“In Royal, Texas, everything brings back difficult memories...especially you.”

But walking away again might prove impossible...

Feuding grandparents ended Daniel Clayton and Alexis Slade’s teenage romance—and ten years hasn’t healed the family rift...nor cooled their intense desire. But when staying apart backfires spectacularly, Daniel and Lexi find themselves entangled in a forbidden affair that leads to an unexpected pregnancy. Will they stay loyal to their families...or to their own hearts?

JOSS WOOD loves books and traveling—especially to the wild places of Southern Africa and, well, anywhere. She’s a wife, a mum to two teenagers and slave to two cats. After a career in local economic development, she now writes full-time. Joss is a member of Romance Writers of America and Romance Writers of South Africa.

Also by Joss Wood

The Ballantyne Billionaires miniseries

His Ex’s Well-Kept Secret

One Night to Forever

The CEO’s Nanny Affair

Little Secrets: Unexpectedly Pregnant

Love in Boston miniseries

Friendship on Fire

Hot Christmas Kisses

The Rival’s Heir

Texas Cattleman’s Club: Bachelor Auction miniseries

Lone Star Reunion

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

Lone Star Reunion

Joss Wood

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09205-0

LONE STAR REUNION

© 2019 Harlequin Books S.A.

Published in Great Britain 2019

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

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Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Prologue

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Epilogue

About the Publisher

Prologue

September

Over the decades many wedding receptions had been held at the Texas Cattleman’s Club, and there had been a fair amount of scandals, for sure. Alexis Slade remembered talk of a groom being caught in a compromising position with the matron of honor, and a father of the groom passing out under a lavishly decorated bridal party table after streaking across the dance floor, wearing nothing more than a very lacy pink thong. There had been tearful brides, drunk brides, regretful brides and emotional brides, but Shelby Arthur was the first bride who hadn’t made it to the altar.

The Goodman-Arthur wedding, or nonwedding, would undoubtedly be talked about for weeks on end. Alex looked across the still-crowded reception room and saw Reginald Goodman, father of the groom, with a tumbler of whiskey in his hand, looking pale but composed. Her eyes tracked left and there was the mother of the bride, a handkerchief clutched in her fist. Alex snorted at her wobbling lower lip, her crocodile tears. Daphne Goodman was a designer-dress-wearing barracuda who’d made no secret of the fact that she despised her son’s fiancée and was totally against their marriage. Having been an object of Jared’s affections in high school, Alex believed Shelby came to her senses just in time.

Marrying the spineless groom meant marrying his awful family—Brooke Goodman, Jared’s sweet-natured sister, was the exception—and really, no woman deserved that. Marriage was tough enough without any added pressure from the in-laws. Jared and Shelby’s marriage would’ve been a marriage of three, with Daphne Goodman calling the shots.

Alex turned when the door next to her right elbow opened and Rose Clayton walked into the reception area via the side entrance. Cool gray assessing eyes met hers and Alex reminded herself that she wasn’t eighteen anymore, so the unofficial queen of the Texas Cattleman’s Club should no longer intimidate her.

But she did.

Over that long summer ten years ago, Rose waged a war to separate her and Daniel, Rose’s beloved grandson and heir. Gus, her own grandfather, had done the same. Because God and every Texan knew, family loyalty and a decades-old feud between Gus Slade and Rose Clayton trumped first love. At the time, she and Daniel had been the Romeo and Juliet of Royal, minus the death by poisoning.

Losing Daniel had felt like another death—she’d missed and mourned him that much. Alex remembered her tears, the desperation and loss she’d endured when Daniel refused to leave Royal with her so she could attend school out of state.

Daniel had said he belonged at The Silver C, but she disagreed, proclaiming they belonged together. They’d yelled; she’d cried. Daniel’s stubbornness and intransigence, his unwillingness to choose her—them—ultimately killed their relationship.

Yes, they’d been young but, in his own unique way, he’d abandoned her. Unlike her parents, her childhood friend Gemma and, just last year, her beloved grandmother Sarah, Daniel had left her life through choice and not death.

And that somehow hurt more.

Rose approached her and a part of her still wanted to curl up in a ball when faced with Daniel’s imperial grandmother. Annoyed with herself, Alex straightened her spine and managed a jerky nod. “Miss Rose.”

“Alexis Slade.”

Alex rolled her eyes when Rose turned her back on her and glided away, five foot something of sheer haughtiness and holier-than-thou poise. If not for their volatile history, she might even admire the woman for her steely self-assurance, her ability to carve out her rightful place in a world filled with take-charge alpha men.

But Rose was a Clayton and, as such, a sworn Slade enemy. Alex and her brother knew the basics of the Slade-Clayton feud: a half century ago, Gus, her grandfather, left Royal to make his fortune on the rodeo circuit, believing that Rose Clayton would wait for his return. He saved enough to buy a small spread next to the Clayton ranch and went to propose to Rose, excited to start his life with the woman he desperately loved. But Rose had married Ed the year before.

In doing so, Rose fired the first shot and war was declared.

Gus’s marrying Rose’s best friend—Alex’s beloved grandmother Sarah—just escalated the conflict. And her grandfather buying up more portions of the once-mighty Clayton ranch was a nuclear strike. Families took their feuds seriously in Texas, and although sides were most certainly chosen, the Texas Cattleman’s Club remained the demilitarized zone.

The Slades and Claytons, both old and young, were all members, and here within these walls, they had to play nice. Or when that wasn’t feasible, they opted to ignore each other as much as possible. Just like Gus was ignoring Rose, and Alexis was ignoring Daniel, which was, annoyingly, very damn hard to do.

What woman with a pulse could? Surrendering to temptation, Alex looked toward the bar...and at the devastatingly handsome man who she’d once considered to be the love of her life. She drank in every inch of him. The black curls he hated—but she loved—and those mysterious dark brown eyes he’d inherited—everyone presumed—from his father, because his mother was light skinned with blue eyes. Boring brown, Daniel had once called them, but Alex vehemently disagreed. They could be as rich as expensive coffee, as deep as the night. However, they could also turn as hard as ship-destroying rocks on a jagged, inhospitable coastline.

So much had changed over the years, Alex mused with a wistful sigh. Her once-gangly boyfriend was now taller, broader, every inch a man. He was still lean but with hard muscles and a harder streak. Strong stubble covered his jaw and he looked as good in a tuxedo as he did in worn jeans, but neither was his sexiest look.

A naked Daniel Clayton, as she’d discovered when she was younger, could easily be classified as one of the wonders of the world.

