Книга - To Claim a Wife

To Claim a Wife
Susan Fox


REBEL BridesTwo rebellious cousins–and the men who tame them!Caitlin Bodine is the black sheep of her family. She's shunned by her cousin Maddie–but no one's bad opinion of her hurts so much as Reno Duvall's. As a young girl, Caitlin hero-worshiped this tough, sexy rancher. As a woman, she's haunted by her reputation and a tragedy Reno will never forgive….Reno Duvall blames Caitlin for his brother's death. He can't believe she has the nerve to return after all these years–or that he's forced to share his home with her! So why can't he stop thinking about her? Caitlin is simply too wild to wed, but suddenly Reno finds himself longing to claim her as his wife!







Two rebellious cousins—and the men who tame them! (#u3d1df4d3-d610-5e94-ba92-8bcfeb2b0467)Letter to Reader (#ua9862b31-fc35-5f24-934b-a4c6c6d7185f)Title Page (#u28522868-8f8e-5ec2-b5cf-bb76ca30579e)Dedication (#u0749ac28-da2d-53dd-8bb5-7f21c021e4a9)CHAPTER ONE (#u19c91832-5222-51fd-81cc-6314dff4772e)CHAPTER TWO (#ub9201d31-5939-5e8a-a52a-cbbccea3f51c)CHAPTER THREE (#ua64ec9a1-15cd-5af8-ac2f-1a779e1c48d0)CHAPTER FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)







Two rebellious cousins—and

the men who tame them!

Meet Caitlin and Maddie: two beautiful, spirited cousins seeking to overcome family secrets and betrayal....

Neither cousin is looking for marriage—these Texas women have proud, rebellious hearts and it will take two very powerful men to tame them.

But look out, Caitlin and Maddie—two tough, gorgeous guys are about to try and sweep you up the aisle...and they won’t take no for an answer!

These two rebel brides are about to

meet their match at last.

This month, enjoy Caitlin’s story in

To Claim a Wife


Dear Reader,

I’ve dedicated the two books in this series, REBEL BRIDES, to my mother. My first heroine, Caitlin, lost her mother at an early age; and my second heroine, Maddie, was abandoned by her mother. But I’d like you all to know that my mother is the best mother a kid could have.

She and I are not only mother and daughter, but best friends. am so blessed to have been raised by such a gentle, compassionate, loving woman, and her unconditional love for me is truly the most profound gift a mother could give her child. My mom’s love of cowboys, the American West and country music turned out to be genetic. And, of course, my mom is my number-one fan. But then, she’d be that even if I’d never written a single book.

Thank you so much for reading my books. I’ve had the time of my life writing them for you. I hope you read something in them that you find encouraging and uplifting.

May your life be filled with happily-ever-afters!









To Claim a Wife

Susan Fox







www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)


For my mother, Marvel Terry. The sweetest, most loving

mother on planet Earth, and the gentlest, classiest, most

honorable woman I know. I love you with all my heart. I

can’t find adequate words to express how much you

mean to me. God bless you.


CHAPTER ONE

THE letter was as terse as a telegram.

Return to the Broken B. Jess Bodine dying.

Coulter City Hospital ICU.

RD

Caitlin Bodine wasn’t shocked by the news of her father’s grave illness. She’d known he was dying. News had a way of reaching her. It wasn’t that she still had many friends in Coulter City, Texas, but a man as important in ranching and oil as Jess Bodine was news anywhere in ranch country. Even in ranch country as remote as the plains of eastern Montana.

Caitlin had agonized for months over the news of her father’s worsening health. Agonized, wrote letters, then suffered his inevitable silence when her efforts to mend the breach between them failed as abysmally as always.

But then, her father had never acknowledged any of her other letters. Five years of utter silence from him should have been enough to convince her that their estrangement would continue to the grave. But that tiny spark of hope—the one she’d carried since she was a small child—refused to die.

It was a fact that she’d always idolized her father. It was also a fact that her father had rejected her. Her childhood craving to be accepted and loved by him still had the power to torment her, still had the power to seduce her back to Texas for one last colossal heartbreak.

Perhaps this time things would be different. Perhaps in the face of death, the old man’s thoughts about his only child had become remorseful. Perhaps he’d come to regret exiling her five years before.

But the bitter reality was that it wasn’t her father who’d summoned her home, it was Reno Duvall. Reno Duvall, the man who hated her.

Strangely, she dreaded facing Reno’s hatred even more than she dreaded another rejection from her father. Old memories stirred forcefully and panic sent a poison arrow through her insides.

Reno would never forgive her. But then, Caitlin might never forgive herself.

Reno Duvall walked down the hospital corridor to the ICU. He remembered Caitlin Bodine as an eighteen-year-old hellion, who’d dogged her father’s footsteps and engaged in a near cutthroat competition with his younger brother, Beau, for her father’s attention. She’d been a solemn, moody adolescent who hid her pain behind temper tantrums and frequent retreats to her secret place on the range.

She’d been a child perpetually frustrated and injured by her failure to live up to her father’s expectations, a child so pathologically jealous of his younger brother that she’d come to hate the stepbrother—the rival—who’d become her nemesis instead of the rightful member of her family that her father’s marriage had made him.

Had her jealousy of Beau been so bitter, so deep that she truly had caused Beau’s death, then allowed him to die? Witnesses had testified at the inquest that she’d done everything she could to save him.

But she’d failed. She’d been the one to put Beau’s life in danger in the first place, running off in another wild temper to hide out on the range. She’d known about the flash flood warnings in the area, but she’d ignored the danger.

Reno hardened his heart to the emotionally neglected child she’d been. Whatever had caused her tantrum that day, her selfish actions had set the stage for Beau’s death. Eighteen was too damned young to die.

Though Reno had sent for her to come home to the Broken B, he’d loathed the chore. Loathed the notion of ever coming face-to-face with the girt—the woman—who’d destroyed his family. His mother was gone now too, because of Caitlin. Her grief over her youngest son’s death had been as intense on the day she’d died as it had been the day they’d carried Beau’s slicker-shrouded body into the ranch yard.

A man couldn’t overlook that. Or the grim fact that Caitlin Bodine was kin to him, though there was no blood between them. No blood, that is, except his kid brother’s lifeblood.

Reno was about to enter the ICU when the elevator down the hall arrived. He sensed—he knew—the moment the doors slid open who would step out.

The past five years hadn’t changed Caitlin Bodine, yet the five years between then and now had changed everything about her.

She seemed taller now, prouder, almost arrogant. Her slender body moved with the poise and elegance of a model, but with a kind of confidence he somehow sensed was pure playacting. The coltishness of her slim figure was gone; she’d acquired a womanly roundness that sent a tremor of restlessness to his groin.

