A Cowgirl's Secret(44)

There she went again, second-guessing. But why? Why couldn’t she accept her lot in life and be happy?

With all of her secrets finally in the light of day, with Henry, she hoped, far, far away, at times her overall satisfaction meter felt unbearably full. Other days, the weight of what, in Luke, she hadn’t lost but had practically given away, felt crushing. The trick was not dwelling on the past. She had Kolt and the rest of her family, and a dilapidated house that might as well be a second child.

Deciding fresh air might help her mood, Daisy powered down her computer, grabbed her purse and keys and locked up.

Outside, she winced at the bright sun.

The heat blasted her as if she’d stuck her head in an open five-hundred-degree oven.

She climbed into her car, only to be that much hotter.

Damn, this stupid weather. When she’d talked to Barb that morning, she’d reported it raining and seventy-five degrees. Should she back out of her house deal and just go home? Would San Francisco still feel like home?

Arching her head back, she groaned, only to have an image in the rearview mirror catch her eyes.

On the back window, someone—no doubt, Kolt—had scrawled:



I See You.



Grinning, she started the engine and backed out of the lot. All of her worries were unfounded. What she needed to do was relax and fully embrace this new chapter in her life. As for Luke… Daisy had no choice but to be satisfied without him.



WEED GULCH GOSSIP had it on good authority that Daisy had gotten her house. On that evidence, Luke had stopped by Reasor’s for a big bunch of flowers and was now headed up the Buckhorn Ranch main drive.

In all the years he’d known the family, he’d rarely knocked before entering and this time was no exception.

“Hello?” he called once inside.

When no one answered, he followed the sound of laughter and found the whole clan grilling hamburgers by the pool. Just as he had when facing the prospect of Daisy moving into her new house without him, Luke felt irrationally slighted by not having been invited to the cookout.

Forcing a smile, reminding himself this was a place where he’d always been welcome even without a formal invite, Luke asked the chef, “Is it too late to get mine medium-rare?”

“Long time no see,” Dallas said, backing up when fat from the meat caused the gas flame to flare.

“Cooking burgers or your facial hair?”

“Little of both,” Josie teased, slipping her arm around Dallas’s waist, “just think of it as bonus protein.”

“I’ll try.”

As much as Luke enjoyed horsing around with his old friend, he searched the back porch and pool area for Daisy and his son.

“Looking for someone?” Dallas asked, a smile lighting his eyes.

Luke tossed the flowers on the table. “Nope. Just you.”

“I’m flattered. But in case you have a hankering to see my sister and nephew, they’re upstairs, getting into their swimsuits. Wanna borrow trunks?”

“Sure.” Had Dallas noticed Luke’s relief? Why, Luke couldn’t say, but lately he’d craved Daisy and his son more than his favorite brand of ice cream sandwich. “Your mom still keep a bunch of them in the pool house?”

“You know it.”

A few minutes later, Luke ditched his jeans and T-shirt to step onto the diving board he hadn’t played on in years.

“Cannonball!” Dallas shouted from the grill.

“Don’t you dare!” Daisy called from the shallow end. “I don’t want wet hair.”

As a kid, Luke would’ve ignored Daisy’s wishes, going so far as to get her as wet as possible. But as a grown man, he dove cleanly into the tepid water, surfacing with barely a splash feet from where she stood. “Hey.”

“Hey, yourself.”

Just looking at her, he couldn’t help but smile. She’d piled her hair high in a messy bun, and still had curves in all the right places. Her black bikini didn’t leave much to the imagination. “Remember the last time we went swimming?”

“Shh,” she admonished, cheeks flaming. “You promised never to speak of that again.”

“But it was fun.”

“Luke!” Kolt rocketed out of the French doors. “We’re having a barbecue party ’cause we got our new old house. You wanna have hamburgers with us? I told Mom we should ask you, but she said you probably wouldn’t wanna come.”