In the past decade, her ex had done quite well for himself. He’d acquired degrees in both agriculture and business, and all the hard work he put into The Silver C had, judging by his designer tuxedo and the German sports car he occasionally drove, paid off. He was smart, wealthy and good-looking, and that trifecta made him one of the most sought-after bachelors in the area. Hell, possibly even the state. Although he hadn’t brought a date to this wedding, Daniel Clayton was never, so she’d heard, short of a female companion.

In bed or out of it.

A hand on her arm pulled her eyes off her former lover and she smiled at Rachel Kincaid, her closest friend. Alex didn’t make friends easily, but Rachel was someone who’d sneaked under her defenses.

“Why are you standing here by yourself?” her friend asked, handing her a glass of champagne.

“Trying to avoid another conversation about Shelby or what I think of the new president of the TCC,” Alex admitted, taking the glass with a grateful smile.

“James Harris is a great guy.”

Alex nodded. “I like him, too.” She glanced at the tall African American man standing next to the right of them, talking to Rose Clayton. “And, oh my God, he’s seriously hot.”

In fact, there were many drop-dead gorgeous men in this room, most of them members of the TCC. She knew why she was single—chronic commitment and abandonment issues—but that didn’t mean she had to be celibate. Yet she was.

“You keep looking at Daniel Clayton,” Rachel remarked. “Not that I blame you. I swear he was birthed by an angel.”

An unfortunate choice of words, Alex thought wryly, since Daniel’s mom was reputed to be anything but celestial. Daniel never spoke about Stephanie but there were enough gossips in Royal to ascertain a little of what his life with his tempestuous and unstable mother had been like. According to the grapevine, Rose had been the only responsible adult in his life. His loyalty to his grandmother was rock-solid and unshakable.

Their romance had been doomed from the start. Because, as it turned out, Alex had never been able to compete with Rose and Daniel’s fierce allegiance to The Silver C ranch.

“Matt Galloway is just as good-looking,” Alex commented, partly to be perverse but also to distract Rachel from linking her and Daniel together. There was no “her and Daniel,” and there hadn’t been in a long, long time. And she wasn’t lying, Matt Galloway was a young Clooney: as good-looking, as rich and charming, and as much of a reputed playboy as George used to be.

“He is—was—Billy’s best friend.” Alex wasn’t sure what Matt’s looks had to do with him being Rachel’s dead husband’s friend, but she was familiar with the don’t-go-there look on Rachel’s face, since it was an expression she often used. Alex liked her own privacy, so she didn’t push Rachel.

Rachel wound her arm around Alex’s waist and squeezed. “Have I said thank you lately for letting me stay with you at the Lone Wolf Ranch?”

“We love having you and baby Ellie there,” Alex responded.

“And I don’t take it personally that you frequently run away to Sarah’s tree house.”

“That’s more to avoid Gus’s lectures about finding a husband and giving him a great-grandchild than avoiding you, as you well know. Gus is determined to get me bound and breeding. I, on the other hand, need to think about getting back to Houston, to my life there. I came home to be with Grandma Sarah in her last days, but I’m still here, a year after her death. Royal was only meant to be a stopgap. My life isn’t here.”

“Sure looks like it is,” Rachel commented. “As a digital-media strategist, you can work anywhere in the world, and you love the ranch, spending time with Gus.”

Of course she did, but being with Gus and working part-time as the Lone Wolf’s business manager didn’t stop her from missing her grandmother with an intensity that still threatened to drop her to her knees. It didn’t stop her from wallowing in the past, from remembering how happy she and Daniel had once been before she learned that love didn’t conquer all.

Alex sucked in her breath when his eyes slammed into hers and, as always, she felt caressed by the light of a million stars. Electric tingles skittered across her skin, tightened her nipples, sent heat to that place between her legs. This was just red-hot, carnal lust, and nothing, she silently insisted, like what they’d experienced so long ago.

Back then, they’d been constantly drunk. On love, on each other. They’d hurtled headfirst into love and sex and passion, blithely thinking they could handle the thousand-degree fire they’d created, stoked and fed.

Pfft. She’d emerged with third-degree burns. But the worst part? Alex still found Daniel physically intoxicating. And judging by the unbanked desire flashing in his eyes, she made him feel equally off balance.

Good. He deserved nothing less.

Rachel accepted a dance from Gus, old flirt that he was, and Alex, wanting fresh air, slipped out the side door. She inhaled the cool, fragrant night air and wrapped her arms around her waist as she walked toward the gardens surrounding the TCC. In daylight it was immediately apparent that the surrounding grounds, flower beds and paths that meandered through the once-glorious garden needed some updating and attention. But at night the gardens were mysterious and welcoming, an old friend. She remembered playing hide-and-seek in these gardens with her brother and her friends, sneaking down to the small pond to steal a kiss from Daniel Clayton, away from their eagle-eyed grandparents.

Fun times, Alex thought with a bittersweet pang.

She heard the crunch of boots on the gravel path, and then a jacket covered her bare shoulders. She inhaled his familiar scent—sandalwood and leather, wood and wildness. Big, manly hands settled on her shoulders and she instinctively leaned back, her head resting against his collarbone, his warm breath on her ear.

Suddenly she was eighteen again. Daniel had his hands on her...and all was right with her world.

“Lexi.” Daniel’s deep voice rumbled over her skin, as deep and dark as the night.

Alex knew that she should run away. But she was so tired of tamping down her fantasies of what it would be like to have Daniel naked and in her bed. Of dreaming how he would make love. Teenage Daniel had been hesitant, cautious, but adult Daniel would possess her the same way he did everything else, with confidence and raw virility.

And she wanted him. God, how she wanted him!

Alex sighed as his hand brazenly moved over her shoulder, down her chest, to slide under the lapel of his jacket and cup her breast. His thumb swiped her nipple as he pulled her earlobe between his teeth, gently nibbling.

“Still so sexy, Lexi. Love what you are wearing.”

She couldn’t remember what she’d put on so she glanced down... Right, a loose, off-the-shoulder black top with a full, flower-patterned pale pink skirt.

Alex knew she should push him away, but instead of being sensible, she placed her hand behind her back, her fingers seeking out his erection. There it was, hard and long and thick, and she heard his low, guttural moan as his cock jerked beneath her touch. Then she was making whimpering sounds of her own as his hand pushed aside the fabric of her top so that he could feel her naked flesh and pull her tight nipple between his fingers.

She lifted her head up and to the side, and then his mouth was on hers. Parting her lips to receive his tongue, she moaned her frustration when he smiled against her mouth, silently telling her that he enjoyed teasing her, making her wait. He’d always been more patient, more interested in drawing out every moment of their pleasure.

