A Cowgirl's Secret (The Buckhorn Ranch Book 3)

by Laura Marie Altom

  By the time Daisy had to pick up Kolt from day camp, the once serene suite had become a maze of boxes and stacked furniture. Leaving the movers on their own, she headed over to the community center, glad for the break.

  “What happened to you?” was the first thing from her son’s mouth as he climbed into the car.

  A glance in the rearview mirror showed that Daisy didn’t look much better than her new office. Dust smudged her right cheek and chin and her ponytail resembled an old straw broom. Laughing, she said, “I found an office.”

  “You look like it attacked you.”

  “Love you, too,” she said with a poke to his belly. “How was camp? Any better?”

  “I guess.” He slid on his seat belt. “We had to sit in a circle and tell people where we live. I told them San Francisco, but the camp lady said I had to be from here. Well, when I told the other kids I live at Buckhorn Ranch, you should’ve seen their eyes. It was like I was famous, or something. They were all, like, asking what it was like and five kids want Uncle Cash’s autograph.”

  “Around here,” she said, trying not to lose it while navigating between SUVs and minivans, “the Buckhorn name carries a lot of meaning. Your grandfather not only found oil, but raised more cattle than anyone else in town. When I was your age, he and Grandma hosted huge summer picnics, inviting the whole town.”

  “Why doesn’t she do that anymore?”

  “Times are different, I guess. Life around here used to be much simpler. There weren’t so many other distractions like video games and home theaters. We used to do a lot more activities together.”

  “Sounds fun.” From his T-shirt pocket, he took a green-apple piece of Laffy Taffy. “Want a bite?”

  She leaned over and nibbled off a candy sampling.

  “How come our last name is Smith, but everyone else in our family is named Buckhorn?”

  Daisy’s stomach roiled. One more thing to add to her growing to-do list—changing both of their names. Or would Luke want Kolt to take his surname?

  “And how come everyone’s always calling you Daisy, when your real name’s Julie?”

  “It’s complicated.”

  “I’m sick of you always saying that.” Arms crossed, lips pressed into what was rapidly becoming his customary frown, he asked, “Can we get ice cream?”

  “Maybe once we’re done with the movers.” After parking in her assigned spot behind her new building, Daisy ushered Kolt up a short flight of stairs leading to the rear entrance. After a brief elevator ride, they’d reached her office where the three-man crew folded packing blankets.

  “Ma’am,” the man in charge said to Daisy, “we’re about finished up if you’d like to inspect the furniture and last few boxes for damage.”

  “Um, sure,” Daisy said as Kolt began playing his PSP in the reception area. The task took longer than expected and by the time she’d finished, Kolt had fallen asleep. His hair had grown out and she swept a lock free from his eyes.

  Though Daisy knew she’d had no choice but to finalize her business with the movers, this was the sort of thing that’d happened too often in her old life. Now, she hoped to be able to put Kolt first. In the same regard, whether Kolt wanted to or not, he had to spend time with his father.

  Daisy wanted that, but she also wanted Luke to know the truth about why she’d left town. With Henry temporarily at the Oklahoma City stockyards, she hadn’t been worried about a chance encounter with him, but she was very much concerned with Luke’s opinion of her. For Kolt’s sake, she wanted the three of them to feel as much like a family as possible. Obviously, that wouldn’t happen until Luke not only understood her reasons for keeping Kolt from him, but forgave her.

  Chapter Six

  “What a nice surprise.” Luke opened his door to find Daisy and Kolt on his porch. “I’ve missed you,” he said to his son. As for Daisy, the jury was still out on what he felt for her. Most days, his opinion changed hourly.

  “Yeah,” Kolt said, shifting his weight from one leg to the other, refusing to make eye contact. One hand was shoved in the pocket of cargo shorts, the other held a black PSP.

  “I’ve given up working on my new office and just picked up Kolt from camp. Anyway,” Daisy said with forced brightness, “I thought we’d stop by.”