He made himself focus on her face. She’d lost the adolescent fullness in her cheeks. Her cheekbones seemed higher, her features sharper, more strikingly patrician. Her lips were the same, lush and naturally dark.

She wore her sable hair long and loose. It was longer now, rippling down her shoulders and back until it swung past her tight little backside like the thick flowing mane of a show horse. Long hair had always drawn him, but the sight had never hit him like this, never heated his blood in quite this way or sent it pumping through him like a hot pulse. It was just one more reason to nurse the hatred he felt for her.

But when those incredible jewel-blue eyes, with their thick fringe of black feathery lashes, shifted and homed in on him, he suddenly saw the girl again. The child. The broken-hearted, angry, hungry-for-love child she’d been every day that he’d known her. Something moved in his heart, but he ruthlessly ignored it.

The moment she stepped off the elevator, Caitlin sensed Reno’s presence. Terror sent talons of actual pain through her, but before she lost her nerve—or showed a glimmer of weakness—she made herself look straight at him.

Five years had made Reno harder and more formidable than ever. She’d secretly loved him once, adored him. She’d hated his brother for his little cruelties and for the way her father had blatantly favored him. But she’d loved Reno Duvall. Loved him, fantasized about him, and cried into her pillow at night because he was just like her father: stern, remote, unattainable.

He was so big. His shoulders were so wide, his body leanly muscled and as hard as a work saddle. Beneath his overlong black hair, his rugged, weather-tanned features were handsome in the rough handsome way of Western men in their prime. But so hard. And unforgiving. Relentlessly unforgiving.

She recognized the harsh lights in his eyes and knew that he’d never changed his mind about her, that he’d never believed her innocence, never forgiven her. After all this time, he probably never would.

The hurt she felt wasn’t unexpected, but it threatened the poised facade she’d worked so hard for. Somehow, she dug deeper for the strength that heartache and banishment had forged in her.

She continued in Reno’s direction without faltering. She got within speaking distance, then asked, “Is he still alive?”

She knew the question sounded cold. She’d meant for it to. She would exchange no pleasantries with Reno Duvall. He’d slice her to bits verbally if she did.

Something flared in Reno’s eyes and they burned over her face. His voice was harsh.

“Said he’d see you when you got here.”

Reno eased aside and Caitlin walked past him. He turned and walked a half pace behind her as they entered the ICU.

The patient cubicles faced the nurses’ station in a semicircle. Caitlin looked through the glass walls into each one as they passed, until they came to the fourth. Reno made a brief gesture—she was aware of every move he made—and she stopped. Foreboding quaked through her as she stared past the glass.

At first she didn’t recognize the elderly man on the hospital bed. Jess Bodine’s hair had gone from iron gray to nearly white. An oxygen tube ran across his craggy face.

As Caitlin stepped into the cubicle, the blip of monitors made an impression and she took swift note of the array of machines that flanked the head of the bed. Though they’d walked in quietly, the old man heard and gave a restless move of his head before he opened his eyes.

Jess Bodine had been almost as tall as Reno, built as strongly and as hard. But the old man on the bed seemed smaller. He looked frail, his face deathly pale and more gaunt than lean. Even his brown eyes—when she got close enough to see—seemed faded.

The shock of discovering that her rugged, larger-than-life father was now a thin, broken-looking old man, sent a spear of anguish through her heart.

She was truly losing him. The reminder made a more painful impact on her than it had when she’d heard he was ill. Jess was so near death that it was clear to her that there was no time left to bridge the emotional chasm between them. She might never learn what it was about her that he’d found so unlovable.

Though Jess Bodine was pitifully wasted and weak, his eyes fixed on her and gleamed with recognition. A moment later, he spoke. The words of welcome and forgiveness she’d hungered to hear never came.

“You see she gets the blood test.”

The incredible demand was made of Reno. The shock wave of silence that followed made her ill. Her soft “Hello, Daddy,” was little more than a whisper.

Jess’s gaze flickered briefly, then dulled. “We’ll see whether you got the right to call me that.” The words were slow and labored, and finished on a rasp as he ran out of air and strength.

Caitlin was suddenly so light-headed that she reached for the side rail of the bed for support and gripped it. Oblivious to her reaction, Jess fumbled with the oxygen tube.

The charged silence in the small space, punctuated by the blip and whir of machines, lent an eerie unreality to the scene. He wanted a blood test. Caitlin’s mind was so stunned, so sluggish suddenly that the reason for her father’s indifference—an indifference that so many times had flared out hatefully toward her—began to make sense only by slow degrees.

After a few reviving breaths, Jess’s eyelids fluttered with relief, then fell shut. This time when he spoke, his words were slurred by weakness. “My blood inherits half the Broken B. Or Reno gets everything.”

The effort made Jess struggle for air those next moments. His ongoing difficulty set off a small alarm that brought his nurse. Reno took her arm to pull her out of the way, but Caitlin resisted when he started to lead her from the room.

Somewhere beyond her shock it registered that Reno’s touch was electrifying. When he tried a second time to lead her from the cubicle, she pulled away and retreated, her back to the glass wall as she watched the nurse examine her father.

The small crisis passed, and the monitors settled into an audible rhythm. The nurse turned toward them.

“He’ll probably sleep now. It’d be better if you came back in a couple hours.” She gave them both a faint smile, then waited for them to leave the cubicle ahead of her. Caitlin hesitated, then turned to make a swift exit. Reno followed at a more relaxed pace.

Once outside the ICU, she stalked to the elevators, escape the only clear thought in her mind. Her eyes were stinging with hurt, but the hot acid of old anger was boiling up like lava. Suddenly she was a child again, cast back into the abyss of her father’s bewildering malevolence.

Her first stab at the elevator button missed. Frustrated, she jabbed at it again, then snatched her hand back when the button lit up.

“The lab’s downstairs.”

Reno’s voice behind her made her jump.

Her low “Leave me alone,” was instant It was all she could do to contain her rising pain and fury.

The elevator bell sounded, but the door seemed to take forever to open. When it did, she had to move aside and wait for the passengers to step off. She heard Reno enter the elevator after she did. They both turned to face the front of the car as the doors closed.

“The will says that your refusal to submit to a blood test to determine paternity will disqualify you from inheriting.”

She heard Reno’s grim tone and felt a fresh nick of pain. She covered her reaction with sarcasm.

“If the rightful heir loses out, Reno Duvall will be boss of the Broken B.” She turned her head and glanced up at his unyielding profile. Her barb made no visible impression on him, and she was suddenly hot with resentment.