Daniel’s chaste kisses were in direct contrast to his roaming hands. He bunched the fabric of her skirt and pulled it up her legs, and his fingers trailed up her thighs, played with the tiny V shape of her panties. Alex felt him shudder when he discovered her panties were only comprised of one triangle and a few thin cords.

“Naughty underwear, Miss Slade,” Daniel growled against her mouth.

“Shut up and touch me, Clayton,” Alex demanded, spinning around and slapping her hands on his cotton-covered chest. Ignoring his loose tie and open collar, she gripped his shirt and yanked it from his pants, desperate to find hot, sexy, olive-toned skin. Her fingers danced across a set of impressive washboard abs, and she pushed her fingers between that hard stomach and the band of his pants, seeking and finding the tip of his erection. Daniel released a low hiss, sucked in his stomach and suddenly she had more of him against her fingers, hot and oh-so potent.

“I want you, Lex,” Daniel muttered, smacking her bare butt cheek and pulling her into him, squashing her hand between her body and his erection. Needing more, needing everything—she’d missed him, missed this so much—Alex lifted her thigh and wrapped it over his hip, grateful to yoga for making her supple. Then nothing but fabric separated her core from his shaft, and she rocked her hips and lifted her mouth up to his to be kissed.

This time he didn’t hold back and his tongue swept between her parted lips, branding, rediscovering, wiping away any doubts that reliving the past was foolish and dangerous.

There was only Daniel, his taste and heat and power, the adult version of the boy she’d known so long ago. Standing in his arms, panting and with soaked panties, her only thoughts were of how much she’d missed his touch, missed his kisses. In this moment they didn’t have feuding grandparents, unforgivable betrayals or hurt and pain between them. There was only desire—hot, potent and demanding.

Daniel wrenched his mouth off hers, and in the moonlight his eyes, normally so shuttered, were as deep and dark as a desert night. “Come home with me, Lex.”

She had to be rational...and she couldn’t be, not when she had her hand in his pants. She couldn’t think, breathe. Alex pulled her hand from between their bodies and tried to step back, but Daniel’s hands on her hips kept her up close and very personal. “Dan, don’t ask me that.”

“Why? Because you are scared you’re going to say yes?”

It was a typical no-frills Daniel response. He never beat around the bush, and although he was the strong and silent type, when he did speak, people listened. Her ex just had a way of cutting through BS to get to the heart of the matter, and as per usual, he was right. She was terrified that she was going to say yes, but even more scared that she was going to force herself to say no.

“I’ve been watching you all evening and you’ve been watching me, too,” Daniel murmured, lifting his hand to trace patterns on her jaw. “We’ve both been wondering what it would feel like to be together again. Especially now that we’re older, more experienced...confident in how to satisfy one another in bed.”

She was sexually confident? Oh, she was anything but. She might be older and wiser, but she was still more girl next door than femme fatale.

“Come home with me, Lex. Let me peel that ridiculously sexy dress from your gorgeous body and replace it with my lips and hands. I’ll make it good for you, I promise.”

He’d make it too good, and yeah, that worried her. “Daniel, this is madness.”

“So let’s be mad, just for a night. In the morning we can go back to being a Clayton and a Slade, opposing forces in this long, futile war that we never started.”

Alex closed her eyes and shook her head. She wanted him but she didn’t like wanting him, found herself wishing instead that she could put him in the past, where he belonged. Maybe she did need to sleep with him again to flush him out of her system. After all, reality was never as good as fantasy, and then they could both finally move on.

“So, yes or no?”

Alex thought she saw apprehension in his eyes, the fear that she’d reject him, but the emotions flashed across his features too quickly for her to be sure. “Yeah, I’m coming with you.”

Daniel stared down at her, his handsome face serious. “Your place or mine?”

Alex thought about their options, knowing that the ranch house at the Lone Wolf was out of the question and, as she’d heard, Daniel had converted an old barn on The Silver C. While his house was a better option than Gus’s mansion—Daniel might be met with the working end of her grandpa’s shotgun if they were caught—their chances of discovery were still too high.

Which left only one other place available to them...

“Sarah’s tree house.”

Daniel’s hand tightened on her hip and she knew that he was remembering, just as she was.

A long time ago, the tree house had been a boys’ fort and a girls’ secret club. It had held sleep outs and camping trips and overnight sleepovers. Much later it had been the place where Daniel took her virginity, where they’d spent stolen afternoons and blissful starry nights.

“You remember where it is, right?”

Daniel rubbed his jaw. “Of course I can find it. I just haven’t been there since...”

You left, Alex filled in the words for him. The tree house was deep in Slade land and Daniel had no reason or wish to be on Slade land. Land that had once been part of The Silver C spread.

The river-fronted land was one of the first parcels of land Gus bought from Rose when times had got tough, and Alex knew that Daniel mourned the loss of the property. The Silver C had once been the largest spread in four counties, but it was now on par with the Lone Wolf in acreage, a bit of a comedown for the once-mighty Claytons.

“I’ll meet you at the tree house,” Daniel said, his voice clipped. He lifted his wrist to look at his expensive watch. “In half an hour?” He rubbed his hand over his jaw and shook his head. “I can’t believe that I am risking getting splinters in my butt to have you again. Nobody but you, Alex Slade, would tempt me to do this...”

His words shouldn’t make her smile but they did. She opened her mouth to explain that the tree house wasn’t as bad as it had been... No, she’d let it be a surprise.

“Are you going to walk there?” Daniel asked.

In moonlight or bright sunshine, she always walked to the tree house. “Yes.”

“I’m going to go home, pick up my dirt bike and I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Daniel told her, his eyes steady on her face.

Good, that gave her some time to think about what she was doing, to talk herself out of this madness.

Daniel narrowed his gaze. “Do not stand me up, Alexis.”

Although it unnerved her how he’d been able to read her thoughts, she couldn’t suppress the shiver of excitement that tap-danced up and down her spine. He was gorgeous and determined and he wanted her.

No, she wouldn’t stand him up. She couldn’t; she wanted this, wanted him. “I’ll be there.”

Daniel nodded, swiped his mouth across hers in a brief but molten-lava-hot kiss. “See that you are.”

