“I’m asking you to many me.” About the Author Title Page CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER SIX CHAPTER SEVEN CHAPTER EIGHT CHAPTER NINE CHAPTER TEN Copyright

“I’m asking you to many me.”

An intense emotion showed in Kaitlin’s face; it was in her eyes, in the sudden trembling of her lips. Flynn held his breath as he waited for her to speak.

But when she did so, her voice was contemptuous. “Marry you?”

In that moment there was the sound of her mother in Kaitlin’s tone. The sound of that well-bred Southern beauty in whose eyes Flynn Henderson had never been and could never be anything more than a simple cowboy.

“Why not?” he asked mockingly.

Rosemary Carter was born in South Africa, but has lived in Canada for many years with her husband and her three children. Although her home is on the prairies, not far from the beautiful Rockies, she still retains her love of the South African bushveld, which is why she likes to set her stories there. Both Rosemary and her husband enjoy concerts, theater, opera and hiking in the mountains. Reading was always her passion, and led to her first attempts at writing stories herself.

A Husband Made in Texas
Rosemary Carter

www.millsandboon.co.uk

CHAPTER ONE

FIVE years to the day since he had left the Mullins ranch, Flynn Henderson was back. He had left the ranch on a horse, all his worldly possessions contained in two bags. He returned piloting his own plane and with a document worth a small fortune in his hip pocket.

As he brought the plane around in a great sweeping circle, he saw a flash of red and brown on the range beneath him. Round he went again, lower this time, only just clearing the tops of the trees, flying over brushlands and cattle and stretches of mesquite. And there it was again, clearer this time, that same red and brown. Only now he could see that the brown was the colour of a cantering horse, red the colour of its rider’s blouse.

One more circle. And then he was bringing the plane to the ground, unerringly, expertly, knowing just where to land—even though he had never landed a plane there before. Through the cockpit window, still some distance from the airstrip, he saw the horse and its rider.

Would Kaitlin remember the promise he had made the last time he had seen her?

Opening the door of the plane, he leaped lithely to the ground. The horse was moving quickly. Leaning nonchalantly against the side of the plane, Flynn waited.

He could see her clearly now: the girl on the tall brown horse, blond hair streaming behind her. Memories flooded back as he watched her. He had forgotten her litheness in the saddle, the sensuous ease with which she rode, almost as if she had been born on a horse, as if she had ridden before she had walked. Which in a sense she had done, because—so legend had it—her rancher father bad put her in front of him on his saddle from the moment she could sit.

At the edge of the airstrip, she reined in her horse. Seconds later she was running towards him. Flynn, who had thought himself hardened against all emotion, found himself sucking in his breath as she came nearer, reedslender—had she always been quite so thin?—and graceful as a gazelle.

His mouth hardened as he remembered the promise he had made, and the reason for it. Five years ago they had humiliated him, Kaitlin Mullins and her parents, without compassion, without any thought to his feelings. Lovely Kaitlin, with whom—stupidly—he had imagined himself in love. On the day he left, he had vowed to come back here as owner of the ranch.

It was only more recently that he had thought of completing his revenge by laying claim to the daughter as well as the ranch. Once the idea came to him it took hold: Kaitlin Mullins would be his!

There had been bad times, rough times, days when he had been tempted to give up his plans. But always, the decision to own the ranch had given him strength and reinforced his ambitions. He had come a long way in five years, he thought wryly.

‘Hello, Kaitlin,’ he said.

She stopped quite still. She was tall for a woman, but at six and a half feet he towered above her, and he saw the way she tilted her head back to look at him.

Expressions came and went in her lovely almond-shaped eyes: shock, surprise, and something else, an expression that was difficult to read.

‘Can it be...? Flynn...?’ The words emerged slowly, almost painfully. In seconds her cheeks were drained of colour, and she seemed to sway on her feet. There was a part of Flynn that wanted very badly to reach out and steady her—but he didn’t

‘Flynn.’ Her voice shook. ‘It is you!’ She was visibly shaken.

Drily, he said, ‘Yes, Kaitlin, it’s me.’

She came up close to him. ‘My God, I don’t believe it!’

Abruptly, he stepped out of her reach. ‘Why is it so hard to believe?’

Kaitlin must have registered the rebuff, for the colour returned to her cheeks. ‘You’re the last person I expected. And in a plane...’

‘It isn’t unusual for Texans to fly, Kaitlin.’

‘I know that. But you’re a cowboy, Flynn.’

He laughed mockingly. ‘And cowboys don’t fly?’

‘I didn’t mean—’

‘What did you mean?’ he asked deliberately.

Now that she was over her initial shock, Kaitlin was beginning to look angry, too. ‘You know what I meant, Flynn, you always did.’

‘You could be right. Let’s try this. Cowboys are lowly, sweaty beings who know all about horses and cattle, but very little about anything else. When they go anywhere, it’s usually on horseback. Pick-up truck or bus if need be. Planes and the people who fly them exist in a different world. Your world, Kaitlin. How am I doing so far?’

Her hands clenched at her sides as she took a step backwards. ‘It’s so long since we last saw each other. We should be catching up, not exchanging angry words.’

‘How long exactly, Kaitlin? Do you know?’

His gaze searched the small oval-shaped face, lingering on eyes that were as green as the grass after a good spring rain, and on tendrils of fair hair shot with gold; on skin that was fresh and glowing, as if she had already spent hours riding through the brushlands, and on sweetly curved lips that seemed to have been made for a man’s kisses. A potent combination.

And yet, familiar as she still was to him, he could see she had changed. The Kaitlin he remembered had had the soft slightly rounded figure of a girl soon to leave her teens: she was so thin now, and very tanned. Her body had a wiry look, that made her look athletic. Hair which used to curl around her head was drawn back in a long pony-tail, with just those few tendrils escaping onto her forehead. The clothes she wore were basic, with no concession to fashion: plaid shirt, a pair of faded jeans, and on her head a Stetson to protect her from the fierce Texas sun.

On another woman, the complete lack of artifice might have made for dowdiness. But Kaitlin had never needed fashion or cosmetics in order to be attractive. She was still, Flynn thought, the loveliest girl he had ever seen. She was also enormously sexy.

‘Do you know how long it’s been?’ he asked.

Her hesitation was only momentary. ‘Almost five years.’ ‘Five years to the day, actually,’ he said brusquely.

‘Are you accusing me of something?’

‘I remembered the date, Kaitlin.’

‘I wasn’t far off. Besides which, I don’t happen to mark on my calendar the anniversary of our last meeting.’

‘Apparently not,’ he agreed evenly.

‘What brings you here, Flynn?’

‘I came to see you.’

‘Just like that?’

Flynn hitched his fingers beneath the belt of his leghugging jeans. ‘Just like that.’

‘Without any notice.’

‘Did I have to give you notice I was coming?’

The last remnants of her shock had gone, he saw, for suddenly the lovely eyes were sparkling with challenge. ‘After all these years? Yes, Flynn! You could have written or at least phoned.’

‘Didn’t know it was necessary to do that,’ he drawled.

Her head lifted haughtily. ‘If you’d warned me, you’d have been sure of a welcome.’

Flynn gave a short laugh. ‘Have you become the Southern belle your mother always wanted you to be?’

‘What exactly are you trying to say?’

‘Expecting a man to announce his intention to visit? Playing one suitor off against another? Demanding flattery and lavish gifts? If so, you’re looking at the wrong man, Kaitlin Mullins. I don’t have time for social niceties.’

‘I’m no Southern belle,’ she said abruptly. ‘As for niceties, I have no time for them either. Which is why I’ll be quite direct and ask you to leave.’

‘I’m going nowhere. At least not yet.’

If she was taken aback, she did not show it. On the slender neck, the small head was erect. ‘That’s too bad, Flynn, because I have things to do.’

‘Busy, are you?’

‘Very busy.’

‘With what?’

‘Nothing that would interest you,’ she said defiantly.

Kaitlin was fiery and she had courage, Flynn acknowledged. Whatever ill luck adversity might have handed her, it hadn’t dampened her spirit.

‘Try me, Kaitlin.’

‘I don’t think so.’ Her tone was cool. ‘Sorry if I sound unwelcoming, Flynn, but I really do have things to do. Do you have access to the plane any time you want it?’

He nodded, and saw surprise in her eyes.

After a moment, she said, ‘Great. Means we can plan a future visit. I’d like to talk, find out what’s been happening in your life—but we’ll have do it some other time.’

‘You’re sounding like that Southern belle again,’ he mocked.

Kaitlin dropped her pretence at politeness. ‘Stop putting me down!’

