Buch lesen: «Reunited…With Baby»

One

On a Wednesday, the first of August, Luke Weston gazed out the window of his Gulfstream jet as his pilot flew east to Royal, Texas. Looking down at the wide-open, mesquite-tree-covered landscape, it struck him that he was flying directly over the Double U. The ranch that he had grown up on and was now returning home to save.

As he stared out the window, he wondered if he should let the Texas ranch go once and for all. It was no longer home to him. Ever since graduating from Stanford six years ago, he’d been living in Silicon Valley, where he’d been working tirelessly to build his company into the tech-world juggernaut that it was today. He had no desire to live anywhere else.

Even so, he couldn’t bear the thought of the Texas family ranch being auctioned off because his drunken father had mortgaged the Double U again and then couldn’t keep up with the payments. Thank heavens, he wasn’t like his dad. But when he was young, his dad hadn’t been a drunk—a scary fact that was impossible to forget. And his grandfather on his dad’s side had been a drunk later in life, too. A drunk who was killed in a bar fight. Bad blood.

Luke’s thoughts shifted to his hometown friends, especially Will Sanders. Unable to attend Will’s funeral because he had been in Europe, Luke had heard about Will crashing his own funeral in Royal and all hell breaking loose. Who had been impersonating Will? That had been the big question, but answers were pointing in one direction.

This morning, before Luke left California, Will had phoned to inform him that his lifelong friend Richard Lowell had been the one passing himself off as Will. But then Rich had disappeared and no one had a clue where he was now. Another friend had also gone missing—Jason Phillips. At present, only the police and those close to Will knew about Rich, and they were still keeping it quiet while they tried to piece together all that had happened. Will had confided in Luke that Rich had tried to kill him on their annual fishing trip, pushing Will overboard and leaving him to drown. Will was rescued and survived to come home to his own funeral. The body had been cremated, so all they had left were ashes and bones to try to identify.

Adding to the mystery, Will told Luke that funds had been pilfered from the Texas Cattleman’s Club in Royal and they believed Lowell was the responsible party. Upon hearing that, Luke told Will he thought he could help him find the missing imposter via the antifraud software that he and his team at his company, West-Tech, recently created that could aid in following money trails. Will had been interested in learning more, and they agreed to discuss it in person once Luke arrived in Royal.

Once again, Luke reviewed his three purposes in going back to Texas. First, he felt compelled to save the ranch that had been in his family for more than a century. He wondered in what condition he would find the family ranch. How were the animals faring, and how many cowboys still worked on the ranch? Did his dad owe them back pay?

Second, he wanted to do everything he could to help Will find Rich Lowell. The first order of business was to contact the PI who had been hired to aid in the investigation.

And the third reason for returning to Texas was that he felt duty-bound to go visit his dad in the assisted-living home where he had been residing ever since he had been diagnosed a year earlier with cirrhosis of the liver, a debilitating disease. As always, when he ticked off his plans, he had a deep awareness of another Royal resident, Scarlett McKittrick.

Scarlett was one resident he should avoid at all costs, but he suspected that wasn’t going to happen. She was the best vet in Royal, Texas, so he would most likely need her professional expertise.

As he pictured her in his mind, the memories assailed him. Memories of holding a naked Scarlett in his arms, kissing her, her intense, instant response to his every caress. Luke drew a deep breath. He was not the man for her, and when they parted, she had been furious with him for walking out on her instead of marrying her. Even so, what he wouldn’t give for one blissful night with Scarlett before he returned to his carefree, no-strings-attached existence in Silicon Valley.

But he couldn’t afford to be distracted with thoughts of his ex. He had to pour all his time and attention into trying to salvage the Double U. Luke still felt a low-burning anger at his dad because he had long ago paid off the ranch and owned it outright, but Luke had made the mistake of letting his father keep everything in his name. Luke hadn’t realized what was going on and that his father was pawning things off, selling livestock, mortgaging the ranch to the hilt. Luke felt partially responsible for turning a blind eye and not coming home the moment his dad had been moved to the assisted-care facility. But he’d put on a good show, and Luke had believed him when he’d said that everything was fine.

However, when Luke hadn’t been able to contact anybody at the ranch, his internal alarm bells had gone off. Then he got a call from Nathan Battle, sheriff in Royal, who broke the news that he was going to have to put the ranch up for auction.

