Forever Together (15 page)

The closer he got, the more excited Pearl
became. Her tail shot in the air and he could have sworn the whites
of her eyes glowed. Great, he thought. He needed a vampire horse as
much as he needed to be bitten.

“Let me put you out of your misery,” Kate
said. “I’ll feed Pearl and you can see to Bonny.”

He looked at Pearl’s white coat and
half-human smile. “She’s not going to like it.”

“She won’t get a choice. I’ll leave the
bucket by the fence. If she doesn’t come to
me,
she’ll go hungry.”

Kate’s plan made perfect sense to Dan, but
Pearl wouldn’t see the logic in keeping his body safe. If Pearl
decided to be prickly, Kate could end up on the ground.

“I’ll feed both horses,” he said. “Let me
know if Pearl looks as though she’s about to nip me.”

Kate followed him
across
the ranch. Her limp was getting worse.

“I can carry both buckets.” He held out his
hand, but Kate kept walking.

“Fine. Do everything on your own. Didn’t
Doctor T say to take things easy for a couple of days?”

He might as well have saved his words. Kate
wasn’t listening. She didn’t hand him her bucket until she got near
Pearl and Bonny. “All yours.”

“Thanks,” he muttered. He climbed over the
fence, hoping he wouldn’t have to leap back. As soon as his feet
hit the
dirt
, Pearl took it as an
invitation to get close and cuddly. He attached her bucket to the
fence with a snap hook and backed off fast.

Just as he started to congratulate himself
for his heroic feeding adventure, Kate yelled, “Run!”

He didn’t bother looking over his shoulder.
He vaulted over the fence, tripped on his feet, and ended up face
first in the grass.

“Are you all right?” she asked.

He rolled onto his back and stared into her
worried face. She looked like an angel.
Sunlight
caught at the red highlights in her hair,
spinning a soft halo around her face. Her eyes were as blue as the
sky behind her, fringed in dark lashes that hid a lifetime of
secrets.

“Dan?”

He shook his head and sat upright. “I’m
fine.” He glanced across at Pearl. She had her head half buried in
the feed bucket, scarfing the oats and molasses as if it was her
last meal. If she tried nipping him
again,
it would be.

With Pearl otherwise engaged, Kate lifted the
second bucket off the ground and took it across to where Bonny was
standing.

“Don’t you dare climb that fence.” His voice
came out louder than he wanted, but she got the message.

She set the bucket beside the fence and
waited for him with a scowl on her face. “I could have fed
Bonny.”

He didn’t bother arguing with her. “There’s
no way you’re going to climb any fence while I’m here, so you might
as well get used to it. I’ll feed the horses. You can look after
the rest of Anna’s menagerie.”

“What about Pearl?”

“Pearl and I are going to work out an
amicable arrangement that saves my body from her teeth.”

“Good luck with that.”

Dan had a feeling Kate might be right. He
didn’t rate his chance of understanding a horse much higher than
his ability to fly to the moon. Or figuring out what Kate would do
next.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Kate added the last of the beef strips to the hot
skillet, stirring them carefully so they didn’t stick together. She
heard the front door open and Dan’s boots thump along the wooden
floors.

“Something smells good.” He sniffed the air
appreciatively, coming across to the stove to see what she was
doing.

“Hands off.” She tapped his fingers when he
reached for one of the strips sitting on a plate.

“What are you making?”

“Chinese honey glazed beef with walnuts.”

Dan looked impressed. “Sounds fancy.”

“Tess gave me the recipe. She’s been
experimenting with hot dishes for the café. I
marinated
the beef before I went to work.”

“You what?”

“Marinated the beef. Tess said not to skimp
on the five-spice powder. It gives the meat lots of flavor.”

“I wasn’t talking about the meat. You went to
work?”

Kate took the beef strips out of the skillet
and added a cup of walnut pieces and a red chili to the pan.
“Someone called in sick, so I worked for a couple of hours.”

“Doctor T said to rest. It’s only been two
days since your operation.”

“Doctor T doesn’t know me. I couldn’t rest if
I tried. I saw Kaylee after I finished work.”

“I saw her too. You’re changing the
subject.”