One

Mid-November

Daniel Clayton released a low curse and buried his head in the soft pillow, cursing his early-morning alarm. Unfortunately, neither cattle nor his ranch hands cared that he’d spent most of the night making love, that he’d had minimal sleep. The Silver C Ranch and his grandmother demanded a daily pound of flesh and since he didn’t tolerate excuses or less than 100 percent effort, he knew he should haul his ass out of bed and get to it. He rolled over and pressed his chest to Lexi’s back, filling his hand with her perfect, perfect breast. Daniel skimmed his thumb across her nipple and buried his nose in her fragrant hair. Best way to wake up, bar none. His rock-hard erection pushed into her bottom and he skated his hand down her torso, across her stomach, and his fingers flirted with the V shape below. There was nothing like sleepy, lazy sex... His cell phone alarm screeched again.

“Dammit, Clayton,” Lex muttered, reaching across him to grab his phone. Mercifully, the strident alarm ceased, and despite wanting Lexi again, Daniel found himself drifting back to sleep. Then Alex’s sharp elbow dug into his ribs and he rolled over, frowning.

“What was that for?”

“Sun’s up in forty-five minutes, and we both have to leave,” Alex told him, whipping off the covers and exposing his naked body to the chilly morning air.

The tree house was heated by a woodstove, which they didn’t bother to light because a stream of smoke from the chimney would raise questions—questions neither of them wanted to answer. As it was, he’d already endured a few lectures from Rose, demanding to know the status of his love life. He’d blown her off, as usual, but then she’d upped the ante by expressing her fervent hope that he’d meet a lovely girl through the upcoming bachelor auction—as if!—and that she would be bitterly disappointed if she found out that he was carrying on with “that Slade girl.”

Since that Slade girl was currently standing naked by the window, long blond hair tumbling down her oh-so-sexy back, he didn’t give a rat’s ass what his grandmother or anyone else thought. They’d been hooking up for six weeks—maybe a week or so more—and he’d enjoyed every second he’d spent with Alex. But what they shared was sex and desire and heat and want and nothing his grandmother needed to worry about.

He loved his grandmother—he did—but he just wished she’d stay out of his damn business. Alex, what they had together, was separate from The Silver C—one didn’t impact the other. For a decade his entire focus had been on the family spread, trying to restore the somewhat tarnished reputation of the Clayton clan. While Rose held the respect of the residents of the town of Royal and the counties of Maverick and Colonial, his late grandfather, Ed, and his mother, Stephanie, did not. One was a bastard and the other was irresponsible, wild and borderline psycho. Despite his dubious parentage, he’d worked hard to command a little of the respect his grandmother did.

And he thought he was getting there.

While not nearly as big as it had been in its heyday, The Silver C was now regarded as being one of the best-managed spreads in the country, lauded for its breeding program and producing award-winning bulls. He had a waiting list as long as his arm for buyers wanting to purchase his quarter horses, and he ran the entire ranching operation with the utmost professionalism and integrity. And by doing so, he’d recently been inducted as a member of the Texas Cattleman’s Club.

Daniel sat up, rested his forearms on his thighs and shoved his hands through his hair before running his palm over his stubble-covered jaw. He watched as Alex picked up a sweatshirt—one of his—and frowned when the voluminous fabric covered her to midthigh. She then pulled her hair out from under the band of the garment and gathered it into a messy knot on top of her head, and he thought that he’d never seen anyone so naturally beautiful, so effortlessly sexy.

“I’m going to make coffee. Do you have time for a cup?”

Daniel glanced at his watch and nodded. “Yeah, I do. Thanks.”

He watched Alex leave the room, her hips swaying seductively as she did so. She’d been pretty as a teenager but she was spectacular as a grown woman. Blue eyes the color of the summer sky, high cheekbones and that luscious, made-to-kiss mouth. Yards and yards of fragrant, wavy hair. And... God, that body...lean and slender, finely boned but with curves and dips and flares that made his mouth water.

At eighteen he’d thought he’d loved her, but now, ten years later, he knew that he’d been blinded by lust, had confused love with desire. He didn’t believe in romantic love and Daniel sometimes wondered if he ever, deep down, really had. God knew he hadn’t been exposed to any marital, or even family, harmony growing up.

He was the unwanted son of Rose’s daughter, who had also been raised in a tense household. There had been little love between Rose and his maternal grandfather, and his mother, Stephanie, wasn’t able to love anyone but herself. He’d been the unwanted result of one of Stephanie’s many bad decisions when it came to men.

Daniel had no idea who his father was and one of Stephanie’s favorite games had been to play “Who’s Your Daddy?” She’d thrown out names to tease, later telling him that she’d made up names and occupations to amuse herself. It was cold comfort that Stephanie had also played Rose like a fiddle, using him as her bow.

Thanks to his dysfunctional childhood, he was cynical about love. But he did believe in family, in loyalty, in hard work and respect—Rose had shown him the value of those traits, in both word and deed. She’d never lied to him, not even during those worst times, when Stephanie was crazier than a wet hen.

So when his grandmother expressed her reservations about his teenage romance with Alex, calmly pointing out that he’d be throwing away his future at the ranch to follow a girl he thought he might love, he’d eventually listened to her advice. And why wouldn’t he? She was the one stable adult in his life, the only person he’d ever felt was looking after his best interests.

And yeah, after emotionally and physically divorcing himself from his mother, he vowed that he’d never let anyone emotionally blackmail him again.

Shaking off his disturbing thoughts, Daniel stood up, strode to the small bathroom next to the only bedroom and used the facilities. He returned to the master suite, smiling as he remembered how surprised he’d been when he’d first laid eyes on this renovated tree house.

Gone was the rickety structure from before. Now a sleek, beautifully designed house rested in the massive cypress trees overlooking the river that meandered its way through both The Silver C and the Lone Wolf ranches. Instead of a one-room platform, the tree house consisted of a master bedroom, a sleeping loft above the main living space, this tiny bathroom and a small kitchenette. The abundance of windows and a sliding glass wall allowed for amazing views of the river and Lone Wolf land. He wished he could lie on the sprawling deck, beer in his hand, Stetson over his face, soaking up some winter rays. But there was work to do, and the needs of The Silver C Ranch always came first.

Hearing Alex walking up the stairs to the bedroom, he stepped into his jeans and pulled on his shirt, then his fleece-lined leather jacket. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, he reached for his socks and boots, lifting his head as Alex appeared in the doorway. He took the cup of coffee she held out—hot and black—and sipped gratefully. Another three of these and he might feel vaguely human.

She sat down on the bed next to him, scooted backward and crossed her legs. “Dan...”

There was something odd in the way she said his name, so he whipped his head around to look at her, his eyes narrowing at the frown pulling her arched eyebrows together. “Yeah?”

Alex cradled her mug in both hands and he saw the tremble in her fingers, the way the rim of the cup vibrated. Oh crap, this wasn’t good. He removed the cup from her fingers, placed it on the wooden bedside table and turned back to face her. “What’s wrong, Lex?”