‘When you stop putting me off.’

‘I’m just suggesting we postpone the visit for another time.’

‘We could, but we won’t,’ he said firmly. ‘And you haven’t told me what you’re so busy with.’

‘Can’t you take a hint? Look, Flynn Henderson, you’re wasting my time.’

‘Why is it so valuable?’

Kaitlin seemed to be trying very hard to keep her temper in check. ‘Phone me, Flynn, and we’ll arrange something that’s mutually convenient.’

She was about to jump on to the horse’s back, when Flynn caught the reins in his hands.

‘Mutually convenient, indeed. What kind of language is that between two people who used to be friends? More than friends, actually.’

To his satisfaction, two bright spots of red appeared in her cheeks. After a moment he went on, ‘Busy with what, Kaitlin? Why won’t you tell me?’

She was standing so close to him that Flynn was rocked by a host of sensations he thought he’d forgotten. He resisted the urge to pull her against him.

‘Let go of the reins!’ Kaitlin hissed.

Flynn was unyielding. ‘Busy with what?’

Kaitlin was silent a few seconds. In the small face an expression came and went. At last, as if she understood that he would persist until she answered him, she reluctantly said, ‘There’s a calf...’

Her tone was so low that Flynn had to bend his head in order to hear her. The fragrance of her hair filled his nostrils.

‘A calf?’

‘Lost. Maybe hurt. I have to go after it. Now do you understand why I can’t waste time chatting?’

Flynn decided not to ask why she had to undertake a chore normally done by one of the cowboys.

‘I’ll go with you,’ he said.

Her hair brushed his chin as she jerked against him. ‘Impossible. ’

‘Why?’

‘It’s quite a distance from here, and I’m going on horseback.’

‘We’ll both go on horseback, Kaitlin. And don’t tell me that’s impossible because we both know it’s not.’

‘We’re a long way from the stables, Flynn.’

His laughter was low and mocking. ‘You don’t say.’

Once more he moved swiftly. Giving Kaitlin no time to react, he picked her up. The feel of her in his arms surprised him. Thin as she was, he had not expected her to be quite so fragile. Her fragility moved him, touching the edges of the bitterness that had turned him into a driven man: a bitterness that had kept him on course when he might have given up his plans.

And then he was putting her in the saddle. Seconds later he was seated behind her, his arms around her, his hands next to hers on the reins.

Kaitlin swung around in the saddle, her face so close to him that Flynn could see the lights that warmed her eyes, and the small vertical lines on those very kissable lips.

He moved, his thighs closing around hers on the saddle. Kaitlin was still looking at him as his arms tightened around her. For a moment she leaned towards him, and he held his breath, wondering if she meant to kiss him.

At the last moment she pulled back. Flynn could have kissed her, but he didn’t. A low laugh erupted from his throat. Against him, Kaitlin tensed.

‘Get off my horse, Flynn.’ An angry order.

Once more he laughed. ‘Of course—in the stables. I’ll saddle another horse, and then we’ll go and rescue your calf.’

‘Flynn—’

‘And don’t try telling me I don’t know my way to the stables, because I’ll lay you a bet I can still get around this ranch blindfold.’

With that he dug his heels lightly into the horse’s flanks. His arms were still around Kaitlin, his hands next to hers on the reins. Five years had passed since he had left the ranch, but he didn’t waver once, nor did he have to ask Kaitlin for directions. He knew the way as well as if he had ridden the range yesterday.

As they left the airstrip, Flynn found himself swept with emotions he had not felt in a long time. Emotions he had not felt with any of the other women he had known over the years. Emotions he had not expected to feel with Kaitlin, not after the way she had hurt him. Her back was against his chest, her slender legs still wedged against his thighs. Her hair brushed his nose, filling his nostrils with its sweetness: he wondered whether she felt him move his lips against it. He wondered too what she was feeling, and whether she was remembering those long-ago rides through the brushlands.

Flynn knew exactly what he wanted of this woman, what he had always wanted of her. Only this time, whatever happened between Kaitlin Mullins and himself, would happen on his terms. Love would not be a factor in their relationship, for with love came vulnerability, and he would not let Kaitlin hurt him again.

When they reached the stables, Flynn loosened his arms. Lightly he leaped off the horse and reached for Kaitlin.

‘I don’t need help,’ she told him brusquely.

‘I know that,’ he said, and lifted her down anyway.

For a long moment his hands remained on her waist, and his eyes held hers. Quietly he said, ‘Is there something you want to tell me?’

‘Should there be?’ Her voice held a slight tremor.

‘For one thing, maybe you’d like to explain why you’re so thin?’

She slipped out of his hands, and he made no attempt to stop her. ‘I’ve always been thin, Flynn.’

‘Not like this.’ And as she gave an impatient shrug, ‘You forget, Kaitlin, for the last fifteen minutes I’ve had my arms around you. You’re nothing but skin and bones.’

‘How flattering.’

‘Just saying it as it is. I’ve never forgotten the feel of you, Kaitlin.’

‘Flynn—’

‘The scent of your hair, and the pace of your heart.’

‘Don’t,’ she said.

‘So—why are you so thin?’

‘Metabolism?’ she suggested.

‘Metabolism,’ he repeated cynically. ‘Is that what you call it? And another thing, what happened to your hands?’

‘My hands?’ She thrust them behind her back.

‘Why are you hiding them, Kaitlin? I’ve had time to study them—remember?’

‘Right,’ she said slowly, and dropped her hands to her sides.

Flynn. reached for them. The nails were very short and without any polish, and the palms were roughened by what could only be many months of hard manual labour.

‘Not the hands of a Southern belle, Kaitlin.’

‘No,’ she agreed shortly.

‘Your mother used to insist you wore gloves when you rode.’

‘Yes—though I used to take them off the moment she was out of sight.’

‘I remember.’ This time his laughter was warm and amused. ‘Hands were important to your mother.’

‘Right...’

‘ “Katie, darling,” I overheard her saying once, “a lady must be well-groomed, and that includes her hands. Lotion, Katie, never forget your hand-lotion.’ ”

‘Or words to that effect.’

‘I don’t claim that my memories are word-perfect.’

Kaitlin blinked. There was a look of such pain in her eyes that Flynn felt his heart give an unaccustomed wrench.

‘My hands are no longer important to my mother. She... She died fifteen months ago.’

‘So I heard.’

Her head jerked. ‘You did?’

‘Yes.’

‘Where? From whom?’

‘Someone I know.’

‘And obviously you don’t want to tell me. Well, never mind. Do you also know—’ she swallowed hard ‘—that Dad died too?’

Flynn nodded.

‘Not very long after Mom. Of a broken heart, I think, although it seemed like an accident at the time. I don’t think he could exist without her.’

A broken heart? Maybe that was part of it, though according to sources Flynn had no reason to doubt, the bottle had contributed more than a little to the death of Kaitlin’s father.

Eyes narrowing, Flynn looked down at Kaitlin: his lovely girl, his beautiful Kaitlin, always sparkling, forever laughing at some joke or another. This new vulnerability of hers touched that deep inner core which had been frozen inside him since the day he had left the ranch.

His arms lifted. He was about to pull her towards him when he remembered that whatever changes there might have been, they were probably superficial. Kaitlin Mullins was still her parents’ daughter. That had not changed. His arms dropped to his sides.

‘What is it?’ she asked. ‘You’re so intent, Flynn. The way you’re staring at me. As if you’re trying to read me.’

‘Read you?’

‘What you see is what there is, Flynn.’

He doubted that. He gave a short laugh, hard and unamused, and Kaitlin took a quick step backwards.

‘I really do have to see about that calf.’ She sounded hurt.

‘I said I’d go with you.’

‘I don’t need you, I can manage perfectly well on my own.’

‘I’m going with you all the same.’

‘You’re a stubborn man, Flynn. But if you insist, I guess we should get a horse saddled.’

‘In a moment.’ He reached for her left hand. ‘You’re not married, Kaitlin.’ He had known that, of course.

‘No.’

‘Why not? There- must have been dozens of interested men.’

‘A few.’

‘Well then?’

‘I refuse to marry anyone I don’t love.’

‘Are you telling me you’ve never been in love?’

Her eyes shifted. After a moment, she said, ‘You ask too many questions.’

‘Do I?’ he drawled.

‘Yes.’ She paused, and looked back at him. ‘How about you, Flynn ? Did you never marry?’

‘I did.’

An expression crossed Kaitlin’s face, but it was gone before Flynn could make anything of it. ‘You didn’t think of bringing your wife with you today?’ she asked politely.

So she didn’t care that there had been another woman in his life. Foolish of him to have thought otherwise.

