LITMIR.BIZ

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picked up his cowboy hat from where he’d left it by the armchair and levered it onto his head. “Are we ready to go?” he asked.

      “Ready,” Katherine answered, then with a gentle scruff to the top of Nick’s head, she urged her son toward the door.

      Blake followed them onto the front porch, and while she dealt with locking the door, he wondered what might have happened if he’d dated Katherine twelve years ago before she’d left Wickenburg. Perhaps she and Nick would be living on Three Rivers now as his family. But at eighteen, she might’ve been too immature for a serious relationship between them. Especially one that would last. Either way, he couldn’t change the past, he realized. But starting tonight, he was definitely going to try to change the course of his future.

      * * *

      “Since you said you wanted to keep things casual, I didn’t make dinner reservations,” Blake said as he braked for a stop sign. “Have you thought about where you’d like to eat? Or what you’d like to do?”

      Katherine glanced over at him. For Blake, dressing casually meant a pale blue Western shirt that had most likely cost more than her monthly grocery bill, dark blue jeans and a pair of brown, square-toed alligator boots. With his black cowboy hat lying on the console between them, she had a full view of the dark tousled waves of hair edging over the tops of his ears and onto the collar of his shirt. He looked like a man who knew exactly what he wanted and, once he got it, wouldn’t hesitate to fight to keep it. To say the man was attractive would be like calling a hurricane a gentle breeze.

      She clasped her hands together on her lap as though she needed to prevent herself from reaching across the seat and touching him. “This is probably going to sound silly to you, but I’d like to take a drive through the mountains toward Prescott and eat at some little spot on the side of the road. Is that okay with you?”

      He looked over at her and she noticed one corner of his lips was curved faintly upward. The expression was hardly a smile, she decided, yet it was as sexy as heck.

      He said, “That sounds absolutely okay with me.”

      Relieved, she felt compelled to explain her choice. “I’m not much for fancy, Blake. That’s probably hard for a man like you to understand.”

      His grunt was a mocking sound. “A man like me? I’m hardly black-tie-and-tails, Katherine.”

      A blush stung her cheeks. “No. But, well, you know what I’m getting at. I wasn’t raised like you.”

      With his gaze fixed firmly on the highway, he said, “Look, Katherine, I thought we’d hashed out all of that. Sure, I remember your parents’ little house, where you were raised as a kid. Nobody had to tell me that your family didn’t own much. But that has nothing to do with you as a person. Besides, you’ve grown above all of that. Seems to me, you’ve been doing very well for yourself and your son.”

      She smoothed a hand over the hem of her dress. “Yes, things are much better now. Financially speaking, that is. But with Dad gone, my mother too bitter to really enjoy life and my brother keeping his distance, I can’t help but wish things had been different. For them and for me and Nick.”

      “I’m sure you wish things had been different for your late husband, too.”

      A chill settled over her. Clearly, he’d noticed she’d left Nick’s father off her list. “Talking about Cliff isn’t something I want to do tonight,” she said stiffly.

      “Hmm. Nick says you never want to talk about his father.”

      She stared at his profile. “Nick told you that?”

      He glanced in her direction. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have mentioned it. But I’m curious as to why you want to avoid the subject of your late husband. Is it because you loved him so much that remembering hurts?”

      Katherine groaned. This was supposed to be a date, not a question-and-answer session, she thought crossly. “It’s not that. And I’m not trying to keep Nick from learning about his father. Well, maybe I am in some ways,” she glumly admitted. “You see, I’d rather Nick only know about the good parts of his father. It would only hurt my son to learn how his father changed from a loving husband into a man driven by an obsessive need for money.”

      She paused and waited for him to make some sort of reply. When he remained silent, it was obvious he was expecting her to explain further.

      “I had hoped that having a child would help,” she went on in a strained voice, “but my getting pregnant actually made things worse. By the time Nick was born, Cliff hardly noticed he had a child. It’s no wonder Nick says he can’t remember his father. Cliff never spent enough time with his son to make any memories. He was too busy making money.”

      Blake steered the truck onto Highway 93, and as they headed north, Katherine couldn’t help but wonder what he must be thinking about her and her marriage. No doubt he was probably telling himself this was the first and last date he’d have with Katherine O’Dell.

      She was about to apologize for sounding so sharp, when he suddenly spoke.

      “If my math is correct, Nick must have only been about three when his father died. That’s too young for a child to remember much of anything.”

      Sighing, she looked at him. “Maybe that’s a good thing. I don’t know anymore. I expect when Nick gets a little older, he’s going to start asking more questions about his father. I dread that time, because I can’t lie to him. It wouldn’t be right.”

      “No. Lying wouldn’t be good. But maybe by the time Nick does start asking those questions, he’ll already have another father,” Blake suggested. “And the truth won’t hurt so much.”

      Katherine stared at her clasped hands. “I honestly doubt that’s going to happen. I can’t see myself marrying again.”

      Another stretch of silence passed and then he said, “Nick wants brothers and sisters.”

      Her gaze slid over his chiseled features. “I can’t believe he was telling you that sort of thing. He doesn’t talk about private matters to anyone but me—and sometimes his buddy Shawn.”

      He shrugged one shoulder. “I guess Nick decided I was someone he could confide in. So what are you going to do about it?”

      She frowned at him. “Do about what?”

      “About giving him some siblings.”

      His nerve astounded her. She’d been acquainted with the Hollister family for as long as she could remember. And yes, throughout her teenage years, she’d had a crush on Blake. But she didn’t know him in a personal way. Not even well enough to call herself a close friend. So what made him think he could talk to her about such things?

      “Do you really think that’s any of your business?”

      His grin was a bit suggestive and even more endearing.

      He said, “Probably not. But I hope to make it my business before the evening is over.”

      If Katherine had any sense at all, she’d tell him to turn the truck around and take her home. She didn’t need some man digging into the deepest part of her. She didn’t want him prying at the locked-away spot where she harbored her hopes and dreams. And she especially didn’t need a man like Blake, who’d been born into a loving family and a home where he’d never lacked for anything, telling her what she or her son needed in their lives. And yet, she didn’t want to go home. She didn’t want this evening with Blake to end. Even though he was making her think about uncomfortable things, he was also making her feel more alive than she’d felt in years.

      “I suppose you have a right to hope,” she murmured.

      He didn’t make any sort of reply and his silence made the cab of the truck feel even more crowded with his presence. In spite of the air-conditioner vents blowing in her direction, she could practically feel the heat emanating from his body and hear the soft in and out of his breathing.

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