“Has Rose been giving you grief about me?”

He really didn’t want to have this conversation now, didn’t have the time for it. “Yeah. She asked me whether we were seeing each other, told me that she wouldn’t be happy if I was.”

Alex sighed. “I got a similar lecture from Gus, telling me how it would break his heart if he found out we were together.” Alex looked miserable and Daniel could relate. Neither of them liked disappointing their grandparents.

“Gus is trying to set me up with guys who are taking part in the bachelor auction.”

“That damned auction,” Daniel growled, the thought of being sold like a steer raising his blood pressure. Then, to add insult to injury, he would have to pay for the date with the woman who’d paid to spend time with him. Why couldn’t he just write a check to cover the costs of the date? Hell, he’d double, even triple, the amount if he could get out of going on a stupid date with someone not of his choosing.

“That damned auction is going to raise an awesome amount of money for the Pancreatic Cancer Foundation.” Daniel saw the blue fire in Alex’s eyes and reminded himself that the charity auction was her pet project. Her beloved grandmother Sarah had died from the disease, and as it was a cause that was near and dear to her heart, Lex had committed herself to raising funds to find a cure.

“I’ll be glad when it’s over,” Alex said. “A few more sleeps and counting. Roll on Saturday and then Gus can stop throwing me into the arms of any man with a pulse.”

The thought of Alexis being in another man’s arms was enough to have him grinding his teeth together. Daniel reminded himself that he had no right to feel jealous, but the enamel still flew off his teeth. Reaching across him to pick up her cup of coffee, her hair brushed his face and he inhaled her lavender-and-wildflower scent. He immediately felt himself grow hard, and as much as it pained him, he told himself to stand down.

“If I don’t leave soon, Lex, I’m going to be late. What’s on your mind?”

Alex sipped, sighed and sipped again, before finally getting to the point. “I...um...think we should put this on hold, at least for a while.”

“This meaning us?”

Alex nodded. “I’ve got a lot on my mind, so much to do, and while this has been fun, it’s taking time and energy I don’t currently have.”

Daniel felt the prick—hell, stab!—of dismay and pushed the pain away. Sure, he hadn’t expected this to last forever, but damn, he and Lex were good together. They enjoyed each other, knew exactly how to make each other writhe and squirm and scream. It would be a good long while, Daniel admitted, before he could even think about sleeping with someone else.

Because Alexis—warm and wonderful—was truly one of a kind.

Alex looked like she was waiting for an answer, so he shrugged and uttered the only word he could wrap his tongue around. “Okay.”

Disappointment flashed in her eyes. At his one-syllable answer or because he wasn’t arguing for them to carry on?

“I’d also like to tell our grandparents that we are wise to them trying to set us up with other people, that they can’t interfere in our love lives,” Alex stated, her voice determined.

“You want to tackle them together? In the same room?” Daniel heard the skepticism in his voice. “Would Royal survive the fallout?”

“I think it would have more impact,” Alex stubbornly replied.

“They’ve avoided each other for five decades, Lex. You’re not going to get them in the same room, at the same time.” This feud was exhausting but it wasn’t theirs to fight. Gus and Rose had decades of tumultuous history to work through, and Daniel wasn’t fool enough to get sucked up in that craziness.

Besides, he had bigger things to deal with, like Alex cutting him off. He didn’t want this to end... “You sure this is what you want to do, Lex?”

Alex lifted her shoulders, dropped them and released a long-suffering sigh. “I’m tired of the lectures, the disapproving looks from Gus. I’m tired of sneaking around. I need more sleep and I have a couple of personal decisions I need to make. You’re a...complication.”

A complication, huh? “It’s just sex, Alex.”

Was that reminder directed at her or himself?

Annoyance glimmered in Lexi’s gorgeous blue eyes. “Of course it is, but since it’s sapping my time and energy, it needs to stop.” She looked away from him, shrugged before dragging her eyes back to his. “Maybe once the auction is over, after the holidays, if I’m around, we could maybe pick things up again.”

So many maybes, Daniel thought, pulling on his boot. Wait, what did she say? “You said, if you’re around? Are you thinking of leaving?”

Another thought to cool his head. He definitely wasn’t getting enough sleep!

“I’ve had a job offer that might take me back to Houston,” Alex said. “I’ve stayed in Royal longer than I thought I would. My plan was always to return there.”

“What’s the offer?” Daniel asked, standing up and tucking his shirt into his jeans.

“Managing partner in a social media strategy firm. It’s a good offer. I’ve always wanted to be my own boss.”

He quirked a brow. “Isn’t that what you are here on the ranch?”

“Gus is still the boss, Dan,” she reminded him. “And while I can run the finances, I’m not a rancher. In Royal, everything has a memory associated with it. My parents, Sarah...”

He heard her unsaid you and could almost taste the emotion in her voice. They’d both had hard childhoods, had been knocked around by life, but he knew that losing her parents as a little girl had rocked her world. And then to lose Sarah, on top of all that, had truly devastated her. “I am sorry, Lex. Sorry for you, for Gus.”

Alex managed a wobbly smile. “Thanks, I appreciate it.” Standing up, she placed her hand on his chest, and Daniel felt his heart rate kick up, his throat tightening. Alex just had to touch him and the thoughts of stripping their clothes off and taking her again were front and center. He forcibly held himself still as Alex stood up on her pretty painted toes to kiss the side of his mouth. “Thanks for this, Dan. It was fun. And maybe it exorcised some ghosts.”

Yeah, but maybe it also, Daniel couldn’t help thinking, created a whole bunch more.

* * *

She’d said goodbye to him as a teenager but watching him walk away as an adult was surprisingly a great deal harder than she’d imagined it would be. She’d been madly in love with him then, but she wasn’t in love with him now, so... Why on earth was she so upset?

You have to let him go. There is no other option. This is not a situation where you can have the cowboy and ride him, as well.

But she still couldn’t keep her eyes off him as he strode toward his dirt bike. Sighing appreciatively, she watched as he threw a long, muscular leg over the saddle and gripped the handlebars, dark curls shining in the early-morning light. Man, he was gorgeous, a perfect combination of Anglo and Hispanic. Olive skin, black hair, those smoldering brown eyes and that lean, powerful physique.

Alex leaned her forearms on the railing of the deck and watched her lover—no, her ex-lover—ride away, ignoring her wildly beating heart. There was no denying that this man had the ability to liquefy her insides, to shut down her thought processes, to invade her thoughts. But he’d also broken her heart, and she’d never give him the power to do that again.