‘Didn’t have a reason to,’ he said lightly. And when she looked at him questioningly, ‘We’re no longer together. The marriage didn’t last.’

Another one of those expressions appeared in Kaitlin’s eyes, though slightly different this time. ‘Yes, well...’ was all she said.

She jerked when he touched her chin, enfolding it in his fingers, brushing slowly once up and down her throat with his thumb.

‘No questions, Kaitlin?’

She shrugged. ‘Should there be?’

‘Not at all interested in what I just said?’

‘It’s your life, Flynn, not mine.’

‘True. But we were friends once. More than friends.’

‘That’s the second time you’ve reminded me.‘ For some reason her eyes left his once more. ‘I don’t know why you keep dredging up the past. Whatever there was—and it wasn’t really that much—it all happened so long ago.’

Dam the woman. She could have shown at least a little interest in his marriage, He said as much.

Turning back to him, Kaitlin said brightly, ‘I’m sure the story of your shattered relationship is fascinating. But right now I’m a lot more concerned about a little lost calf.’

Like her mother, Kaitlin seemed to know just how to put a man in his place.

Flynn’s hand dropped. ‘Which horse shall I take?’ His voice was hard as he moved away from her.

Kaitlin suggested a tall stallion, and Flynn saddled it. It was some time since he had worked as a cowboy, but his passion for horses had never lessened. The horse, temperamental by nature, seemed to sense it was in the hands of a person who was more than its match, and stood still as Flynn got it ready for riding.

They were walking the horses side by side through the brushlands when Kaitlin turned in the saddle. ‘When did you learn to fly, Flynn?’

‘A while ago.’

‘Did your new employer teach you?’

He grinned at her. ‘I don’t have an employer, Kaitlin.’ ‘You don’t?’

Her eyes were so wide that Flynn laughed. ‘You seem to find that more amazing than the fact that my marriage didn’t last.’

‘Not really,’ Kaitlin said after a long moment. ‘You have the look of a man who stopped taking orders from other people.’

Flynn was careful not to show his surprise at her perceptiveness. ‘I found out some time ago that I needed to work for myself.’

‘What do you do, Flynn?’

‘This and that.’

‘Not much of an answer, and well you know it.’

Flynn just grinned at Kaitlin, obviously infuriating her so much that she dug her heels into the sides of her horse, spurring it into a gallop. It didn’t take Flynn long to go after her.

It was almost an hour before he saw a streak of brown in some wild grass not far from a clump of lethal-looking mesquite.

‘There’s your calf.’ He gestured.

‘I saw it, too.’ .

‘It’s quite safe right now, busy grazing and with its mind on its food. Still, it’s lucky to be on its feet. Fifty yards more to the left, all those spiky branches—and your calf could have had its neck slashed.’

‘As if I don’t know that,’ Kaitlin responded grimly. ‘Why do you think I was so desperate to find it?’

Kaitlin was uncoiling her lariat when Flynn leaned towards her and tugged it from her hands.

‘What do you think you’re doing now?’ Green eyes were outraged.

Flynn laughed. ‘Isn’t it obvious? I’m going to rope a calf.’

‘I didn’t ask you to. Give me back the rope, Flynn.’

‘I’m afraid not.’

‘Flynn!’ It was Kaitlin’s turn to lean towards him, but he held the lariat just out of her reach.

‘Think I don’t know how to rope an animal, Flynn?’

‘I’ll take your word for it, but I didn’t come along just for the ride.’

‘I keep telling you, I don’t need your help!’ She threw the words at him.

For a long moment Flynn studied the lithe figure, determination and defiance in every feminine line and angle. God, but she was an aggravating female, she’d be nothing but trouble to any man foolish enough to try and make a life with her. But, dam it, she was sexy!

She had registered the searching gaze. ‘What?’

‘Never figured you for a cowgirl, Kaitlin.’

‘Maybe you should have.’

‘Back to cowboys—why isn’t one of them out here roping?’

‘I...’ Kaitlin hesitated. ‘I wanted to do it myself.’

Flynn gave the lariat an expert twirl. ‘Come to think of it, I haven’t seen a single cowboy since I got here.’

Kaitlin looked away from him. ‘We’re a little shorthanded at the moment.’

‘That’s all it is?’

‘What else should there be?’ But there was a slight quiver in her tone.

‘That’s what I want you to tell me, Kaitlin.’

Her chin lifted. ‘There are cowboys at the ranch. Had I known how eager you were to meet them, I’d have organized a welcome committee. As it is—’ she shrugged ‘—there’s nothing to tell.’

‘I see.’

‘The calf, Flynn. If you’re not going to rope it, I will.’

His eyes went to arms that were so slender, they looked as if they might snap if a man held them too tightly.

‘You’re as fragile as a bird, Kaitlin. You don’t look as if you could wield anything bigger than an eyebrow pencil, much less a lariat.’

‘I guess looks are deceptive, because I don’t own an eyebrow pencil and I’m really quite strong. Are you going to give me the lariat, Flynn?’

‘Sure,’ he grinned, ‘when I’ve roped the calf.’

‘You’re a pilot now, not a cowboy,’ she taunted.

His grin deepened. ‘Once a cowboy, always a cowboy.’

‘How long since you did any roping?’

‘It doesn’t matter how long—there are things you never forget.’ In a new tone he added, ‘Just as there are things that you think about long after they’ve vanished from your life.’

His eyes were on her face, lingering deliberately on lips that were sweeter than any he had tasted in the last years. The Kaitlin he had known five years earlier, just eighteen at the time, had been eager, wild and passionate. Flynn felt something tighten inside him at the memory.

Beneath his gaze, Kaitlin’s expression changed: her eyes turned suddenly stormy, while at the base of her throat the pulse-beat quickened. On the reins, her hands were white-knuckled. She had the look of a woman who was struggling with some private emotion of her own, though what that was Flynn could not guess.

‘I don’t want my calf harmed,’ she said at last.

‘It won’t be.’

‘I mean it, Flynn.’

‘If I harm it, I promise to get you another.’

‘Don’t think I wouldn’t hold you to it,’ she shouted as he rode after the calf, swinging the lariat as he went.

The small animal didn’t have time to be scared as Flynn looped the lariat deftly over its head. Seconds later, he was reining in his horse beside Kaitlin’s, holding the squirming calf firmly on the saddle.

His eyes sparkled. ‘Confused, but not hurt.’

‘Thanks.’

‘No thanks necessary—I enjoyed myself.’

‘So I saw.’

‘It’s as I said, Kaitlin—once a cowboy, always a cowboy. ’

Her gaze was thoughtful. ‘I believe you’ve been more than that, Flynn.’

His eyes were on hers. ‘Meaning?’ he asked, in a tone that gave nothing away.

‘That was quite a performance. Over the years, I’ve seen hundreds of cowboys at work, and you beat them all for dexterity and speed.’

‘You don’t say,’ he said lightly.

‘I believe you’ve been on the rodeo circuit, Flynn.’ And when he didn’t answer, ‘You have, haven’t you?’

‘You could be right.’

‘A rodeo rider. Well!’

He danced her a laughing look. ‘I think this baby will be happy to get back to its mamma, Kaitlin.’

‘And I recognize a change of subject when I hear it,’ she said saucily.

They rode back, in a slightly different direction this time, for they had to deposit the calf with its herd.

Flynn grew sombre as he took in his surroundings. At his side, Kaitlin said, ‘You’re looking at the mesquite.’

‘There’s much more of it than I remember.’

Kaitlin shrugged, but her tone was unhappy. ‘You know how it is with the spiky stuff: it’s a devil to get rid of.’

‘Scourge of the Texas rancher,’ Flynn agreed. ‘But it was never as bad as this, Kaitlin. Your father used to make an effort to keep it under control, at least he did when I worked here.’

Once more Kaitlin’s hands tightened on the reins. ‘I’m doing my best.’

‘Are you?’

She looked away from him, but not before Flynn caught the glimmer of tears in the lovely green eyes. The breath caught in his throat. Flynn had good reason to be hostile towards Kaitlin Mullins. He sure as hell did not want to be affected in any way by her distress. And yet, despite everything, her distress moved him more than he cared to admit to himself.

‘Are you trying, Kaitlin?’ he asked quietly.

She swung around, anger chasing the pain from her eyes. ‘Yes, damn you, Flynn, I am!’

‘It isn’t good enough.’

‘Maybe it isn’t. Fact is, this is my range now, my ranch. And even if I’m overrun by mesquite, it’s none of your business!’