  “I’m glad.” He flattened himself to the door while both she and his son brushed by. Even the other afternoon when she’d worn shorts, they’d been dressy. Today, in dirt-smudged jeans and an equally filthy T-shirt with her hair a fingered-through mess, she looked as hot as usual, but more approachable. “Can I get you anything to eat or drink?”

  “No, thanks.” Kolt didn’t bother looking up to respond.

  Though Luke wasn’t happy to see he had his work cut out for him in getting to know his son, he was somewhat encouraged by the fact that Daisy had been telling the truth about Kolt’s skittish behavior, rather than just thinking his son had been avoiding him.

  Glancing at the half-loaded bins on the kitchen pass-through bar, Daisy asked, “Going somewhere?”

  “A job in south Texas. Mare got caught in a lightning storm. Been spooked ever since.” He added a can of spaghetti to the nearest bin. “I’ve got an old Airstream trailer I usually stock and take with me to stay in. More comfortable than a motel and keeps me on the horse’s property.”

  Nodding, she rummaged through the rest of his canned goods. “You should eat better.”

  He frowned. “I get by okay.”

  Kolt perched on the sofa arm to play his game.

  “Yeah, but baked beans and Vienna sausages? Your arteries are going to solidify.”

  “Kind of you to care.” He nudged her aside before placing the lid on top of the tub, snapping it tight.

  “I do care. We’ve been friends a long time.”

  “Have we?” He hefted the box off the counter and added it to the pile he had by the back door. “Because, silly me, not hearing from you for a decade had me wondering.”

  “He’s right, Mom.” Kolt looked up, for an instant meeting Luke’s gaze before darting his attention back to his game. “You could’ve at least called.”

  Sitting on one of the counter stools, ignoring their son, she set her keys jingling against the tile. “I’ve been busy. And anyway, Luke, you were the one who went and got married months after I left.”

  On that blast from the past, he had to chuckle. “Really? Ten years later you’re holding a grudge? How’d you even find out?”

  Glancing away, she sighed. “Clearly, we shouldn’t have come.”

  “Why? Because I’m so impossible to deal with? I’m not as civilized as you?”

  “Stop.” Heels of her hands to her forehead, she asked, “Can we just start over? The last thing I wanted was for us to fight.”

  “Me, neither,” Kolt mumbled.

  “Who’s fighting?” Luke asked, taking an ice cream sandwich from the freezer. Daisy used to love them. His mom would buy them and whenever Daisy came over to watch movies or play video games, his dad had teased her about having to guard them from her. “Want one?” he asked his son.

  “Sure,” Kolt said with a shrug.

  After handing one to his boy, Luke offered a treat to Daisy.

  “Why would I want ice cream at a time like this? We’re right in the middle of—”

  “A time like what?” Luke licked the melting parts around the chocolate edges. “We having a crisis?”

  After making a sexy little growling noise, she hopped up from her stool, not only helping herself to his freezer, but granting him a tempting backside view. “I’ve blocked what a nightmare it is dealing with you.”

  “Whoa,” he said while she unwrapped her snack. “Lest you’ve forgotten, you’re the one who showed up on my doorstep. Right after that, you attacked my diet, then raided my freezer. From where I’m standing, I’m not the one with the problem.” Especially since he wasn’t counting his sudden and ridiculous fascination with the speck of chocolate clinging to her lower lip.

/>   “Never mind.” Ice cream sandwich in one hand, she maneuvered her free hand through her purse handle, then grabbed her keys. “Kolt, you ready to go?”

  “Geez, Mom.” He crammed the last of his ice cream into his mouth. “You need to chill.”

  Luke grinned. “Kolt, I think the two of us finally found something we can agree on.”

  BY THE TIME DAISY REACHED the main road, she was a trembling mess. She’d been stupid to even have gone to Luke’s. Especially with Kolt. More than anything, she wanted Luke to know what had happened with Henry. Judging by her irrational behavior, she suspected she was more to blame than Kolt for his inability to get to know his father.

  “What’s wrong with you?” her son asked as they pulled up the ranch’s main drive.

  “I’m tired,” she said.

