Page 22 of A Forever Kind of Rancher

“You...talked to him?” Her blue eyes went round.

“Yeah. He called. He wants you back.”

She laughed. “Of course he does. I cook, clean and manage his career. I am an idiot who devoted years of my life to him and gave him two kids and asked for very little and when he wasn’t with me, he was able to pretend I didn’t exist. Who wouldn’t want that woman back?”

She shook her head. “I’m not going to be her anymore.”

He didn’t have any place in this. Didn’t have the right to lecture her, but he was going to do it anyway.

“Don’t blame yourself. I didn’t see it either. Like I said, I had some suspicions I shouldn’t hang around and watch to see what he did with his evenings, but that’s different than actually believing someone is a serial cheater. It’s about him, and what he thinks about the people around him. How much he values them. Not how much value they have.”

“Thank you, Boone,” she said, though she didn’t look at him when she said his name.

How many times had they circled each other like this?

There were so many moments over the years.

So many barbecues where they talked with a table between them and very little eye contact. So many rodeo events where Daniel would leave to get a drink and they’d be standing there, and it was like electricity. But the thing was, they’d never moved toward it.

They both knew it was there.

And that was the most unfair thing of all.

Daniel was the kind of guy who’d hump a table leg. He strayed just because he could.

Boone wanted Wendy in a way that went beyond anything normal, average or everyday. What he felt for her had been instant. It had been ruinous.

It had destroyed something in him he’d never built back up.

Desire like that wasn’t common. It wasn’t typical.

And the man standing in their way, the man who was still in their way because of the position he’d put Wendy in...didn’t deserve the label of roadblock because he wasn’t important enough. Because she hadn’t meant enough to him.

What they’d resisted for the sake of responsibility was something you could write a song about.

And Daniel didn’t resist a damned thing.

But even without any loyalty left to him, Wendy was facing starting over, with her girls. She was in Boone’s care, and Boone would never take advantage of that.

“You’re welcome. I promise when I eat the cake I’ll sit down.”

She did look at him then. “Good.”

He started to move around the side of the island, he didn’t even think about it, but then he watched her eyes get round, watched her posture go stiff, and he stopped.

If he got too close to her...

“Good night,” he said, firmly.

“Good night.”

Attraction wasn’t the same as wanting.

He had to remember that.

Chapter Four

She felt breathless still the next morning, and all the way through taking the girls to school, and definitely when she walked cautiously into Boone’s house to begin the day’s chores.

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