Kate drained the coconut oil from the pan and
put the walnuts and the chili on the beef. “Can you check the rice?
It should be cooked by now.”

Dan pulled the colander out of a kitchen
drawer and tried some of the rice. “You shouldn’t be going to work.
Not yet, anyway.”

“I’m fine. I didn’t lift anything heavy and
Loretta asked one of the apprentices to wash and condition my
clients’ hair.” She picked up a jar of liquid honey and unscrewed
the lid. “I’ve just got to make a glaze for everything and then
we’re done.”

He tipped the rice into the colander and
frowned. “I should be annoyed with you, but I’m starving. I’ll set
the table.”

Kate put the rice and beef onto two plates
and took them across to the kitchen table.

“I didn’t know you could cook.” Dan picked up
the vegetables she’d stir fried a few minutes earlier and put them
on the table.

“I can’t.”

He raised his eyebrows.

“Not how the experts cook,” Kate said. “I can
follow a recipe, but I’ve got no idea how to throw things together
and come out with something edible.”

“Following instructions works for me. Would
you like a glass of wine?”

Kate shook her head. “Water will be fine.”
Adding alcohol to a brain that went fuzzy every time Dan was in the
room wasn’t a good idea.

She sat at the table and put a little bit of
everything on her plate.

Dan did the same. He bit into the beef and
smiled. “It’s good. Real good.”

He was right. Tess’ recipe was divine and
she’d definitely add it to her list of favorites. “What did you do
today?”

“I went to Kaylee’s school and did a talk
about being the Deputy Chief of Police. All of the kids asked how
she was doing.” He poked his rice with his fork. “It was hard
seeing their happy faces and knowing Kaylee was like that six
months ago.”

Kate stopped eating. “I know what you mean.
The same thing happened
with
Lily.
Not with school, but with her play group.”

Dan lifted his glass of wine to his mouth.
“Do you carry the same gene for HLH that Kaylee has?”

Kate shook her head. “No, I got the all clear
from the doctors at Sharp Memorial Hospital. I feel guilty that
Lily was the one who ended up with it.” She forced a smile on her
face. “How are you planning on feeding Pearl?”

Dan’s gaze warmed. He knew what she was
doing. “I saw Brody at the Vet Clinic today. He gave me a rope I
can tie her
bucket too
, then it’s
just a matter of wrapping it around a
fence post
. If that doesn’t do the
trick,
I’m going to try the garden hose.”

“Wouldn’t it be hard to wrap it around a
fence post
?”

Dan smiled. “Not the fencepost. I’ll keep it
handy for when Pearl brings her teeth out. One nip and she’ll be
drenched in water. But I’m off the hook tomorrow. Anna and Tom are
coming out to the ranch in the morning to take Bonny and Pearl for
a ride.”

“That’s good.” Kate kept eating and avoided
Dan’s gaze.

He cleared his throat. “Did you get the job
you applied for in San Diego?”

Kate shook her head. “No. They had over
eighty applicants and needed someone to start last week.”

“So what are you planning on doing? Now that
the transplant’s over.”

Kate ignored the faint blush skimming his
cheeks. She’d been thinking about what she was going to do for the
last few days. “I can’t stay in San Diego for more than a couple of
months without a job. Loretta’s offered me a part-time job here.
Anna and Tom said I can stay with them for as long as I need to.
But I’m not sure I want to stay here.”

“Sounds to me like you don’t have much
choice.”

“Maybe. Mom wants me to stay with her.”

“In Australia?”

“It wouldn’t be a forever kind of thing. I
don’t even know if I’m allowed to work there without a special
visa.”

“It’s a long way to go for a job.”

Kate chewed on a strip of beef, frowning
across the table at Dan. Anyone would think he wanted her to stay.
She’d thought after the transplant he’d be happy to see her leave.
Doctor T had even frozen the extra stem cells they’d collected in
case they needed to do another transplant.

There was no reason for her to live in
Bozeman. Except for Kaylee, her dad, and Anna. And maybe herself,
if she wanted to be part of her dad’s family. But Dan? He confused
her. He didn’t have feelings for her except in a blow on the neck
and leave her breathless kind of way.

“What happened in Iraq?”