  “Yeah, well, you’re acting weird. Like, I thought we went over to Luke’s house for us to all, like, sit around and talk and stuff, but then we just left.” He licked chocolate from his right pinkie. “I wasn’t really wanting to do all that, but Uncle Cash said Luke has a cool horse, so that might’ve been fun to see.”

  And as usual, Daisy had botched things up between Kolt and his father. “I’m sorry. Why didn’t you say you wanted to stick around? You could’ve done something besides play your game.”

  “What was I supposed to say? You act like I should instantly like all of these people because they’re family, but I’ve never had family besides you, so I’m never sure what to do.”

  Putting the car in Park, Daisy killed the engine and pulled her son into a hug. “Sweetie, I love you. Please know you can talk to me about anything you’re feeling.”

  For too short a time, he returned her hug, but then quickly squirmed free. “Stop. Uncle Wyatt’s here, and I don’t want him to see me all hugging and stuff.”

  Kolt bounded out of the car, and Daisy was on her own to take her purse and the few legal briefs she’d brought home for scintillating late-night reading from the backseat.

  “Hey,” Wyatt said, crossing the lot to her. “This kid of yours tells me he’s never seen an oil well. Mind if we grab the twins and head out to the ridge?”

  “Can I, Mom? Please?” For all of Kolt’s complaints about how tough it was getting to know family, when it came to his uncles and cousins, he was fitting right in.

  “Go on,” she said.

  “I’ll bring him back in one piece,” Wyatt promised.

  “Never doubted you wouldn’t,” Daisy truthfully replied.

  Inside, instead of finding her mother and a nice, long conversation, as she’d hoped, she found Josie, who conveyed that chef’s salad waited for her in the fridge, that Georgina was at a church meeting, and that, with their newfound freedom, she and Dallas were off to a neighboring town to see the latest action-adventure flick.

  Restless, antsy, Daisy figured what better way to work off nervous energy than by returning to her office for more unpacking? Before setting out, she called Wyatt’s cell. He and the kids were in his open-air Jeep and judging by the laughing shrieks, no one was in a hurry to get home.

  At quarter past seven, traffic in town was nearly nonexistent and her building’s lot was empty. After hours, office suites were accessible through the back entrance and had been wired to a separate security system than the bank. Upon entering a simple code, she was in.

  Movers had stashed kitchen, dining room, bathroom and bedroom items in the spare office, meaning all Daisy had to contend with were living room and den furniture and boxes.

  She’d hoped the work of arranging and sorting and repacking would keep her mind from straying to Luke. Unfortunately the man wouldn’t leave her in peace.

  Luke hadn’t just been her boyfriend, but her world. In retrospect, leaving him, knowing she was carrying his child, had been beyond stupid. It had been selfish.

  But why couldn’t she just spill the whole truth and get on with her life?

  How come every time she locked gazes with Luke’s powerful blue stare, her insides turned to mush and memories of better times consumed her? Even an act as seemingly benign as sharing ice cream sandwiches recalled a lazy summer afternoon when they’d lounged on his bed, feeding them to each other.

  Luke’s mother, Peggy, had been out of town at a church conference and for a change of scenery, his dad had gone along. Her parents had believed she’d spent the weekend with a Tulsa friend.

  Home alone, Daisy and Luke had played house. Cooking together, cleaning together, making love and bathing together… Best of all had been waking up together. Being held safe in his strong arms.

  That weekend had been but a teasing glimpse into the life they might have shared if it hadn’t been for the fear Henry had made a permanent fixture in her. She was pretty sure Kolt had been conceived that long weekend. Just as she was sure that if she’d told Luke of her pregnancy, she would never have left. Daisy had been so afraid of carrying a girl that all she could focus on at that time had been her escape.

  Her office door creaked open and in walked the source of her current dilemma. Luke, in all of his handsome glory. “Henry said I might find you here.”

  “He’s back? He knows I leased office space?”

  “Yeah. You know Dallas gossips like an old woman. Besides me, Henry’s one of his best friends.”

  Panic swelled in Daisy’s chest, making it hard to breathe. She’d long since told herself she wasn’t that scared girl anymore. But the mere knowledge that her nightmare was back on the ranch left her pulse racing and her mouth dry.

