Page 59 of A Rancher's Bride
That didn’t ease the guilt, or the stupidity of his non-actions.
“Mom left home just after graduating from high school. She said her parents were a drag. Always bossing her around and not approving of her friends or the guys she liked.” Kelli snorted, hard. “Considering what I know about my dad—which is that he left when she got pregnant—and the shitheads she was with later, her parents were probably not wrong.”
“So you’ve never met your grandparents?”
“Nope. I don’t think they know I exist. Mom had dual citizenship, and I know her folks lived in the US. She only told me a few things about them, usually when she was drunk or out of it.”
Kelli had slipped her fingers into his hair and was stroking him gently. Over and over like a touchstone.
“I’m sorry.” He said it softly, but he felt it to his very toes. She’d deserved more.
She shook her head. “How I grew up and the fact I left when I did is not really a sad thing. It’s not like when you lost your parents. My mom made choices. They were wrong ones, but she was still in control. Your mom and dad didn’t choose what happened to them.”
“I don’t think we have to rate how sad the tragedies in our lives are for them to be devastating,” Luke pointed out. “But I’m glad you told me. I’m honoured that you trust me, and I won’t share it around. I promise.”
She leaned in and kissed him, lips soft and delicate against his. And while it would’ve been easy to take that and turn up the heat, it didn’t seem right.
They certainly had the chemistry, and if they’d kept fooling around it would have been natural and logical. But he didn’t push, keeping the kiss gentle, and after a few moments Kelli broke the contact between their mouths and leaned in, hugging him tightly.
He stroked her, undoing her braids and pulling his fingers through her hair until it lay over her back in a soft curtain. Tender touches that connected them as intimately as being inside her body.
They sat there, holding each other, until Kelli was on the verge of falling asleep in his arms. He brought her to the bedroom and tucked her into her Spiderman pyjamas before crawling into bed and wrapping himself around her.
Whatever mistakes he’d made in his past, it felt as if he’d turned the corner. He still wasn’t sure how Kelli had ended up at Silver Stone of all places. That would be a story for another time, but fate had brought her there, and now after so many years, fate had brought her into his arms.
Where she belonged—
—and wasn’t that thought enough to rock him off his logical, orderly, simple feet?
Yet it only made sense. Having her beside him felt perfect.
Maybe it was wild to be thinking this way when she’d only suggested a fling, but what was growing between them was far deeper than a fling. This wasright.
He wasn’t going to turn away a gift straight from the hands of fate.
14
The next couple of days passed in a blur. There were pockets of activity tucked between quiet moments chatting with all the gala attendees. Kelli was fascinated and entertained and exhilarated and exhausted.
The last one was because of the sex. Oh my God, thesex.
Luke had woken her up both nights. Said it was her fault because she’d kicked out and woken him first, and him using his fingers to drive her to a fever pitch was his way of getting even.
Middle-of-the-night sex was the kind of justice she had zero problems with.
The morning sex had been pretty spectacular as well. She liked waking up warm and cozy in bed with him, his arousal thickening against her as she wiggled in tight.
He’d teased and tormented until she trembled, and then tucked her under him and took her against the mattress hard, driving into her until she was ready to scream. She’d had to bury her face against his chest to stop from waking the entire hotel—yeah, she was going to miss this when it was over.
The sweet little moments of affection outside of the bedroom, though, were the ones that set her heart going like a freight train. The way he’d tug her against his side, or would casually catch her fingers in his as they spoke with other attendees…
Kelli warned herself to enjoy every minute but not to read anything into it other than two people who, while definitely compatible, simply shared a common goal. They’d moved well beyond their initial problem of Luke’s overstepping propriety. She didn’t think anyone suspected hissignificant othermistake. She forced herself to feel very happy about that for Silver Stone’s sake.
Heading back to reality was going to suck.
There were other things to be happy about for Silver Stone. She’d been able to chat about how fantastic the operation was with everyone by that point. Probably ad nauseam, if she was honest.
The final full day arrived, and she and Diane went to breakfast alone, the guys having taken off to go cross-country skiing or some such nonsense.