This was the man who—along with his spiteful brother and mother—had so easily won her father’s love and regard. They’d been strangers when Jess had met them on a trip to San Antonio, strangers who’d meant more to Jess Bodine from day one than his own daughter had ever meant to him.

The Duvalls had gotten everything else that had rightfully belonged to her. She wouldn’t let the last one get the Broken B, even if it was Reno. She’d have something of Jess’s—and she’d glory in the fact that he’d go to his grave knowing he’d failed to deprive her of this last thing.

And yet, even when the blood test proved she was Jess’s daughter, he’d fixed it so she’d receive only half the ranch. Half! He hadn’t mentioned the oil holdings or the several businesses he’d acquired over the years.

Emotions that were suddenly as volatile to contain as they were to identify, rose to an overwhelming pitch.

My blood inherits half the Broken B... Or Reno gets everything.

And what if the paternity test proved that Jess Bodine wasn’t her biological father? Her furious vow to keep a Duvall from getting everything faltered.

Depression sent a chill over her. She looked away from Reno and stared at the closed doors in front of her.

Her memories of her mother were hazy. She remembered a beautiful, loving, dark-haired woman, but Elaina Chandler Bodine’s face had blurred over the years. Caitlin recalled the funeral and how she’d later discovered that Jess had ordered all her mother’s things taken away, and every picture of her in the house removed. Caitlin had been crushed when Jess had scolded her for her tears and her questions.

As an eight-year-old, she’d been grief-stricken and terrified by her mother’s sudden death, but her father’s refusal to comfort her or to allow his dead wife’s name to be mentioned in his presence had deepened her trauma.

Though she could no longer clearly picture her mother’s face, she remembered with aching clarity those days and weeks and months that had followed her death. She remembered the terror and monotony of stomachaches and nightmares, and her terrible loneliness when she’d wandered the house like a tiny ghost, searching for the love and comfort of her mother’s presence.

That was when she’d become especially close to her cousin, Madison. Madison had also lost her mother, though in a different way. Caitlin’s mother had been taken from her by death; Maddie’s mother had tired of her responsibilities and had dumped her on their grandmother, who’d lived nearby in town. Though Caitlin had always thought Maddie’s loss was worse than her own because it was a personal rejection, at least Maddie’s mother was alive somewhere, so she could have hope.

Their grandmother, Clara Chandler, had been almost as stern and unloving with Madison as Caitlin’s father had been with her. The two young cousins had sought the solace and comfort of family from each other, and together they’d survived childhood. The same age, they’d formed a deep bond and, at times, they’d been as inseparable as twins.

Until Beau Duvall was killed, and Maddie—who’d been madly infatuated with him—believed as everyone else had, that Caitlin was responsible for his death.

“This is it.”

Reno’s gruff voice penetrated the fog of pain and memory. It took her a moment to realize that the elevator had stopped and the doors had slid open.

“To the right and down the hall.” Reno’s low murmur prodded her to move. She stepped forward and walked in the direction he’d indicated.

With every step she took, the dread she felt grew. She’d failed every other test her father’s animosity and neglect had placed before her. Suddenly, she had no real confidence that she’d fare any better with this last one.

Caitlin walked into the heat of late afternoon. Her rental car was parked some distance from the hospital’s main entrance, so she started toward it, reaching into her shoulder bag for the sunglasses she preferred to wear while driving.

She didn’t know what had become of Reno. He’d vanished sometime after she’d filled out papers and was led to a room to have the blood sample drawn.

She rejected the idea of hanging around the hospital until her father was awake. After her first visit, she was certain there was no point in putting herself through a second one. If Jess Bodine had gone twenty-three years without softening toward his only child, she doubted that two hours would bring any significant change of heart.

The depression that had plagued her after her mother’s death was suddenly as heavy and fresh as it had been back then, but Caitlin resisted it. That and the mercurial temper that seemed to go hand in hand with it. She’d matured in these last years, become solid emotionally. Life’s little aggravations had no power over her. Her brief lapse after her father’s bombshell was just that—a lapse, nothing more.

As she reached her car and got into its stifling interior, she thought again of Madison.

How close they’d been, sharing their angst and agonies, making their own good times, whether on Maddie’s visits to the Broken B or during Caitlin’s visits to their grandmother’s mansion in Coulter City. No one cared when they wandered off, no one cared that they’d run wild, so long as they didn’t annoy their guardians.

The worst thing about the aftermath of Beau’s death was not that Caitlin had been banished from the Broken B. The worst thing had been how swiftly and completely Madison had turned against her. Maddie had known how much Caitlin had suffered, being supplanted by Beau. In the end, that knowledge had made it impossible for Caitlin to convince her lovesick cousin that she hadn’t deliberately caused Beau’s death. Madison had sided with everyone against her, and nothing Caitlin had been able to say convinced her otherwise.

The old gloom settled around her heart. Besides Jess and Maddie’s absent mother, Rosalind, Maddie was her only living relative. The reminder deepened her sadness.

When Caitlin pulled her rental car out of the parking lot onto the street, she caught a glimpse of the interstate highway sign. She was tempted to pick up her things at the motel and drive back to San Antonio. She could catch a plane to Montana by tomorrow.

Her father would be dead soon, perhaps in a matter of hours. He was probably right about her not being his child. A man surely couldn’t despise a child unless he was certain he had cause. She could drive away now and forget him and everything else, once and for all. She had nothing here, not even the Broken B. Now it would all go to Reno....

It was the thought of forever losing even a part of the ranch that finally made her go back to the motel with the intention of staying on in Coulter City.

The Broken B was home, such as it was. She’d missed the land, wild beautiful land that stretched for forty thousand acres beneath the wide Texas sky. Montana was beautiful, but Texas was home. The ranch she’d worked on up north couldn’t compare with the deep attachment she still felt to the Broken B.

The strong unbroken spirit she’d been blessed with stirred forcefully. If she had any hope of getting even a portion of what remained of her birthright, she had to stay. The stubborn will that had helped her survive the emotional devastation of her upbringing wouldn’t allow the thought of Jess Bodine denying her the Broken B.

Even if the blood test went against her, surely the fact that she’d been publicly claimed and raised as Jess Bodine’s legal child would give her some standing in the courts. She still had the large inheritance from her grandmother at her disposal. If she had to, she might be able to find the right lawyer and file suit to contest the will. It might take years, but the thought of thwarting Jess Bodine’s last hateful deed was tantalizing.

Reno was the only member of his family worthy of getting a piece of the Broken B, but if she had to, she’d go to war with him to keep him from getting it all.