Once more he studied her the too thin figure; eyes which, though they were as beautiful as ever, were shadowed with fatigue; clothes which had seen better days.

Kaitlin gave her head a determined shake. ‘It isn’t your business,’ she repeated.

Flynn turned his horse away from hers. ‘I think it’s time we took the calf back where it belongs.’

‘My thought exactly.’

Another twenty minutes of fast riding brought them to the herd where mother and baby were reunited.

Back at the stables, Flynn jumped off his horse. He reached for Kaitlin, but with a quick little twist of the body she slipped out of his hands and leaped off her horse.

Flynn grinned at her. ‘Cowgirl.’

‘That’s what I am,’ she said tartly.

‘A very pretty cowgirl.’

‘You’ve learned how to flatter a woman, Flynn.’ Kaitlin made a show of looking at her watch. ‘It’s getting late. I’ll go get the Jeep and run you over to the airstrip.’

‘What’s your hurry?’

‘You won’t want to fly in the dark.’

‘Wouldn’t bother me in the least if I-did. Let’s go to the house, Kaitlin.’

‘Flynn...’

‘You know very well that I’m here to talk.’

He thought he saw an involuntary little shiver run through her before she said, ‘Another time.’

‘Today,’ he answered her firmly.

Still she tried. ‘It really isn’t convenient.’

‘You have your calf safely back. What excuse do you have now? I’m sure you must have thought of one.’

Her head jerked. ‘What are you saying, Flynn?’

‘Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten the girl who thought the eager cowboy would come running every time she beck oned. That he would disappear from the scene when it didn’t suit her to have him around.’

Kaitlin’s face whitened. ‘It was never like that.’

‘Wasn’t it, Kaitlin? Your memory is letting you down if you think otherwise.’

‘My memory is just fine, thank you very much. But you have one huge chip on your shoulder. I think you should leave now, Flynn.’

‘I’ll leave when we’ve talked. And don’t tell me again to phone you: you’ll always find some reason to put me off.’

She hesitated. ‘Flynn—’

‘We’ll talk today, Kaitlin. I have no intention of leaving till we do.’

CHAPTER TWO

‘MAKE yourself comfortable, Flynn. There’s beer in the fridge.’

‘You’re not going to join me?’

‘I’ve spent the morning in the sun. I need to shower and change into other clothes.’

‘Can I help?’

Flynn was grinning, an inexplicably wicked look in the dark eyes. Great dark eyes, just as Kaitlin remembered them, with golden glints where the light caught them, and long thick lashes that had always seemed wasted on a man. His shoulder-length hair was as dark as his eyes, thick and glossy, tempting a woman to bury her fingers in it.

Looking up at Flynn, Kaitlin tried to remember if he had always been quite so tall. His shoulders had been broad, but surely they had become even broader, emphasizing the length of his legs and the narrowness of his hips. And the look of strength and toughness, of utter self-confidence, that was new too: as was an aura of danger that was spinetinglingly sexy.

Already she was reacting to him. Just a short time in his company, and a core of femininity that had been dormant deep inside her was awakening. Be careful, Kaitlin sent herself the mental warning.

Why was he here? That was the question she had been asking herself over and over again from the moment she had laid eyes on him two hours earlier. The question that spoiled her pleasure at seeing him again.

Five years ago he had walked out of her life, Flynn Henderson, with whom she had been so deeply in love that she could not have imagined herself sharing her life with anyone else.

Even now, so many years later, she still had nightmares about that dreadful evening. There were times when she jerked upright in bed, damp with sweat, heart pounding, knowing that once again she had dreamed about Flynn. Even in the daytime, she had only to close her eyes to picture him at the Formica table of the bar, his expression arrogant and mocking: on his lap a red-haired woman, her face plastered with too much make-up, her head cradled lovingly against his chest. Flynn should have been at Kaitlin’s party—why had he been with that dreadful woman instead?

Kaitlin had managed to keep her head high as she fled from the bar. But she had wept all the way back to the ranch.

In the years since then, nobody had ever hurt her as much again as Flynn had hurt her that night. One thing was certain, she decided grimly, she must not let it happen again.

Her expression was hard as she looked at him. Five years without an explanation or a word of apology. And now here he was, on her ranch, expecting her to welcome him. The utter nerve of the man!

‘Thanks,’ she said, ‘but I’ll get myself something to drink when I’m ready for it. I’m not much of a beer-drinker anyway.’

‘I wasn’t thinking of beer. Thought you might like me to wash your back for you.’

In a second, a flood of heat cascaded through Kaitlin’s body. Keeping her eyes averted from Flynn’s, she said, ‘You don’t really expect an answer.’

‘Don’t I?’ His tone was so seductive that Kaitlin had to suppress an involuntary shiver.

‘I’m sure you don’t,’ she said shortly.

‘Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve washed your back, Kaitlin.’

Glad that her face was turned from his, she closed her eyes for a brief moment. It horrified her to realize that despite her resolve not to let him get to her, his sexual attraction was as powerful as ever. More powerful even.

‘Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten, Kaitlin.’

‘That was different,’ she muttered unsteadily.

Then you do remember.’

Kaitlin swallowed hard. ‘You know what happened, Flynn. I’d fallen, my back was all scratched up. It... It was important to get the grit out of the scratches. It could have gotten infected...’

‘Your parents were out and you sneaked me into the house.’

‘Yes...’

‘You got into the bath.’

‘The way you make it sound! I had my clothes on, Flynn.’ Tersely she added, ‘To begin with, anyway. And when I did get undressed, it was only because my blouse was getting so wet.’

Flynn laughed, a low husky sound that made her shiver. ‘I’ll never forget the moment when you stripped.’ His voice deepened. ‘I can still feel your soapy skin beneath my fingers.’

As she could still feel his fingers sliding over her wet skin: sexy, and so exciting that her body had burned with desire for him.

Involuntarily, Kaitlin’s eyes went to Flynn’s hands. When she lifted her head a moment later, she found him watching her, his expression enigmatic. Did he know what she was thinking?

‘That’s enough!’ Kaitlin ground out hoarsely.

But Flynn ignored the protest. Closing the distance between them, he cupped her face in his hands. ‘I was washing your back, and it didn’t take long before I was wet, too. And then I was in the bath with you, and—’

‘There wasn’t much water in the bath,’ she reminded him hoarsely. ‘And whatever you may be trying to insinuate now, you were only trying to help me.’

The pressure of the fingers on her face increased, sending shock waves of excitement cascading through her. Flynn said, ‘It might have been that way at the start. But you wanted more than my help, even if you were playing for time. We both did.’

Restlessly Kaitlin shifted her feet, only to regret the movement when she found that it brought her closer to Flynn. Though he was only holding her face, she was aware of every inch of the long body, from the rock-hard chest to the corded muscles of his legs. She felt his breath stir her hair.

A sudden fire burned deep in her loins. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been so aware of the demands of her own body. Aware of a man... For the last year she had barely thought of men: there were so many other, more serious matters on her mind.

‘If I’d had my way, Kaitlin, we’d have filled the bath to the top and lain together in the water. And then we’d have made love.’

‘Don’t you know that you can’t rewrite history?’ It took all her strength to keep her voice from shaking.

‘Maybe not, but it’s always possible to create new history. ’

Flynn’s voice was almost unbearably seductive. Inside Kaitlin the fire was turning into a conflagration. But she didn’t want to be aroused Not when the man was Flynn.

‘New history? Oh no, I don’t think so,’ she said, as firmly as she could.

‘Do you remember how we used to kiss, Kaitlin? Don’t shake your head at me, because I know you remember.’

For some reason she seemed unable to move away from him: it was as if her brain refused to send the right messages to her legs. ‘Flynn—’

‘But kissing was never enough. We both wanted so much more.’

She couldn’t deny it, because they had talked about it so often. God, how she had wanted to make love with him! Two young people, madly attracted to each other. Kaitlin, just turned eighteen, Flynn going on twenty-four. Hormones crying out to each other. Standing so close to him, listening to the things he said, the desire she had experienced then gripped her again now. The intensity of her feelings shocked her.

‘It all happened so long ago,’ she said over a dry throat. ‘I don’t see any point in rehashing it.’

But Flynn persisted. ‘You said we had to wait another week, I thought we’d already waited as long as we had to.’

She had wanted be quite certain of his commitment before letting him make love to her. A lifetime commitment. What better time to announce their engagement than on the night of her party? They hadn’t exactly decided on an engagement—at least not in so many words—but they had spoken so often of marriage. Kaitlin had been as sure of Flynn’s feelings for her as she was of hers for him.

‘I remember...’ she said.

‘And then your parents drove up when we weren’t expecting them.’