She’d noticed that Daniel was starting to sneak under her skin, that her thoughts went to him at inopportune times—like every ten seconds—and this morning, while making coffee, she’d thought about asking him whether he wanted to attend a country music concert in Joplin with her the following week. They could stay in a bed-and-breakfast, try out that new restaurant she’d heard was fabulous...

Shocked at her thoughts, she’d given herself a mental slap. Daniel wasn’t someone to make plans around, to date, to spend time with. If she was starting to think of him as a potential partner and not just as a fun, sexy hookup, then it was time to cut him loose.

So she did.

When the sound of Dan’s bike faded away, Alex walked back into the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the expensive Persian carpet beneath her feet. Only in Texas would you find an exquisite Persian carpet on the floor of a very upscale tree house, Alex thought. Only her grandmother Sarah would put it there. Damn, she still missed her. But Sarah, like her parents, was gone, and Alex couldn’t help feeling that the people who loved her the most tended to leave her...

Intellectually, Alex understood that death was a part of life, that people died and hearts got broken. Tough times came along to make one stronger, that everything was a lesson...blah, blah, blah.

But losing her parents and her beloved grandmother long before they were supposed to go was just damn unfair. It was like some bored god was using her heart as a football.

Daniel had left her, too, but his desertion had strangely hurt the most. It was his choice to leave her and it was obvious, even so many years later, that she’d loved Daniel so much more than he loved her...

Alex flopped back onto the bed and placed her arm over her eyes. And that was why she’d cut him loose today: she couldn’t—wouldn’t—put herself in the position of being left brokenhearted again.

Wanting to stop wallowing, she started to make a mental list of everything she had to do today. Getting together with Rachel to plan Tessa’s makeover was high on her list. As the only bachelorette up for auction, they were going to make her the star of the show. Not that Tess needed much help—the girl was stunningly beautiful, both inside and out.

And as the master of the ceremonies, she had to plan her introductions, find some funny jokes to keep the audience entertained. She also had to psych herself into selling Daniel, the only man she’d seen naked in the longest time, to some woman with a healthy bank account. That was going to be so much fun.

Not.

Alex felt nausea climb up her throat. Really, she was being ridiculous, having a physical reaction to auctioning off Daniel. Yes, sure, the idea of sending her former flame off on a date with another woman wasn’t a pleasant prospect, but they’d just shared their bodies, not their hearts and souls. She had no hold on him—she didn’t want a damned hold on him, and that was why she’d severed their connection! She was being utterly asinine by allowing her emotions to rule her head, and this behavior was unworthy of a Slade.

But still, the nausea wouldn’t subside and Alex cursed herself as she bolted for the bathroom and made her acquaintance with the toilet bowl.

Two

Late November

Alex stared down at the long list attached to her clipboard, wondering if she would survive this crazy day. And what had she been thinking, agreeing to be the emcee for The Great Royal Bachelor Auction? It was one thing being the master—mistress?—of ceremonies at friends’ weddings and birthday parties, but this auction was a major social event.

What she’d thought would be a small local fund-raiser had morphed into something a great deal bigger and was attracting press attention from media outlets in both Austin and Dallas. The tickets to the function had sold out within a day or two, but the loud demands from wealthy single women from the two cities and the neighboring town of Joplin forced her and Rachel to upscale the event, adding another five tables to the already crowded TCC function room.

Who would’ve thought that this small-town auction for their eligible bachelors would’ve generated so much buzz? Alex flicked through the program, looking at the faces of her bachelors and lone bachelorette. Who was she kidding? If was the perfect opportunity for wealthy singles with money to burn to buy themselves a hot date. Good, because she intended to make them pay mightily for the privilege.

Alex glanced at her watch, saw that it was just past four and looked down at her messy list. The tables were set, and the flower arrangements had arrived and looked superb. The band was doing a sound check and she heard the haunting sounds of a saxophone drifting from the ballroom to this anteroom that would host the bachelors as they were waiting for their turns to be auctioned. Alex walked over to the fridge, yanked open the door and was relieved to see the bottles of beer that would be needed to calm nervous dispositions. She smiled. Her bachelors were successful businessmen, alpha men every one of them, but every time they were reminded that they’d have to stand in the spotlight and be auctioned off like prize bulls, they all looked terrified.

Hearing the door to the greenroom open, she shut the fridge door and turned to see waiters from the Royal Diner entering the room, carrying platters of food. As she well knew, nothing short of a nuclear holocaust would stop her cowboys from eating.

“Hey, guys.” Alex indicated the table where she wanted the platters to be placed. “Those look amazing. What did Amanda send over?”

“The Royal Diner’s famous ribs, sliders, quiches. Doughnut and choc chip cookies for dessert.”

“Please thank Amanda again for her generous donation. The guys and Tessa will appreciate it.” Alex dug in her pocket to pull out a tip. She waved away their thanks, and when she was alone, she placed her clipboard between two of the platters and ran through her list again.

Flowers. Check.

Band. Check.

Food. Check.

Test sound system. That was currently happening.

Tessa’s makeover. Alex checked her watch again. She’d allocated forty-five minutes for her and Rachel to give Tessa a makeover. Well, to be honest, to hold Tess’s hand while the professionals she and Rachel hired did Tess’s hair and makeup. Tess was going to rock the house tonight. Alex smiled. Girl power was a marvelous thing.

Tess reminded Alex of Gemma—she was as humble, as sweet and unaware of her good looks as Gemma had been. Alex pushed her fist into her sternum, thinking of her redheaded, emerald-eyed friend, a band of freckles across her nose. Sixteen years had passed since Gemma’s death, but there were times, just like today, when she felt that Gemma was just waiting for her to call, like she was around the corner, about to stride back into her life.

She still missed her best friend; sometimes it felt like she’d lost her a few weeks back instead of so long ago. But grief, as she learned, had no respect for time. She’d lost her parents at ten, her best friend at twelve and Sarah just a year ago. She remembered her parents as well as she did Sarah. And Gemma as well as she remembered Sarah.

She’d heard that memories fade, that lost ones become indistinct. It had yet to happen to her. She could be doing something mundane and she’d hear Gemma’s laugh, Sarah’s voice or smell her mom’s scent, and grief would slam into her, stopping her in her tracks.

When the pain subsided, just a little, she was left feeling abandoned, so damn alone. She was able to wrangle grief back into its cage, but those other feelings always lingered, casually snacking on her soul.

