The Secret Heir of Sunset Ranch

They both shook their heads. “Okay, I’ll be back with your coffee in a sec.”

Kat watched the waitress walk away and then turned to Justin. “You were about to tell me why you lied to me that weekend.”

The muscles in Justin’s face pinched tight, a distant look in his eyes hinting at regret. “I lost a bet.”

Kat blinked. “You lost a bet? What does that mean?”

He leaned forward, his elbows flat on the table. The material of his navy shirt pulled taut across his broad shoulders, and it wasn’t hard to remember what he’d looked like with a shirt off. She could almost feel the sensation of touching his golden skin and ripped muscles under her fingertips now. “It means Brett beat me at arm wrestling. Best of five.”

Kat didn’t like where this was going. “So?”

“So, I made this stupid bet with him, because I never thought I’d have to pay up. He was egging me on in front of my men until I finally thought, what the hell. I’d never lost a match to Brett before. If he won, I’d have to trade places with him the next time we had time off. We’d switch wallets—and the cash and credit cards inside—and assume each other’s identity with...” Justin’s lips snapped shut. He ran his fingers over his mouth and winced.

Kat caught on. “With women?”

He gave her a slow nod.

“So, the weekend you spent with me was to pay off a bet? You used me...lied to me...had no intention of ever telling me the truth?”

Something hard flickered in his eyes. “I didn’t use you. If you remember correctly, I didn’t pressure you for anything. And you made it clear you wanted no ties to a hick from a small town, remember? We didn’t exchange so much as cell phone numbers when I walked out your door.”

That was beside the point. He’d been amazing that weekend and by the time the second night rolled around, Kat couldn’t imagine not sharing her bed with him. He’d been compassionate and kind and patient and just what she’d needed at that moment in her life.

Maybe he’d assumed more than Brett’s identity that weekend; maybe Justin had taken on Brett’s personality, as well. That weekend helped heal some of her old wounds. She’d needed a strong shoulder and an understanding heart. It hadn’t been all fun and games between them, it had been unexpectedly more. “I’d put it a little gentler than that, Justin. But yes, it’s true. I couldn’t get romantically involved with a man that wouldn’t—”

“Serve your purposes?”

She tried harder to explain. “Didn’t fit into the life I wanted. Don’t forget, you lied about who you were and that might have altered my decision about the weekend.”

“You mean if you’d known I was a loaded Nevada rancher, you might have taken me to bed one night sooner?”

Her cheeks burned. His accusation was a hard slap to her face. He wasn’t going to get away with it. “You have no right to judge me. You have no idea who I am and what I’ve been through. I didn’t ask you to come over to me at that hotel bar.”

“Why wouldn’t I want to meet a beautiful woman? It was obvious you were waiting for someone. You kept checking your watch. I figured some jerk stood you up. And I was right. He didn’t give a crap that your mother had recently passed away, did he?”

That jerk had been Michael Golden, the heir to the entire Golden Hotel chain. It was a blind date. Later, she’d found out from her friend that he’d been called out of town suddenly and hadn’t gotten word to her. She’d been waiting for him more than an hour when Justin strolled up to her table.

The waitress walked over and set their coffee cups down. Taking one look at the intense discussion at the table, she lowered her voice. “I’ll be in the back if you need anything else.”

Justin gave her a sharp nod and she strode away.

Steam wafted up from Kat’s ceramic mug of decaf and she moved it out of her line of vision. “I told you that night, I didn’t date soldiers.”

“We told each other a lot of things.”

“But what I said to you, what I confessed during those two days that we were together was the truth. You can’t say the same, can you?

He pursed his lips and hung his shoulders. “No.”

She leaned back in her seat and stared at him.

He stared back. “I’d like to know something. How hard did you try to find Brett?”

Her lids lowered. “I wrote to him and he never answered back. I don’t know if he ever received my letter.”

“One letter was all he was worth to you?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“We were stationed in a forward operating base in Delaram, the third battalion of the 4th Marines. I know I mentioned that.”

“All I heard you say was Afghanistan. I didn’t want to know the details. I didn’t remember anything else. It doesn’t really matter now. Clearly, it wasn’t Brett I slept with that night. It was you. But I didn’t know that because you lied about your identity.”

Justin shook his head. “I didn’t know we’d conceived a child.”

“Obviously,” she said. “I wasn’t planning on having a child, either, but I wouldn’t trade having Connor in my life for anything.” A surge of emotion brought tears to her eyes. “My son is everything to me.”

When she’d finally looked Brett’s family up and come to Silver Springs to do the right thing, Aunt Mattie had given her the news of Brett’s death. Brett had died in action, and Kat couldn’t help but think if she’d tried harder to find him, he wouldn’t have taken chances. Maybe he wouldn’t have died at all and maybe Mattie Applegate’s heart wouldn’t have been broken. Now Kat understood that wasn’t the case at all because if her letter had reached Brett, he would’ve put two and two together and shown it to his buddy. He would’ve known the baby she carried wasn’t his but Justin’s.

It was a sad set of circumstances and she’d lived with the guilt of not trying to find Brett sooner. But in the end, she had done the right thing. “I know there were some things I could have done differently. I...didn’t.” She shrugged a shoulder, not knowing what else to say. “I just didn’t.”

Justin peered deep into her eyes. “There are things I would’ve done differently, too, had I known. Tell me one thing. Do you believe that Connor is my son?”

She didn’t hesitate. She’d always known exactly when she conceived her little boy. “I know he is.”

For a moment tears welled in Justin’s eyes. The hard planes of his face softened and his shoulders fell with relief. As he took it all in, he began nodding and Kat saw his expression transform suddenly. Determination set his jaw. “It’s been a year and a half.”

“Yes. Almost.”

He blinked and then blew breath from his lungs.

Just then the waitress walked into the room and said, “I’ve got to start closing up, but you can finish your coffee. Don’t mind me.”

She glanced at the two cups that had gone untouched and then looked away.

Justin pulled a twenty out of his wallet and set it down on the table. Then he rose to his full six-foot-two height and reached for Kat’s hand. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Where?”

“Doesn’t matter. We need to finish this conversation.”

Reluctantly, she took his hand and let him lead her out of the café.

Three

His hand across her lower back, Justin guided Kat out of the café. Darkness and the chilly night air surrounded them and Kat shivered. “Get your coat,” Justin said.

“I didn’t bring one. Why, where are we going?”