CHAPTER TWO

RENO got out of his pickup and walked to the motel door. Number ten was Caitlin’s room. There were out-of-state license plates on most of the nearby parked cars, but there were also two late-model rentals. One of those was probably hers.

Jess’s condition had worsened, and the doctor told Reno it was time to notify his family. He’d called Madison St. John, Jess’s niece, but she’d been vague about a last visit, particularly when he’d told her that Caitlin was back. He hadn’t expected much from Madison. She wasn’t the quiet, sweet kid she’d been before Beau’s death. She was filthy rich now, spoiled by her money and her self-centered lifestyle, a social butterfly with iron wings and a razor tongue. It might be just as well if she stayed away from Jess.

Reno forgot about Madison St. John as he reached the door of number ten and knocked sharply. He’d tried to call Caitlin’s room earlier, but there’d been no answer. It was past time for supper, so he assumed Caitlin had eaten. He damned sure hoped she had. He wasn’t in the mood to take her anywhere but the hospital, and there wasn’t much time.

He knocked again, louder this time, and was about to go back to the hospital without her when the door opened.

For a female who’d projected such poise and confidence earlier, Caitlin was surprisingly reluctant to open the door wider than a crack. He glimpsed the towel on her head and the skimpy robe she was wearing. He felt his lips move into an irritable line.

He wasted no time on preliminaries. “Get dressed.” He stepped forward and pressed his hand on the door, but Caitlin pushed from her side to keep him from entering.

“Come back later.” Her voice sounded breathless, as if she were a little afraid of him.

He pressed on the door hard enough to demonstrate that he meant business. “You don’t have later. The doc says his time’s close.”

Reno watched the spasm of shock in her eyes. She immediately released the door and stepped back.

“I—I’d like to dry my hair,” she said as she clutched the front of the short robe and took another step back. She was bare-legged from midthigh to her toes. Reno stepped inside and closed the door with a snap.

He could smell her shampoo and the clean scent of female skin. Without her usual jeans, work shirt and boots, Caitlin looked small and vulnerable. With her mane of hair hidden in the towel, nothing distracted his attention from her face.

And her eyes. Her lashes were black from the lingering dampness of her shower and her eyes were so blue they glowed like starlit sapphires. The natural beauty of her face took his breath away. The sight of her bare legs and his very male urge to see the rest of her bare made every nerve below his waist heat and tingle.

“Cover yourself.”

His angry growl startled her into movement. She flitted away from him so suddenly that he was reminded of a fleeing doe. His gaze followed as she grabbed some clothes from an open suitcase. He didn’t breathe normally until she shut herself in the bathroom.

Reno paced the room, furious with himself for his reaction, furious with her for affecting him so strongly.

He was fair-minded enough to acknowledge that she hadn’t done anything improper, he had. He would never have forced his way into the bedroom of any scantily-clad female. He’d never had to. Why he’d pushed his way in on her when she wasn’t decent defied reason.

Caitlin was dressed in a surprisingly short time. In moments she was out of the bathroom, tearing through one of her suitcases. Her hair was out of the towel and hung in wet disarray down her back. Reno gritted his teeth at the sight until her frantic movements made an impression on him. He could see her hands were shaking. She got a brush and a hair dryer, then dashed back to the bathroom. This time, she didn’t bother to close the door.

Reno winced as she yanked the brush through her hair. That she was in an almighty hurry made him feel faint regret. He hated the turmoil she made him feel. Though he marshaled his anger by stoking his grudge against her, he could stand to let her punish her hair only a handful of strokes before he spoke up.

“No need to tear it out.”

He’d barked the words and managed to startle her again. Her reaction reminded him of the past. Most of the time, Jess had only used one tone of voice with his daughter: harsh and loud. He’d never seemed to notice or care whether anyone else was around or not when he’d upbraided his only child. Reno ignored those times because Caitlin had sometimes deserved a scolding. He’d always assumed Jess spoke more kindly to her the rest of the time. But then, he’d lived on his own ranch near San Antonio before Beau’s death, so he’d been around infrequently.

Why he suddenly questioned Jess’s treatment of Caitlin irritated him. Jess hadn’t been an especially affectionate man, but he’d doted on Beau and had been an attentive husband to their mother. Jess had been too good a man, too fair, to treat his daughter harshly without reason.

Caitlin continued to brush her hair, but she was only marginally less rushed about it. Moments. later, she turned on the hair dryer.

Reno waited impatiently, although he was aware that no more than five minutes passed before she switched off the dryer and hastily brushed her hair again. When she finished, she hurried out of the bathroom and shoved the brush into her handbag. Neither of them spoke as they left the motel room.

You don’t have later, Reno had said. The moment he’d spoken, Caitlin’s refusal to allow her father another shot at her vanished. Jess might be moments from death. Now that the time had really come, and so suddenly, she was once again reduced to foolish hopes and impossible dreams.

Impending death had a profound effect on other people—she was certain it would on her—so perhaps it would have a positive effect on her father. The cynicism Jess Bodine had pounded into her warned that nothing had changed, but the hope she knew she’d have until her father took his last breath urged her to grab for this last chance.

She was shaking so hard when she tried to dig out the car key that she dropped it on the concrete and managed to kick it with her boot. She’d started to retrieve it when Reno stepped over and swung down to snatch it up.

“You’re ridin’ with me.”

His gruff tone was harsh and sent her gaze streaking to his. The flat hard look he gave her hurt; the way his gaze shifted from hers communicated his reluctance to bother with her.

Too terrified to waste time arguing, she went with him to his truck. It surprised her when he opened the passenger door for her, then shut it once she was inside.

Her tension climbed higher as Reno drove swiftly through town to the hospital. He only paused for stop signs and red lights. Fortunately, at just after 9:00 p.m. Coulter City traffic was relatively light, so they pulled into the hospital parking lot in record time. It seemed to take forever to park and get into the hospital. By the time they reached the ICU floor, Caitlin’s heart was pounding with anxiety.

They stepped off the elevator and were halfway down the hall when a doctor walked out of the ICU. Reno stopped and reached for her arm to halt her. The doctor caught sight of them and approached. Caitlin read his somber expression and her heart fluttered sickeningly in her chest.

The doctor’s quiet “I’m sorry,” was directed to Reno before his kind dark eyes shifted to include Caitlin. “He passed away ten minutes ago.”

The words caused a faint roaring in her ears. Her father was gone. The stifling numbness she felt helped her maintain her composure those next moments.

Reno was still gripping her arm when his fingers tightened. The hot current that radiated from his touch made a deep impression on her. The sudden human instinct to crowd close to that hot current, to somehow capture it and hold it close, made her reach for his hand.