Luke told Nathan he would be there in two days to pay off the ranch and take care of all the outstanding bills. As soon as he ended the call with the sheriff, Luke had made arrangements with his pilot to fly to Texas the next day.

He just hoped and prayed he would be able to clean up the mess his father had left in his wake.

After landing in Royal, Luke called Cole Sullivan, the PI, as he’d told Will he would do, and made an appointment to talk to Cole tomorrow afternoon in Brinkly, Texas, a small town near Royal. He then phoned Will to tell him he had arrived, and the two men made arrangements to meet tomorrow before Luke met with the PI.

As soon as Luke left the airport in the new black pickup he had purchased by phone, he headed to his family ranch. As he reached the Double U and drove up the ranch road toward the house, he gazed out at the front pasture. It was worse than he had imagined. The first two horses he came across were so severely malnourished their ribs were showing, and they stood listlessly with their heads hanging down. Luke feared they would not live one more night.

He drove on to the house, passing fences that were down and a stock tank shot full of holes. Nearing the homestead, he saw a large part of the exterior wall had been ripped away, and it felt as if a knife had plunged into his gut.

Swearing harshly, he realized he’d had no concept of the full extent of the disaster at the ranch. After taking several deep breaths to help himself calm down, he placed a call to Scarlett McKittrick’s veterinary clinic and felt his frustration rise yet again when he learned she was out of the office.

Luke turned his pickup around and sped toward the McKittrick place. When he crossed the cattle guard, he slowed down. As he drove up the McKittrick’s ranch road, and drank in the familiar surroundings, it finally felt as if he was coming home.

Bombarded by memories, Luke gazed at the gravel road, but all that he could see were Scarlett McKittrick’s thickly lashed hazel eyes. It had been a decade since he had last seen his high school sweetheart, and his life had changed beyond his wildest imaginings. Yet, no matter how much time had passed, there was no way to ever forget her.

He swore under his breath, every part of him aching with bittersweet longing for Scarlett. He had felt certain he had gotten over her, but if he had, why were memories rushing at him like floodwaters from an open dam?

A sudden wave of nostalgia crashed through him as he thought about all that had transpired between them. Back in high school, Scarlett had said she was in love with him. And for a while during his junior year, he had allowed himself to get swept up in dating her and had returned her love fully. But then, in his senior year, reality had set in.

He had a rotten background, while Scarlett had a good, solid one. Her father died when she was young and her brother, Toby, stepped up and filled in as much as he could, while Scarlett’s mother quietly took over and ran the ranch with Toby’s help. Luke didn’t want to mess up Scarlett’s life. He was afraid of the bad blood in his family showing up in him.

As his high school graduation approached, Scarlett knew he was leaving for college, but she didn’t want him to go. And even though she made it clear she wanted them to have a future together, he never expected her to tell him she wanted them to marry right after he graduated. As far as he was concerned, she was too young and inexperienced to know what she wanted for the rest of her life. She could set him on fire with a kiss, but he still saw her as a kid at sixteen. She seemed far younger than his eighteen years.

He didn’t want to marry for years, if ever. His parents’ marriage had been unhappy all his life. At first, they fought. Later, they drank and fought. He didn’t think either one had been faithful to the other. He didn’t want to pass his genes on or marry someone like Scarlett and ruin her life. Only sixteen and hopelessly in love, she didn’t understand. Consequently, they didn’t part on good terms—something which he deeply regretted to this day.

They’d both moved on. After graduation from Stanford, Luke built his West-Tech company and he struck it rich when he invented a revolutionary—and affordable for the masses—smartphone that left his competitors in the dust.

Meanwhile, Scarlett had pursued a career in veterinary medicine. Which didn’t surprise him in the least. A real softie for animals, she always tried to help any creature that needed it, loving little kids and animals as much as he loved electronics and the challenges in the tech world. As she’d been building up her vet business, she had apparently gotten engaged but was now estranged from her fiancé, Tanner Dupree, some oil heir who’d left her stranded at the altar. In Luke’s eyes, no one would ever be good enough for Scarlett—definitely not himself. The oily scumbag who had deserted her didn’t deserve her, either. Walking out on her on her wedding day—the guy had to be selfish and rotten to the core.