Could anyone blame her for pushing people away? She loved hard and she loved deep, giving all that she had. Sometime in the future, hopefully a long time from now, she’d have to face losing her grandfather Gus. Losing him, she hoped, would be easier than losing her parents, Gemma and Sarah. They’d all died way before their times, but hopefully her healthy and fit grandfather would live until he was a hundred and slip off in his sleep after a life well lived. She could live with that—it was the circle of life—and unlike before, she wouldn’t feel abandoned.

Alex flipped the program over and traced Daniel’s gorgeous face with the tip of her finger. Although she was right to put some distance between them, she still ached for him for him with every fiber of her being. Warmth pooled through her as she remembered the way he kissed her, the way his clever hands would stroke her body, the rasp of his stubble, the play of hard muscles under her hands.

The growl of his voice against her mouth, painting her skin with sinfully sexy words...

Tonight is all about making you weep as I pleasure you...

Just feeling your eyes on me makes me so hard.

You’re going to pass out from satisfaction...

Daniel was a master of the art of talking dirty, using words and phrases that upped the sexy factor by 1000 percent. Then he lived up to his words with his skillful touch and used his mouth like a Jedi Master.

She missed him...

No, her body missed him. Her body missed him a whole bunch...

But stepping away from Daniel had been a wise move and one she’d make again. Her self-protection instinct had been carefully, meticulously honed and was now scalpel sharp. Nobody would slice and dice her again.

Alex shoved the program under the rest of her papers and straightened. Returning to her list, she lifted the plastic cover off the nearest platter and reached for a doughnut. She groaned as the treat touched her tongue, sighing at the prefect combination of fat and sugar.

God, so good. Alex chewed, swallowed and chewed again, polishing off the doughnut in three bites. She reached for another and it was halfway to her mouth when she heard a horrified gasp from the doorway.

“What the hell are you doing, Slade?” Rachel demanded, hands on her slim hips, brown eyes narrowed.

Alex pulled off a piece and chewed. Swallowing, she lifted her eyebrows at the astonished look on Rachel’s face. What was her problem? “Um, eating a doughnut? Freshly made, courtesy of Amanda Battle.”

“Actually, Jillian from the pie shop made them, but that’s neither here nor there.” Rachel stepped into the room and closed the door behind her. “Why are you eating them?”

Was that a trick question? “Because they are good?”

Rachel scratched her forehead, still looking confused. “Alex, I haven’t seen you eat sugar in four years. You don’t eat junk food, ever.”

Alex looked at the doughnut in her hand, puzzled. Rachel was right, she never ate junk food and very infrequently ate carbs. So why on earth was she eating one now? And, knowing that, why was she unable to throw it in the trash?

Alex popped the last of the doughnut into her mouth and contemplated her actions. Was she finally losing it? Was the stress of organizing the bachelor auction, breaking up with Daniel and trying to work through the job offer she’d had from Houston finally getting to her?

“Alex, are you okay?”

“It’s just a doughnut, Rach. Okay, two little doughnuts,” Alex retorted. Then she reached for a paper napkin and wiped the powdered sugar off her fingers. “My sugar levels are probably low. I just needed a boost.”

“I’d believe that if I didn’t see the way you refused coffee this morning, wrinkling your nose at the smell. And last night you drank some chamomile tea.”

“I had indigestion.”

“You loathe chamomile tea,” Rachel pointed out.

Was her best friend trying to make a point? Because if she was, she was taking a hell of a long time to get to it. “You’ve obviously got something to say, Rachel, so why don’t you spit it out so I can get back to work?”

“Ooh, grumpy,” Rachel quipped, stepping forward to grip Alex’s biceps with her hands. “Honey, I think you are pregnant.”

Alex had never thought it possible that she could feel like she was burning up from the inside, as well as feeling soul-deep cold. “Okay, that’s simply not funny.”

“Am I laughing?” Rachel asked, her expression serious. “Alex, having been through this myself, I can spot a pregnancy at fifty paces. You, my friend, are pregnant.”

“Stop saying that!” Alex hissed, panic closing her throat. “I can’t be! I had my period...”

Rachel lifted her eyebrows, patiently waiting for an answer.

“Give me a sec, dammit! I have to think!” Alex pulled her phone from the back pocket of her jeans and clicked on her calendar app. She always kept a record of her cycle and she’d show Rachel that she was talking out of her hat. Alex flipped through dates, didn’t see anything and flipped back a month. Oh man, there was no denying it. She was late.

“Apart from eating junk food, has anything else changed? Have you felt nauseous, tired?”

“I threw up a couple of weeks back, felt nauseous once last week and I’m tired because I’ve been organizing this damn function. I can’t be pregnant... Maybe I have a bug! It’s far too early for me to have any symptoms of pregnancy anyway.”

That was the answer, she had a bug, had picked up a virus. Phew!

“It’s not a disease, Alex,” Rachel patiently replied. “And everyone is different.”

“Oh God. Oh God.”

Rachel’s grip on her arms tightened. “Breathe, honey. Let’s think about this logically. Did Daniel use condoms? Are you on birth control?”

“You know I’ve been seeing Daniel?” Alex demanded. “Who else knows? Does Gus? Oh crap!”

“It was a guess, which you just confirmed,” Rachel replied, her voice low and smooth. “So, condoms?”

“Yes, dammit. We are responsible adults who don’t make juvenile errors.” Alex bent over, covered her face with her hands and dropped to her haunches. “But there was one time...he pulled out and then put on a condom. God! No! I can’t be pregnant, Rach. I can’t!”

“I think there’s a good possibility that you are.” Rachel ran a gentle hand over Alex’s hair. “Alex, just breathe. In and out. Good girl.”

Alex sucked in air, using every bit of self-control she had to push away the breath-stealing panic that threatened to engulf her. Still on her haunches, she placed her hand on the floor to steady herself. This couldn’t be happening to her. Why was this happening to her? She’d had a hot, passionate fling with a man she’d always been attracted to. They’d used protection... She wasn’t supposed to end up pregnant! This wasn’t how her life was supposed to go.

And in a couple of hours, she had to go onstage, act charming and auction off the father of the baby that might be growing in her womb. Noooo...

Rachel pulled her up to standing position and cupped her face, her eyes radiating support and sympathy. “Alex, there’s nothing you can do about it now. In the morning, we’ll go and buy you a pregnancy test and I’ll hold your hand while you do it. For now, try to set it aside. We have a function to host, an evening to orchestrate.”

Alex heard a couple of unladylike curses leave her lips. “I won’t be able to concentrate until I know, Rach.”

“You won’t be able to concentrate if you do,” Rachel pointed out.

“No, it’ll be better if I know. I far prefer to deal with reality than what-ifs.” Alex sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and felt the sting of tears. “I have to know, Rach.”

