says. Over.”
“See you then, sweetheart. Over and out.”
“Over and out, Daddy.”
“Good ol’ Uncle Mitch,” Vaughn said, moving toward Karyn like a wolf stalking its prey. “I guess we haven’t hidden our attraction at all. Even my father noticed.”
She frowned. “Well, crap.”
He lifted her top and found her bra clasp. “I had a good time, Hollywood. Did you?”
“Rhetorical question, Lawman.”
He grinned at her new nickname. “That makes me feel like I should be packin’ six-shooters.”
“You are. One, anyway.”
He kissed her, a soft merging of mouths and breath. “I’d like to challenge you to a duel sometime.”
“I just might accept. But for now I’d like to go make myself presentable before we have company.”
Karyn hurried upstairs. It wasn’t until she was spritzing water on her hair to restore her curls that she realized she hadn’t thought about the news Vaughn had given her. She also realized exactly how much she’d been counting on Cassidy being Kyle’s.
So much was at stake, and she had no control over any of it.
Except for her relationship with Vaughn. Although she couldn’t say she’d exerted control there. In fact, she might have given up all control to him if Cassidy hadn’t called his name.
He could talk anyone into anything, his mother had said. Actually, he didn’t even have to use words, Karyn thought, although she couldn’t share that with his mother.
And Karyn was starting to like his family too much.
How much more complicated could it get?
She reached the bottom of the s
taircase as Cassidy raced in and leaped into her arms.
“I’m home!”
“You certainly are.” She held on to the girl for a few seconds then set her down, thrilled at the easy gesture. “Was it fun?”
“It was very cold. Hi, Daddy!” He kneeled, holding a leashed Belle. Cassidy looked like she couldn’t decide who to hug first. Belle won, wriggling her way free of Vaughn.
“Can I take a hot bath, Daddy?”
“You sure can. Right after you groom and feed My Little.”
“Uncle Brody said he’d do it.”
Karen laughed as Cassidy fluttered her lashes at her father.
“You know the rules. Your horse, your job. I’ll help.”
She scuffed her way out of the house. Vaughn smiled and shook his head at Karyn. “Want to come and observe?”
“Sure. I’ll grab my jacket.”
“Meet you outside. I want to thank my brothers.”
By the time Karyn caught up with them in the barn, My Little had been unsaddled and Cassidy was giving her food and water. Karyn leaned against a stall door to watch.
“Okay, walk her around the paddock a few times,” Vaughn said. “Slow and easy, Cass.”
“Okay.”
“It takes a lot to care for a horse, doesn’t it?” Karyn asked as she and Vaughn followed. “Cassidy hardly seems old enough for the task.”
“She’s given more responsibility every year. Not only is she learning how important it is to care for her horse, but she’s learning patience, too. Cooling down a horse takes a great deal of patience. You have to judge how hot they are and when they’ve actually cooled down enough. It takes time and practice.”
They draped their arms over the paddock fence. “I take it that big ol’ intimidating-looking black horse in the other stall is yours.”
“You think Satan is intimidating?”
“Satan?” She looked toward the barn nervously. “Should Cass be near him?”