Sighing, Luke knew he was hardly one to throw stones since he’d left her, too. He still believed that was the right thing to do because, given his tainted family history, he would never be good enough for her. But honorable intentions aside, if he was being completely honest with himself, Scarlett was still by far the sexiest woman he had ever known. Even after all this time, he could get hot just thinking about her.

He had been the first guy she’d ever been with, when they were still in their teens. He remembered holding her close, her slender body melting against his. While he was here, could he entice her back into his arms for a night down memory lane...? Groaning, he quickly squelched those illicit thoughts. When he had gone to California, he’d spent too many sleepless nights in college lying awake wanting her, fantasizing about her, fighting the urge to call her because he didn’t feel worthy of her because of his family background. He didn’t want to mess up Scarlett with his bad genes. He finally had put that behind him, and he didn’t want to stir all those feelings up again.

It wouldn’t be fair...to either of them.

With a shift of his shoulders, he forced his thoughts back to the present, determined to focus on the here and now.

As Luke approached the McKittrick house, dogs of all sizes ran toward the car. He knew they had to be strays taken in by Scarlett, and he couldn’t keep from smiling while he felt a twist in his heart. He stepped out, speaking softly to the barking dogs that quieted down, the friendliest ones already wagging their tails and letting him scratch their heads.

Scarlett walked out onto the porch and stopped at the top step. His heart thudded. For an instant he couldn’t speak or breathe and felt as if he was in a dream, except he knew she was real and only a few feet away. He had to curb the impulse to close the distance between them, sweep her into his arms and kiss her endlessly. She was absolutely breathtaking. When he looked into her wide, hazel eyes, he had the impact of a punch to his gut, and it was obvious she, too, drew a deep breath. As she inhaled, her blue blouse grew taut over her figure that had filled out into lush, gorgeous curves. He remembered a kid, a naive, fun young girl, but this was a woman who made his blood hot and fanned desire into flames.

While his gaze locked with hers, he lost his breath again. The urge to crush her against him was overwhelming, and he knotted his fists and focused on staying where he was. His heart pounded as his gaze swept from her head to her toes. She was wearing a blue cotton short-sleeved shirt, tight jeans and boots, and her pixie hairdo complemented her high cheekbones and big hazel eyes. Eyes that were now filled with fury.

He was dazed, stunned by the reaction she stirred in him. He had thought he was over her long ago. If he was, what was going on right now to his heart, his breathing and his lower extremities? And it was obvious from her irate expression that she also was having some kind of reaction.

Except not the kind he particularly wanted.

“You get off the McKittrick property, Luke Weston,” she snapped. “And you can just go straight to hell.”

“Scarlett, I need your help,” he said, talking fast before she cut him off. “My dad is in an assisted-living facility and he’s let the ranch go. The animals are dying and need attention—”

He knew when he mentioned the dying animals he had her. The anger left her expression, replaced by worry. She never could hide her emotions, and she was a sucker for any animal in trouble. The yard filled with dogs was proof of that.

She clamped her lips together and stared at him.

“I saw a few horses, and they look so severely malnourished that they can’t even hold up their heads.”

She closed her eyes for an instant as if in pain. When she opened them, he knew he had gotten through to her. “I took an oath to help animals. I’ll get my instruments.”

“You can ride with me, and I’ll bring you back when you’re through. Just save some of the horses or let’s put them out of their misery. I don’t know which ones to put down,” he said, only half meaning it because he was certain that would convince her to help.

“You don’t put any down. I’ll take care of them.”

“There’s no feed in the vicinity. I need to get some. I’ll take you with me to get supplies.”

“This place is the same as it was when you lived here, and you know where to find feed and hay. Go load your pickup with whatever you need for your livestock tonight. While you do that, I’ll get my things and then I’ll join you,” she said.

“Thanks, Scarlett. I appreciate it because I need a good vet. Those horses are in dire shape. You’ll see.”

Nodding, she turned away. He drove to the barn and hurried inside. One glance at the loft and memories bombarded him. The most persistent memory was of making love with Scarlett, but he had to stop torturing himself because they had no future. He wasn’t the man for Scarlett. He had done well in business, but that wasn’t all there was to life. Always, he came back to thinking about his parents. His dad did well enough in business for years even after the alcohol began to cloud his judgment.

