A Cowgirl's Secret - By Laura Marie Altom Page 0,16

a ball with his cousins and uncles. He’s never been on a ranch before, so for him, this is the equivalent of country Disney world.”

“Good.” Luke was happy for his son, but again peeved that Daisy had left him out of the family welcome. He’d had every right to be in attendance. No doubt that’s why she was here, trying to smooth things over.

Clearing her throat, she finally got around to closing her car door, and then gestured to the cabin’s front entry. “Mind if we get out of this heat? There’s something I’d like to, ah, run by you.”

“Sure. Come on in.” He held out his hand to help her up the few steps in those treacherous heels of hers, but she politely sidestepped him to tackle the job on her own. Classic Daisy.

He opened the door for her, thankful for the rush of cool air. “Best thing I ever did was outfit this old place with central heat and air.”

“No kidding.” She fanned herself. “Feels amazing. I’d forgotten how intense Oklahoma summers can be.”

“Yeah, well…” Covered in sweat and dust and grass clippings, he parked himself on the fieldstone hearth.

She chose his favorite armchair.

He said, “You had something to run by me?”

“I do.” The oddest look clouded her features. Sadness mixed with fear on top of…shame? She looked around. “You’ve worked miracles on this old place. When we were kids, it was practically abandoned. You and Dallas and Wyatt used to be so mean to Cash and I if we even came near your cabin. Made us wonder what kind of trouble was going on up here.”

He chuckled. “We did nearly burn the place down trying to build a still.” His mind’s eye saw Daisy the way she used to be. A nosy kid always underfoot. She’d been in the same grade as him in school, but because he was friends with her older brothers, Daisy had seemed younger. Then she’d grown. Gangly legs turned long and lean and sun-kissed. Tomboy-short hair morphed into luxurious waves that he’d loved running his fingers through. Daisy’s leaving had been a devastating blow. One he’d tried to solve by replacing her.

Tried being the key word.

“How could I forget?” she said with a faint smile. “Dallas mixed that firewater with my morning orange juice and somehow I was the one grounded for a week.”

They smiled at one another for a moment. Then Luke shook his head and asked, “So…how’s the move in going? I’m surprised you have time to reminisce with me over moonshine and a brother whom I can’t ever remember you being all that fond of.”

“You know I love Dallas.”

“Of course, you do. But do you like him?”

She looked away.

“He’s a great guy, Daisy. Solid through and through. Now that you’re back, you should try getting to know him the way a sister should.”

“I know,” she snapped.

“Why so defensive? It was just a suggestion.”

Standing, she headed for the door.

“Leaving? So soon?”

“I should never even have come.” Hand on the door latch, she had trouble getting it open.

“It sticks.” Behind her, brushing against her, he ever so deliberately placed his hand over hers, jimmying the hardware. Electricity sizzled between them, so hot it wasn’t a far stretch to fairly smell the nitrogen from a summer storm. It’d always been like that. Plenty of chemistry, but no communication. For an indulgent moment, Luke ignored the task at hand to focus on the sweet curve of Daisy’s back. The way she still fitted perfectly against him as if she’d been made solely for his pleasure.

“I have to go,” she said.

“Unpacking to do?”

She shook her head.

“Then what?” he asked in a voice hoarse with confusion as to why he was suddenly consumed with the elegant sweep of her neck.

“I’m not sure. I’m just busy. Very busy.” Was it wrong of him to have noticed she still hadn’t budged so much as an inch? Just as he’d always had a knack for understanding nature, he used to wield that same talent with her. Leaning against him, she sighed and confessed in a barely audible whisper, “Y-you have to know leaving you wasn’t easy. Point of fact, it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

“Then why’d you go?”

“I had no choice.”

“Liar.” With everything in him Luke wanted to spin her around and kiss her as if the past ten years didn’t hang between them like impenetrable curtains. But they did. Daisy Buckhorn never did anything without a reason, starting with parking her fancy car in his