The Rancher's Surprise Daughter. Jill Lynn

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СКАЧАТЬ noticing him. “Hi.” Big brown eyes—just like Cate’s—held his.

      A rush of emotion clogged his throat, but Luc managed a response. “Hi.”

      “I’m Ruby. What’s your name? Do you live here? Do you have a horse-y?”

      Her questions ignited a grin. “Luc.” He glanced at Cate, and she shook her head in response to his unspoken question. Ruby must not know his name to be able to create the link to him being her father. Probably a good thing at this point. “And yes, I live here and I have a horse.” Or should he say “horse-y”?

      He sank to bended knee in front of the girl, partly to be closer to her height, partly because his legs were about to give out.

      The blood in his veins thrummed a rhythm that whispered mine. As though it knew without a test or proof that Ruby was his daughter.

      Why he believed Cate, Luc didn’t know. Course, the heart defect seemed a blatant link. When he’d been a child, they hadn’t considered it genetic, but in the years since, they’d proved it often was.

      Still, he should be careful until he knew for sure.

      Yet even with that logical thought backing him up, everything in his body hurt. He wanted so badly to reach out, to hug her, to somehow know everything about her in one instant. He fisted hands at his sides. The idea that Ruby was his, that he’d missed so much time if Cate was telling the truth, made every muscle tense.

      “Any chance you want to ride one of the horses?” Everything was better on a horse. Plus, it would give him a chance to get to know Ruby a little.

      Her chocolate eyes lit up with excitement, head bobbing fast and furious. She definitely had a sense of adventure. Must drive Cate crazy. The thought warmed him.

      “Luc—”

      “She’ll be fine.” He stood, earning crossed arms and a scowl from Cate. Her thin, dark eyebrows joined together in obvious agitation, somehow only managing to highlight her beauty. Luc had never had a problem being attracted to Cate. It was in the mature, getting-along department that they’d struggled.

      Luc waited an extra beat to see if Cate added any additional protest. He didn’t want to be careless with Ruby, but most often her condition had very few symptoms and just needed to be fixed.

      When silence reigned and Cate’s shoulders drooped as if relinquishing control, Luc put a check in the victory column. Missing almost four years of Ruby’s life definitely gave him an upper hand at the moment.

      The three of them headed for the corral, and Luc directed them to Buster, one of the smaller palomino quarter horses with a calm temperament, who was already saddled and ready to go. He hoisted Ruby up and made sure she felt comfortable. Told her where to hold on. Her face shone with wonder and excitement as she commented about how the color of the horse reminded her of caramel popcorn.

      “I’m going to walk with you and lead Buster the whole time, and anytime you want to stop or get down, you just tell me.”

      “I can’t do it by myself?”

      Adventurous little thing. “Not until you’ve had more experience. We’d have to get you started on a pony—”

      Cate’s wide eyes cut him off, communicating all kinds of warning signals and flares. Luc tempered his amusement. He’d probably been getting ahead of himself a bit.

      “We’ll be back in ten minutes,” he said to Cate, lips quirking at her squeak of indignation and the fact that she was, most definitely, not invited.

      She’d had Ruby to herself for three-plus years. Luc deserved some time with her away from Cate’s hawk-like attention.

       Chapter Two

      Six agonizing days later Luc paced back and forth near the fireplace in the small living room of his cabin. His friend Gage Frasier perched on the arm of the chair flanking the couch, grilling Luc like the lawyer he was with questions that didn’t have satisfying answers.

      “Any news on the paternity test?”

      “Nope.” Luc dropped to the sofa, his body no longer functioning with coherent thought or movement.

      He hadn’t seen Ruby or Cate since last Saturday because he’d decided the most logical course of action was to wait until he knew for sure that she was his daughter. Though Cate hadn’t shown any doubt, she’d agreed to his suggestion that they not say anything to Ruby until they had the paternity test results back.

      But waiting was as easy as living with a broken toe.

      In the short time he’d spent with Ruby on Saturday while she’d ridden Buster, he’d quickly come to the conclusion that his possible daughter was captivating. Entertaining. And bubbled with as much energy as her little body could harness.

      The only other time Luc had been smitten so fast was with one other female, who, when he and Ruby had returned to the corral after twenty minutes instead of ten, had been spitting mad.

      Luc could admit he had fully enjoyed Cate’s disgruntled state. Currently, his guilt meter regarding anything she thought rested solidly at a zero.

      Hers should be shooting through the roof.

      “What’s she like?”

      “Ruby’s...” How to narrow it down? “Sweet. She talks nonstop. The kind of girl who would make friends with a fly.” He’d gathered that because she had, in fact, talked to the fly that had ridden on Buster’s saddle horn for part of the ride. And she’d befriended Luc instantly, jabbering the whole time. He’d learned that she had a best friend at day care and that her mom didn’t let her do more than an hour of “lectonics” in a day even though some kids got to do bunches more.

      That one had made him smile. He’d found himself silently agreeing with Cate.

      Ruby had told him her mom read “lots” of books to her every night, announcing it as though she was the most special girl in the world and their reading time only confirmed it.

      That information had created an uncomfortable surge of sympathy in Luc, flooding him with images of Cate juggling everything on her own. Ruby and her condition. Work. Bills. How had she managed it all? From what he knew of her parents, he couldn’t imagine them stepping in to help when Cate had found out she was pregnant. But he’d quickly stomped out the rush of concern that came with imagining Cate doing everything on her own.

      He was not going to feel bad for her. Not after the decision she’d made to keep Ruby from him.

      Luc had gotten a DNA test done in town first thing Monday morning. They’d sent in his sample, and Cate and Ruby had gone to the testing place in Denver. Now it was ticking toward five on Friday, and he was tormented to think he’d spend the weekend without knowing the results. So much felt undecided. And on top of his questions, Cate had texted him the date of Ruby’s procedure. One week from today.

      “So Cate didn’t explain why she never told you about Ruby?” Gage’s dark hair looked as rumpled as Luc’s. At least he could count on sympathy and understanding from СКАЧАТЬ