A Cowgirl's Secret - By Laura Marie Altom Page 0,15

you’ve ever known, but your own damned son.”

“Hon…” Hand on his forearm, Josie urged, “that’s enough. Daisy had her reasons.”

“Reasons? Like there could ever be a logical excuse for pulling something like this?” After a sarcastic snort, he wrenched free of his wife to storm off toward the barn.

“Mom, I—” How many times had Daisy rehearsed this moment in her mind? Literally thousands. Yet words wouldn’t come. Every horrible thing her big brother had said of her was right. Living with the guilt had become debilitating, interfering with everything from her work to raising Kolt. Each time she looked at her son, she saw his father’s eyes, her own father’s features.

“He’s so handsome—Kolt. Seeing him… It reminds me how much we’ve missed. How much your actions stole from us. I’m sorry. I thought I was prepared for this—meeting my grandson, but as happy as I am, I’m also beyond disappointed in you. More like disgusted. You and I used to be so close. We told each other everything. Did you think I wouldn’t understand? Not do everything within my power to help? You were only having a baby. Around Weed Gulch, it happens all the time.”

Daisy wasn’t sure how to respond. While her conscience nudged her to reveal the truth finally, fear kept her lips pressed tight. Daisy had known full well her mother would’ve moved heaven and earth to help her during her pregnancy. But she would have encouraged her to marry Luke, and that would mean staying on the ranch. She loved this place, but Henry was there and she couldn’t have faced carrying a child and seeing him every day. Plus, what if she’d had a girl? What if he’d tried starting the sick cycle all over again?

Chapter Five

Luke Montgomery killed the Weed Eater’s motor, lowering his hat brim, shielding the worst of the sun from his eyes. From his vantage atop the hill overlooking his family land, he could see a rising dust cloud, alerting him company was coming. At this distance, he didn’t recognize the car, but in his line of work, that wasn’t all that unusual.

Knowing he had a full five minutes before the vehicle reached his place, Luke continued with his chore. With his Montana trip it’d been weeks since he’d done any work around the cabin, and truthfully, it felt good having a few days to himself.

As the vehicle drew nearer, he toyed with the notion of at least putting on a shirt, but in the end figured it was too damned hot to bother. At only nine in the morning, he’d hoped the predicted hundred-degree temperatures would hold off long enough to at least let him finish taming the yard. Ha.

By the time the dust-covered Mercedes stopped on his drive, Luke had finished the areas around the cabin’s front porch and most of the sides. He shut off the two-cycle engine. No way was he tackling the backyard until early evening.

A woman exited the car. No, not just any woman—the one who’d forever changed his life’s course. In the time since he and Daisy had been reacquainted, he’d never seen her look like this.

In the old days, he’d have called out something flirty, like declaring her a cool drink of water. Now, he merely wondered why she’d bothered coming by without his son.

“Where’s Kolt?”

“Cash took him and the girls to the swimming hole.” Emerging like a cautious bloom from her air-conditioned ride, she was the antithesis of his simple, country way of life. Her big-city garb consisted of a silky white blouse and pearls paired with a pencil-thin dark skirt and heels tall enough to bring the top of her head even with his whisker-stubbled jaw.

Acting on pure instinct, he leaned the Weed Eater against the nearest oak, and then closed the distance between them. He might not like her, but he was incapable of staying away. “When are you planning on letting me see him? Dallas called yesterday, not an hour after you got here. Might’ve been nice had you at least invited me to share in his first Weed Gulch dinner.”

“I came over to clear the air between us, apologize for the umpteenth time, but when it comes to you, I can’t do a damned thing right.”

“True. But being a gentleman, I won’t stop you from tryin’.” Long dark hair his fingertips itched to touch had been imprisoned in a fancy knot. Back when she’d been his, he’d liked her to wear it down. “Kolt settling in okay?”

“Yes. Having