other turds who could give her the most trouble. She’d become a cautionary tale to Liv and him about not getting involved too deep in their own relationships.
Maybe that was what’d happened again—another messy relationship for Tracy—but this time it’d led to something more permanent. Like another kid.
Harley repeated his “Hell.”
Liv repeated her “Holy crap.” But then she shook her head. “Isn’t Mom too old to get knocked up?”
Harley gave his sister a flat look to remind her that not only didn’t he know that sort of thing but it also wasn’t something he wanted to know. Still, he had to consider it.
“Maybe it was someone who just dropped by for a visit,” Liv speculated.
He hoped she was referring to the person who’d left the pee stick and not someone who’d possibly gotten their mom pregnant. But the moment the thought went through his head, Harley got a bad feeling. Apparently so did Liv because at the same time they blurted out, “Marty Jameson.”
It wasn’t a stretch for them to come up with that name when connected to a pregnancy test. Marty Jameson was an aging country-rock music star who’d fathered more than a few kids, including the ones with his ex-wife. He was staying in cabin number three on the ranch, something he did from time to time. Supposedly, he was there to work on some new tunes, but maybe he’d taken a break from music writing to knock up yet one more woman.
“I’ll talk to Mom about this,” Liv volunteered.
Harley had no trouble hearing the subtext in that. Liv thought she could ask the question with more finesse. And she probably could. But he didn’t want to wait around to hear a rehashing of that conversation. He wanted to get to the bottom of this right now.
With Liv by his side, he hurried out of the bathroom and headed straight for Tracy’s office. She wasn’t there and neither was Darla, who was on her lunch break. However, Harley did spot someone through the large bay windows that fronted the house.
Amelia Wade.
Seeing her didn’t nearly cause a heart attack as the pregnant stick had, but Harley got a jolt of a different kind. A good one. One that arrowed right to his groin and other parts of him.
He’d had a thing for Amelia since he was old enough to have things, and the years hadn’t cooled it down one bit. Thankfully, it was the same for her. Amelia worked for a cattle broker in Wrangler’s Creek, which was about thirty miles away, but she often made trips to the ranch since Harley and his mom bought livestock from her boss.
Harley usually found a reason to go to her place, too, but if weeks went by without them contacting each other, neither of them got bent out of shape about it. That was because Amelia was no more interested in anything serious than he was. Between the two of them, they had enough emotional baggage to derail any hint of serious.
“I’ll find Mom,” Liv said when she followed Harley’s gaze to the parking lot, where Amelia had just exited her truck.
That pulled him out of his gawking, something he was prone to do whenever Amelia was around. The woman was definitely a looker without even trying. Amelia managed to make worn jeans, boots and a plain shirt look amazing. Ditto for her long brown hair that she had scooped away from her face and into a ponytail. Her brown eyes were in the same amazing category, too, but today she had them covered with sunglasses.
“Don’t talk to Mom about the test until I’m with you,” Harley warned his sister.
Liv certainly didn’t agree to that, and she headed to the back of the house to look for their mother, just as Amelia came through the front door.
Harley experienced more of that groin tightening, and despite the possible situation involving his mom, he found himself smiling at Amelia.
“I didn’t know you were coming to Rustler’s Ridge today,” he greeted, walking toward her.
Harley wanted to kiss her, but then that wasn’t a new reaction. Nor was it one Amelia would appreciate. She didn’t exactly keep their friends with benefits relationship a secret, but she didn’t announce it to the world, either. Even though her folks knew she was seeing Harley, she wouldn’t want them kissing in public and becoming fodder for gossip. Gossip that her parents wouldn’t like one little bit.
The Wades might overlook their high-society-born daughter working for a cattle broker, but