Damn, Scarlett looked good. As angry as she had looked when she first saw him, he didn’t think he would have any choice except to remain cool and impersonal if he wanted her help. But that was easier said than done. He better do that for his own good. He went through hell leaving her before. Now they were adults and the stakes were higher. He didn’t want to get involved and have to go through another goodbye and that’s all he could hope for with her.

When they reached his family ranch, was he really going to be able to keep his hands off her?

* * *

Scarlett went inside to speak to her mother, who was bathing little Carl. For an instant worries fled as she smiled at her precious, adopted baby boy. Her heart squeezed when Carl smiled at her and held out his little arms. “I can’t take him, Mom. Luke Weston is here. He’s in town and said his dad let the ranch go and the animals are sick, maybe dying now. He came to ask for help. Mom, I have to help those animals.”

Her mother frowned and shook her head. “I know you’re not going to ignore the livestock, so do what you have to and then come home. You don’t need to get involved with Luke Weston again. He broke your heart, Scarlett. Don’t let him come back and hurt you again.”

“I won’t. He lives in a different world now and he’ll go right back to it,” she said, thinking about the big, strapping man standing in her yard, instead of the young boy she remembered from their high school days. He was wickedly handsome, and her heart had pounded to such an extent that there was no way to ignore what she felt.

As Scarlett talked to her mother, she cut up apples from a bowl her mom kept on the counter. She bagged the apples and smiled at Carl.

Kissing her little boy’s chubby cheek, she dodged when he grabbed for her hair. She and her mother both laughed, but she saw the worry in her mother’s eyes as she left.

Scarlett fought the urge to tell Luke she couldn’t go, but when she thought about the horses that might be hurt or hungry, she knew she had to help. She didn’t want Luke putting any animal down unless it was hopelessly suffering and she couldn’t save it.

She felt a tangle of emotions—shock because her pulse had raced at the sight of Luke when she had convinced herself that she was completely over him. And then there was the anger. It was always churning beneath the surface when she thought of him. Of how he’d left her behind. She didn’t want to react to him or remind herself that he was more handsome than ever. He was a man now, not a boy, and so incredibly hot.

Scarlett closed her eyes and shook her head. “No, no, no,” she whispered. She didn’t want to find him better looking than ever, more appealing. Breathtakingly sexy. She didn’t want her heartbeat to race. All of that manifested itself, leaving her gasping as if she were sixteen again, lusting like a starry-eyed schoolgirl over the most irresistible boy in Texas.

Little reminders of Luke still popped up in her life, but for all these years since he’d left Royal, she had ignored them. So she had thought she was totally over him, but how wrong that was. All he had to do was step out of his pickup and stride up to the porch, and she was ready to either melt into a quivering mess, or run and throw herself into his arms.

She didn’t want him to come back to town and cause that kind of reaction simply by laying eyes on him. When he looked at her, he felt something, too. She knew him well enough to know he’d had a reaction to seeing her, which just compounded her desire for him.

Could she work a few hours with him on his ranch and keep a wall around her feelings? She never wanted to suffer through another heartbreak over Luke like she had when he’d left Texas all those years ago. She had cried herself to sleep every night for more than a month.

Scarlett hurried to the closet to grab her new jeans and a shirt she liked, and then she looked down at the clothes in her hands. Whoa...what had gotten into her? Dressing better because of Luke was just asking for trouble.

“Nope, not happening,” she said aloud and shoved the jeans and blouse back in the closet. She couldn’t resist looking at herself in the mirror, though, and running a comb through her short hair. She guessed there weren’t any women he took out in California who had freckles and pixie haircuts. She sighed because it wouldn’t matter how she looked, she wasn’t the woman for Luke. She wasn’t risking her heart a second time because he would never make her a permanent part of his life. She had little Carl to think of now and how what she did would affect him.

Hurrying to her office, she tried to focus on what she might need at his ranch as she grabbed her bag.

