LITMIR.BIZ

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whole first trip that no one would read the truth of what she’d done in her eyes...and that Brady wouldn’t learn how she’d deceived him about the fate of their baby. No, she hadn’t lied to him, she’d told herself, but letting him live with his mistaken beliefs that she’d miscarried still gnawed at her conscience. Yes, that trip back to the Double M had been colossally difficult, but she’d survived it and visits since then with a stiff upper lip. And she had to do the same now.

      Certainly the shock of seeing Brady at the airport had worn down her defenses. As had the poignant introduction to his nephew and the reminder of Scott and Pam’s tragic deaths. Add to that the stressful month at work where the company had lost the Regal, Inc. account, one of their most important clients, and had reps from the corporate office breathing down her neck. And the freak accident that had killed the guy that worked in the cubicle across from her. Ron had been a nice enough guy, if a bit forward at times, and his bizarre death a couple weeks back had shaken the office staff. Then to be greeted with the news that the Double M could go under was the pickax blow to the thin shell that had held her intact in recent weeks.

      With a cleansing breath, she shoved at Zeke’s backside to scoot him off her suitcase where he’d settled. “Time to unpack, fuzzball. Move it.” Another push roused the large cat, who stood and stretched. When she unzipped the top of the luggage, the noise intrigued Zeke. With his ears pointed forward and a quick head cock to the side, he bicycled his paws on the suitcase as if digging up whatever prey inside had made the rasping sound. The cat’s antics tickled Piper, and the laugh that bubbled up in her helped staunch the rising tears. “You goofball,” she said, lifting the Maine coon into her arms for a snuggle. Immediately the feline’s chest rumbled and he head-butted her chin, returning the affection. “I missed you, too, fuzzball.”

      After a moment, Piper set Zeke on the floor and pulled her favorite blue jeans from the suitcase along with her well-worn cowboy boots and started for the closet. Then paused. Turning back to the bed, she stripped out of the slacks and blouse she’d worn on the airplane. As the clothes fell to the floor, she kicked them aside and pulled on the jeans, a T-shirt and her boots, welcoming the comfortable fit like an old friend.

      Seeing Brady at the airport had been an unsettling surprise, but it was behind her. For the rest of her trip, she resolved, squaring her shoulders, she would survive by avoiding Brady the same way she had on previous visits. She’d help her family sort through the difficulties the ranch was facing, would celebrate her parents’ anniversary and would be back to Boston in a week. And everything would return to normal.

      Yes. Normal. Normal was good. The status quo was safe.

      Her strategy seemed sound. Logical. Achievable.

      So why did her plan leave her feeling so empty?

      Brady couldn’t sit still. He paced from the kitchen table in the house he shared with his father to the picture window in their living room. He gazed out at the Double M Ranch yard to the tree where Connor was playing on a tire swing while the boy’s dog, Kip, sniffed around the yard, and he heaved a sigh. Ever since picking up Piper at the airport he’d been restless.

      Of course, he knew the source of his restlessness. Piper’s visit had the potential to blow his world apart.

      Or not.

      The situation could play out in so many different ways. And if experience had taught him anything, it was that life had a way of unfolding in completely unexpected directions. You couldn’t prepare for all the strange twists and possible scenarios fate had in store. That unpredictability was at the root of his uneasiness. Because his first and most important priority was protecting Connor.

      He knew Piper would never intentionally hurt Connor. But Brady, of all people, knew that good intentions could still backfire. He’d let Piper rip his heart out again, relive the agony he’d known when she’d left him behind for Boston, if he could spare Connor even a little pain. The poor kid was already dealing with the loss of his parents. The boy was vulnerable, and Brady had to keep his guard up.

      He heard the back door open and close, followed by the familiar scuff of feet and weary grunt as his father came in at the end of the day and shucked his work boots in the mudroom. “Brady?”

      “In here.” He shuffled back to the kitchen to greet his dad.

      “You’re back from the airport already?”

      “Yeah. Plane was on time. We got back a few minutes ago.” Brady propped a hip against the counter and jabbed his fingertips in his front pockets.

      Roy Summers gave a small nod. “And how is Piper?”

      “Fine.” Still beautiful. And witty. And determined to deny the feelings that are so clearly just beneath the surface of our broken relationship.

      His father stopped at the sink to wash his hands. “She met Connor?”

      “Yep.”

      “And?”

      “And what?” he asked irritably.

      Roy frowned as he dried his hands on a dishcloth, then yanked open the refrigerator. He selected a beer and popped the tab on the can. “Jeez, never mind.”

      “What do you want me to say? They met. Connor charmed her with his jokes. We stopped for ice cream. Connor and Piper had chocolate fudge. I had butter pecan. Anything else you want to know?”

      His father took a long drink of his beer and gave Brady a sour stare. “Nope. Not a thing.”

      Shoving away from the counter, Brady stalked across the worn linoleum floor to move Connor’s school backpack from the table to a hook by the mudroom. With his back still to his father, he said softly, “Sorry. I’m just...edgy.”

      “Welp,” his dad said, pausing to take another sip, “best get yourself pulled together before this evening. Zane stopped me on the way in from the stable to ask us to join the family at the main house tonight for some kind of meeting.”

      Brady faced his father and narrowed a dubious look at him. “A meeting? About what? Why does he want us there?”

      “He didn’t say. Just that he’d like us to come. He wanted our input on some business or other about the ranch.”

      Brady scratched his cheek while a wary curiosity warred with the logistics of attending the mysterious summit. “What do I do with Connor?”

      His question earned a slight hitch of his father’s shoulder as Roy settled in his favorite living room chair. “Don’t know. Bring him. Or ask Helen if she’ll keep an eye on him for a bit.”

      Helen Shaw had been a cook at the ranch for the last five years and the girlfriend of ranch hand Dave Giblan for the last two years. She’d flirted with Brady when she first arrived, but he’d let her know, as kindly as he could, that his heart belonged to someone else. Maybe that had been a mistake. Helen was great. She was everything you could want in a girlfriend and potential spouse. Except that she wasn’t Piper.

      At the time, he’d still hoped that Piper would come around and realize they were meant to be together. But in every subsequent visit from Boston, Piper had been increasingly distant, more evasive, more guarded around him. Brady knew he should move on, find someone else to build a life with, but his heart was stubborn. Setting aside his feelings for Piper wasn’t easy, and just a glimpse of her when she was home for the holidays or stilted pleasantries when they crossed paths in the stable or ranch yard was enough to rekindle his hope.

      And then Zane had agreed when Brady volunteered to pick Piper up from the airport today. He’d spent more time with her this afternoon than in all the years since their breakup combined. When she’d stumbled into his arms at the luggage carousel, the urge to kiss her had smacked him hard, shaken him to the marrow. If she hadn’t pulled away when she did, he’d have given the kiss her eyes had asked for...because her face had said she still wanted him. The sexy catch in her breath had been the same telltale signal of her desire that he’d learned when they made out in high school.

      But then, damn it,

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