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She reached out and touched his cheek, her hand brushing against rough stubble.
“You’re human, Tate. It’s not an easy thing. Forgiveness is something that’s earned. I don’t expect to earn it all at once.” She smiled at him. “I consider it a major step in the right direction that we’re able to sit here talking like two old friends. And you have been merciful. And you have been kind.”
Tate met her gaze head-on and for a moment they got lost in each other’s eyes. The energy in the stables shifted as awareness flared between them. He reached out and swept her hair away from her face, his touch full of tenderness. Strong arms looped around her waist, pulling her into his soft embrace. Somehow she’d forgotten how safe she felt in Tate’s arms, how he was the only one who’d ever given her a soft place to fall. She’d missed their connection and the sense of security he’d always given her. She’d missed him.
He held her for a few moments before pulling away. She raised both of her hands and placed them on either side of his face, gazing intently into his beautiful blue eyes. If only, she thought, this perfect moment could last forever.
Tate leaned down, his face hovering over hers, his hands gripping her arms. Just as she thought he was going to place his lips over hers,
he abruptly moved away. She looked into Tate’ s troubled eyes—they were churning with emotion.
“I’m sorry about that,” he said, a dazed expression on his face.
“You don’t have to be sorry.” She tried to make eye contact with Tate, but he was looking everywhere but in her direction.
“I should never have tried to kiss you,” he said in a strangled voice, his eyes full of regret.
Chapter Seven
Tate combed his fingers through his dark mane of hair. “I’m not making excuses for almost kissing you, but seeing you, spending time together...it’s stirring up all kinds of emotions. I just don’t want us to get carried away and then regret it later.”
He made it sound as if kissing her would be a burden. A regret! Her cheeks burned with embarrassment. This was certainly the first time in her life someone had expressed regret about the possibility of kissing her. It prickled her pride and hurt her feelings at the same time. Right now all she wanted to do was make a quick exit and forget all about watching Fiddlesticks give birth. That way she could lick her wounds in private.
All of a sudden the stable doors flew open. A huge gust of wind blew inside, heralding the arrival of a figure draped in a soaking wet rain slicker. They stepped apart from each other, both acting as guilty as a fox raiding the chicken coop.
The hood of the rain slicker came down, revealing a disheveled looking Maggie Lynch. Her hair was coming undone from her bun and her glasses were fogged over with rain. Cassidy noticed she’d gotten a little rounder over the years and she was sporting a few gray hairs at her temples. Maggie had always reminded her of a beautiful china doll with her wide expressive eyes and her rounded cheeks. Nothing had changed in that regard. She was still striking.
“Tate, I came to tell you that they’ve upgraded the storm warning for this area. They’ve now issued a tropical storm warning,” she announced as she ambled toward them from the doorway. “It’s already raining like cats and dogs out there. I had no idea you had company.”
Her eyes went wide as soon as she got close enough to recognize Cassidy. She turned to Tate, a look of confusion overwhelming her doll-like features.
“Tate? What is she doing here?” Her voice came out hardened, rough around the edges. She didn’t sound at all the way Cassidy remembered.
Tate was eying his mother warily. “She came back home for a spell, Mama, to visit with her folks. I invited her to stay and watch the foal birth.”
Maggie’s gaze shifted back to Cassidy. She looked as if she’d had the biggest shock of her life.
Unsure of what to say or do, Cassidy’s home training took over. “Hello, Maggie.”
“Cassidy.” Maggie nodded her head in her direction, still looking a little dazed by her presence at Horseshoe Bend Ranch. “I haven’t laid eyes on you since the night of the accident when you picked Holly up at the house. The next time I saw my daughter she was lying broken and battered in an emergency room.” Her tone was terse and no-nonsense. “I didn’t see you at the hospital or the rehab appointments. You didn’t call the house once. Holly asked about you every day for three months straight. I just want to let you know you broke all of our hearts.”
“Mama! That’s enough!” Tate said in a raised tone. “She’s already acknowledged that she didn’t do the right thing.”
Cassidy reached out and placed her hand on his arm. “It’s okay. She’s just getting it off her chest.” Shame ate at her, the same way it had dozens of times before.
“No, it’s not okay.” He cast his mother an angry look. “At some point we all have to move past the anger...that includes you, Mama.”
“Cassidy should be making her way back home.” Maggie’s face was drained of color. She looked like she’d lost all her fight. “The storm has come earlier than predicted.”
Cassidy walked toward the barn’s entrance and looked through the partially opened door. The rain fell down in torrents, obscuring her view of the ranch. She could barely make out the corral in the distance. When had it started raining? Had she and Tate been so caught up in their own little world that they’d failed to notice the sudden onset of the storm?
She jumped as the crack of thunder boomed in the distance. A bolt of lightning streaked across the darkening sky. She looked up at the heavens, her nerves frazzled, torn between being a part of something beautiful, and fear. More than anything she’d wanted to stick around the ranch and watch the birthing of the foal. But now because she’d waited too late, she would be forced to drive home in driving winds and rain.
The very thought of it made her freeze up. It was pouring outside now, and the wind was kicking up something fierce. Cassidy hated driving in rain-slickened conditions. Never mind a torrential downpour. It gave her the shivers, reminding her too much of the night she’d tried so hard to forget.
For so long she’d suppressed the memory. Now it sliced like a sharp knife through the hazy veil she’d placed over it. That night flashed before her eyes like footage from a movie reel.
The four roses had been enjoying a girls’ night out. They’d enjoyed dinner at the Falls Diner followed by bowling at Lucky’s. She’d recently gotten her license and had wanted to drive her girlfriends around in the used 4Runner her parents had given her for her birthday. For months now Holly and Regina had taken turns driving them around, since she and Jenna hadn’t yet passed their road tests. Tonight she’d wanted to be the one carrying the keys and picking all the girls up and dropping them back home. It was a rite of passage she’d looked forward to for months.
