“Maybe. We’ll have to wait and see.”
“I think I’d better go home—” Carly started.
“Ty,” Shane broke in, bending over his wife. “I think we need to head for town. Can you drive? I’ll stay in the back with Tina.”
Ty exchanged a glance with his brother. “Sure. You want to use the pickup? The camper shell is on, so she can lie down on the cot if she needs to.”
“Yeah. Let’s do that.” Shane disappeared.
Ty touched Carly’s shoulder. “Would you drive Jonathan home and stay with him until I get back? He knows his routine, so you don’t have to get him ready for bed. Do you mind?”
“No, of course not. Don’t worry about us.”
He handed her his car keys and headed out the door. In a minute, he was backing a pickup truck to the door. He blew the horn. Shane came through, Tina in his arms. She had her face pressed to his neck.
“Her water broke,” he said. “The pains are a minute apart.”
Carly held the door while he carefully stepped down to the patio. Jonathan came and stood beside her.
“Is she gonna have the baby?” he asked.
“It looks that way,” Carly said.
“Wow, neat!”
Tina looked over Shane’s shoulder as he lifted her into the back of the truck. “Maybe it’ll be a boy cousin for you to play with,” she called out, smiling gaily.
Carly felt a little weak. Along the river, the fog was gathering like an ensemble of ragged spirits. She and Jonathan watched until the truck disappeared.
“Well, I suppose we’d better get along to your house. It will be completely dark soon.” She felt a shiver race along her arms.
“Yeah. We can tell ghost stories while we wait for Dad. Do you know any good ones?”
“No, but I’ll listen to yours if you’ll hold my hand.”
“Okay.” They went outside.
“Should we lock the door?” she asked.
He looked surprised. “I don’t think so. What if Uncle Shane and Aunt Tina come home?”
“Don’t they have a key?”
He shrugged. “Come on. Let’s go.”
She grabbed her purse and headed for Ty’s truck. She drove very carefully over the county road while the fog gathered in the low areas. Jonathan directed her along the back road. She breathed a sigh of relief when they were safely home.
“Are you afraid of the dark?” Jonathan asked. He turned on the light in his room and got his pajamas from a drawer.
“No. The fog bothers me some, though. I didn’t like driving in it.”
He nodded in understanding. “When I was little, I used to be afraid of the wind. Dad said that was all right. The wind could be dangerous. He showed me what to do in a storm. So now I’m not afraid anymore.”
Carly wished someone would tell her what to do about her feelings for Ty, then maybe she wouldn’t have to be afraid, either. “Shall I turn on the water for your shower?”
“Please. Then will you read to me?” His smile was endearing, just like his father’s.
“How can I refuse?” she asked with a fatalistic smile. It was too late to worry about the future. She’d already fallen in love with the father and the son. What more could go wrong?
Chapter Ten
Midnight had come and gone by the time Ty parked the truck beside the house and climbed out. He stretched wearily, then paused, looking at the house. The windows glowed softly with a welcoming light. His heart quickened.
He paused to reflect on the sensation. It worried him— this pull toward a woman, toward loving. It seemed to him that, as a man, he shouldn’t need anyone. A man had to be self-sufficient.
So why the pull toward her? And the feeling that his life wouldn’t be complete until she had a permanent place in it?
He entered the back door quietly. Going into the hall, he glanced up the steps to the bedroom area, then headed toward the light shining from his study.
Carly was in there, curled up on the leather sofa, sound asleep. The television was on, the sound so low he could barely hear the talk-show host deliver his one-liners.
A pang of longing hit him square in the chest. He wanted to lift her in his arms and carry her to his bed—
No.
He was already too deeply involved with her. He wouldn’t allow her to become necessary in his life. He’d been doing fine before she came along. He’d do fine when she was gone.
A picture of her at the ranch came to him. Martha had indicated she missed the girl, as she called her. They all did. Carly’s manner had been warm and admiring. She’d been interested in the ranch hands as people, not just objects of curiosity to tell her friends about.
A heavy sigh escaped him. He wondered what to do about her. His body immediately supplied an answer.
Taking her to his bedroom and never letting her go was not the thing to do, he told himself savagely, angry that he couldn’t control the longing she induced.
Well, he’d better get her to bed. It had been a hell of a night, and it wasn’t over yet. He walked across the braided rug, intending to shake her awake and tell her to use the guest room again. Her eyes opened when he stopped beside her.
She gazed up at him sleepily while her mouth widened in a welcoming smile. Like the lighted windows, it did something to his insides to know she’d waited up for him.
“How is Tina? And the baby?” A worried frown replaced the smile. “Are they all right?”
His intentions forgotten, he sat beside her, hip to hip, and brushed the strands of hair back from her temple. “Tina’s fine. The baby’s in intensive care. He’s being checked out, but the doctor says he has a good chance of making it.”
“I hope so,” Carly murmured, her dark eyes so full of sympathy, it caused another lurch in the vicinity of his heart. “So it’s a boy?”
“Yeah. A little over five pounds.”
“Having babies… it still seems rather precarious even in this age of modern medicine, doesn’t it?”
