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“I mean it,” he said softly. Butch hadn’t so much as glanced in her direction for two years, but when she reached eighteen, the brakes had come off and Diana Thorston made it clear what she wanted—well, which part of Butch’s anatomy she wanted, and where. She’d waited until her dad had left the ranch before tugging him by the hand toward the barn.
At least she didn’t lead me there by my cock.Butch was sure all the hands knew what was going on, and he lived in fear of someone whispering in her dad’s ear. Calvin Thorston was nobody’s fool. But nothing was ever said, and if he knew about the shenanigans in his barn, he never let on.
“Would you have asked him?” she murmured.
“Hmm?”
Diana peered up at him. “Would you have asked my dad if you could marry me?”
Shit.
At the age of eighteen, he’d made himself a promise to be a better person, and good people didn’t tell lies.
“No, honey.”
She stiffened. “Oh.”
Christ, he hated being the cause of that pinched look, but this was no time for seeing the world through rose-colored spectacles. Tomorrow she’d be someone else’s bride.
She needs to forget about me.
Butch trailed a finger over her soft cheek. “Don’t you go pretending you’re in love with me, because I think we both know that’s a crock. You were itching to fuck, and I was handy.” Her breathing hitched, and he nodded. “You know I’m right. Plus, there was the thrill of getting caught. I was your little rebellion. And that was fine by me. We got what we wanted. But the plain truth of the matter is this—your daddy wouldn’t let you marry me.”
“Because you work for him? Is that it?”
Butch squeezed her hand. “No, because you’re better off without me.” He let go and tilted her chin up with his fingertips. “I wouldn’t be good for you, darlin’.”
And wasn’t that the God’s honest truth?
She gazed into his eyes for the longest time, and every second tightened that fist around his heart. Her lack of a response told him plenty, however.
Diana was nobody’s fool either.
Except he hadn’t told her the whole truth, and he knew it.
“Will you be there tomorrow?”
He shook his head. “I can’t. But you won’t miss me. You’ll have too much on your mind to think about me, and that’s as it should be on your wedding day. I’m not gonna be around to distract you.” He inclined his head toward the upper open window, from which a beam of sunlight pointed at them like an arrow, piercing the barn’s semi-darkness, motes of dust dancing in it in a lazy motion. “I think they’re back.”
She was up on her feet in a heartbeat, and he joined her. He gave her the once over, making sure no hay lingered. Diana came up to his shoulder, nineteen and as beautiful as the June day outside. She locked her arms around his neck.
“One last kiss, then?”
He knew what she wanted, but he just couldn’t.
Butch kissed her forehead. “You’re gonna be happy. You wait and see.” Then he patted her on the butt. “Now git.”
Diana clambered down the ladder from the hay loft, walked across the straw-covered floor, and out of the door without a single backward glance.
“Butch? You in there?”
Zeeb Nolan’s voice broke through, and Butch gave himself a mental shake.
“Yup.”
Zeeb poked his head around the door. “What in the Sam Hill are you doin’ in here? You not plannin’ on working this morning?” His lazy grin was a slice of normality Butch needed right then.
“Just ruminating.” Butch walked toward him.
