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“He hung around you for years hoping for any crumbs you would throw his way. But you never noticed him or any man until Jake came along and rocked your world.” She swallowed hard. “I’m not like Steve. I’d rather die first,” she whispered.
“Your situation is entirely different from mine. As for Colt Brenner, he’s thrown you more than a crumb,” her sister insisted.
“Wrong. Let me ask you a question. Who suggested I stay on a few days to do some of Jake’s legwork here? Colt or Jake?”
“Jake.”
“Don’t you see? He didn’t leave Colt a choice.”
“I have a feeling he’s secretly pleased the way things are turning out.”
“No. He’s been single sixteen years for a reason.”
Maggie’s expression sobered. “If you really believe that, then check into a motel in Bozeman after you drop us off at the airport and get busy running down evidence for Jake. You know I’ll do my part. Once the objective has been accomplished and Colt doesn’t need your services any longer, walk away from him and see what happens.”
Nothing will happen. But no one gave sounder advice than Maggie. Get the job done you’ve been asked you to do, then get out!
On a gush of love for her sister, Kathryn hugged her hard. “You’re brilliant! I’m ready to go downstairs and dig in.”
“Good.” With their arms around each other, they left the bedroom.
Kathryn knew the way to the family room, but the second she entered it, her heart rate went into hyperdrive at the sight of the two attractive males talking in deep concentration in front of the fire.
She felt a fresh stab of pain because she could sense Colt was anxious to catch up to his ex-wife. Natalie Brenner had to have been unforgettable for him to have married her within two weeks of meeting her and then go all these years without marrying again.
Chapter Seven
At noon, Jake closed the notebook he’d brought to keep a record. His steel-blue gaze shot to Colt’s. “We’ve accomplished as much as we can for the moment.”
Colt glanced at his watch. Two and a half hours of discussing strategies with these remarkable people had flown by. Once during their session around the dining-room table, Kathryn had excused herself for a few minutes. Except for Noreen who’d supplied food and coffee, they’d worked undisturbed.
“To tell you how grateful I am for your time and help wouldn’t begin to cover how I feel.”
Maggie smiled. Both women were so gorgeous, Colt could only marvel. “We’ll all hope it doesn’t take as long as it did to find my baby sister.”
Kathryn got up from the table. “Twenty-six years will put Allie and Matt at forty-one.” She’d done the math. “We can do better, right? I’ll drop you at the airport so I can have a car.” She looked at her family without including Colt.
If it was intentional, he didn’t like it. “My Xterra’s at your disposal while you’re here, Kathryn.”
She glanced at him. “I appreciate that, but I understand Noreen uses it to shop and pick up the kids from the school bus. Your routine shouldn’t be interrupted because of me. I’ll be scouting around talking to people on my own timetable.”
“That’s settled, then,” Jake broke in. “I understand Noreen is over at her house. Please tell her how much we enjoyed the food.”
“I’ll be happy to.”
“Shall we go, darling?” Jake rose to his feet to help his wife.
Colt followed the three of them through the house to the back entrance, where Kathryn put on her parka too fast for him to be of use. He decided it was a habit she’d developed over all the years she’d been forced to look out for herself.
“You live in paradise and have an absolutely beautiful home!” Maggie exclaimed on the way to the car. “This valley opens up like a stairway to heaven.”
“Kathryn thinks it should be called the Cloud Bottom Ranch.”
Laughter rippled out of Maggie. “That sounds like something my imaginative sister would say.”
He stole a covert glance at Kathryn, whose cheeks looked flushed, before she climbed in the backseat behind Maggie. Jake shook his hand one more time before getting in the driver’s seat.
Colt moved closer and tapped on Kathryn’s window so she’d open it. He stared down into eyes as blue as Montana’s big sky country. “The kids will be home by three-thirty. It’ll make their day to find you here.”
“I’ll be back in time.”
Not by a flicker of an eyelash or an inflection in her voice could he detect what was going on inside her. To his irritation, she closed the window, putting a barrier between them when he wasn’t ready for it. But as he turned away, he noticed the rapid throbbing of the pulse at her throat. It couldn’t be the altitude doing all that to her.
He waved off his guests before heading back inside the house, but once at his desk in the den he couldn’t concentrate on the accounts. After an hour, he gave up.
Damn if it wasn’t happening to him …
That deep ache only the right woman could arouse, with her alluring scent and mysterious smile. How could he not crave the accidental brush of her hip against his or her sudden slight intake of breath in an unguarded moment?
Colt couldn’t begin to count the ways the voluptuous shape of her mouth entranced him—or the way the unexpected compassion in those blue depths for someone else’s stolen child could move him to tears.
When the phone rang, he clicked on without checking the caller ID and almost said her name. “Hello?”
“How does it feel to be another year older?”
“Sherry?”
She laughed. “Who else? You sound odd.”
“I’m afraid my mind was on something else.” Someone else.
“I thought I’d better get in a phone call before you start celebrating. Did our presents reach you in time?”
“They came two days ago, but after the great Thanksgiving you gave us, you shouldn’t have sent anything.”
“Colt! You’re impossible!”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful.”
“I know,” she murmured. “I wish we could be there to celebrate with you, but Bob couldn’t get away. This is his busy time doing audits.”
“But you’ll be coming to our place for Christmas, right?” Except that he couldn’t think that far ahead. He was still working on the countdown until Kathryn returned from town.
“You couldn’t keep us away. Now tell me what’s being planned for your birthday?”
“I’m not sure. The kids have been cooking up something with Noreen.” As for my surprise …
“Then it’s bound to be special because they love you to death. So do I.”
