Roping Your Heart (2 page)

She felt a flush of heat throughout her at seeing him again. The years had flown by but it was as if no time had passed at all. Just looking at him, she felt like a teenager again.

Blake hesitated before he headed straight toward her, a smile softening his hard features and putting a light in his green eyes.

He came to a stop in front of her and held out his hand. “I’m Blake McBride.”

“Hi, Blake.” She straightened as she tilted her head to look up at the big man and she took his hand. “I don’t think you recognize me.”

The warmth of his hand traveled through her body as he studied her. “Your voice…your mannerisms…and your eyes. You have the same beautiful golden eyes and black hair of someone I cared a lot for.” It was like a light dawned on him. “Cat?”

Surprise flowed through her. “It’s me.”

He looked stunned as he slowly released her hand. “I know it’s been a long time, but no, I didn’t recognize you. Not by your looks.”

She kept her hands at her side even though she automatically wanted to touch the thick scar across her face. To hide it.

“Damn, it’s good to see you.” He caught her off guard by bringing her into his embrace and hugging her. He smelled wonderful, of sun-warmed flesh and leather. She felt an instant of comfort and belonging before she pushed the feelings away and stepped back. “Hell, it’s been nineteen years,” he said.

“It’s good to see you, too.” She took a deep breath as she sought to change the subject away from her looks. “So, what brings you to the Folsom Ranch?”

“My daughter.” He looked toward the barn. “I’m not surprised she’s still in the barn. The longer she can be around horses, the happier she is.”

Cat’s eyes widened slightly and her lips parted. “Demi is your daughter?”

The look of pride in his eyes was unmistakable. “Yep.”

An ache came out of nowhere, squeezing her heart. “So, you’re married?”

“Divorced.” His features hardened almost imperceptibly and anger sparked in his eyes. He tried to hide it, but it was there. Apparently his divorce had not been pleasant.

The anger caught her off guard. “I’m sorry.”

He studied her features and her face burned as she thought about what he might be thinking. From the time she was young up until the ordeal with the horse, she’d always been told she was beautiful. What had happened then had changed that.

He reached up and brushed his fingers over her scarred cheek as he echoed her thoughts. “What happened?”

A shiver ran through her at his touch. For a moment it was as if no time had passed and it was just the two of them alone in the world…she was eighteen and her heart had belonged to him. He had been her refuge. He’d been everything to her. And then she’d ruined it all.

She fought to bring herself back to the present and away from old memories. She shrugged, then told him the brief story she’d just told the kids. She didn’t mention that the brain trauma still caused debilitating migraines. After eighteen years, she’d recovered from everything else.

“I’m sorry, honey.” As if compelled, he trailed his fingers from the scar on her cheek to her ear and gently stroked her hair behind it. “That must have been hell.”

Even though it had been so long since they’d been together, the tension between them was strong. His gaze lingered on her mouth as if he wanted to kiss her.

He stepped back and shook his head. “It’s like no time has passed at all.”

She tilted her head to the side. “Even though I don’t look the same?”

He gave a slow nod. “It doesn’t matter a damned bit that you look a little different.”

“A little different?” She shook her head even as his words echoed in her mind. “You didn’t even recognize me.”

“You know that a part of me did.” He studied her eyes. “You’re just as beautiful as you ever were. You’re still KitCat to me.”

A rush of heat went through her. Even though he’d never lied or exaggerated as long as she’d known him, that statement wasn’t true.

“Dad?” Demi’s voice came from behind Blake and he turned to face his daughter. “You know Ms. Hayden?”

He settled his arm around Demi’s shoulders. “A long time ago, Cat was my girlfriend.” It surprised Cat that he hadn’t evaded the question or told the girl simply that they were old friends.

Demi looked from one of them to the other. “How long ago?”

“We were both eighteen,” Cat said.

“Before Daddy met my mother,” Demi said before her lips tightened. There was something in her eyes that was hard to read, as if the subject of her mother was something she didn’t want to talk about and she was sorry she had even brought it up.

“Your daughter is a talented barrel racer.” Cat glanced between the two of them. “I’m impressed.”

“Thank you, Ms. Hayden.” The girl’s features brightened. “I’ve loved barrel racing since I was old enough for my dad to let me do it. I always liked watching the girls in the junior rodeos.”

Blake looked at his daughter with pride gleaming in his eyes. Cat assumed that the girl must look like her mother because she didn’t favor Blake or his brothers. The McBrides tended to be dark-haired whereas Demi was blonde with freckles across her nose and she had eyes the same brown as redwood, almost cinnamon in color.

Cat thought again about Melanie with her dark hair and ready smile.

Demi looked at her father. “I’ve got homework, Dad.”

He nodded. “Then we’d better get you home.”

“Goodbye, Ms. Hayden,” Demi said with a smile before she turned and walked to the truck that Blake had been driving.

Blake met Cat’s gaze again. “It’s good to see you.”

Cat offered him a smile. “I imagine I’ll see you at the next horse club meeting.”

“I’m sure you will.” He touched the brim of his hat, then turned and headed back to the truck where Demi was waiting.

The pounding of her heart hadn’t slowed down from the first moment she’d seen him. Not until his truck was traveling down the road, kicking up dust in its wake, did her heart rate start going back to normal. She was barely aware of sixteen-year-old Brett walking up to stand beside her. He must have just finished putting up Shelton. His truck was still parked beside her own.

She and Brett watched Blake and Demi driving away from the Folsom Ranch, until they couldn’t see the truck anymore.