He let his hand drop to her shoulder. Through the T-shirt, he could feel the warmth of her body. It crept up his arm, reaching out and enclosing him in the sweet, wild tempest they’d shared the previous night at this time.
The witching hour.
“You bind me in your spell, river witch.” He smiled at the whimsy, yet she called to him as only an enchantress could.
“No more than you do me.”
He’d never met such a candid woman. He shook his head to clear the images of last night from his mind. There were practical things to consider. “Shane is staying at the hospital with Tina and the baby. I could see if Martha can come over here.”
She looked confused. “Why?”
“To stay with Jonathan while I take you home.” He looked out the window at the dense fog that had collected over the valley. “Or you can spend the night, and I’ll take you home in the morning.”
Her gaze followed his. He saw goose bumps form on her arm as she viewed the fog. “I’ll stay here.”
“Good.” His voice dropped to a husky register he couldn’t control or disguise.
She looked at him, her eyes acknowledging the tension that was growing by the minute. “It’s late. We’d better go to bed—” She stopped and waited, obviously uncertain where she was to sleep.
He closed his eyes and fought with the intense longing, but it was no good. There was no way he could let her go to bed alone. Not after last night.
Slipping his arms under her, he lifted her easily, her weight no burden at all. She nestled against his chest with a happy sound like the soft sigh of a kitten snuggling down.
Without thinking more on it, he carried her down the hall to his room. There, he set her on her feet and closed the door, pushing the lock into place to assure them of privacy.
“Jonathan—”
“Sleeps like a log,” he interrupted.
She smiled slightly. “Is very well behaved, I was going to say. I like him.”
“He likes you, too.” Ty
ran a hand through his hair. He’d been tired when he got home, but now his body hummed with energy like an electric wire. “This doesn’t mean anything,” he warned her, determined to be fair.
“I know.”
The words were spoken quietly, but there were undercurrents of emotion in them. She knew he was lying. So did he.
With sudden ruthlessness, he cupped her face between his hands. “I won’t let it.”
She returned his gaze without blinking. He held himself still as equal parts rage and desire built in him. He hadn’t meant to let himself need her, to think of last night as anything more than a mutual satisfying of natural hunger.
It didn’t work.
The long hours at the hospital had given him plenty of time to think. All his thoughts had revolved around their activities during the day and the long hours they’d spent together with his family. During dinner at Shane’s house, he’d found himself thinking about him and Carly and Jonathan being together all the time. The scary thing was it didn’t seem like such a crazy idea.
He slipped one hand behind her head and tugged gently. She rose on her tiptoes to accommodate the kiss. Her hands clutched his shoulders, and he sensed the shudder that went through her slender frame.
It came to him that she, too, was caught by their unexpected passion. Then he lost all ability to analyze as he became absorbed in the moment.
“Sweet,” he murmured against her mouth. “The sweetest lips I’ve ever known.”
He circled her waist with his hands and lifted her to him. She locked her ankles behind his back. He was swamped by warring feelings, but the one that stood out from the others was the sense of rightness. He was taken with the notion that this maddening, forthright female was his.
Carly knocked on the door of Isa’s apartment, the feel of Ty’s kisses still on her lips. It had been a strange, busy weekend.
Isa opened the door. “Carly, hello. About time you showed up. I expected you to drop by yesterday.”
“I’ve been…” She couldn’t think of proper word.
Isa peered into her face. “Yeah, I can see you have. How about a cup of coffee? I think we need to have a serious talk.”
They went inside. While Isa made coffee and toast, Carly fidgeted with her hair, replacing the barrettes in the sides. She put on lipstick and stared at herself in the tiny mirror on the side of the tube. She didn’t look different, but she felt it.
She glanced about the small, neat apartment. It seemed a lifetime since she’d stayed there while on her way to a new life.
“Ty Macklin,” Isa announced the topic of their talk.
“Yes.” There didn’t seem anything else to add to that.
“I tried calling your place. I assume you spent the weekend with him at his house?”
“Yes. Sort of.” She explained about the fog and the ac cident on the highway, then about the baby. “A little boy. He’s going to be okay. Shane called this morning to tell us before Jonathan left for school.”
Isa groaned. “It’s too late. You’re already head over heels, not to mention totally sucked in by this family.”
Carly grimaced at her friend, then sipped the coffee. “I know. I’ve decided what I’m going to do.”
“What?”
“Take one day at a time.”
“You? The person who used to make five-year plans and revise them every month? How long will you be content with this one-day-at-a-time stuff?”
“I don’t know. Do you think I should demand marriage?” She laughed. “I’m not sure I want the obligations that go with it. I have a new business to run. I should concentrate on that.”
Isa’s expression took on a nostalgic air. “Remember how we were going to be rich and famous and have perfect marriages along with perfect children and live next door to each other?”
“Well, we’ll live near each other as soon as I can get permanently settled. One out of five isn’t total failure.”
“Do you ever get tired of what you’re doing?”
“No, I love it.” She studied her friend. “What’s wrong?”
Isa shrugged in her graceful way. “I’m tired, I think. I’m worried about my brother. He’s running around with a boy I don’t like. I’m not sure what to do. When I talk to him, he tells me there’s no problem.”
