LITMIR.BIZ

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thought into nonexistence.

      The scent of expensive cologne surrounded her. In spite of the months of heartache, some small part of her still yearned for his touch, which was nothing short of insanity. What she needed was for him to disappear. Again.

      “Please step back and let me pass.” Her voice, raw with unreleased emotion, held fierce determination. He did as she asked and dropped his arms to his side. “I’ll have the car off your property as soon as possible.”

      Without a backward glance, Kelly took off down the driveway on foot.

      “Don’t you have a phone? Someone you can call?”

      She ignored him and increased her pace.

      “You want to use mine?” She heard him mutter a curse.

      Her complete focus was to get off this property and away from him as fast as possible. Her mind was still reeling from the fact that he was here. He’d bought land and built a large house, usually an indication of permanency. The thought did nothing to brighten her spirits. Somehow she should have prepared for this even though logic was screaming how could you have known? But he had friends in the area. He’d been staying with them when they first met. He’d commented many times that he loved the general region. Why had she never considered the possibility that he would come back? She was an idiot. And now she was going to pay for it.

      She didn’t hear the truck on the concrete driveway until Jace pulled up next to her.

      “Kelly, you can’t walk all the way to town. It has to be close to six or seven miles and it’s almost dark.”

      Hearing him so close once again still had the same effect. Her body came to life as irrational hunger for him ran rampant. She clenched her teeth and pulled the evening air deep into her lungs as tears of resentment burned her eyes. She refused to let them fall. He was right about it getting dark. And he’d guessed right about the distance. But she kept walking. She’d be every kind of fool to climb inside that truck.

      In spite of her refusal to stop, he continued to roll along next to her.

      “Kelly, get in the truck and let me take you home.”

      “No. Thank you.”

      The tall gates opened as she reached the end of his property. She went through them and cut to the left onto the white-rock county road. The gravel made it harder to walk, but she refused to slow her pace. The Bar H Ranch was just a couple of miles away. Shea, her husband, Alec, or one of their ranch hands would give her a ride home. In hindsight, she should have called, but her only thought was to get away from Jace. Surely everyone hadn’t gone to the festival. But if they had, she would sit on the porch and wait.

      Why did Jace have to come back to Calico Springs? It was a small community where everybody knew one another. Eventually someone would tell him about Kelly Michaels and the baby who almost died when he was born four months ago. And Jace would know. He would do the math and figure out the baby was his. Another wave of panic slammed into her. What was she going to do? What could she do?

      The iron gates clanged shut and she realized he was no longer following her. Apparently, he’d only driven to the end of his driveway and turned back. Good enough. The farther away he stayed the better. Taking a deep breath, she willed her heart to slow its pace.

      The consequences of Jace finding out about Henry were beyond comprehension. She had to steel herself against the urge to break into a dead run to more quickly get home to her baby. Regardless of how much money he had and how well he could lie, Jace was not getting custody, no matter what she had to do or where she had to go.

      The sun had set, darkening the sky to deep purple. Shadows of the trees and tall grass along the road faded into the overall darkness of the landscape. She wished for a flashlight. Even though the road was still easy to distinguish from the surroundings, the creatures that might slither out to soak up the last of the afternoon warmth were not.

      The thought brought her to a heightened sense of awareness. A wrong step might land her in a world of trouble and there was no one in shouting distance if she needed help. If anything happened to her, who would care for Henry?

      Right now, her baby should be enjoying his bath before going to sleep thanks to the wonderful woman who kept him while Kelly worked. Because of the festival, no one expected her home early. She swallowed back the touch of alarm. Think positive. Once she reached the Bar H Ranch she’d be home free.

      As if to dispute that optimistic thought, lightning flashed across the sky followed by deep, rolling thunder. Kelly groaned, not daring to think this night could get any worse.

      * * *

      Jace Compton took in a deep breath of frustration, his jaw muscles working overtime. He couldn’t believe Kelly had been in his house. Cleaning it, no less. How bizarre was that? He’d hoped he could find her if he moved to Calico Springs. But he never considered she’d be in the house, and he wasn’t prepared for the immediate anger and the glaring gaze shooting beams of blue-green fire in his direction.

      Apparently, she’d found out he’d lied about his identity when he was here before. He hoped she would give him a chance to explain. He’d had twenty-five precious days on a neighboring ranch to kick back, relax and be himself, just a guy who’d grown up on the south side of Chicago. The last thing he wanted was someone to discover his identity. Over the years he’d become proficient at staying well under the radar. He’d had no idea when they first met that their relationship would develop into something so much more.

      Kelly had accepted that he was a cowhand from a nearby ranch, and there had never been a right time to tell her differently. In hindsight he hadn’t wanted to take a chance on putting a wedge between them and that special something they’d found in each other. It was a timeless journey where they were the only two people in the world. It was perfect. When she returned his kisses, he’d known she was kissing him, the regular guy, not the wealthy celebrity. It was a damn good feeling. When the time came to leave, he wrestled with his conscience, wanting to tell Kelly the truth. Finally he decided to wait until he returned to Calico Springs. He hadn’t expected the four-month interim period he’d planned to expand to over a year.

      On the outside, the Kelly he remembered had changed, and those changes immediately had his libido sitting up and taking notice. The curves of her body were decidedly more feminine, more mature, more alluring than those of the model-thin young woman he remembered. She exuded health and considerably more sex appeal than he recalled, making him wonder how he’d ever torn himself away. The long blond locks that used to flow free and silky around the delicate features of her face were pulled to the back of her head in a ponytail, giving her face a different, intensely alluring quality, accenting the almond shape of her eyes. Jace had never seen eyes that color. They were the same brilliance and shade as the turquoise waters of the Mediterranean. Only tonight, instead of containing a welcoming sparkle, they’d reflected more than a small trace of annoyance when she stared at him as if the devil himself had come to life.

      While he’d anticipated she would be a bit perturbed if she learned he’d lied about his identity, he didn’t expect the high level of animosity she’d shown today. Was she angry because he’d lied or was it because she’d missed an opportunity to gain some of the wealth? Thinking of Kelly in that light didn’t sit well. At all.

      Some people thought they’d found the proverbial pot of gold when they caught his attention, a fact that galled Jace to his core. People always wanted something, whether it was money or five minutes worth of fame. Making action films was his job. Not who he was. He hated the phony facade he had to maintain, and the ridiculously implausible stories he had to validate all for the sake of keeping his name in the media, all to keep the publicity going. Finding someone who liked him for himself was a rarity. He hoped Kelly would understand. He really hoped she would.

      When he’d returned to California, he’d talked nonstop about the young woman he met in Texas. He’d even mentioned buying a place to be close to her until she finished her degree. Two days later, his manager, Bret, handed him a PI report indicating Kelly was a con artist with a rap sheet a

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