Rachel wrinkled her nose. “We need you here, Alex.”

Alex pushed her shoulders back and blinked away her tears. “And I will be, Rachel. I promise you, I won’t let you down. I’ll run to the superstore just out of town and I’ll use the facilities there to do the test. I’ll be back in thirty minutes, forty at max.”

Too many people had let her down, pregnant or not, so she wouldn’t do that to her best friend. She’d made a commitment to this evening and she’d honor it, baby or not. But she had to know. It was a burning compulsion, a primal need.

Rachel shrugged. “Okay.”

Alex gave her a brief hug, pulling away before she completely lost it and started to ugly cry. She handed Rachel the clipboard, and then she all but ran to the door, yanked it open and slammed into a hard wall.

Another set of hands held her biceps; this time they were far bigger and rougher than Rachel’s but oh-so familiar. Alex inhaled Daniel’s distinctive scent and lifted her eyes to his chiseled face, sweeping them over his sensual lips and meeting his dark, brooding eyes.

Then, to her mortification, she heard a suppressed sob escape and felt the trickle of tears down her cheeks. Daniel’s grip tightened on her biceps as she rested her forehead against his chest. God, she couldn’t do this, she couldn’t be pregnant.

“Lex, what’s wrong?” For a moment, she wished she could lay her fears on him, allow him to enfold her into his strong arms, trust him to hold her up, have her back. But that was foolishness—she couldn’t trust anyone. There was only one person she could rely on and that was herself. After all, she couldn’t lose herself.

“I... It’s nothing for you to worry about.”

He remained silent as he lifted one hand to gently stroke her hair,

And, man, even though she knew she should pull away, she couldn’t bring herself to. Not yet. Just once, it would be nice not to have to stand alone and be strong, to allow someone else to carry some of her burden.

But that wasn’t the way she operated.

Even so, Alex relished the feel of Daniel’s hand on the back of her head, his lips against her temple. “Lex, I need to know what’s upsetting you.”

He almost sounded like he cared. But that was a lie. He loved her body, loved making love to her, but he didn’t care enough. Not to stick by her when things got tough, when she asked him to choose her. She’d made the mistake of relying on him when she was a teenager, and she knew not to do that again.

Alex shoved away from Daniel, swiped annoyed fingers across her eyes to wipe away the tears blurring her vision and sent him a hard smile. “I’ve got to go.”

“Wait! What’s wrong with you?” Daniel demanded. “Why are you crying? Dammit, Alexis, talk to me!”

She sent him a quick brittle smile. “Talking wasn’t part of the deal when we were lovers, Daniel, even less so now. If this turns out to be something you need to know, I’ll tell you, but for now, butt out! Okay?”

Alex moved away from Daniel, but she clearly heard the words he threw at her back. “You’re crying, Lex! How am I supposed to let you just walk away?”

Alex turned, walked backward and spread out her hands. “It’s not like it’s the first time we’ve done this, Daniel. Ten years ago, I walked away from you in tears and you let me go. Let’s repeat history, okay?”

* * *

Daniel watched Alex stride away from him, bunching his fists as he fought the urge to go after her, to shake her until she spilled her secrets. But, God, she was right. They weren’t lovers anymore and even when they were—a handful of hookups over the past two months—they hadn’t spent their time talking. That wasn’t what they’d wanted from each other...

They’d wanted sex, hot and fast and furious. They’d wanted deep kisses and gliding hands, bone-melting pleasure and mindless nights, an escape from the day-to-day world that they lived here in Royal. They’d always, even when they were kids, had the ability to separate themselves from reality, to pretend that the outside world didn’t exist. And they’d done that again, using sex as an escape, as a way to divorce themselves from their lives.

When they were entangled in one another’s arms, he wasn’t a Clayton and she wasn’t a Slade. They were just Dan and Alex, two people who’d once loved each other with all the force and fury that was only possible when you were a teenager, before life showed you the million shades of gray between black and white. He shook his head at his youthful folly; he’d been such a sap for her.

But his days of being a sap for anyone were long over.

“Are you just going to stand there, staring into space?”

Daniel looked into the room that he’d been told was where the bachelors and Tessa were supposed to wait and saw Rachel standing by the refreshment table, her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed.

“Can you tell me what that was about?” he asked. Rachel was Alex’s best friend and the two were said to be close. But how close? Like him, Alex had never been one to wear her heart on her sleeve and they rarely, if ever, had deep and meaningful conversations. Did she have those types of conversations with Rachel? Had she had them with another lover?

And why did that thought feel like the tip of a burning cigarette incinerating his stomach? He had no claim on Alex. There was nothing between them but one blissful summer long ago and some recent hot sex.

He had no claim on her. He didn’t want to have a claim on anyone and most definitely didn’t want someone to have a claim on him. With attachments came pain and he was happy with his own company, to live his life alone.

People, and their expectations and emotions, drained him.

“Is there anything you can tell me?” Daniel demanded, shoving his hands into the front pocket of his battered jeans. In an hour or two he would swap his jeans and flannel shirt for a designer tuxedo, but for now he was comfortable. With what he was wearing, at least.

“Nope,” Rachel replied, shaking her head. She lifted her clipboard. “I have a ton of work to do.”

“And that is why I’m really surprised Alex bolted out of here like her tail was on fire. With her work ethic, normally you’d have to pry her away with a crowbar.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say, Daniel.”

Tell me what’s going on! Tell me why Alex was crying. Tell me something, anything to help me understand. Daniel rubbed his hands over his face, before turning to head out the door. He needed a whiskey, possibly two. Anything to help him numb his worry about Alex, his annoyance that he’d agreed to be part of this dumb auction. Not to mention the vague apprehension that no one would bid on him, the bastard son of Royal’s wildest child.

God, now he sounded like a loser wallowing in self-pity. He’d brought The Silver C back from the brink of ruin, was regarded as one of the most talented young ranchers in the state. He was rich, respected. Who the hell cared that his mother was a crazy narcissist who was incapable of love and that his father had walked out on them before he was born?

“Daniel.”

He was about to step through the door when he heard Rachel speak his name. He turned around slowly and saw the anxiety in her eyes. Oh crap, this was bad. “Yeah?”

Rachel hesitated and blew air into her cheeks. “Nothing. Ignore me.”

Daniel growled his frustration and threw up his hands. “For God’s sake, Rachel! What?”

Rachel’s hands were white against her clipboard. “Tonight, later, when you run into her, just be gentle, okay?”

And what, in the name of all that was holy, did that mean?

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