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“I slept a little on the plane.” Catie’s mouth cracked open in a wide yawn.
“Well, well, little Catie-bug.” Catie’s father, Wayne Bay, entered the room, big as a bear and just as cuddly.
“Daddy!” Catie ran into his arms.
“Let me look at you, sweetheart.”
“You just saw me at Christmas, Daddy.”
“True enough, but let me look at you back in your own home. It’s sure been lonely around here the past four years. Did you see Ladybird?”
“Of course. Harp and I stopped at the corral before we came up to the house. I had to see my precious. You’ve taken great care of her, Daddy.”
“Thank the hands, darlin’. They knew you’d be back eventually and you’d check her out real good. Feel up to a ride?”
Catie yawned again. “I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but not tonight. I need to get to bed. I’m absolutely exhausted.”
“What about Mama’s dinner? And Angie?”
“All right, all right. Can I just lie down a minute? Why don’t you all come get me when Angie shows up.”
“Sounds fair to me,” her father said, grabbing one of the suitcases Harper had set in the foyer. “Harper and I’ll bring up your luggage. The rest of your stuff arrived yesterday.”
“Good,” Catie said. “I’ll see you all in a little while.”
She trudged up the stairs to her room and flopped on her canopy bed, all pink and ruffled. Yuck. Had she really been the girl who lived in this room? Horse posters everywhere. Tomorrow she’d think about redecorating. But tonight…
She yawned again, her lungs expanding. Closing her eyes, she remembered soft, full masculine lips traveling up her jawline to her earlobe.
Mmm. Chad McCray. She slipped into a dream.
Chapter Four
Catie’s family had taken pity on her and let her sleep through the night, even after Angie had shown up. The next morning, she showered and dressed. After a delicious Colorado breakfast of a Denver omelet made with fresh eggs gathered that morning and a thin cut Angus steak from the Bay Ranch on the western slope, Catie took Ladybird on a long ride, recapturing the beauty of her family’s property in Bakersville. How had she stayed away so long? She and Ladybird got reacquainted, and within a half hour, they were riding as though she’d never left. She moved fluidly with her mare, galloping over the hilly knolls of her family’s property. After two hours, she found herself at the border of McCray Landing, Chad’s property, which he owned jointly with his brothers, Zach and Dallas. McCray Landing was the biggest and most successful beef ranch in Colorado. Bay Crossing, on the western slope, wasn’t as big, but Catie’s family also owned this property outside Bakersville which they called Cha Cha Ranch—for Caitlyn, Harper, and Angelina. Cha Cha—God, she hated that name—was small potatoes compared to McCray Landing. It had been gifted to Maria by a distant uncle when Catie was a toddler. The family had decided to make the move because there were better chances for good schooling for the Bay kids near the big city of Denver. Hands now ran Bay Crossing, and Wayne and Harper traveled to the western slope several times a year to keep up with things. Angie and Harper—at eleven and nine years older than Catie, respectively—remembered living on the western slope, but to Catie, Cha Cha was home and always would be.
The vastness of McCray landing still amazed Catie. Here she was, standing on the border, and she saw no cattle, no houses, no nothing. The ranch was that big. Dallas, Zach, and Chad all had their own places, though Dallas and his family had moved into the big ranch house when Laurie McCray had passed on a year ago. A tear trickled down Catie’s cheek. Best friends with Catie’s own mother, Laurie had been one of Catie’s idols growing up.
She sniffed. She should have come home for Laurie’s funeral. Maria had told her Laurie would understand how busy she was, but an anvil of guilt settled in Catie’s stomach as she looked upon the land that had once been Laurie’s.
She should have been here.
For Laurie, and for her own mother, who had lost her best friend.
And for Chad.
As the baby of the McCray boys, he had been very close to his mother.
But would he have wanted her here?
Tears fell again, for a different reason this time. For the kiss Chad had told her to forget.
She’d try like hell, she would, but she knew right now she’d never forget the intoxication of that meeting of mouths.
“Come on, Ladybird.” Catie hugged the mare with her thighs, urging her into a trot. “Let’s get back. I have a party to get ready for.”
She’d look her best tonight. Not like some reincarnated dishrag who’d just spent over ten hours on a plane and two more hours in Harper’s truck. Tonight, Chad would notice her again. She was determined to get another kiss, even if he wanted to forget the first one.
* * *
