Heartstrings (16 page)

Emily undid the cinch and hefted the saddle off the sorrel’s back. She set the saddle on the weathered banister of the porch covering the front of the cabin. “I like the Double K more than the Circle R.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. The K isn’t as flat as the R. Besides, Dad never liked me roaming over the R.” Emily headed for the door.

“You’ll need this.”

She turned and easily caught the key ring he tossed to her, unlocked the door and entered the dark interior. “Awesome!”

He met Abby’s amused dark eyes when she looked over at him. A light breeze ruffled strands of hair around her face under the brim of a straw cowboy hat. The rest of that gloriously thick mane hung over her shoulder in a loose braid.

He pulled her to him and brushed her mouth with his. Hell, he wanted to do more than that, but considering their teenage daughter was just inside, he refrained from sticking his tongue down her throat this time. When he pulled back, she slowly opened her eyes.

“Eww...” He looked over at the porch where Emily stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips. “Okay, I don’t mind you two dating or whatever, but please try to not do the smooching thing when I’m around. Geez. It’s bad enough I have to watch Dad and TJ make puppy dog eyes at each other and listen to them call each other cupcake and sweetpea. It’s absolutely nauseating.”

He chuckled and glanced at Abby, touched her face and thrilled when she shivered. “Okay, sunshine, you have a deal. I won’t kiss your mother except behind closed doors.”

“I don’t want to hear about you and her having sex, either!” Emily scrunched up her face and headed inside again.

“Wait, that’s not what...” He glanced at Abby, who shook her head and laughed. He pointed toward the cabin. “You know that’s not what I meant, right?”

“Oh, you dug that grave all on your own, cowboy.” Abby moved away and removed the bit from her pinto. “She’s taking to you being around rather well.”

He sucked in a breath heavy with the scent of horse, pine, wild flowers, and Abby. Things were too good to be real.

Shaking himself into action, he tended to his mount. “I’m glad, because I don’t intend to go anywhere for a little while.”

She set her saddle beside Emily’s on the banister. “Don’t you have to go back to Nashville soon?”

He paused in unbuckling the cinch “Yeah, but I can delay it for a couple more weeks until the paperwork for the ranch is finished.”

She picked up the saddlebag containing their lunch and faced him. “What made you decide to buy the ranch?”

Emily reappeared in the doorway and placed the back of her hand dramatically over her forehead. “Are we ever gonna eat? I’m starving. Fading away into oblivion while you two play kissy face.”

He shook his head and took the bag from Abby. “We’ll talk while we eat.” With his free hand on the small of her back, he led her across the porch. At the door, he tugged one of Emily’s pigtails. “Well, we can’t have that, now can we, sunshine?”

* * * *

“Will you be at the show Wednesday?” Seth stood at the door of his Escalade after dropping Abby and Emily home following the movie.

The warm breeze caught Abby’s hair, sending strands of it into her face. He fought the urge to run his fingers through it. She smoothed the wayward hair back in place. “I’ll be working, so I’ll be there. I hear Clint’s band is playing with you, too.”

“I had planned on doing an acoustic show, but after playing with those guys, I thought I’d ask them to see who’d be willing to play with me again.”

“It’s really nice of you to put on a show.”

He rubbed the beard at his chin. It needed trimming. “Thanks. I actually prefer the intimacy of a show like this or the impromptu one at Gatlin’s. Singing before a stadium full of people is so much more stressful.”

She pushed her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. “I can only imagine. I’d hate getting up in front of a crowd the size of the one at Gatlin’s.”

“Still shy, huh?”

She shrugged and looked down. “I guess. I never was like you.” She met his gaze again. The light from the porch was dim. He could barely make out her bemused expression. “But then that’s one of the things I always admired about you.”

He leaned against the driver’s door of the SUV. “I always loved your spirit. You never let anyone trample you into the dust.”

Although the air was far from cold, she shivered and crossed her arms.

He pulled his keys from his pockets. “Thanks for today.”

“You’re welcome. Emily had a blast.”

Tossing the keys from one hand to the other, he glanced at the house. “I did too. She’s a special little girl.”

“She’s not so little anymore.”

The twist to his heart brought him up short. “No, she isn’t. I wish I’d known her before now.”

Abby shifted her feet and looked down at the ground. Was she ashamed of the years she and Mike had stolen from him?

“Seth, try to be patient.” She rested her hands on his chest and moved in close. He wrapped his arms around her, and she smiled. “I’m working most of this coming week, but I’d like to see you again.”

“I’d like that too.” He was on his way to Brokenheartsville, but Abby had always been his weakness. Besides, getting close to her guaranteed he’d be able to get closer to Emily.

“Emily is with Mike this week, but would you like to have dinner here Saturday night?”

He stiffened and moved away from her. “I hoped Emily and I could have some time together.”

“We’ve been over this. You’ll be moving onto the Double K soon. But I think it would be best for you and Emily to form a relationship slowly.”

He faced her and unlocked his jaw enough to grind out his words. “I know. But I sure as hell don’t have to like it.”

She sighed loud enough for him to hear it. “What happened that night you came here to see us?”

He rolled his shoulders, trying to release the sudden tension. It didn’t work. “You weren’t here. Mike said you were visiting your dad in the hospital. I wanted to see Emily. I just wanted to see her.” He looked into the night heavy with late August heat and the pain of a regret-filled past. “He refused by telling me she was asleep and that I had no right since I hadn’t been man enough to stick around to begin with.”

