CHAPTER FOUR
“Mind if I join you?” Tyler stepped onto the dark veranda and shut the screen door.
Brianne pushed the porch swing into action with the toe of her shoe, hesitating to answer.
“I promise I won’t bite.” He moved toward her, the soft light filtering out the living room window silhouetting his large build. “Truce, remember?”
Yes, she remembered, though it changed nothing between them. “I’d rather be alone.”
“I’m sure you would, but we’ve got a lot of things to catch up on.” The swing creaked a protest as he settled his weight on the opposite end.
“Such as?”
“Such as… Do you have a boyfriend I need to know about?”
She gave him an incredulous look, unable to believe he’d be so bold as to ask such a question. “If I did, it wouldn’t be any of your business or concern.”
“If?” His tone was smug as he stretched his arm along the back of the swing and toyed with her braid. “I’ll take that as a no.”
Annoyance rippled through her, along with a surge of heat where his fingers brushed her shoulder. “I’ve dated a few men, but I’m not serious with anyone, if that’s what you’re prying for.”
“Just curious,” he murmured.
Just as curious as she was about him. Grasping her braid, she pulled the tail end out of his reach while idly torturing herself with thoughts of how many women he’d been through in the time he’d been gone. He could have married someone else, for all she knew.
Slipping the elastic band off the end of her braid, she began separating the strands. “How about you, Tyler? Do you have a girlfriend or wife I should worry about showing up out of the blue?” Her tone was light, humorous, but her insides twisted with emotions she didn’t want to acknowledge.
Surprise entered his eyes before he replied, “No. No girlfriend, but I almost got married once…a long time ago.” He gave her a reckless grin that lacked any real enthusiasm. “I’ve learned over the years that I’m not the committing kind.”
“No, that doesn’t seem to be one of your stronger suits, does it?” Her voice was a whisper, and Brianne could hardly believe the words had actually slipped out. “I’m sorry, Tyler, that comment was uncalled for.” Propping the heels of her feet on the edge of the swing, she wrapped her arms around her up-drawn knees. “I know part of the reason why you left has to do with your father shutting down the reining operation—”
“Landon wasn’t my father, Brianne,” he interrupted. Abruptly, he stood and walked to the porch stairs, propping a shoulder on the side column. “I’m illegitimate, a bastard. I don’t even know who my real father is, and my mother didn’t stick around long enough to see me out of diapers.”
Brianne hugged her knees tighter to keep from going to him and offering a little comfort. He stood with his fingers thrust into the front pockets of his jeans, his back ramrod straight. His expression was diamond-hard. A rebel stance, but beneath the facade she detected the pain and uncertainty of the confused man he’d been at twenty-three.
“I know Landon’s not your real father, but he’s the man who raised you,” she said of the kind, gentle man who’d been more a father to her than her own had been. “No matter what you believe, he loved you like you were his own son. That’s as close to being a father as it gets, Tyler.”
“He took the reining operation from me, without giving me a chance to defend it,” he argued.
“The reining operation was losing money. Landon did what he thought was best for Whitmore Acres. His decision had nothing to do with you personally.”
Reed’s vendetta to get him off the ranch had been very personal, Tyler thought. And he’d used Landon as a pawn in his spiteful game. But how could he tell Brianne about Reed tampering with the books when he didn’t have any proof to back his claim? All he had was a gut instinct honed from years of witnessing Reed’s conniving schemes.
“How do you know so much about what Landon thought?”
Brianne left the swing and braced her back against the column across from him. “Your father and I became very close in the two years I lived here before he died. He’d always planned to split everything between you and Reed, and he never meant to drive you away. The night before he died, he told me he hoped the inheritance would bring you back to the ranch, where you belong.”
“I’ll bet that made Reed real happy,” Tyler commented derisively.
“Reed was selfish. He never loved and respected the land and animals the way you did. He hated your close relationship with Landon, and he did everything in his power to hurt you.” Even offering to marry me when I’d been so alone and afraid…and pregnant with your child.
Tyler gave a short, dry laugh. “Reed always knew what buttons to push with me.”
“Oh, Tyler,” she sighed, the sound weary and sad. “Why didn’t you come back, or at least call?”