Before she left she paused, pressing her forehead against the wall. “Don’t let him break your heart again. Take care of the animals and then come home. Treat him as if you’re with a stranger,” she whispered and then shook her head as she hurried out of her room. Who was she kidding? She knew she couldn’t heed her own advice, but if she could just remember he was totally off-limits and keep her guard up, she might avoid more heartache. He hadn’t loved her before—now he definitely never would since he was completely out of her league. She knew he was the newest addition to Forbes’s billionaire list. Luke could have any woman he wanted, she was sure. In fact, she had seen his occasional picture in magazines or the news and knew he dated gorgeous celebrities and some very beautiful socialites.

Holding her bag of instruments, medications and ointments, she rushed out. Luke leaned against his pickup and was looking down at his phone. She couldn’t keep from stealing a glance down the length of him, admiring his broad shoulders, his narrow waist and his long legs. When he saw her, he jammed his phone into a back pocket. He straightened and his gaze drifted slowly over her as she approached him, and all her advice to herself to pay little attention to him evaporated.

Everywhere his gaze drifted over her, she tingled. Part of her wanted to turn around and go right back to the house and lock the door. Part of her wanted to yell at him to get off their property and go straight to hell because he had hurt her badly. Yet another, more urgent, part of her just wanted to rush into Luke’s arms, pull his head down and kiss him senselessly. She sucked in a breath, and her hand tightened on the handle of her bag while she struggled to think about something besides Luke, his hands and mouth and her pounding heart.

He opened the door to the truck for her, and when she came close, he reached to take the black bag from her. When his big, warm hand closed on hers, she thought her knees would buckle. It was the first time in years—since he’d left for college—that he touched her, and the slight contact sent a sizzling current racing to settle low inside her. Longing rocked her, and she had to take a deep breath and clench her fists.

“I’ll put your things in back,” he said, his voice raspy, which happened when he was aroused. She couldn’t answer him and merely nodded. They knew each other so well. He knew she was having a reaction to being with him, and she knew he was having his own reaction to her. That made the moment hotter and more intense, and kept dredging up memories of their lovemaking when he had lived in Texas.

Again, he took her arm to help her into the pickup—help she didn’t want or need. Help that made her quiver and have to fight more memories of his hands on her. When he closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side, she inhaled deeply and watched him. A breeze tousled his dark blond hair over his forehead. He looked sexy, more handsome than ever—something she didn’t want to acknowledge. Luke was tall, with scruffy stubble on his jaw, and he had gorgeous blue-green eyes, broad, powerful shoulders and well-shaped hands. Hands that could carry her to paradise. In short, Luke was a fantasy come to life.

He slid behind the wheel, closed the door and started the pickup, glancing at her. He sat too close, looked too enticing. “Thanks, Scarlett,” he said in a husky voice that still wasn’t his normal speaking voice and she knew it.

She nodded. “Let’s get this over with,” she said curtly, staring out the front window, fighting to ignore him as much as possible. What was happening to her? She was over him, over the hurt he caused when he left for California and said goodbye without a second thought. The old familiar anger and pain made her sit up straight and look out the window as he drove away from the house.

“Stop at the barn, and we can get some bales of hay,” she said.

“I did. They’re in the back of the truck. I loaded up hay and feed, and then drove back to your house to wait for you.” He spared her a quick glance. “I’ll reimburse you for everything. I appreciate not having to go back to town to get supplies. I’m guessing there’s nothing at the ranch—just on the drive in, the place looked abandoned. There were signs of vandals, and the animals have been left to die,” he said gruffly. “I was just there a few minutes, but it’s clear I have a catastrophe on my hands. I want to save what animals we can.”

Scarlett knew Luke so well that she could tell he was angry with his father. When they drove past the barn on her family ranch, she stared ahead, sitting stiffly, fighting yet another wave of memories.

“You still have the big barn,” he rasped.

“We’re not going down memory lane,” she snapped without looking at him. But she was already down it. Her fingers knotted and she fought the urge to glance again at the barn she saw every day of her life, yet it held special memories of an unforgettable night.

Her whole family had been away for a barn dance. Early in the evening, Luke had coaxed her to leave with him. They had gone back to her place because everyone had gone to the party. Instead of driving to the house, Luke had stopped at the barn. The minute they stepped inside, he pulled her into his arms to kiss her. Later, he spread a blanket on the hayloft and drew her to him again to make love to her, her first time.