“How are his grades? Are they dropping? That’s usually a clue. He may be cutting classes.”
“He’s smart. He can make A’s without opening a book.”
“When I move closer, maybe I can help.”
“There’s an empty apartment in this complex. If you moved up here, you could check on Rick. He’s supposed to be home and studying by nine, but I think he’s getting in just before I get home from the theater. What’s he doing out until midnight in a town like this? They roll up the sidewalks on weekday nights.”
“You know I’ll do anything I can to help.” Carly glanced at the clock, then hugged her friend and hurried off to meet a supplier of greeting cards. Her life was picking up speed as the time drew near for her to open. That would leave less time for involvement with local ranchers.
Thinking about Isa’s problem, she remembered reading a story about lonely youngsters… latchkey kids, they were called. Isa had been one, as had her brother. Their father hadn’t been very dependable. A schemer and dreamer, Isa had once described him.
Her mind drifted to Ty. Now, there was a father who took his responsibilities seriously. He’d even tutored the child at home so he wouldn’t fall behind in school. These days, when the bus let Jonathan off at the end of the driveway, Ty was there to meet him. On the walk to the house, their avid discussions ranged over many topics.
Jonathan thought his father was great. He’d told her so after their bedtime story Saturday night. She thought so, too.
Ty drove the truck along the gravel road, annoyance niggling at the edges of his mind. Rodrigo had missed a fungus infection on the pasture near the river. Now it had spread to a neighboring field. They were going to try a new chemical spray since the disease had proved resistant to the methods they usually used.
The problem with Rodrigo was that he’d discovered Alys. Or vise versa. Now the horticulturist, whose job was to keep an eagle eye on the land and head off trouble, hung around the office most of the time on some pretext or the other.
And the girl…now, there was a study in feminine wiles. She fluttered her eyelashes so much she looked as if she were sending messages in Morse code. Hell, maybe she was.
A reluctant grin pulled at the corners of his mouth. It was for sure the couple didn’t talk much. They just looked at each other, as moony eyed as poleaxed steers. Last Wednesday, he’d walked in to find them kissing. That had been the last straw.
He’d told them the office was a place of business and if Alys wanted to open a brothel to do it on her own time, not his. In response, Rodrigo had stuck his fists up in the air and demanded Ty step outside. Then Martha had ap peared, angrier than he’d ever seen her, and ordered Alys home and told him to dock the girl’s pay.
Of course, Alys had burst into tears, and Rodrigo had taken her off in his truck to comfort her. The upshot of all this drama was that the couple was planning a wedding, probably Christmas, Alys had confided with a giggle this morning. If they could wait that long.
God, had he ever been that young?
Remembering his experience with his former wife, he admitted he had. He’d thought he had to have her, that he couldn’t live without her. He’d learned he could.
Yeah, the hard way, he mocked the memory.
Another memory embedded itself in his mind and wouldn’t let go. Carly Lightfoot. It had been a week since he’d dropped her off at her place early Monday morning. He hadn’t called or tried to see her since.
Jonathan had asked every morning if she was going to come back to spend the weekend with them. “I really like her, Dad.”
He’d put the boy off. They’d spent the weekend with Shane and Tina. Jonathan had been fascinated with
the new baby. On the way home, he’d confided he would really like to have a brother.
Ty sighed. He got out of the truck and hefted the sprayer over the tailgate. Holding the nozzle in one hand, he directed the spray over the affected area. Life would be easier, he thought, if a person could blot out emotions with a quick soaking of some miracle medicine.
A harsh tightening inside told him how much he wanted to see Carly again. And therein lay the danger. She was smart, ambitious, dedicated to her work. She obviously didn’t need him.
Maybe that was part of her allure. She looked at him in wonder, with no guile that he could detect in the direct gaze from those dark eyes. Maybe he’d been wrong to suspect her motives. Sure, she’d come there on a whim, but that had nothing to do with the attraction between them.
He finished the task and climbed back in the pickup. Turning, he drove along the river path instead of the dusty gravel road.
When he rounded a bend along the meandering water, he stopped in surprise. Ahead of him, next to the weeping willow, Carly stood, talking with Venita.
The young wrangler shook her head and backed off. Carly spoke more urgently. He gripped the steering wheel in fury. What the hell was she up to?
Carly sighed as Venita hurried away. There had been a scene in town between Pete Hodkin and a waitress at Smitty’s. Carly wanted Venita to testify to the police that the brute had also accosted her so that they could build a case against him, but the girl was frightened of the man.
Her attention was caught by a movement at the corner of her eye. She whipped around. Ty was a hundred feet away.
He didn’t look too happy to see her. She stuck her hands on her hips and waited while he drove closer.
“What are you doing here?” he asked as soon as he killed the engine and threw open the door. He swung his long legs to the ground and stalked toward her. He stuck his hands on his hips as if parodying her stance and glared at her.
“Well, I was trying to get Venita to go with me to report the assault by Hodkin that time, but she doesn’t want to get involved.” She frowned in disgust. “That’s why bullies like him are still on the street. People are afraid to speak up.” She explained about the contretemps at the restaurant.
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