Page 27 of Baby Daddy

“Not really. Let’s just say I learned common sense the hard way.” Maybe the hardest way possible.

“I’ll behave.” He gave her another of those cool green glances, the sort that warned he was always in control and she’d do well to remember it. “Willie’d have my hide if I didn’t.”

“Hah.” Cassidy folded her arms across her chest. “Don’t tell me she could slow you down once you’d made up your mind about something.”

“She’s been known to put a damper on my enthusiasm from time to time.”

“But she hasn’t stopped you,” Cassidy guessed shrewdly.

“Not when I want something bad enough.”

She doubted he meant it as a warning. Still, she intended to take it that way. The sensation of being hunted returned full bore. Ty exuded an innate patience and determination that matched the sheer size and power of the man. Instinct told her that once he’d fixed his sights on a quarry, he’d track it relentlessly. Capturing his prey would only be a matter of time, his success a given.

More and more she’d begun to suspect he’d fixed his sights on her. Whether he’d done it at the request of his grandmother or to help Hutch, she couldn’t guess. But unless she found a way to dissuade him, he’d have her in the end, something she preferred to avoid at all costs.

For the hour it took to reach his place, she worried endlessly about how to extricate herself from her latest predicament. Finally, she gave it up as pointless. Why fuss about what she couldn’t fix? She’d had that particular lesson drummed into her more than once. Too bad she was such a slow learner.

Ty turned into a gated entranceway just then, which succeeded in distracting her. As they bumped along the gravel road, she focused on their destination—alarge homestead thattopped a bluff and overlooked an endless spread of cattle country.

“Is all this yours?” she asked in astonishment.

“Yes.”

She studied the impressive building as they approached. The main part of the house had been roughly hewn from logs, with succeeding generations expanding from there, combining wood with stone as the house sprawled outward from its well-aged core. “It looks old. Has your family owned it for long?”

“It’s been in Merrick hands for a while now.”

“How long’s a while?”

He shrugged. “Think Alamo and add a handful of years.”

“Your roots go deep.”

She couldn’t help voicing the wistful observation. What would it be like to have the land of your forebears beneath your feet? To know that generation after generation had lived and died, loved and cried, laughed and grieved on the same spot. She’d give almost anything to be connected to that long a lineage, to help continueit.

To belong.

Yearning turned to determination. Okay. So she didn’t have a heritage to match Ty’s, nor could she offer one to Hutch. That didn’t mean she couldn’t make a home for them. As soon as she’d saved enough, they’d have their own house. It might not be like this, but it would be a start. She’d learned long ago that thirsty roots dug deep. Soon she’d belong somewhere,too.

“What’s wrong?”

She’d been so preoccupied with her thoughts and plans, she hadn’t realized they’d stopped. Ty fixed his all too observant gaze on her face. How much had she given away? she wondered uneasily.

“I was thinking about what it must be like to have a family history like yours.” She waved a hand toward his home. “A connection to the past.”

“Proud. Comfortable. And frustrating,” he answered promptly.

“Frustrating?” She swiveled to look at him. “Why?”

“It comes with a lot of responsibility.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You have a problem with that?”

“No. But my father did. He felt trapped by his legacy.”

“Did he run?” The question escaped before she’d considered the wisdom of askingit.

“Yes.” It was his turn to level a narrowed gaze on her. “Familiar with that response, are you?”

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