He came closer still. His lips were temptingly near hers: another half inch and their mouths would be touching. It would be so easy to kiss him. Just in time, she remembered what had happened on her horse an hour earlier, and how humiliated she had been by Flynn’s reaction. She was in no mood for another rejection.

She threw back her head. ‘You made a quick exit that afternoon,’ she taunted.

‘Your father would have gone for his gun if I hadn’t.’

Her father had been possessed of a hot temper. ‘He’d have done just that,’ she agreed.

Flynn’s hand dropped from her chin, leaving a warm spot where it had been. He took a step backwards.

‘The hired help having the gall to make love to the boss’s daughter.’ His lips tightened, and for a moment there was an expression of intense anger in his eyes. ‘What you should know, Kaitlin, is that I’m not the naive young cowboy I was then. It’s been a long time since I’ve been intimidated by anyone. I don’t run any longer.’

The sureness in his tone caught her: it was as unfamiliar to her as the suggestion of arrogance and the striking look of success. This older, tougher, devastatingly attractive Flynn was not the handsome young cowboy who had left the ranch five years earlier, taking her heart with him.

Flynn had always been attractive, but now his sexuality was as much a part of him as a second skin: coupled with that aura of danger which never seemed to leave him, it made for a potent combination.

Kaitlin. lifted her chin in a challenge of her own. ‘You never run, Flynn? Not even when a man comes after you with a gun?’

‘Not even then.’

‘Sounds as if you’ve had your share of adventure. You must have quite a love-life.’ A deliberately bright smile hid Kaitlin’s pain.

He grinned. ‘Put it this way, I’ve learned to handle myself. Men like your father don’t frighten me.’

Looking at the rugged face of her first love—her only love, if she was honest with herself—it was easy to believe that there wasn’t a person alive who could frighten him.

‘I won’t run away next time I want you, Kaitlin.’

Kaitlin—and how many other women? For Flynn had not denied having an active love-life. ‘There won’t be a next time,’ she warned.

‘There could be.’

She increased the distance between them. ‘No.’

‘Why not?’

‘No reason why there should be. We live in different worlds, Flynn.’

‘That again—Kaitlin Mullins and the hired man,’ he mocked.

She threw him a fierce look. ‘You’re not a hired man, you’ve made that quite clear. And whatever you choose to believe about me, Flynn, I’m not a snob. I never was. I’d have thought that was one thing you remembered about me. If I wanted you, your status wouldn’t matter.’

‘Isn’t that a relief,’ he said drily. ‘In the circumstances, you might even think again about letting me wash your back. Who knows what it could lead to?’

God, but she was tempted! She took a step towards him—then stepped quickly backwards. ‘What does it take to get through to you, Flynn Henderson?’ Furiously, she threw the words at him. ‘You don’t seem to have heard a word I said!’

‘Think what fun we’d have, Kaitlin.’

‘I don’t have to think about it,’ she informed him loftily, glad that her hands were in the pockets of her jeans, where he could not see their trembling.

‘Why not?’

She gave it to him straight. ‘I’m choosy about the men I associate with.’

But Flynn was not so easily deterred. Once more he reached for her, his fingers going to her throat this time, moving up and down in slow brushstrokes. Kaitlin thought the sensuousness of it would drive her out of her mind.

‘You chose me once, Kaitlin.’

‘I know that, Flynn.’ It was getting more and more difficult to speak normally. ‘But whatever there might have been between us once, it’s all in the past now. We’re no longer even the same people we were then. One brief meeting doesn’t change the fact that we’ve become strangers.’

There was a glimmer in the dark eyes looking down at Kaitlin: eyes that seemed to penetrate the superficialities of hair and skin to the very core of her being. At the same time, the sensuous finger was still continuing its nerveinflaming path.

‘Have your shower then. Alone if you must,’ he said at last. ‘When you’ve finished, we’ll talk.’

Flynn was at the window, beer-mug in hand, when Kaitlin came back into the room. For a long moment she stood quite still, her gaze-riveted on the tall, loose-limbed figure, tough as a mountain lion, sleek as a panther.

There was something disturbingly ominous about Flynn’s unexpected arrival at the ranch. Kaitlin straightened her shoulders as she reminded herself to be on her guard with him. At the same time, she knew already that this wasn’t going to be easy.

‘Flynn...’ she said.

He turned, lips pursed, as if to whistle. But the whistle died as he came towards her.

Not for the first time that day Kaitlin saw his eyes go over her. She made herself stand very still as he studied her. Fair hair, almost gold, had been released from its pony-tail: slightly damp still from the shower, it framed an oval-shaped face and hung in shining waves to Kaitlin’s shoulders. Green eyes shimmered beneath a dusting of eyeshadow, and her lips had been touched with a coral gloss. Kaitlin had discarded her jeans in favour of a white sun-dress with narrow shoulder straps and a skirt that swirled from a tiny belted waist, and on her feet were a pair of open-toed sandals.

The silent examination seemed to go on forever, but apart from a slight flicker of the eyes, Flynn’s expression remained impersonal. She had been a fool to go to so much trouble, Kaitlin thought grimly. How could she have been so foolish when she sensed he was dangerous? Had her brain temporarily stopped its proper functioning?

Briskly, she said, ‘I’m glad to see you got yourself a beer. I’m thirsty, too, so I’ll just—’

Flynn interrupted the flow of words. ‘What happened to the cowgirl?’ he asked softly.

The look in his eyes was all at once far from impersonal. Kaitlin found she could not hold it for more than a few seconds.

‘A cowgirl is still a woman.’ She hoped he did not notice that her voice shook.

Taking a strand of blond hair, he wound it around one of his fingers. ‘A very beautiful woman,’ he murmured.

Something unnerving, purely sexual in nature, crackled in the air between them. Kaitlin had a sense that things were moving a little too quickly. More than ever, she wished she had changed into more unfeminine attire.

She stepped away from Flynn, feeling the slight tug on her hair as it pulled away from his fingers. ‘You haven’t told me why you’re here,’ she said.

It seemed to her that a new expression came into his eyes. ‘I guess I haven’t,’ he drawled.

That expression, as much as his tone, made the hair prickle on Kaitlin’s neck. She could not have explained her uneasiness, the feeling that she was not, after all, ready to hear what he had to say. She decided to play for time. ‘It’ll be dark soon.’

‘So you’ve said already.’ His tone was sardonic. ‘Are you really so concerned with my safety?’

His arrogance was infuriating. ‘Lord, no, Flynn, why on earth would I be concerned about you? You seem perfectly well able to take care of yourself. I’m not equipped for overnight guests, that’s all.’

‘Why don’t you sit down, Kaitlin?’

Kaitlin did not like the sound of the words or the tone: they sounded a little too serious, somehow threatening. Still playing for time, she poured herself a glass of cool fruit juice before sitting down on a chair by the window. Flynn seated himself near her, long legs stretched out in front of him.

Steady eyes met Kaitlin’s. ‘Any idea why I’m here?’ he asked.

She shook her head. ‘Should I have?’

‘I’m wondering whether Bill Seally has been in touch with you.’

‘Bill?’ At sound of the name, Kaitlin jerked in her seat.

That morning, as on so many other mornings, she had woken and thought about Bill. Bill Seally. The ranch. The mortgage. Bill, friend of the family for as long as Kaitlin could remember, and holder of the ranch mortgage, had not pressed her hard for payment.

Kaitlin had often been grateful for the fact that Bill had been able to finance her father personally when money was short, that Dad had not had to go to a bank for a loan. Bill seemed to understand the gravity of her situation, he knew how hard it had been for her to take over the running of the ranch. Scrupulous about her obligations, Kaitlin made a point of paying Bill whenever there was money left over after the running expenses of the ranch had been met. Still, there had been times, especially lately, when it had been impossible for her to come up with the money.

‘What on earth does Bill have to do with your visit?’ she asked tensely.

‘We’ve done some business together.’

The eyes that held hers were cool as steel. The uneasy sensation was even stronger now. ‘What sort of business, Flynn?’

‘Can you guess, Kaitlin?’

An idea came to mind, but it was so horrific that Kaitlin could not bear to give it credence. She made an effort to suppress a great inner trembling.

‘I’m not in the mood for guessing games,’ she said flatly.

‘Fine.’ Flynn’s tone was crisp. ‘In that case, I won’t keep you in suspense. I’m here to talk about Bill Seally and the mortgage over your ranch.’

Kaitlin’s eyes were troubled. ‘What about Bill?’

‘When was the last time you made a payment, Kaitlin?’

‘I don’t think that concerns you.’