The moment her fingers came in contact with his hard warm ones, she jerked her hand away. Confused by shock and appalled that the impulsive gesture had revealed her weakness, she tried to pull from his grip. His fingers flexed to hold her close while the doctor related an abridged version of her father’s last moments.

The words “He went easy,” stirred a restlessness that made it almost impossible for her to listen. When the doctor offered his condolences and quietly excused himself, she shuddered with relief.

Suddenly, Reno was leading her away. She walked along in a daze, dismayed by how unsteady she felt. They were alone in the elevator before she was fully aware of where he’d taken her. She pulled away to go back to the ICU, but he caught her as the doors slid shut.

Caitlin braced her hand against his chest. Her eyes were smarting and so blurred that his blue work shirt swam before her like a dark smear.

“I have to see him,” she choked out, and somehow she lost her grip on the wild feeling she dimly recognized as hysteria. “H-he can’t be gone—not after he s-said those hateful things!”

She looked up through swimming eyes and tried to focus on Reno’s harsh face. She clutched his shirt-front urgently. “Those can’t have been the only words—the only thing he had left to say—”

Reno’s hands moved to her upper arms. The action registered, but she was losing control of herself too quickly. He gave her a small shake that jarred a sob out of her. The sound helped sober her and she bit her lip ruthlessly to stop the others.

She was coming apart in the presence of the man who hated her. God, what vicious pleasure he could take from her pain! Pride wouldn’t allow this man—this man above all—to see her reduced to a pitiful heap of misery.

She tried to take a deep breath, but her throat was so swollen with pain that she could barely breathe. She tried to push away from him, but he held her too tightly.

They struggled briefly, and Caitlin realized his touch was burning her, sending sensual signals to every part of her body. But his refusal to release her so she could go to the ICU to see for herself that her father was really gone, tortured her.

It was irrational to fight him, but she did. He retaliated by backing her into the corner next to the elevator buttons. He released her arm only long enough to hit the stop button to bring the elevator to a bumping halt between floors.

Her gritted “Damn you—let me go!” only made him press harder. He wedged her lower body between his and the corner as his hands slid down her arms to her wrists. It was as if he’d read her mind and knew she was wild enough now to try to scratch him.

“It’s over.” Reno’s voice was a rough murmur.

Caitlin shook her head emphatically. “He owed me something,” she burst out “Whether I’m his daughter or not, he was all I had.”

She suddenly realized what she was saying and this time she bit her lip so hard she tasted blood. There was a rampage of fury and hurt inside. Repressing it was like trying to smother a forest fire with her bare skin. She shook uncontrollably, and the effort of holding back tears made her head pound.

“H-he was a cruel, unfeeling bastard.” Hearing herself say the words aloud was shocking, and she took a series of deep breaths to calm herself before something worse came out of her mouth. She doubted Reno had ever glimpsed the man that she knew her father to be. She felt his surprise, sensed his strong disapproval.

Reno stared down into Caitlin’s flushed, stricken face. She was shaking, but she held herself as stiffly as a fence post. Moments flew by in the silent elevator as he watched her struggle with her pain.

Though his heart was hard toward her and he believed she’d often deserved Jess’s harsh treatment, it gave him no pleasure to witness her anguish. He hadn’t approved of Jess’s insistence on a blood test. On the other hand, Jess hadn’t been completely rational the past couple of weeks. It was unfortunate that his last words to his daughter had been cruel.

The feel of her soft body trapped between his and the corner began to work on him. Their position—they were pressed together from waist to knee—was dangerously sexual.

Slowly he eased away from her until they were no longer touching. He still held her wrists, but the heat between them was scorching. He felt the stiffness seep from her body. She stared hard at his shirtfront, collecting herself. He sensed her strong will, her absolute determination to get control of herself. He couldn’t help that he found a spark of admiration for that. The Caitlin Bodine of the past couldn’t have summoned this control.

Satisfied with her progress, he released her wrists by slow degrees. The moment he was no longer touching her, she slipped from the corner. He pressed a button on the keypad and the elevator continued downward.

Caitlin didn’t look directly at him again. She didn’t speak to him either. The young woman who rode beside him in his truck to the motel was focused deeply inward, oblivious to everything outside her own wordless misery.

For the first time in five years, Caitlin awoke in her bedroom at the Broken B. Normally she was an early riser, but she glanced toward the alarm clock, surprised to see that it was almost 7:00 a.m.

Reno had brought her to the ranch. She’d been a zombie the night before. She dimly recalled watching him pack her things while she sat on the motel bed.

She hadn’t protested when he’d taken over, she’d not had the will. As she lay in her bed and stared at the ceiling, she was amazed that he’d taken care of her. It was absolutely stunning that he’d brought her to the Broken B when he hated her so.

Perhaps it proved that Reno wasn’t as heartless as her father after all. Perhaps he didn’t hate her as intensely as she’d thought.

The moment the notion entered her mind, she shoved it away. Reno blamed her for his brother’s death. How could he not hate her? In light of how he felt, the mystery of why he’d taken such good care of her and brought her home was baffling.

It was too much to sort out. She got up and dressed, then went downstairs. The realization that she was finally home put tremendous pressure on her battered emotions. She almost retreated to her room before she reminded herself that she had to face everything eventually.

Quietly, she wandered through the massive ranch house. She knew every inch of it, and it was a comfort to see that nothing much had changed. Her father had spent most of his waking hours out-of-doors, so she associated the house more with her memories of her mother than with him. Reno’s mother had changed almost nothing.

Now that Jess was dead, she thought about her mother’s pictures. Had Jess destroyed them, or merely packed them away someplace? She didn’t think he’d given them to her grandmother, since she’d never mentioned them. The idea that they might still be in the house somewhere, hidden, made her determined to find them.

She walked into the back hall on her way to the kitchen for breakfast when Reno came down the hall from the other end and met her there.

His eyes were intent on her face, searching, assessing. “You look better this morning.”

She stiffened as his blue gaze ran down her slender body. She saw the male interest in the look and felt faintly threatened. Once, she’d have given anything to attract Reno’s interest. Now it made her uneasy. Anger gleamed in his gaze. Clearly, his attraction to her infuriated him. She didn’t speak.

“Mary’s waitin’ breakfast.”

The news surprised her. “Mary? Isn’t Corrie around anymore?”

“Corrie retired last year. Hannah, too, the year before that,” he told her.