“The feeling’s mutual, Sherry. Thanks for making my day. I’ll phone you tomorrow and give you the details.”
“You’d better!”
After they rang off, he realized he couldn’t stay in the house any longer without climbing walls knowing Kathryn wasn’t far away. Why not surprise the kids and be there waiting for them when school was out? Pushing himself away from his desk, he strode through the house for his hat and jacket.
Once in the car, he phoned Noreen and told her to be on the watch for Kathryn. He was going to pick up the twins.
THE SILVER SPUR MOTEL on the outskirts of Bozeman provided exactly what Kathryn wanted. After seeing Maggie and Jake off at the airport, she registered at the front desk before driving around to Number Ten. The tiny room, with its log cabin walls, felt warm and she could park in front of it. No fuss, no bother.
While she’d been with her family and Colt earlier, she’d excused herself long enough to put her suitcase back in the trunk and bring in the presents for him. Once his birthday party was over, she’d tell the twins she had business in town and leave.
He’d hired Jake to track down Natalie. Though Kathryn would be helping her brother-in-law, she refused to use it as an excuse to stay at the ranch house. Colt didn’t want her there, so the less interaction she had with his children the better. This was the best plan.
Before she drove back to the ranch, she took off her navy two-piece wool suit and changed into jeans and a café au lait long-sleeved blouse with a cream-colored crocheted vest. She’d already styled her hair in a French braid that morning and decided to leave the gold studs in her ears.
In deference to her cowboy mood, Kathryn pulled on the brown leather boots she always wore riding with her family. She liked the idea of being taller. It would put her at less of a disadvantage around Colt.
A fresh coat of coral frost lipstick, a little peach-scented lotion and she was ready to go.
With every mile that brought her closer to the ranch, she could feel more heat radiating from her body. By the time she’d parked the rental car at the side of the house, she was a trembling mass of emotions. The fact that the Xterra was missing only heightened her sense of anticipation.
Noreen greeted her at the back door. “I saw you coming. Colt’s gone for the twins. Come in and make yourself comfortable.”
Kathryn followed her through the house to the dining room. “Something smells delicious.”
“Matt asked me to make barbecued spareribs. It’s one of Colt’s favorite meals.”
“It’s one of mine, too. How can I help you?”
“Everything’s ready except the decorations. Allie had visions of blue and white streamers hanging crisscross fashion above the table. Ed was going to do it, but he’s been delayed. I brought in the ladder.”
“I’m taller. Put me to work.”
“That would be wonderful.”
Kathryn eyed things critically. “Let’s fasten them from the chandelier to the window frames. I’ll twist them first.”
Before long they’d transformed the room. She climbed back down. “There!”
Noreen beamed. “It’s perfect.”
“I think so, too. Where does the ladder go?”
“On a couple of hooks in the storeroom behind the kitchen. If you’re going to do that, I’ll run back to the other house and get changed.”
“Go ahead.”
Grabbing the leftover streamers and tape, Kathryn carried everything through the kitchen to a doorway at the other end. She turned on the light and found an empty space for the crepe paper on one of the shelves. There were hooks on the opposite wall. As she started for them, she heard Colt’s voice coming from the kitchen. “Noreen?”
“She’s at her house!”
The next thing Kathryn knew, he’d moved behind her and put the ladder in place. Her mouth went dry because she was trapped between his arms with her back against his chest. The strong pounding of his heart had already reset the rhythm of hers. Heat enveloped her body.
“Colt, you can let me go now.”
“I could, but I don’t want to,” he whispered against the side of her neck. His hands slid around her waist, bringing her closer so there was no air between them. “It isn’t often I find such a tempting morsel in my storeroom. Surely you wouldn’t deny me this simple pleasure on my birthday.”
She sucked in her breath. “The twins will see us.”
His warm breath at her nape sent sensation after exquisite sensation through her nervous system. “They dashed upstairs to do the last of their clandestine plotting.”
“D-do they know I’m here?” she stammered helplessly.
“They saw the car, but assumed it was someone on ranch business waiting for me. Allie begged me to get rid of them fast.”
“You should take her advice.”
“Not until I’ve been given my birthday kiss.”
“That wouldn’t be a good idea.” Her voice shook.
“I disagree.” He turned her around so fast her head swam. While she was still reeling, he cupped her hot cheeks with his hands and lowered his mouth to hers.
Kathryn had wanted this for so long she melted against him, but his tender kiss was over before he’d allowed her to kiss him back. She moaned as he relinquished her lips. “That’s for being an angel to my little girl. I’ll never forget.”
Gratitude. Colt had just bestowed the kiss of death.
They both heard excited voices that were growing louder. His hands slowly fell away from her face. “I guess it’s time to reveal the mystery guest.”
Struggling to recover from the pain, Kathryn rushed into the kitchen at the same time the twins made an appearance.
“Katy!” She saw them staring at her and Colt as if they couldn’t believe their eyes.
“Your father hired my brother-in-law to track down your mother. Jake asked me to do some research for him in Bozeman, so I’m here for a day or two.”
“Yes!” Allie squealed.
Realizing they needed more of an explanation, she said, “Since Ed was late, I volunteered to string up the decorations.”
“I helped Kathryn put the ladder away,” their father added in a wry tone.
At that remark, she might have blushed if Colt had kissed her with passion, but he wasn’t capable of that emotion, at least not with her. The only way to handle this was to be a friend to him and his children.
“Thank goodness your dad arrived in time to prevent it from falling on my head!”
Matt let out a bark of laughter. Allie said, “The dining room looks awesome.”
Kathryn smiled. “I can’t take any credit. Noreen said the streamers were your idea.”