‘Believe me, it does. When was it, Kaitlin?’

‘Two months ago.’ She hesitated. ‘Maybe three...’

‘A long time to be overdue in your obligations.’

Kaitlin pushed a hand through her hair. ‘Do you think I don’t know that? I try to pay Bill whenever I can. Fact is...’ She paused.

‘Go on.’

‘There’ve been problems,’ she said after a moment.

One dark eyebrow lifted. ‘What kind of problems?’

‘Since Dad died—’ Abruptly, Kaitlin stopped the flow of the sentence.

She didn’t owe it to Flynn to tell him how badly her father had mismanaged his affairs, so that after his death Kaitlin had become heir to a host of financial difficulties. In fact, why should Flynn know anything about a situation that was growing more serious every day?

‘Problems that should be of no interest to you,’ she said flatly.

But Flynn was undeterred. ‘I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t interested.’

Dodging the issue was getting her nowhere, Kaitlin realized. Flynn would simply continue to badger her until she gave him an answer for some reason, he seemed to feel he was entitled to one.

Even then she took her time about speaking. Looking around the room, she took in the small details of her surroundings which she was normally too busy to notice: a picture that hung crookedly on the wall, a cobweb in one corner of the ceiling, a vase in which the flowers were dying. Signs of neglect that would have been unthinkable when her mother was alive. If only these small lapses of efficiency were all Kaitlin had to deal with.

‘Bill isn’t too concerned about my problems, so why should you be?’ she asked at last. ‘Bill Seally has always been understanding. He’s never minded if a payment was late.’

‘Don’t be too sure of that.’

‘What are you trying to say?’

‘Even the most understanding of men get nervous about money.’

‘Bill told you that?’ Kaitlin demanded.

‘In slightly different words.’

‘He sent you here?’ Her lips were suddenly stiff. ‘Bill told you to come to the ranch and remind me about paying? It’s so unlike him.’ She stood up abruptly. ‘He needn’t have done that, Flynn. He could have called me, could have spoken to me. We’ve never needed to communicate through a third party. We’ll work things out.’

‘Sit down, Kaitlin,’ Flynn said, not unkindly.

‘No! I need to speak to Bill.’

She was moving towards the phone when a hand snaked around her wrist, the cool fingers like ice against her burning skin. ‘Wait, Kaitlin. There’s more.’

‘Don’t you understand? Whatever it is, I want to hear it from Bill, not from you. I’ve never liked messages.’ Something drove her to add, ‘Or, in this case, the messenger.’

Flynn did not rise to the insult. ‘Sit, Kaitlin.’

His tone held a sure authority that made her feel cold. Slowly, unwillingly, only because she realized that in the end she would have to hear him out, she eventually did as he asked. ‘Well?’

Flynn let her have it straight ‘I own the mortgage now, Kaitlin.’

Silence greeted the words. A shocked silence. A silence that lasted almost a minute. The blood drained from Kaitlin’s face, leaving her face ashen. Her body was so rigid that she could not have moved if her life had depended on it.

‘You had no idea?’ Flynn asked at last.

‘None,’ she whispered.

Once more there was silence.

This time Kaitlin spoke first ‘Why didn’t Bill tell me?’

‘For one thing, I asked him not to.’

‘Why? Why would you be so cruel?’

‘Cruel?’ The dark eyes glittered.

‘You must have known I’d be shocked.’

‘Would you have been less shocked if Bill had given you the news himself?’

‘I don’t know... Maybe... At least I’d have had time to think about it before...’ She stopped.

‘Before?’ he prompted.

‘Before seeing you.’

‘Do you really think it would have made a difference?’

Kaitlin’s face lifted to meet Flynn’s gaze. For one awful moment she wondered if she was going to cry: tears were gathering at the back of her eyes and a sob rose in her throat. But she managed to stop herself from weeping as anger stirred.

Furiously, she said, ‘You could have given me some warning before flying in here like some feudal lord. Any decent person would have let me know in advance. And don’t give me any of that nonsense about Southern belles—you knew how shocked I’d be when I heard what you had to say. The least, the very least you could have done, Flynn, was to tell me why you were coming.’ Her eyes sparkled with outrage and defiance. ‘This is still my ranch, Flynn. Whatever piece of paper you may own, this ranch is mine, and you are not welcome here.’

His gaze flicked her face. ‘What’s your point, Kaitlin?’

‘Arriving here out of the blue. Ordering Bill not talk to me. Knowing how shocked I’d be when I found out what you’d been up to. My God, Flynn, you must have been laughing your head off at me!’

‘Is that what you think, Kaitlin?’

‘I think you could have found a less dramatic way of telling me my fate.’

‘Now who’s being dramatic? It’s not as if the idea of a mortgage is new to you. Only the identity of the person holding it has changed.’

On the face of it, what he was saying was perfectly true. The ranch was heavily mortgaged, a fact that was never very far from her mind. Why then did she have this dread feeling that her world would never be the same again?

All at once, Kaitlin felt as if she could take no more. She had managed, somehow, to endure the loss of her parents and the hardships of the ranch. And now here was Flynn. Tough, arrogant, unyielding Flynn. He would not be as understanding as Bill had always been: if anything, he would be ruthless. Unable to hold his cool-eyed gaze a second longer, she dropped her head and put her face in her hands.

She flinched when his arm went around her shoulders. She hadn’t realized that he had left his chair.

‘Kaitlin,’ he said softly. ‘Are you crying?’

She lifted her head to look at him. Her eyes were dazed and a little damp, but she was able to say, ‘I don’t cry that easily.’

‘You never did, that’s one of the things I remember about you. You always were a gutsy girl.’

Gutsy... At this moment, when she did not know how to defend the attack on her beloved home, Kaitlin felt anything but gutsy. She yearned to lean against the hard body, to bury herself in it, to seek warming comfort from the man who had meant so much to her once. Yearnings that were quite inappropriate, for as she looked into the rugged face she knew that Flynn had become her adversary.

She twisted away from him. ‘Bill should have told me.’ Her voice was low. ‘Why didn’t he tell me, Flynn?’

‘I told you—I asked him not to.’

There was an emptiness as he moved away from her and went back to his chair. a feeling of coldness, of loneliness. Kaitlin had to force herself to concentrate on the issue at hand.

‘Why do I get the feeling there’s also another reason why Bill didn’t talk to me himself?’

‘What do you think, Kaitlin?’

‘Am I right?’

‘Maybe.’

‘What was it?’ She threw the words at him. And when he remained silent, ‘I need to know—don’t you understand? ’

‘Bill Seally,’ Flynn said deliberately, ‘is a weak man.’

‘No! You’re wrong! Bill is sweet and gentle and kind.’

‘I’m sure he’s all of those things. Bill hates making waves, he has a great need to be liked. He shies away from conflict, especially where friends are involved. A good friend’s daughter, in your case.’

Kaitlin’s cheeks were flushed. ‘He would have got the money I owed him,’ she said unhappily. ‘I’ve always tried very hard to keep up my payments.’

‘Not hard enough. You’re in arrears.’

‘I know that. But in the end Bill wouldn’t have lost any money. I was always utterly determined to pay every cent, including interest on back payments.’

‘How did you plan to do that?’

‘Profits from the ranch. Things are starting to come right, Flynn. Slowly, I admit, but it’s happening. It’s been an uphill battle ever since Dad died, but I’m hoping my financial situation will improve.’

‘You can’t blame Bill for having some doubts.’

The flush in Kaitlin’s face deepened. ‘If he felt that way, why didn’t he say anything? We could have talked. Bill knew how things were at the ranch. Knew that Dad had...’ She bit her lip. ‘He understood that I needed time.’

‘How much time, Kaitlin?’

‘I don’t know exactly.’

‘Bill didn’t know either, and the situation was beginning to worry him.’

She shouldn’t be surprised, Kaitlin realized. The signs had been there for some time, only she had been too preoccupied to notice them. There had been a strange restlessness in Bill and Alice, his wife, when she did see them, a way they had of not meeting her eyes when they talked. Bill and her father had been boyhood friends, classmates, their friendship was one of the few constants in her life. When her parents had died, Bill and Alice had been there, phoning her, extending invitations. Yet now that she came to think of it, she could not remember the last invitation: she had been too busy to wonder about it.

Kaitlin looked at Flynn. ‘You may not believe me, but I didn’t know about the mortgage until after my father’s death.’

‘I see.’

‘Until then I’d had almost nothing to do with the running of the ranch’

‘No part in the finances?’

‘None,’ she admitted.