Corrie and Hannah had been the cook and housekeeper since just after her mother’s death. A part of her was relieved. Hannah had never seemed to approve of her. Both women had been charmed by Beau, though they hadn’t cared much for his mother. In the two weeks after Beau’s death before Caitlin had been banished, they’d been distant with her. She’d always believed they’d blamed her for Beau’s death. Like everyone else.

Reno waited for her to step forward and precede him to the kitchen.

Mary was a warm, friendly woman, who seemed pleased to be introduced to Caitlin. She offered her condolences to them both. Caitlin was less tense then, but she was surprised when Reno joined her at the kitchen table for breakfast.

When Mary set two heaped plates of food before them, the appetite Caitlin was certain she couldn’t muster began to stir.

She picked up her fork and had a bite of the fluffy scrambled eggs. When Mary left the kitchen, she glanced Reno’s way and caught him staring at her. She read the traces of hostility in his gaze. He probably hated sitting across the table from her. She was suddenly so self-conscious that the bite of food stuck in her throat. His blue gaze dropped to watch her swallow, then went dark.

Caitlin rested her fork on her plate, her meager appetite fleeing beneath his scrutiny.

“When’s the funeral?” Her soft question distracted him and he focused on his own meal.

“Day after tomorrow.”

Neither of them spoke again while they ate. Caitlin eventually relaxed enough to force down a few more bites of food. Reno finished and leaned back with what was left of his coffee.

“I’d like to see the ranch.” Her statement brought his gaze back to hers. She endured a long burning look. She could tell the instant her request reminded him of Beau’s death. His eyes darkened again and went hard.

“You’ve got funeral arrangements to make.”

The blunt reminder made her uncomfortable. “You’ve been closer to him than anyone,” she said quietly. “I’m sure he’d prefer that you handled things.”

“You’re his daughter.”

Caitlin gripped her coffee cup. She dared to meet his gaze squarely. “You and Beau were the sons he always wanted, but was cheated of. Until he married your mother.”

The blue fire in his eyes was pure hatred.

“Don’t speak Beau’s name to me.”

The low rumble of his voice hit her chest like a sledgehammer. The pain was so intense that she had to focus on breathing slowly in, then out, to relieve it.

“Why did you bring me home?” The words came out in a whisper.

He stared over at her, his enmity shining out like a laser. “Maybe to prove that you and I can’t live here, even if you can inherit.”

“So you’re after your pound of flesh,” she stated dully.

“It’ll take more than a pound to even the score.”

He didn’t bother now to conceal his hatred for her. She was shaking all over and held herself stiffly to hide it. The impulse to defend herself made her incautious.

“You never wanted to hear what happened.”

“I’m not much for lies.”

The accusation was so insulting—Caitlin never lied—that her temper shot skyward. Her low “Go to hell, Reno,” was heartfelt.

His quiet “Been there,” pinned the blame squarely on her. She rallied to deflect it.

“So have I.”

The air thundered with hate. The injustice of it left her raw inside. The wall of rage between them was miles high and so wide that nothing would ever overcome it. The thought was overwhelming. The knowledge that there was nothing she could do to change things sent her spirits into a downward slide.

She tossed her napkin to the table and rose. “Make the funeral arrangements. I’m going for a ride.”

She didn’t look directly at Reno, but she felt his gaze cut at her. Hating her.

She went to her room briefly for her hat, then escaped the house through the front door to avoid coming face-to-face with Reno.

As she walked through the yard toward the corrals and barns, she noticed that most things looked just the same. She entered the stable and immediately recognized a couple of the horses. She didn’t relish meeting any of the men. The three cowboys who had testified on her behalf at the inquest were nowhere to be seen.

On the other hand, all three were older men. The oldest, Lucky Reed, the cowboy who’d been her champion, had probably retired by now. She finished her brief inspection of the horses still at the stable, then selected one.

Her father’s saddle was still in the tack room. She got it and a bridle, then carried them to the horse she’d chosen.

The black gelding had been her father’s favorite. He’d been a lively four-year-old five years ago. Now he seemed calmer, more like the competent working horse her father would have expected.

Caitlin led him out of the stall, gave him a quick grooming, then saddled him. Excitement made her hurry. Memories of the land she’d missed so much—and her private place—pulled at her. The only real peace she’d known growing up had been on the land. The only true comfort she’d had was the comfort of her private place.

She belonged to the land. She’d not had a secure place in her family, but she’d had a place on the land. The wildness of it connected with something wild in her. She relished the seasons, was sensitive to their cycles. She knew her place out there, felt herself fit into the universe somehow. Though she was a mere speck on the landscape, she was part of it.

As she rode out of the stable and past the outbuildings and corrals, something shifted inside her, and she felt herself slip naturally into the panorama of range land before her.

The black felt solid beneath her and he obeyed her slightest signal. His well-trained response heightened her sense of control, of dominance. She might never handle her personal life or the tricky relationships she was bound to with any real skill or success, but she had an affinity for animals, and a natural competence with them that made her feel settled and sure of herself.

She rode on for nearly an hour before she angled in a new direction. She couldn’t bear to go near the canyon where Beau had died, so she’d altered her path to avoid it. She ended up north of the old cabin and changed direction again to ride to it.

Caitlin thought of it as a cabin, but it was the adobe ruin of a turn-of-the-century homestead. Most of the old roof had rotted and fallen in, or had been blown away. Years ago, she’d hauled in enough lumber to construct a crude roof near the chimney. The two layers of wood with a layer of tarp in between had provided shade from the sun and protection enough from the rain. The adobe was crumbled and weathered down, but the irregular walls were still high enough to count as shelter from the wind.

The moment she saw it, she felt relief. It still looked the same as she remembered. When she reached the old structure, she dismounted, loosening the saddle cinch before she led the black to the east side of the ruin.

She inspected the small lean-to, then led the horse in out of the hot sun and removed his saddle. When she came out, she walked to the front of the cabin to the wide space where the door had once been and stepped inside.

The sparrows that had built a nest under the crude roof burst out and shot through the open space overhead into the sky. If any other animals had moved in, they’d already fled. Caitlin made a cursory check for snakes, then carefully checked the old fireplace chimney.

Because she hadn’t been there to light a fire in the past five years, at least one family of birds was nesting in the old adobe. She heard their flutters and chirps, but didn’t disturb them. She walked around the limited confines, then took up a place at the deep dip in the wall where a window had once been.

The magic of the place began to ease over her. Thoughts about her father, Reno and Beau began to crowd in, but they seemed manageable here.

Her father’s demand for a blood test explained his treatment of her over the years. Jess Bodine had been uncompromising on the subject of loyalty and fidelity—to him. He’d proved at the inquest how little loyalty he’d felt toward his daughter. Though Caitlin had been too young to know about such things when her mother was alive, it wouldn’t surprise her to discover that her father was the one who’d been unfaithful.

