LITMIR.BIZ

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Chase normally lived in Las Vegas, Hollywood or Nashville as head of the family’s entertainment empire. She seldom saw Cash, though he lived in Oklahoma City. He was president of the security company in charge of safeguarding all the rest of the family’s enterprises.

      “So what are we going to do?” Chance sounded glum and Pippa stilled. It was rude to eavesdrop but instinct had her skulking behind the arrangement of plants between her table and theirs to remain unnoticed.

      “We can’t make him accept.” Clay shrugged and Pippa wished she could see his face. Who were they talking about?

      “It’s not like we hadn’t figured it out,” Chase added. “We’ve all hinted to Kade that we knew.”

      Wait...what? She was beyond confused now and waved away the waitress who was approaching with the iced water pitcher in her hand.

      Cord glanced around the restaurant and Pippa ducked down as he spoke. “Leave it to the old man to screw up things all the way from the grave.”

      A waitress arrived to take their orders and no one spoke for a few minutes after her departure. It was Cash who reopened the conversation. “How did you expect him to react? Jump up and down for joy? The guy works for us. For the old man. Never once did Dad treat him as anything but an employee. Put yourselves in Kade’s boots. He’s told he’s a bastard son and that the only way he can keep his job—keep everything he’s worked for the last eight years—is to change his name. If he doesn’t become a Barron, he’s out on his butt.” He met the gaze of each of his brothers and added in a sarcastic voice, “Yeah, I’d be thrilled to death with that ultimatum.”

      Pippa didn’t want to hear anything else. Her first thought was to get to Kade. No wonder he’d stood her up. Maybe she was too softhearted, as her mother so often complained, but she wanted to find him, try to make things better. If she jumped up and dashed from the restaurant, the Barrons would see her. She had to wait. That meant dessert. And coffee. And more stalling.

      She finally paid out and was just waiting for her chance to sneak away when a waitress and busboy began to clear the table between her and the Barrons. With a surreptitious glance toward their table, she slipped out of the chair and scuttled toward the door leading to the restaurant’s interior. She now had one goal in mind—find Kade.

      Walking to the parking garage, she considered what she’d overheard. Was Kade really a Barron? He’d never really talked about his family. Granted, she hadn’t exactly been forthcoming about her own. She and Kade were friends but not particularly close. Not that she didn’t want to know him better. She did because part of her remembered how she’d been that starry-eyed coed mooning over the handsome cowboy.

      Cash said that Kade had to change his name or he was out. What exactly did that mean? Obviously, they wanted him to be a Barron, but did they mean to kick him off the ranch if he didn’t? Her sense of justice surged again. Kade had told her she couldn’t help, but she was determined to do something. Besides, what was the worst that could happen? He’d get mad, tell her to go away and that would be that. He’d still help out with the therapy program. Probably.

      Before she could second-guess her motives, she headed toward the ranch, figuring that’s where Kade would go. He’d lived there since graduating from OSU. She knew he was from somewhere down south—Sulphur or Davis or somewhere. Surely he wouldn’t head that direction.

      There was only one way to find out. She kept driving north. Her foot might have been a little heavy on the accelerator because she made the drive in record time. She followed the long, sweeping trip to the big house. No vehicles were parked there.

      Pippa took a secondary road and headed toward the building that housed the ranch office. Kade’s truck wasn’t parked there either. She kept driving until she found the pickup in front of his house. She parked her Highlander next to his truck, worked up her courage and got out. After knocking on the door for several minutes and listening intently, she decided he must not be home. She stood on the porch and looked around. What would she do if she lived out here and was upset?

      The open door of the main horse barn caught her attention. Had he gone riding? After picking Kade’s brain about horse breeding and ranching, she understood enough about the Crown B operation to know that when the ranch hands rode horseback, they used the stock horses kept in the smaller barn. Kade worked and rode the blood stock stabled in the main building.

      She headed to the barn and found Kade there. He stood in front of a stall, arms folded across the top of the stall door, chin resting on his fisted hands.

      He looked...forlorn. Deflated. Utterly defeated. Pippa wanted to run to him, throw her arms around his waist and hug him until the stuffing came out, as her grandmother used to say. But her feet remained encased in emotional concrete.

      “Go away, Pippa.”

      He hadn’t looked up, but of course he’d know she was here. He always seemed attuned to his surroundings. There was no heat in his voice so she didn’t move.

      “Do you want to talk about...” She couldn’t tell him she knew. He’d have to share that on his own. “About whatever has you upset?”

      “No.” He swiped his ball cap off his head and tunneled fingers through his thick, black hair but refused to look in her direction. “Just...leave me the hell alone.”

      “Don’t curse at me. And I’m not leaving. You owe me lunch.” She made a show of looking at her watch before glancing up at him, a smug expression firmly in place before she winked. “Though at this point, it is closer to suppertime.”

      Kade turned his head and her heart broke a little at the utter devastation etched on his face. His brown eyes were shadowed by a soul-deep pain. She moved then, walking toward him like she would a skittish horse. She stopped short of touching him, choosing instead to lean on the stall door in a mirror image of his posture when she’d arrived.

      The yearling colt inside the stall whickered. Barron’s Imperial Pride, Imp for short. “He’s growing fast.” Imp was Kade’s crowning accomplishment and a safe topic.

      “Yeah. Too bad I won’t watch him grow up.”

      Or not. Pippa had to get Kade to tell her everything because this dancing around what she knew without tripping up was hard. She leaned a little closer to him, accidentally brushing her arm against his. “You can talk to me, Kade. Always. You know that, right?” He didn’t say anything so she tried again. “We’re friends, Kade. Friends help friends. I can see you’re upset. Won’t you tell me what happened today?”

      He shook his head and the next words out of his mouth stabbed her heart.

      “What makes you think we’re friends?” Kade jammed the cap back on his head and glowered at her.

      She flashed him what she hoped was a sweet smile before nudging his biceps with her shoulder. “I did drive all the way up here after you blew me off for lunch. Only a friend would do that.” She considered her next words carefully. “Even if you don’t want to tell me what’s got you upset, I still think you need a friend right now, and I just happen to be here all handy and stuff.”

      She tilted her head to look up at him. “Besides, you’re a growing boy,” she said. “You need to eat. I’ll even cook, provided you have something in the fridge.”

      * * *

      Pippa wasn’t going to leave him be, and part of him didn’t want to be alone. “I’m not fit for company, Pippa.”

      “Yeah, and?” She grinned at him, totally unrepentant for intruding on his solitude.

      Kade settled at her words and that surprised him. He didn’t want company of any sort, but if he had to have some, Pippa would do. Seeing her at Cash’s wedding, he’d remembered her from college, from when he’d catch her sitting on the fence mooning over him. He hadn’t wanted a girlfriend then. He didn’t want one now, especially not someone like Pippa. She should be with someone rich, like a Barron—He cut off that thought. Technically, he was a Barron, or could be.

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