She would not tell Flynn, who seemed to be holding her destiny in those very competent-looking hands, of her dismay when she had sat in the office of her father’s lawyer and learned that she had inherited the ranch. A hollow inheritance, for the ranch was so heavily in debt that it didn’t belong to her in the true sense of the word. Apart from the ranch, there had been nothing else.

Helplessly she had looked across the desk at the lawyer. ‘I don’t understand... It seems impossible...’

‘It’s the way it is, Miss Mullins. I’m sorry.’

‘I always thought we were secure. We lived well. There was money for parties and travelling and for college.’

‘There was money once,’ the lawyer agreed, ‘but much of it was used for the wrong purposes. There was also a lot of debt.’

‘What are you saying, Mr. Barclay? I need the truth.’

‘Your parents were living way beyond their means. I often warned your father to be more careful, but he kept insisting that things were fine. The mortgage was never meant to be more than short-term assistance, he was certain things would come right.’

But her father had been killed when he had skidded off the road on his way back to the ranch one stormy night. His truck had been found in a ditch. Witnesses said the vehicle seemed to veer suddenly on a slippery section of the road, before rolling over onto its side. Kaitlin had pretended to accept the explanation, but privately she had wondered if grief over her mother’s death had made her father careless. He had had no time to put his affairs in order.

Kaitlin looked at Flynn, shivering when she saw the enigmatic expression in his eyes, the implacability in the firm jaw. ‘You’re saying that Bill was eager to rid himself of the mortgage.’

‘Correct.’

‘That’s when you appeared on the scene. Flynn Henderson to the rescue.’

Flynn shrugged, seemingly unconcerned by her sarcasm.

‘Some coincidence that you just happened to come along at the right time,’ Kaitlin went on grimly. ‘Why don’t I think that’s the way it was?’

‘Because you’re too intelligent to believe it.’

He grinned at her, a grin that warmed his eyes and deepened the lines around them. If only, Kaitlin thought, he didn’t have the ability to send her heart somersaulting in her chest.

‘Then it wasn’t coincidence.’

‘Of course not. I’ve kept my eyes on the ranch ever since I left. I knew about the mortgage.’

‘How did you know?’

‘Wasn’t difficult, Kaitlin. A person can make a point of knowing certain things. Besides, word gets around. When I thought Bill Seally was getting nervous I went to talk to him. To his credit, I had to speak to him several times before he made his decision.’

Despite the heat of the day, Kaitlin was feeling colder by the minute. ‘Five years, and all that time you were just biding your time to take over here.’

That grin again. ‘Five years ago all I had was a burning ambition. I knew what I wanted, but I couldn’t afford to pay for a corner of one barn let alone the whole ranch.’

That was one thing that puzzled her: how on earth had Flynn managed to acquire what must surely be a small fortune?

Before she could ask the question, he said, ‘Do you remember what I told you the last time we were together?’

‘In the bar? You were with that red-haired woman. I think her name was Marietta.’

‘So you remember that.’ The eyes that held hers were unreadable.

‘Sure, why not?’ She strove to make her tone as casual and matter-of-fact as she could. Flynn did not have to know about the pain that knifed her at the very mention of the other woman’s name.

‘I think it’s interesting that you would remember Marietta in such detail.’ Still he held her gaze. ‘But I wasn’t referring to her. Kaitlin, do you remember what I said?’

‘Why don’t you jog my memory?’

‘I promised you I’d be back for the ranch five years later. Five years to the day. I kept my promise, Kaitlin. Looking at your face, I know you never thought I would.’

Kaitlin. felt the colour drain from her cheeks as she stared at the tall cowboy.

‘So that’s why you’re here,’ she said, when she could speak.

‘Right.’

‘You could have written. Or phoned.’

‘I could have, I guess, but I decided to break it to you in person.’

‘Without a thought to my feelings,’ she accused unsteadily.

Flynn didn’t answer, but there was an odd expression in the eyes that watched her.

Over the emotions that raged inside her, Kaitlin said, ‘You knew I’d be shocked, but you wanted to see my face when you told me. What are you, Flynn—some kind of sadist?’

Flynn only shrugged.

Kaitlin’s hands curled tightly against her sides. ‘Anyway, now you’ve told me, you can go.’

‘We have to talk, Kaitlin.’

‘Not today, Flynn. Definitely not today. You have to give me time to think.’

For a long moment he looked down at her. Then, to her relief, he picked up his Stetson.

At the door of the house he turned. ‘I’ll be back.’

CHAPTER THREE

‘HI, COWGIRL.’

Paintbrush in hand, the jeans-clad figure turned from the fence of the corral. ‘Hi, yourself, cowboy.’

A week had passed since the last time he had seen her. ‘You look busy, Kaitlin.’

Beneath the broad-brimmed Stetson, her eyes were intensely green, almost jade. ‘You could say that. I didn’t hear the plane this time, Flynn. Unless, of course, you reverted to your original mode of transport and arrived on horseback.’

He laughed. ‘All the way from Austin? Hardly.’ He glanced at the radio perched on a tree-stump beside the can of paint ‘Can’t say I’m surprised you didn’t hear the plane above the din.’

Kaitlin touched a dial and lowered the decibels. ‘Not surprising at all,’ she conceded as the throbbing beat of saxophone and drums faded into background music.

‘You used to be a country and western fan, Kaitlin.’

‘I still am, but there’s nothing like variety. Been here long, Flynn?’

‘A while.’

‘I believe you’ve been watching me, cowboy.’

‘You believe right.’

A few drops of white dropped from Kaitlin’s brush as she leaned it across the rim of her bucket. As she came to Flynn, he was struck anew by her extreme slenderness and the gracefulness of her movements. Tendrils of hair escaped from beneath her Stetson to curl on her forehead, giving her a waiflike appearance that tugged at his heartstrings, and made his expression darken. The last thing Flynn wanted was for Kaitlin to touch his emotions.

‘Why are you here?’ she asked.

‘To see you?’ he suggested.

‘Obviously—but not for friendly reasons. Whatever it is, it’ll concern the ranch and the mortgage.’

‘Does it have to be the reason? Men must come here all the time to woo the lovely Kaitlin Mullins.’

There was a sudden tightness around her lips. ‘I don’t have time for sarcasm, Flynn. Tell me why you’re here, let’s deal with it, whatever it is—and then I’ll ask you to leave.’

A dark eyebrow lifted. ‘Was I being sarcastic?’

‘What do you call it?’

‘I thought I was being complimentary. An invitation to one of your parties used to be quite an honour.’

A shadow seemed to pass briefly before Kaitlin’s eyes. ‘Is that what it was, Flynn?’ Tension in her tone. ‘Don’t bother answering, because I don’t want to hear it: not when what you call a compliment is really an insult.’

His eyes gleamed. ‘Is that the way you feel about it? Had any parties lately?’

‘No,’ she said shortly.

‘Really? You haven’t told me about the men who visit you here.’

‘There aren’t any men.’

‘I find that very hard to believe.’

‘Believe whatever you like, Flynn.’ Kaitlin pushed a hand through her hair, the gesture heavy with weariness. ‘The truth is, I don’t have time in my life for men. Just as I don’t have time for wisecracks and insults and sarcasm.’

Flynn reached out and touched her left cheek, dabbing at it with his forefinger. As Kaitlin stepped abruptly back wards, he said mildly, ‘Just removing some paint.’

‘I’ll wash it off at the house.’

He eyed her quizzically. ‘When did you become so prickly, Kaitlin?’

‘When did you become so overbearing and arrogant?’ she countered.

For a long moment Flynn was silent, struck by the strain he saw in the delicate-featured face. Kaitlin looked ready to drop with fatigue, he thought.

Softly, he said, ‘This kind of talk isn’t really getting us anywhere, is it?’

‘No... Which is why I wish you’d leave.’

‘Not just yet,’ he said evenly. ‘For one thing, I want to know why you’re out here slaving in this devilish heat.’

‘Slaving? I’m just painting a fence, Flynn.’

‘In this scorcher? You’ll be telling me next that you enjoy working so hard when you could be somewhere cooler.’

Her lips quivered slightly. ‘I do like painting.’

‘You could be paying a man to do it for you.’

‘Oh, for heaven’s sake, Flynn, I can’t believe you’d say anything so silly this close to the end of the twentieth century! Don’t you know yet that a woman can do anything she puts her mind to?’

‘Sure I do—but at risk of being labelled a chauvinist, I don’t believe you took on this task just for the fun of it. So maybe you’d like to tell me why you’re doing it?’

‘Flynn—’

‘And why you’re working alone at it.’

Kaitlin took a shuddering breath. Hearing it, Flynn was overcome by a desire—an utterly insane desire—to rescue her from her drudgery, to protect her.