Had her mother been unfaithful? A man as proud as her father couldn’t have tolerated even the hint that his wife had cheated on him. Clearly, he’d never been able to separate his feelings for his daughter from his suspicion that she might not be his.

The fact that he’d treated her so poorly was inexcusable. A child—even if it had been her—shouldn’t have to bear the brunt of a man’s anger toward his wife.

Eventually, her thoughts turned to Beau. Beau had been a charmer and a daredevil. He’d also possessed a wide streak of cruelty that he’d often displayed with animals and with her. But he’d also been clever enough to conceal the cruel things he’d done from Jess and from Reno.

She doubted Reno had ever known about his brother’s dark side. Beau had idolized his older brother and had behaved well around Reno to impress him. Privately, Beau had reveled in the fact that his mother favored him over her older son. Sheila Duvall Bodine had a penchant for spoiling her youngest, giving him anything he wanted, laughing over his pranks and laying into anyone who might take exception to anything her favorite said or did.

Caitlin had never been impressed by Beau’s charm or his handsome looks. When he managed to skillfully play to her father’s desire for a son and completely dominated Jess’s time and attention, she’d hated Beau for upstaging her. Her father finally had the male child he’d resented not having, and he’d completely lost interest in his daughter.

It had been terrible to see her father bond so instantly and completely to his new wife and her ten-year-old son. The three of them became the close, devoted family Caitlin had hungered all her life to be a part of. It’d been agony to be excluded from that.

Reno was ten years older than Beau and he’d run his family’s ranch for years. Caitlin noticed right away that he’d also been excluded from the tight unit his mother and brother had formed with Jess. Nevertheless, Jess had treated Reno as an equal, and their relationship had been a good, solid one.

It had never seemed to trouble Reno that his mother and brother’s lives were bound so obsessively close to Jess’s. He’d had his own life and a strong self-image that seemed to make him impervious to the trials and heartaches of lesser mortals.

Caitlin had been instantly attracted to that. Reno seemed strong and tough and very nearly indestructible. He’d also paid attention to her.

Not a lot—he made sure he kept her at arm’s length. But when he was around he saw to it that she was included. He made it a point to draw her out in conversation or to make some kind remark to her or on her behalf. She’d noticed immediately how much better her father treated her when Reno was around, and she’d always looked forward to Reno’s visits.

By the time she’d turned seventeen, she’d had a crush on him. She must have been too obvious about it, because it was about that time that Reno’s attitude toward her began to cool. She’d suffered the loss of his attention, suffered the misery of knowing that the desperate flaw inside her had driven away another person who’d been important in her life. Reno’s heart had closed to her almost as completely as her father’s had, and it had devastated her to realize how alike he and her father were.

A year later when Beau was killed, Reno had stood solidly against her. He’d taken the lead in ostracizing her, refusing to let her speak to him, then having her barred from Beau’s funeral. She was certain he’d played a major part in her exile, though it had been his mother who’d demanded that.

If Sheriff Juno hadn’t stepped in on her behalf, she was certain she would have been arrested and jailed. The inquest had been traumatic enough to go through. The fact that the testimony of witnesses had absolved her of wrongdoing made no impression on Jess or his wife, and certainly hadn’t on Reno, who’d not been present for some of the most critical testimony. All of them, along with Maddie, had turned their backs on her. In the face of such blame, Caitlin couldn’t have stayed on in Coulter City.

She’d taken her inheritance from her grandmother, who’d died several weeks before Beau, and wandered for months like a lost soul. She’d ended up in Montana, working on a dude ranch that had recently been converted into a summer camp for troubled teens. Though she’d signed on as a horse wrangler and taught several of the kids to ride, emotionally she’d fit right in with the ones who’d been sent there by social workers or the courts.

Being around the kids who’d come through the SC Ranch helped her to come to terms with the emotional deprivation she’d grown up with. As painful and lonely as her childhood had been, the kids who came to the SC had lived through even tougher times. Her own emotional abuse and neglect seemed mild compared to the abuse several of the ranch kids had suffered. She understood their anger and she’d learned how to manage her own by watching many of them struggle to master theirs. The ones who’d failed left the ranch with only a remote chance of ever making a decent life for themselves. Those were the kids—the failures—who’d terrified her into getting a grip on herself.

Coming back to Coulter City and the Broken B had been the severe test that had jarred her into realizing how far she still had to go.

The peace of the old homestead eventually stilled her troubled thoughts. It was late afternoon before she saddled the gelding and led him out of the lean-to. She mounted and started back to the ranch headquarters at a sedate walk.


CHAPTER THREE

RENO watched Caitlin ride to the stable. She held herself erect, her eyes on the barn as if she didn’t notice the few ranch hands at work in the corrals.

Now he noted the horse she rode—Jess’s favorite—and that she’d used Jess’s saddle. He bit back his irritation. There hadn’t been many horses at the stable that day. Not many extra saddles in the tack room either. Caitlin was an excellent horsewoman and a good judge of horseflesh. The black gelding was one of the best horses still at the stable, so her choice might have been more a natural one than a symbolic one.

Why he suddenly wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt aggravated him.

But then, he also had mixed feelings about the outcome of the blood test. Now that he knew Jess had doubted his daughter’s paternity, he had to admit that Caitlin didn’t favor Jess much at all. He’d heard she was the image of her mother, and she must be because she resembled Jess so little.

It was a fresh surprise for him to realize that he didn’t want her to lose every claim to Jess’s estate. She’d been raised as Jess’s daughter, whatever the circumstances of her birth. Jess should never have made her inheritance conditional on something she’d been innocent of.

Even he had to admit that Jess had been brutally unfair. It would have been more honest, more merciful for Jess to have disowned her long ago and left her out of the will completely.

When Reno realized the track his thoughts were on, and how far they’d gone, he felt a rush of anger. He watched her reach the stable and dismount. The painful turbulence she made him feel clouded his mind with dark thoughts.

She moved with a regal grace that drew the eye and stirred the imagination. The memory of what she’d looked like in that skimpy robe the night before sent a gust of heat through him. No woman in his life had affected him this strongly and he’d had enough of them to know the difference.

Once Caitlin led the gelding into the stable, he found himself stalking toward it. He caught up with her just as she pulled the saddle and turned to carry it to the tack room.

“Where were you?”

Caitlin hesitated at Reno’s gruff demand. She’d known he’d show up the moment she got in. She’d prepared herself, but the accusation in his tone sent a quiver of hurt and wariness through her. She didn’t glance up at his face, but stepped around him to continue to the tack room.