He looked at her, staring deep. “I did come back.”
Her eyes widened. “You did?”
He nodded and glanced away. “I was so angry at Landon for taking away the one thing I’d worked so hard for. I left the ranch, determined to make it on my own as a reining trainer and breeder. I wanted to prove Landon wrong and show him I could succeed. When I finally cooled down and decided to come back and talk to him rationally, it was too late.”
She frowned. “Too late?”
“Yeah, too late.” He pinned her with an unwavering look. “Ironically enough, I came back on the day you married Reed, just in time to see the happy couple walk hand in hand down the courthouse steps.”
“No,” Brianne managed the denial, unable to believe fate could be so cruel. “I never knew. I thought you’d—” She swallowed the words “abandoned me,” and said instead, “You should have come home, regardless of what you saw that day.”
“I had nothing left to come back for.”
“You had everything to come back for!” Her. Daniel. If only she hadn’t believed Reed when he’d told her Tyler wouldn’t be coming back. If only she hadn’t given in to her fear and insecurities and married Reed. If only she’d waited one more day…
“Reed had it all for a while, didn’t he?” Tyler said, his mouth curling into a bitter smile. “He got the ranch and he got the girl. And the girl got the ranch.”
Meeting Tyler’s searching gaze, she steeled herself from the sadness and regret engulfing her. “Tyler, I don’t want to talk about this. Arguing about the past isn’t going to change any of it.”
Tyler released a long, low breath. “You’re right,” he agreed, his mood changing abruptly. Grabbing her hand, he tugged her down the stairs. “Come on.”
Brianne gasped and followed him. “Tyler, wait!” She stumbled on the last step. He easily steadied her, but didn’t stop his stride.
She had to double her steps to keep up with his long legs. “Where are we going?” She wasn’t frightened, only curious.
He glanced at her and smiled. An honest, warm smile full of pride. “There’s someone very special I want you to meet.”
Before she had a chance to question him, they slipped into the stable housing her mares. A single dim light in the back illuminated the interior enough to see where they were going. The scent of hay and horses and leather hung in the air, reassuring smells that relaxed her.
She followed him down the aisle, suspecting the “special someone” was his horse. Automatically scanning the stalls, she checked on her horses. All seemed quiet and content except for the occasional soft nicker.
Tyler stopped at a stall and made a clicking sound with his tongue. The horse within strolled to the gate. Grinning, Tyler unlatched the closure and opened the gate, giving the horse a gentle rub on the nose.
“Brianne, I’d like you to meet Sweet Justice, or Jussie, as I affectionately call her.”
Delighted by the beauty of the bay, Brianne slowly stepped into the stall next to Tyler. A white blaze marked the horse’s face. Brianne stroked her hand over Jussie’s gleaming coat, and the animal’s lean muscles quivered in response.
“Oh, Tyler, she’s just beautiful,” she breathed in appreciation.
“Thanks.” Pride flowed through Tyler. He smiled, enjoying Brianne’s gentle reverence with his mare.
Brianne’s eyes danced with pleasure as she pet Sweet Justice, murmuring low, soothing words of praise to the horse. Jussie nudged her for more attention, and Brianne released a throaty laugh, a sexy, inviting sound that kicked Tyler’s pulse into a heavy beat. Moonlight painted her features, highlighting the wet sheen of her lips and the creamy expanse of her throat.
Shifting close to Jussie, Tyler caressed his palm down the horse’s neck. Idly, he wondered how Brianne’s lips would feel beneath his, the taste and texture of her mouth. He shook off the arousing thoughts before they got him in trouble.
“She’s so sweet, so gentle,” Brianne commented, lavishing more affection on the mare.
“Don’t let the docile act fool ya,” Tyler replied with a grin. “She’s as fast and powerful as a bullet when I want her to be. She’s won her share of purse money in reining.”
“Is that what you’ve been doing since you’ve been gone?” she asked curiously. “Competing?”
“I didn’t start competing until about three years ago,” Tyler said. “Bill, the man I worked for at the time, encouraged me to give it a try with one of his champion horses. After entering my first competition at a local rodeo I was hooked.”
