A Rancher's Pride(37)

Sam stood with his arms folded, his hips braced against the counter, his irritation still evident. He had overreacted to seeing the puppy. But no matter what he claimed for his reason, she knew he’d jumped so quickly at the sight of the dog in an effort to protect his daughter.

And no matter how she felt about him, she had to give him credit for that. Which she did. The trouble was, how she felt about him had started to change.

That knowledge roused more mixed emotions in her than she had time to think about right then.

She walked toward him, thought better of it and sidestepped to prop her elbow on the adjacent counter. “I didn’t realize the puppy wasn’t yours. I thought he belonged on the ranch.”

“No.”

“Well, no harm done, is there? He seems like a nice dog, always gentle with Becky.”

“That’s not the point. I don’t want my neighbor’s animals on my land.”

She nodded. “That’s understandable.” She didn’t understand it, but that was the most soothing thing she could think of to say right now. Hoping to distract him, and to be honest, to satisfy her blatant curiosity, she said, “When you’d come to the door before, you had started to say something.”

He stretched both hands out beside him, resting them on the edges of the countertop. He looked down, scuffed one boot against the floor, cleared his throat. But he said nothing.

Her face began to flush again. “Sam, I hope you’ve accepted my apology for what I did. And for…” She faltered, then went on. “…for dragging the judge and Ellamae into it.”

He looked up at her, his eyes narrowed. A shiver ran through her. She couldn’t have explained what her own response meant if she’d tried.

“Hell of a thing we had to come to, wasn’t it,” he asked, “for me to prove what I’d already said?”

“I know. Sam, I really am sorry.”

“Yeah, well, listen,” he said, hurrying now, running his words together just as he’d done outside Town Hall. “You want to know what I’d come outside to tell you. It’s only…whatever else is going on around here, I know getting tripped up in Ronnie’s tall tales isn’t your fault.”

“I really had no idea it wasn’t true,” she said, wincing even as she said the words, realizing they only helped make the uncomfortable situation worse. But she couldn’t live with knowing what she had done. She swallowed hard. “Will you forgive me?”

He stared down at the toe of his boot for so long, she thought he wouldn’t respond. Finally, he said, “You were getting back at me.”

“No—”

“Yes. For my bad manners in not introducing you properly to folks in town.”

No, she wanted to tell him. Well, all right, maybe in part. But mostly for trying to steal my niece from me. How could she say that, when his only reply could be, Like you’re trying to take my daughter from me?

“Ronnie used to find ways to get back at me, too,” he said.

“Sam, I—”

“I got you the truth about one of Ronnie’s stories,” he continued, as if she hadn’t spoken. “Now let me tell you about the rest of them.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, almost in a sigh. “I spent a lot of time a while back trying to shake off the dust of Flagman’s Folly. I met Ronnie at a rodeo in Abilene and—wham!—before I knew it, we’d gotten hitched.”

Kayla wanted to interrupt. She didn’t need to hear this. But if it would give her a clearer picture of Sam, she couldn’t afford to stop him. Besides, in her heart she wanted—needed—to know the truth. About everything.

“Sounded like a good idea at the time,” he continued, “but we started fighting from day two. I don’t blame her for all of it, but she didn’t give anything much of a try. From the minute we came back here, things got worse. She didn’t like the town, never liked living on the ranch.” The skin around his eyes tightened, as if he’d winced to avoid a blow. “Tell the truth, I think she never liked me much, either.”

Kayla gasped. “I can’t believe that.”

“Don’t I know it.” His voice hardened. “Seems like there’s a lot around here you can’t believe, until it gets shown to you. Well, I could bring you to the judge, and I did. I can’t bring you to Ronnie. Maybe when you see her, you ought to put that idea to her yourself.” Suddenly, he shoved against the counter, pushing himself upright. “And another thing. For the first six months of our marriage, I didn’t know she even had a family. She told me she was an only child and her parents were gone.”