Читать книгу True Heart - Peggy Nicholson - Страница 13

THEY DROVE halfway back to his truck before either of them ventured to speak again. At last Tripp cleared his throat and said huskily, “Look, I know this isn’t easy, but you need to face it. There’s no way you can make a go of this. I reckon you’ve forgotten, how hard ranching is.”

“I ranched for almost eighteen years till I went off to college,” she reminded him.

“You worked with a father, a brother and a younger Whitey to help you. Now it’s you and a lame old man. You won’t last out the winter.”

“I will!” she insisted, staring down the tunnel of her headlights. “I know it won’t be easy, but I will.” She had no place else on earth to go. No place she wanted to be.

“Kaley, you’ll quit.”

Her hands clenched till they ached on the wheel. “You’re calling me a quitter?”

“Aren’t you?” he taunted. “Who walked out on who back there in Phoenix?”

She had half a mind to pull over and order him out. Let him hoof it the rest of the way to his truck.

“Why did you leave him?” Tripp probed her silence. “Or did you?”

She shot him a seething glance. He’d maneuvered her as neatly as a cutting horse splits a calf out of the herd. Left her nothing but two bad choices. She could let him brand her a quitter, a woman who’d walked out on her marriage—or she could admit that, yes, once again, she’d failed to hold her man’s love. “It’s none of your business, you know.”

“Yeah?” His harsh laughter goaded her. “Sounds like he left you!”

And so Richard had, in his heart. By rejecting her baby, he’d rejected her. All she’d saved from the disaster was her pride. “He didn’t,” she said flatly. “I reached the decision. I walked out the door. I drove to Vegas and got the divorce. Here I am.” The truth, as far as it went.

“But why?” Tripp demanded.

No way was she telling him about the baby! He thought—now—that she wouldn’t last till Christmas? What would he think if he knew she’d be five months pregnant by then? In six weeks, come calf-shipping day, Tripp could call in his loan, by the terms of the contract. Somehow she had to persuade him to let it ride for another year. And fat chance he’d do that if he considered her a wounded duck.

“Why did you leave, Kaley?” Tripp insisted. “Did he cheat on you?”

“No.” Even to save her pride, she couldn’t say that.

Tripp drew a sharp breath. “Did he…beat you?”

“No!” And Tripp apparently didn’t mean to stop till he had his answer. So she’d have to brazen it out. Brush him off. “He was selfish,” she said lightly. “Okay? Raised as an only child by a doting single mom, and I guess it warped him. Richard always had to choose the channel when we watched TV.”

“TV,” Tripp repeated, incredulous. “You call that a reason?”

“Not good enough?” she asked flippantly. “Well, he was prettier than me and he knew it. I got tired of that.” I was the one who was supposed to admire, always, always. I wonder if he even saw me, except as his mirror.

“Yeah, that’s grounds for divorce, all right.”

“And he was picky,” she plunged on recklessly. “Wanted his eggs fried ten seconds over easy, but if you let them cook for twenty or if you broke the yolk…” And his custom-made shirts had to be ironed just so, or there’d be sulks and tantrums. He’d paid more for his haircuts than she had for hers. And as for the possibility of having a daughter who might be less than perfect? Unthinkable! He’d sooner abort her than take that chance. “Definitely picky,” she muttered.

“Yeah, I can see you two had big problems,” Tripp said with quiet savagery.

He’d asked; she’d answered. If he didn’t like it… Her smile was diamond bright and just as hard. “Hey, what do you care? Sometimes things just…don’t…work out.” And there, up ahead—oh, joy—was his truck. The end to this inquisition was in sight.

Tripp put a hand to his door handle—looked as if he was as ready to part company as she was. “I care, Kaley, because you came back to Trueheart and wrecked my plans. And you’re wrecking them all for nothing! Six months from now you’ll be tired of playing rancher and you’ll be gone again.”

“No…I won’t.” She jammed on the brakes, stopping with her headlights glaring into the blind eyes of Tripp’s pickup.

“Right.” He swung his legs out onto the road, then called back through the door’s closing gap, “Hey, and thanks for the ride, cowgirl!”