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“I had hoped you might be glad to see me again.” Tara lifted her head, throwing it back with regrouped poise and making her voice sound as if she didn’t care. “I didn’t come to make you angry. It’s obvious I’m not welcome here.” She paused, holding his gaze for an eloquent second. “I know it took me a long time to finally accept your invitation to visit, but I did come. I thought that might mean something to you.”
His only reply was silence. As she made her turn to leave, the sun set fire to the black opal on her finger. The sight of it tore him loose from his rigid stand of indifference.
“Why are you still wearing the ring?” There was a betraying roughness in his voice, vibrating on an emotional edge.
Tara turned slowly back to face him, relaxing a little. And Ty knew he was still caught in the spell of her elusive beauty.
“Because you gave it to me,” she said. His eyes made a feature-by-feature study of her, down to the last mole. And the silence lengthened. “What are you thinking, Ty?”
“That you’re more beautiful than ever, but don’t drag any more strings in front of me to see if I’ll pounce at them,” he warned.
“That’s the second time you’ve accused me of toying with you.”
“Didn’t you?” The challenge was sudden and vehement, proof that she’d gotten through to him.
“Not consciously, no. Oh, I admit I made mistakes about what things were important to me. But, Ty—” Tara appealed to him in a half-bantering tone. “Isn’t a girl entitled to change her mind about something more than once?”
The pressure of the moment got to him. He emptied the steaming coffee from his cup onto the ground with a downward fling of his hand, needing to release some of the coiled energy inside him.
“You say i
t so easily. It’s just another game of yours. It was never a game with me. There hasn’t been a day that’s gone by that I haven’t thought of you—wanted you. Never a midnight sky that didn’t have your face in it. I never stopped wanting you. When Dad said your name a minute ago, I wanted you then.”
“But I’m here,” she insisted.
“You don’t understand” he insisted gruffly. “I wanted you, but the wounds were licked dry. They haven’t healed, they haven’t gone away, but the bleeding has stopped. I’m not going to have you open them up again.”
“Can I do that?” Tara mused playfully.
“You know damned well you can.” Ty was serious. “But I’m on the road to getting over you, and I want to stay on it.”
“Without looking back?” She let herself become serious. “Even when someone is calling for you?”
The shutters slipped, just for an instant letting her see his uncertainty. For her, the doubt fled. Reaching out, she grasped his roughly callused hand between her own.
“I didn’t come here to open old wounds, Ty. It could be I came to see if I could persuade you to propose to me again.”
“You already turned me down once. No, thanks.” The touch of her hands seemed to harden him again.
“Can’t you believe that I have realized I was wrong? Is it wanting too much to wish that I could have another chance?”
“So you can change your mind again?” Ty challenged. “I’ve been through that once, Tara. You’re not going to put me through it again.”
The wisdom of Eve made her wise enough to know it was time to draw back and not press the issue further. He had shown a moment’s uncertainty; she knew he was vulnerable. She withdrew her hands, smiling resignedly up at him.
“I’m only going to be here a couple of days,” she told him. “Daddy’s in Calgary on business. He’ll be coming back through on Wednesday to pick me up so we can fly back home. I wish there would have been time for you to show me around the ranch. After all you’ve told me about it, I would have liked the chance to see it with you.”
“Maybe another time.” Ty was relieved by her acceptance that he’d finished with the past and answered without thinking.
Immediately her dark eyes were dancing. “Does that mean I’ve been invited back?”
“It’s one of the unwritten rules of the West—never turn a visitor away from your door; you might need the hospitality reciprocated sometime.” He was careful not to make it sound like anything more than courtesy. “I stayed many times in your father’s home. You’re welcome to stay in mine.”
A lone rider approached the camp from the opposite direction of the herd. Range-alert, Ty noticed him and centered his gaze on the rider to identify him. Tara looked in the same direction to see what had distracted him.
“Is something wrong?” The rider looked like just another cowboy to Tara.
“No. Nothing’s wrong.” But Ty wondered what Culley O’Rourke was doing this far into Calder land.