Brianne reached for a bucket of oats hanging just outside the door and hooked it on a peg in Jussie’s stall. Grabbing a handful of the treat, she offered it to the mare. “How did you come across Sweet Justice?”
“I bought her from Bill when she was a foal.” He shifted on his feet, suddenly restless in the small confines of the stall. Brianne’s feminine scent filled his senses, even over the earthier smells of horse and hay.
Brianne laughed lightly as Jussie snorted into her palm, searching for more food. “Greedy wench,” she murmured, brushing her fingertips over the animal’s silky muzzle before dipping her hand into the pail again. “Do you train cutting horses anymore?” she asked Tyler.
His gaze captured hers in the sultry warmth of the night. The question was asked in an easy tone, but he got the feeling she was digging for deeper clues. “Right now I’m mainly concentrating on reining.”
“Oh.” Brianne glanced back at Jussie, frowning.
Leaning his shoulder against the wall, Tyler decided to touch on his plans for Whitmore Acres. “I’m thinking of acquiring a reining stud with strong bloodlines so I can breed Sweet Justice.”
Wariness, and fear, flashed through her eyes. “You can breed Sweet Justice to one of my studs,” she said slowly, almost cautiously, as if she wasn’t sure she wanted to commit her studs to his mare, but felt obligated to issue the offer. “Caralon’s Phantom and Desert Shadow are both excellent, healthy quarter horse studs.”
“That would be fine if I was just interested in breeding and selling, but I want to train and show them, too. There’s a champion reining stud I’m interested in.”
“Really?” The one word was faint, her smile stiff.
Tyler nodded. He sensed Brianne’s resistance, had anticipated it even. “He’s Roman Warrior of Eckerly, and has excellent bloodlines.”
Brianne smoothed her palm over Jussie’s silky, warm coat. “Good bloodlines don’t come cheap, Tyler.”
“No, but the payoff is worth the cost,” he argued mildly. “I plan to train the foal to show in its third year and eventually build up a good, solid line for pleasure and reining.”
Brianne took a calming breath, hating the anxiety choking her. “We don’t train the horses for show here.” Her tone was firm, unyielding.
Tyler raised a brow. “Whitmore Acres used to show the cutting and reining horses.”
The challenge in his tone made her nervous. “And you saw for yourself just how unsuccessful the reining operation was,” she said, slipping out of the stall.
Following her, he secured the latch. “Funny how my reining operation couldn’t support itself, yet it was Reed who nearly bankrupted the entire ranch.”
Stunned by his words, she stopped in the middle of the corridor. Slowly, she turned to face him. “How did you know about that?”
He approached her, looking sexy and too confident. A wild rebel. A dangerous renegade. A man who held her heart and didn’t even know it. He stopped in front of her. To Brianne’s immense relief he didn’t touch her. He didn’t have to. The heat emanating from him was stronger than a caress.
“Jasper told me,” he finally answered her.
“I should have known,” she said in disgust. Dragging her fingers through her hair, she turned and walked away. “Jasper talks too much.”
Tyler grasped Brianne’s arm, forcing her back around. “You’ve done a great job with the ranch, Brianne. Jasper has a lot of respect for you. That’s hard to come by.”
His touch singed her and brought on a rush of memories she didn’t wanted to acknowledge. Memories of him holding her, kissing her, loving her… “I couldn’t have turned the ranch around without Jasper’s support.”
His thumb caressed the sensitive skin just inside her elbow, causing her pulse to careen out of control. “I’m sorry you had to go through that all alone.”
His sincerity was the last thing she wanted. “Well, ease your conscience, Tyler,” she said, pulling her arm back from his grasp. “I came out of it just fine.”
“That you did,” he agreed, his voice dropping to a low, husky pitch. His heated gaze lowered to her mouth, and his head tilted to the side. “Are you sure you don’t have a boyfriend I need to worry about?”
Frowning at him, she ignored the subtle pressure in her belly and the longing tugging at a forgotten place deep inside her. “Why does it matter?”
Stepping toward her, he closed the distance between them and sifted both hands through her hair to cup the back of her head. His mouth curved in a devastatingly sexy smile. “Because I never make a move on a woman who’s taken.”