Protect her, indeed! Since when had spoiled Kaitlin Mullins—doted on by her parents, given everything she ever wanted—needed protection?

‘Last time I was here, you told me you were shorthanded. Now I want to know whether you’re trying to run the ranch on your own. The truth, Kaitlin.’

The look she threw him was part withering outrage, part assumed wide-eyed innocence. ‘On my own? Of course not! How could I possibly cope?’

‘You couldn’t,’ Flynn acknowledged abruptly.

‘There’s your answer then.’

‘No, because whatever you say, there don’t seem to be many cowboys on this ranch.’

‘Didn’t we talk about that last time? There are cowboys—not many, but enough. If you haven’t seen them ‘it’s because they’re out on the range, roping and branding. So you see, Flynn, your concerns are unwarranted.’

Kaitlin accompanied the words with a grin which, if she hadn’t looked quite so tired, might have succeeded in being provocative. As it was, it made her look more vulnerable than ever.

Flynn swallowed down hard over the unwelcome and unexpected lump in his throat. ‘All the same,’ he said after a moment, ‘I still wonder how you’re managing.’

‘Isn’t it enough that I’m doing it?’

‘How, Kaitlin?’

‘I don’t owe you any answers, Flynn.’

‘I think you’re forgetting something.’

‘The mortgage.’ Her eyes clouded. ‘I haven’t forgotten it. It haunts me day and night, I haven’t stopped thinking about it since you told me about it. I know I have to make regular payments, and I will.’

‘Glad to hear it.’

‘Of course, I realize that with Bill out of the picture the whole scenario has changed. No matter what you say about Bill—and I keep wishing he’d had the courage to tell me the truth—he was never unkind.’

‘Whereas you see me—’Flynn’s grin was wicked ‘—as some kind of monster?’

‘I get the feeling you’ve turned into an unforgiving sort of man.’

Flynn’s grin vanished. Didn’t Kaitlin understand that some things were impossible to forgive?

After a moment he said, ‘I’m a businessman, Kaitlin. Unlike your good buddy Bill, I don’t let friendship or personalities get in the way of my business arrangements. If that makes me unkind and a monster, then maybe that’s what I am—at least in your eyes. Now, Kaitlin, suppose you tell me, honestly, why there are so few cowboys at the ranch.’

‘I still say I don’t have to give you any answers. As long as you get your payments, that’s all that should interest you.’

‘But I am interested.’

‘Flynn...’

‘Why, Kaitlin?’

‘I don’t know why you’re pressing this when you know the answer already.’ Her voice was flat. ‘Money—or the lack of it, Flynn. It’s as simple as that.’

‘You can’t afford any cowboys?’

‘I keep telling you there are some. Just not as many as there should be.’

‘Which is why you’re working flat-out yourself. A slip of a girl, taking on the work of a bunch of men.’

Two bright spots of red burned in Kaitlin’s cheeks, and her eyes sparkled with anger. ‘Is that pity I hear in your voice, Flynn Henderson? If it is, save it for someone else. The ranch is my life. I am where I want to be. Living the way I want to live. Sure, I admit things could be better, but they could be a lot worse, too. I’m coping. And if there’s one thing I can’t bear, it’s pity. I’ll manage, Flynn, somehow I’ll manage.’

Flynn thought admiringly, and not for the first time, that Kaitlin had more guts and drive and independence than both her parents had possessed together.

He asked, ‘What happened to the girl whose life was one mad whirl of fun? Horses, swimming, picnics, parties? What happened to her, Kaitlin?’

‘Did she exist?’ Kaitlin’s tone was brittle.

‘Don’t you remember?’

‘Dimly.’

‘Whereas I remember her vividly. She was lovely, Kaitlin. Pretty beyond belief, with skin like roses just out of the bud. Vibrant, and so full of fun that you couldn’t help being happy, too, when you were with her. And sexy, Kaitlin. So sexy that a man thought he’d go crazy if he couldn’t make love to her.’

Kaitlin looked away from him, and then back. ‘Are you sure she was real, Flynn?’

‘Flesh and blood down to the last dainty toe. What happened to her?’

‘I have no idea.’

‘Think you could find her?’

‘How can I, when she’s gone?’

‘Has she really gone, Kaitlin?’

‘Forever. Never to return.’ A small smile of wry amusement touched her lips. ‘And maybe it’s all for the best, Flynn—she sounds revolting.’

‘Actually, she was delightful.’

Kaitlin swallowed. ‘The fact is, she’s gone, Flynn, and she’s not about to return. That girl lived in another world, another era.’ Picking up her paintbrush, she began to paint once more, slapping paint on the fence with what seemed to Flynn to be unnecessary energy.

A few minutes went by. Then Kaitlin said, ‘Talking about the past, Flynn, I could ask you what happened to the guy I once knew. The young cowboy. He was fun, too, at least until—’ She stopped abruptly.

‘Until?’ Flynn prompted.

‘It doesn’t matter.’

‘Maybe it does to me.’ His face was still, his tone urgent.

‘It doesn’t matter,’ she said again.

‘Until? The cowboy was fun until what, Kaitlin?’

She was working quickly now, her small oval face fierce with concentration. Briefly she turned to him. ‘Don’t press me, Flynn. That world, the one we lived in, has vanished. Forever. There’s no way it can ever come back to life.’

‘You’re certain of that?’

‘Positive. The person you talk of, I can’t believe I was ever that girl, Flynn. If you must know, I wouldn’t even want to be like her any more. As for you, I just have to look at you to know you could never be that sweet young cowboy again, either. So just drop the subject—OK?’

For a few minutes she worked in silence. Presently she turned to him. ‘You still haven’t told me why you’re here, Flynn.’

‘We’ll talk about it later. When I’ve helped you with the fence.’

She stared at him. ‘Oh no, I don’t think so.’

‘Where can I find a brush and another pot of paint?’

‘It’s out of the question, Flynn!’

‘Two can do the job twice as quickly as one. Just think, Kaitlin, you’ll be able to go back to the house earlier. Imagine yourself in the tub, and after a nice long soak, enjoying a cool drink.’ He grinned at her.

Kaitlin hesitated a moment, her expression one of such open yearning that Flynn understood quite how tempting his offer was.

‘I don’t think so,’ she said at last, but her tone was reluctant.

‘Why not?’

‘Because I can’t afford to pay you for your labour.’

‘Did I say anything about charging?’

‘It’s obvious, isn’t it? You keep telling me you’re a businessman. What would you do, Flynn—add the painting costs to the mortgage?’

‘Actually,’ he drawled, ‘just this once, my services won’t cost you a cent. Where’s a brush, Kaitlin? And don’t try putting me off, because it won’t work. Where’s all your stuff? In the shed, where it used to be?’

A glance at Flynn’s face must have convinced Kaitlin that he meant what he said, for after a moment she nodded. Minutes later he emerged from the shed, paintbrush in one hand, hammer and a screwdriver in the other in case something needed repair, he explained.

For a while they painted in silence. Eventually, Flynn said, ‘Time for a break.’

‘You can take a break, Flynn. I won’t.’ Flynn, the weakling, her tone implied.

He was unabashed. ‘Trying to prove something to me, or to yourself, Kaitlin?’

‘I’m not proving anything to anybody. I’m just determined to get a job of work done.’ Beneath her tan she was pale, and her eyes looked exhausted.

‘Do you think a break would hold you up?’ Flynn asked, quite gently.

‘When there’s so much left to do? Yes, it would hold me up.’ Her tone was defiant.

There was no arguing with her when she was in this mood. ‘Fine,’ Flynn said easily, ‘we’ll go on in that case.’

Side by side, they worked, sharing the same can of white paint. Around them the air bristled with tension, but Flynn pretended not to notice it. He began to talk, light talk, inconsequential: a question about a cowboy he remembered from the past; a comment about an oil-strike which had been reported in the Texas newspapers recently; the weather. Little by little, the tension lessened.

They had moved to another section of fence when Kaitlin said, ‘Remember when you roped the calf? I asked you if you’d been a rodeo rider?’

‘I remember.’

‘Were you on the rodeo circuit, Flynn?’

He looked at her. ‘Yes.’

‘After you left the ranch?’

‘Yes again.’

Her eyes sparkled. ‘So I was right! What did you do on the circuit, Flynn? Roping?’

‘At first. Until I started riding the bulls.’

‘Bull-riding?’ She looked at him in disbelief. ‘Is that a joke?’

‘No.’

‘It’s so hard to imagine. Bull-riding! I’m not sure if you’re having me on.’