She touched him on his arm, and he met her gaze. “He told you you couldn’t be a good father because of your parents, didn’t he?”

“I’ll never forgive myself for believing him.”

She wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his shoulder. She was a perfect fit. “I’m sorry, Seth. I should have...” She pulled back and met his gaze. “I have something to give you. I’ll be right back.”

She hurried away and through the kitchen door. Did they have a future? Was he a fool for even considering having a relationship with her? She continued to lie to Emily and play into Mike’s game. Whatever Mike was hiding, he intended to discover and expose.

Abby returned carrying a boot box. She held it out to him and smiled. “Here. This is for you.”

He took the box and furrowed his brows. “What is it?”

She shrugged and clasped her hands together. “You’ll see when you get back to your aunt’s. I want you to have it. I know it won’t replace the missing years, but...” She shrugged again and sniffed. “You’ll see. Well, I’d better get inside.”

“Tell you what. How about I take you out Saturday night instead of you cooking?” Shifting the box under one arm, he pulled her to him with his free hand.

She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Okay. I hate to cook anyway.”

He chuckled, but quickly let desire take over as he kissed her. When he finally broke away, he whispered, “Goodnight, Abigail.”

She opened her eyes and smiled. “Goodnight.”

* * * *

Seth sat on his bed and opened the lid of the box Abby had given to him. He gasped when he saw what lay inside. Picking up the first photograph, his heart constricted. Abby stood on the porch of her house, wearing a simple pink sundress and showing off her rounded belly. He flipped the picture over. It was dated March 20–three days before Emily was born.

He slowly took out another photo. His breath caught and stuck in his throat. Abby lay on a hospital bed holding a crying, red-faced baby wrapped in a pink blanket. He ignored the image of a smiling Mike leaning in to kiss Abby on the forehead. He focused on his baby and let out the captured breath.

He lost all track of time as he studied each photograph and piece of childish artwork. It was well past two AM when he reached for his laptop to watch the DVDs. Emily’s first Christmas, her birthdays, the first time she sang before an audience–her childhood captured in fuzzy video for prosperity.

Mike’s hushed voice narrated the clip. “Emily is to take the stage next, singing
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
.”

He watched as five-year-old Emily took the stage of the McAllister Elementary School. She smiled big and shifted her feet as she sang the grade-school classic in a clear, nearly pitch perfect, little girl voice.

By the time he watched her last softball game captured on film, he had tears in his eyes and a heavy sharp pain in his chest. And he’d come to one very important decision.

Just getting to know Emily wasn’t enough.

He would do anything to be her father, including seducing Abby to get what he wanted.

“I’ve missed out on enough of your life, sunshine. I’m not missing out on any more.”

Chapter 8

“So, Abby.” Jenny Lynn stirred cream into her coffee. “Are you ever gonna spill?”

Abby swallowed the bite of steak fajita and followed it with a sip of water. She ignored the speculative stares of her friends across the table from her. After Seth’s concert at the nursing home, she and Jenny Lynn were taking Darlene out to dinner before she had to get back to Amarillo and her dying husband.

She set her glass on the table. “Spill what? My water?”

“You’re a comedian. You know very well what.” Darlene laid her napkin on the table beside her plate. “You were pretty darned cozy today with a certain hunk we all know and love.”

“I still can’t believe you didn’t tell us you were actually friends with Seth Kendall,” Jenny Lynn lamented.

“Friends?” Darlene snapped her head around to look at the younger woman. “I’d call it dating, if you ask me.” She sat back with smug amusement twisting her lips and brightening her ruddy face. “I hear from a very trustworthy birdie he’s arranged for a private table for two at the Lakeside Grille. Sounds like a date to me.”

Jenny Lynn turned her wide eyes to Abby. “Dating? You’re freakin’ dating superstar Seth Kendall?”

She glanced around at the other tables in the crowded diner. “Shh! Keep your voice down. I might be dating Seth. But right now, we’re still getting to know each other again. He’s a lot different than he was fifteen years ago.”

“I’d say so.” Jenny’s grin got bigger as she leaned back in her seat. “He’s undoubtedly sexier. It’s high time you start going out again. Mike had no problem moving on after you two entered Splitsville.”

She couldn’t argue with the truth. Seth had always been good-looking, but now he was all grown up. She wanted him, but she couldn’t lose herself in him.

She was about to change the subject when Darlene said, “I agree with Jenny Lynn. You need to start living again.”

“And who better to do it with.” Jenny Lynn sipped her coffee. “So, what’s he like?

She picked at the peppers on her plate with her fork. “He’s fun, sometimes a little too full of himself, but I’ve always had a good time with Seth.”

“Damn, girl, I wasn’t asking about that.”

She looked up, puzzled. Then it dawned on her. “You think I’m sleeping with him?”

“Hell, I would be.”

“Well, I’m not you.”

“Girls, let’s remember we’re in a public place,” Darlene, who was older than Abby by more than ten years, chided in a motherly tone. Then the mother hen turned her attention on Jenny Lynn. “By the way, what’s up with you and Wayne Cover? I thought you dumped him. But you were hanging all over him today after the concert.”