Chapter 2

Monday morning, Cat rested her head on her hand, elbow on her desk, as she studied George Johnson’s tax documents on her large screen monitor. The Johnsons seemed to own half the businesses in Prescott and there were almost as many Johnsons as there were McBrides.

The thought of the McBrides once again brought Blake to mind. He’d been on her mind a lot since she’s seen him on Saturday. So many times she’d started to look for that list of 4-H’ers with Blake and Demi’s phone number on it but something had stopped her.

She wasn’t sure what that something was. Maybe it was the pain she’d been through since the last time she’d seen him.

If he was still angry with her for what she’d done all those years ago, he hadn’t shown it. Had it been pity that stayed his anger? The scar across her face and her altered features could have taken away whatever fury he might feel at the way she’d left him.

Cat grabbed her mug, got up from her seat, and walked out of her office toward the break room to pour herself another cup of coffee. The smell of coffee was strong in the room as she entered, and she breathed the scent in. She filled her mug from the carafe before setting it back on the warmer. After dumping plenty of creamer and sugar in her coffee and stirring it with a spoon, she went to the sink and rinsed off the spoon. Then she turned off the warmer and washed the coffee pot. She would be the last to leave and needed to leave everything clean for tomorrow.

Without meaning to, she glanced at the mirror over the sink and paused. After all of this time since she’d been given a new face and had borne the scar, she still couldn’t get used to seeing herself in the mirror. She knew she wasn’t ugly…she just wasn’t
her
anymore. The scar detracted from whatever beauty the plastic surgeon might have given her. Her nose was smaller, her lips a little fuller, her cheekbones not quite so high.

One thing she did still have, was a dimple when she smiled, and of course her golden-brown eyes were still large with dark lashes framing them. A dimple and golden eyes were all that remained of her former appearance.

The scar…that was the hardest to look at. Life had changed for her and she’d seldom dated after the accident.

A couple of years after the accident, she had married Eddie and they’d had Melanie. Things were fine at the start, but had eventually turned rocky, especially when he’d started to drink. It was a couple of beers here and there, but it had hit Cat hard since both of her parents had been alcoholics.

After Melanie died, any connection she and Eddie had shared was gone.

She’d had other relationships, but none of them had been serious. It was like she’d lost the ability to truly love anyone after Blake.

Despite what she’d been through with Eddie, she’d had Melanie. That had been what really mattered, so she couldn’t regret Eddie.

As far as relationships since her divorce were concerned, had she really given anyone else a chance? If she was honest with herself, she’d closed herself off, hiding behind the scar and pain of past failed relationships.

With a sigh, she turned away from the mirror, carrying her coffee mug back to her desk. Cat had been hired because one of the CPAs, the Hartford of Hartford and Lake, had retired. She was still working through his client list, familiarizing herself with the clients he’d been working with. She’d made it through the J’s so far.

Another accountant and a receptionist worked in the office along with the CPA, but they’d already left for the day and Cat was alone with her client records and her thoughts. She sat at her desk and scooted her chair up as she set the mug on her desk.

Since she’d arrived back in Prescott permanently to care for her grandmother, no one had recognized Cat. She was fine with that. She’d run into a couple of people she’d known and had to reintroduce herself. One of them was Karla Jennings who had convinced her to take on the horse club.

Over the past few years, Cat had only popped into town on weekends here and there to see her grandmother, then left before she could run into anyone she’d known from the past. The town was big enough that she could arrive and leave without questions.

Where once she’d been considered to have a sparkling personality and had been called a social butterfly by some folks, Cat was now a little more reserved and kept to herself. She’d probably make friends easier if she let herself go again.

Her so-called sparkling personality had been partly real and partly a façade to cover her true emotions. With a physically abusive and alcoholic father and an alcoholic mother, there hadn’t been a lot to smile about at home. Away from her parents’ house, Cat could be someone else entirely. She could be the girl she was meant to be.

When her mother had died, things had worsened with her father and he’d become more and more violent. Grandmother Hayden stepped in and took Cat in as a teenager and her life had improved. Her grandmother was a strict but loving woman. The fact that she was so ill now made Cat heartsick.

The only one who had ever known what Cat had been through with her father and mother was Blake. When she’d shared her secrets with him, he’d wanted to go straight to her house and beat the shit out of her father. She’d had to beg Blake to drop it. It had been all she could do to stop him.

A loud ringing jerked her out of her thoughts, startling her, and she realized it was the office phone. She took a deep breath as she brought herself to the present.

“Hartford and Lake,” she answered.

It was one of James Lake’s clients and she jotted down the person’s name and phone number and disconnected from the call.

As she hung up, her cell phone rang and she checked the display to see that it was Grandma Hayden.

Cat put a smile in her voice. “Hi, Grandma.”

“Hello, sweetheart.” The elderly woman’s voice held only a hint of a waver despite the illness eating away at her.

“Need me at your house?” Cat did her best not to show the concern she felt. Her grandmother didn’t like worry or pity, a trait shared by her granddaughter.

“I just want you to pick up a few things at the grocery store, if you can,” Grandma Hayden said.

“No problem.” Cat grabbed a sticky note with the accounting firm’s name on it. “What do you need?”

Grandma named a few things that Cat scratched down on the notepaper.

“Got it.” She put down the pen she was holding. “See you when I stop by.”

For years, Cat’s cousin, Margo, had cared for Grandma, but Margo had passed away from a heart attack a couple of months ago. Their grandmother had refused to go to a retirement home and, despite what Grandma Hayden said, the elderly woman needed someone to check in on her periodically and make sure she was all right. As far as Cat was concerned, it should be family. Grandma Hayden had all but raised her and Cat wanted to be there for her.