  Sighing, Luke perched on the arm of the sofa he’d last occupied in her loft. Rubbing his whisker-stubbled jaw, he mused, “I honestly don’t know what to make of you.”

  “Did I hire you to psychoanalyze my every move?” Turning her back on him, she returned to her task of unwrapping framed photos, only to stop. Kolt grinned in every shot. Kolt as a chubby baby. His first day of kindergarten. Hamming it up with his friends on his riotous seventh birthday. Stacking the images, she carefully placed them upside down before returning them to the box. The last thing she needed was for Luke to be reminded of how many precious moments he’d missed. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to snap.”

  “That’s my point,” he said. “Even though we’ve been apart for years, I like to think I knew you better than just about anyone. But this version of you—flighty, always on edge—makes me worry.”

  “Thanks,” she said with a sad laugh, “but I’m good.”

  Are you?

  If Daisy didn’t tell Luke—her mom, Dallas, everyone—soon, the weight of her secret would eat her alive. She wasn’t sleeping. Rarely ate. Her heart constantly raced as if she’d spent hours running in hot sun.

  “If you say so…” Glancing at their surroundings, he noted, “The stuff from your loft doesn’t exactly match this building’s turn-of-the-century ambiance.”

  “I probably should’ve sold it before moving out here.” She sat on one of a matching pair of designer lounge chairs upholstered in a black-and-white pinto-patterned leather that had reminded her of home. But since she’d been here, could she really say Weed Gulch was where she belonged? She felt in limbo. Never more so than when she and Luke shared the same air.

  “What had you in such an all-fired hurry to leave this afternoon?” The faded denim shirt he wore rolled up at the sleeves worked magic with his blue eyes. The same color looked equally as impressive on his son. Luke had given her the perfect opening to tell him about Henry, so why was her tongue refusing to work?

  “I, um, guess I was preoccupied with getting back here to work.”

  “Which has me wondering…” He rose and crossed the room to sit on the box of books alongside her. “Why so many treks to my house, acting as if there’s something pressing on your mind, yet you never say a damned meaningful thing.”

  “Please, stop,” she begged, sliding her hands into the hair at her temples. “It’s complicated—my reasoning.”

  Leaning in, close enough for her to have sworn she caugh
t a hint of sweet ice cream still on his breath, he said, “I’m a big boy. You’d be surprised how much I might understand.” His nearness transported her back to a time before Kolt. Before fear had gotten in the way of love. Back to when she’d wanted nothing more from life than to spend her every waking moment in Luke’s arms. To when she’d believed a life with him protecting her would forever keep her from harm.

  “You can admit it,” he said, still too close for her mind to function properly.

  “Wh-what?”

  “You’re flustered about being close to me.” Cupping her cheeks, he kissed her.

  Yes! the teen girl in her cried.

  No! warned the world-weary professional she’d become.

  “I am, too—about being around you, but see? We kissed and nothing happened. No sparks. Not a single firework or marching band. So now that we have that established, we can get down to the business of setting up a formal visitation schedule for Kolt.”

  “Whoa. Time out.” She pushed him from her in a frantic search for air. Standing, hands on her hips, she paced. How dare he toy with her this way. As if he knew how flustered he made her and wanted her to squirm. “What the hell was that?”

  “I told you. Just clearing the air.”

  “HELLO, THERE.”

  Kolt looked out the window of the awesome fort that used to belong to his uncles to see Henry. Uncle Dallas had introduced them and told Kolt what a cool guy he was. Adjusting his pirate eye patch, Kolt said, “Hi, Henry!”

  “Permission to climb aboard, Cap’n?”

  Kolt laughed. “Yeah! I didn’t know you knew how to play pirates.”

  “I play all kinds of fun games,” Henry said, climbing the fort’s ladder. Once he’d made it to the top, he sat on a wooden crate, and then pulled a Snickers bar out from under his cowboy hat. “Like candy?”

  “You bet. Thanks!” While Kolt chewed, Henry took a pocket knife and a small block of wood from his back pocket.