Dan froze. He didn’t say anything for so long
that she thought he wasn’t going to answer. And in the middle of
his silence she started feeling guilty. It wasn’t any of her
business. Regardless of whether she left tomorrow or in three
month’s time, it wouldn’t make any difference to her life. Or
his.

Dan pushed his half-eaten plate away and
leaned his elbows on the table. “I joined the Army when I was
eighteen. I was deployed to Iraq when I was twenty. Twelve months
later my best friend was killed by a sniper. He had a wife and two
little kids.”

Dan looked down at the table and swallowed.
“After that things started going downhill. By the time I came back
to the
States,
I was screwed up.
The Army Psychologist put it down to post-traumatic stress
disorder. I couldn’t sleep and when I did, I woke up in a cold
sweat remembering what had gone on over there. I was as mad as hell
about everything.”

“How long did you stay in the Army?”

“I had four years of active duty, then
another four as a reserve. After I’d finished active
duty,
I came home for a year, then joined the
Police Academy in Minnesota. I was damn lucky they accepted
me.”

“How do you feel now?”

“Are you worried about your safety?” Dan
looked a little confused and a lot worried.

Kate smiled. “If you’d asked me that question
two weeks ago the answer would be different. But I can’t feel
unsafe around a man who buys his niece pretty dolls and thinks to
include Toby. And the fact you like my cooking goes a long way to
adding to your appeal.”

Instead of looking relieved, he looked
embarrassed. “You think I’m appealing?”

Kate felt her face get hot. “Sometimes,” she
mumbled.

Dan smiled and Kate knew ‘appealing’ didn’t
go anywhere near to how she felt about him. He was sexy,
intelligent, and kind. All the things that scared the living
daylight
out of her.

“Since we’re sharing stories, tell me about
your delinquent youth.”

Kate should have known her question would
lead to ones she didn’t want to answer.

Dan pulled his plate close and started
eating. Unburdening his soul must have made him hungry. Kate, on
the other hand, lost her appetite completely. “You know most of it
already.”

“Wouldn’t hurt to tell me again.”

She tried to look offended, even mildly
annoyed would have worked. But it was hard to appear indignant when
the person you were staring at wasn’t looking at you. She gave him
one last glare before starting the story of her misspent youth.

“After Lily died I couldn’t sleep. I cried so
hard that I thought I was going to explode. Then I got angry. I
didn’t have anyone to talk to. Mom shut herself down. She didn’t
speak, didn’t eat. She was eventually diagnosed with acute
depression.”

“How did you end up on a mini crime
spree?”

“Didn’t your files tell you?”

Dan stopped chewing. He wiped his mouth with
a napkin, folded it in half, then left it beside his plate. “I’m
not sorry I did a background check on you. You would have done the
same thing if you’d been in my shoes.”

“Maybe. But I wouldn’t have held a grudge
against you for what happened years ago.”

“What can I tell you? I don’t trust easily,
not with strangers anyway.”

Kate had a feeling he didn’t trust anyone
easily. She glared at his empty plate.

He smiled back.

Part two was even harder for Kate to speak
about. She’d not only let herself down, but she’d let her mom and
Lily down. And that was something she wasn’t proud of. “I left home
and ended up on the street. I had some money, but not enough. I
tried to find a job, but I was only a kid and no one wanted to hire
me. Not for anything legal, anyway.”

Dan’s eyebrows shot up.

“It’s one of those things you don’t want to
know about.” She kept going, kept telling him about her past before
she chickened out and locked everything away. “I found a group of
kids to hang out with. We broke into anything we could find.
Houses, cars, trucks. It didn’t matter.”

She took a sip of water, annoyed that her
hand shook as she put the glass back on the table.

“How did you stay out of trouble after you
were arrested?” Dan looked genuinely interested in her answer. More
interested than her mom had ever been.

“I stayed with a lady. She taught me a lot
about myself. I realized I didn’t want Lily to be disappointed in
me. If she couldn’t be here to live her life, then I needed to work
twice as hard to make mine count for something. I wanted her to be
proud of me.” Kate felt tears prick the back of her eyes. “I still
miss her, but I’m making a difference.”