Her soft “Staying out of your way,” was as much of a nonanswer as she dared. She felt his anger spike high as she stepped into the tack room and stored the saddle. She walked out—still not looking at Reno—and began to give the gelding a quick brushing.

Silence crackled between them while she finished with the horse and led him into his stall. Her unease multiplied as she got the horse a measure of grain, checked his water, then stepped out of the stall and closed the gate.

As if he meant to keep a close watch on her, Reno tolerated the wait. Caitlin wasn’t certain what to do next. His silent anger intimidated her, but she struggled not to show it and started up the stable aisle for the house.

Reno fell into step beside her. Though neither of them spoke, the tension between them was taut. By the time they walked into the kitchen, Caitlin’s stomach was in knots.

How could she live on the Broken B with Reno? She knew right away that she’d hate living day in and day out with his enmity. And yet, until she found out for certain if she qualified to inherit half the ranch, she had no choice but to put up with it.

She didn’t relish getting into a battle of wills with him on a permanent basis, but if she had to, she would. There was always the chance he’d allow her to talk about Beau’s death. It might make some small difference, though what she could tell him had just as much potential to make him hate her more as it did to neutralize his hostility.

Still, depending on the outcome of the blood test, she wouldn’t walk on eggshells around Reno. She’d had enough of that with her father.

They left their hats on wall pegs and washed up. Caitlin used the sink in the kitchen while Reno used the one in the bathroom off the back hall. They both arrived in the dining room just as Mary finished setting the food on the table. As if the pleasant-natured cook sensed the hostility in the silence between them, she ducked back into the kitchen.

Caitlin took her place across the long, polished table from Reno. Neither of them sat in the ornate chair at the head. Mary had set their places to the left and right of the big chair. The fact that they’d have to eat facing each other didn’t do wonders for her appetite, but Caitlin sat down and reached for her napkin.

Reno’s low voice split the silence. “Visitation is tomorrow night at seven. Funeral’s at 10:00 a.m. the day after.”

Caitlin couldn’t help that her gaze shifted up to meet his. Reno was watching her so closely that she felt like a moth on a pin. His dark brows were slanted at a disapproving angle.

“Would you prefer that I skip the visitation... and the funeral?” Her soft question made his expression go black.

“You’ll go to both. And you’ll play the part of the bereaved daughter.”

The low words cut at her. She dropped her gaze to her plate. “My acting abilities are limited.”

“Just show up, keep to yourself, and keep your mouth shut.”

Stung by his edict, she toyed with her fork for a moment, but didn’t pick it up. “I’ll attend the funeral and the graveside service, but not the visitation.”

At the funeral and graveside service, she would be spared having to make small talk with community members who, no doubt, thought of her as a murderess. The visitation was a much more social occasion, and it was easy to picture herself being snubbed and treated like an outcast. Not to mention having to come face-to-face with others like Reno, who simply couldn’t conceal their hatred. Beau had charmed and won over a lot of people in the eight years he’d lived on the Broken B.

“You’ll go to the visitation.” The low rumble of Reno’s voice was final.

Caitlin lifted her gaze to his furious one. “You know what everyone thinks of me.”

“You were raised as Jess’s daughter. You won’t dishonor his memory by staying away.” He paused. “Whatever else they think, you earned.”

She couldn’t look away from his harsh expression.

“How many people know about the paternity test?” She watched his gaze flicker slightly.

“Jess didn’t make a public announcement.”

Caitlin heard instantly what Reno didn’t say. Jess might not have made it public, but everyone knew about it anyway.

Her gaze fell, and the sickness that stole over her made her weak. Moments slid by as she tried to push back the melancholy she felt. Finally, her fingers numb, she pulled her napkin off her lap and lifted it to the table. She got up without a word and walked from the room.

The moment Caitlin placed her napkin beside her plate and rose, Reno felt a powerful stroke of guilt. The low swearword that burst from his lips was quiet, but heartfelt.

Caitlin walked to her room in a haze of fresh pain. Jess’s cruelty—even though he was dead—had just as much potential to destroy her as it always had. She’d been back in Coulter City little more than twenty-four hours and Jess had already spoiled her hope of being able to stay on peacefully.

And now everyone knew he believed she was a bastard.

Caitlin walked into her bathroom and removed her clothes, hoping a hot shower would lift her spirits. She stayed under the needle-sharp spray so long that the water eventually began to cool.

Finally she turned off the taps and stepped out. The huge towel she used pleasantly abraded her skin. When she finished drying off, she wrapped the towel around herself from shoulder to thigh and pulled it tight.

She craved the comfort of being wrapped so securely. The hunger to be close to another human being warred with her secret terror of allowing anyone to get close.

The paradox was the torment of her life. There’d been a few times when she’d given in to the craving and dated in hopes of finding someone to love. But the moment a kiss or embrace began to progress to something more, she’d backed away.

She’d never been touched by real passion. She’d never understood why feverish kisses and groping embraces left her unmoved. Eventually, she’d come to the conclusion that she was frigid. The reminder made her pull the towel tighter for a few moments more before she unwrapped it and reached for her robe.

The stress of the past twenty-four hours had exhausted her. She brushed her teeth, worked the tangles from her hair, and methodically dried it. By the time she finished, it was just past 7:00 p.m. It didn’t matter that the sun hadn’t gone down yet. Sleep was too compelling a notion to resist.

Caitlin reached the side of her bed and pulled back the comforter and top sheet when a sharp knock sounded on the door. She could tell right away who it was. Only Reno’s knock could sound that demanding.

She made certain her robe was belted securely, then turned toward the door. “What do you want?”

“Mary kept your supper warm.”

Caitlin’s lips parted in surprise. The low words were gruff, but she knew Reno well enough to detect the hint of softness behind them.

Memories of his visits to the Broken B when she was a child slipped past her fatigue. Those few golden recollections of the times Reno had been kind to her stung her eyes and swamped her with nostalgia.

She stepped silently to the door and placed a shaking hand on the smooth wood. She rested her forehead against the wall next to it and tried to sound unaffected.

“I was on my way to bed. I’ll thank her in the morning.”

Silence.

Then, “Open the door.”

The low order made her lift her head and reach for the doorknob. Hurt and sudden anger made her yank the door open.

“What’s wrong? Didn’t you get in your quota of hateful remarks today?”

Because she’d been unable to meet his eyes those first seconds, she’d looked past him. A heartbeat later, it registered that he was holding a tray. The sight of her untouched food shocked her. Her gaze sped up to his solemn expression.





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