A Rancher's Pride(21)

A fact Kayla hadn’t hesitated to tell the judge that morning. He wondered why she hadn’t tossed in something about his not contacting the child.

The thought made him freeze in place. Of course. She believed he’d known about the baby all along. She would also believe whatever Ronnie had told her about why he’d never kept in touch.

Once again, his ex had twisted the truth to put him in a bad light.

Across the yard, the child played a game of her own with some empty wire spools and a couple pieces of twine.

He’d seen her joyful reaction to her reunion with Kayla, the even more ecstatic response to the idea of having her aunt come to stay. Both sights had driven a stake into his heart. Kayla’s words had hammered it home.

Let me stay. For Becky’s sake.

That did it. He hadn’t had it in him to go on refusing her.

“Sam?”

Hearing her voice again so unexpectedly felt like another whack at the stake. “Yeah,” he yelled. “Out back.” He dropped the last bag of feed onto the pile.

“So,” he said to Jack, “looks like I’ve got myself a houseguest. For a while.”

“Think I’ll head over to the bunkhouse.”

“Going lily-livered on me?”

They both laughed.

Jack had barely made his exit when Kayla appeared around the corner of the shed.

She had changed from her chinos and silky shirt to a soft green T-shirt, faded jeans and tennis shoes. The transformation didn’t do a thing to make her less of a spit-shine city girl. But it did make her seem more approachable.

Too bad he didn’t plan to get within a hundred yards of her.

When she started across the space toward him, his shoulders instinctively drew back. Before she could reach him, her movement must have caught Becky’s eye. The child looked up, saw her aunt and headed that way, running welcome interference. Kayla stopped to wrap her arms around the girl.

After one quick gesture, Kayla started toward him again. Unfortunately, Becky ran back to her makeshift toys, removing any barrier he might have relied on.

“Thanks for the use of the computer.”

Her voice sounded stiff. Good. The last thing he needed was her getting comfortable around here. Especially since she was making him more uncomfortable than he wanted to admit.

He dug around in his mind for something to say. “You get everything taken care of?”

She nodded as if she had a crick in her neck.

“I made a few phone calls, changed a couple of appointments. And this morning,” she added, “I arranged to have a box of clothes sent overnight to me…since I’ll be here for a while.”

As if he needed the reminder.

If she was anything like his ex, that box would come loaded down with clothes. And cosmetics, of course. Living with Ronnie had given him an up-close view of what a woman could make of herself if she wanted to.

He didn’t care about Kayla’s looks.

Well, he couldn’t honestly say that. But he’d bet anything her honey-brown hair and pink lips had some help from modern science, too. Still, he couldn’t help noticing yet again she was one heck of a looker.

“Are you planning to stay out here much longer?” She ran her gaze over him, and he could just see her mind setting to work, ticking items off a list that judged him from head to toe. Took a lot of nerve.

Deliberately he moved forward. Let her get a real look at him. That ought to scare her off. She probably went out with men who hadn’t done a day’s labor in their lives and wore three-piece suits to ball games. “What’s the matter?” he asked. “Never seen good, honest sweat before?”

“Not so much of it.” She eyed him coolly. “At least, not outside a gym.”

That unruffled, self-possessed expression had him reaching for the shirt he’d left hanging from a fence post earlier. He’d intended to get fully buttoned up again, but some contrary reaction deep inside instead made him grab the shirt and sling it across one shoulder. “Welcome to my world.”

“Oh?” She wrinkled her nose. “In your world, do people shower before meals?”

“That depends how much they need one.”

Eyebrows up, she ran her gaze over him again.

“Yeah, yeah,” he said. “I get it.” When she turned back toward the house, he fell into step beside her. “That means you’re doing supper?”

“If I can find something to pull together for a meal. There were only the basics in the fridge when I made breakfast this morning, and I used up quite a bit of those.”