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“I thought you were going to stay here until after the Fiesta.” His voice rumbled like a threatening volcano. “Staying here saves your having to pay rent and—”
“And gets Hutch’s hopes up. It can’t be good for him to spend so much time and energy throwing us together. Eventually, he’s going to get frustrated. And angry.”
Ty thrust a hand through his hair. “I think we were better off when we were ignoring the kid,” he muttered. “Where the hell did all this talk of leaving come from?”
“You know it’s always been in the works.”
“Look, as long as we’re here, we might as well put the time to good use. You keep saying you don’t want to get involved again, but we already are.”
“No—”
“The real question,” he said, cutting her off, “is why you’re so afraid to admit it. What harm will it do to confess having feelings for me?”
What harm? It would destroy her, that’s what harm it’d do. When the passion died, as it was bound to, it would leave two strangers sitting in a room staring at each other. Perhaps there’d be other children by then, in addition to Hutch. More children to be made miserable when Ty got itchy feet or grew tired of seeing her face across the breakfast table each morning.
“It would cause too much pain when the relationship ended. And it would cause Hutch irreparable harm.”
“Who says it’s going to end?”
She leaped to her feet. “I do. And it will. It always does.”
“That’s the biggest load of bull—”
The door swung open and Lorenzo walked in. He took one look at Ty and Cassidy and the expressions on their faces, did a quick one-eighty and hustled back outside.
“No, wait!”
Cassidy erupted toward the door. Along the way, she somehow managed to snarl her feet around a coil of rope and did a header straight for the floor. Ty caught her at the last possible instant. With a sigh, he tossed her over one shoulder and thrust the door open with the other.
“Sorry to be so clumsy,” she told his back in a tiny, subdued voice.
“Clumsy? You?” Ty scooped his Stetson up off the floor and crushed it down on top of his head. “Hadn’t noticed.”
Ty stoodon the porch and gazed out over his property with intense satisfaction. The past two and a half weeks had been the most interesting, frustrating and pleasurable he’d ever experienced. He’d become accustomed to having Cassidy nearbyand—despite Hutch’s antics—found the boy’s inquisitive nature and undisguised enjoyment of their time together more fulfilling than he could have imagined. It fueled hissoul.
Cassidy joined him on the porch, carrying a pair of steaming mugs. “It’s chilly this morning. Ithought you could use this to take the edge off.”
“Thanks,” he said, accepting the coffee. “But don’t let this April cold snap fool you. It’ll warm up soon enough. By this afternoon, it’ll be on the high side of eighty-five.”
“Wish I owned a swimsuit.”
He grinned. “Not necessary for my benefit. Ican make sure you have the pool area all to yourself and you can enjoy the fine art of skinny dipping. I’ll even give you a few pointers if you want.”
“Gee, thanks.”
He sidestepped her elbow and even salvaged most of his coffee. Sheer self-protection had taught him to stay fast on his feet these past weeks. With a few years under his belt or a decade or four, he’d have a black belt in Cassidy dodging. He looked forward to it. “Don’t forget about our Fiesta date,” he thought to remind her. “We’ll be leaving after lunch today and staying at the Menger for a couple of nights.”
“I had forgotten,” she admitted. He could tell something was bothering her by the way she gnawed on her lower lip. She finally turned the poor thing loose, leaving it plump and red and tempting as hell. “Is this really necessary? Can’t we have our dates here instead of going to the expense of a hotel?”
“Here everyone’s watching. There I’d have some privacy with you and wouldn’t have to spend all day checking over my shoulder to see what stunt your son’s about to pull.” He didn’tgive her a chance to argue the point. “Give it up, Cassidy. Hutch bought the Fiesta special and that’s what he’s getting. The reservations are already made and Willie agreed to stay with the boy while we’re gone. She’ll arrive in time for lunch.”
A frown formed between her brows warning that she hadn’t given up the argument quite yet. “I don’t know, Ty. Ithink we should talk about th—” She broke off, shading her eyes against the early morning sun. “Speaking of Hutch...what’s he doing?”
Ty squinted. No question, the kid was up to no good. He busily passed something from hand to hand as he slipped across the yard. As focused as he was on whatever he held, he hadn’t noticed them yet. The boy stepped into a patch of sunlight and Ty caught a flash of yellow andred.
“Oh, sh—” He vaulted over the porch rail and loped toward Hutch, fighting for calm so he wouldn’t frighten theboy.
Progress Report
