The Bachelor's Homecoming. Karen Kirst

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СКАЧАТЬ her wrist and turned her to face him, manner unyielding. “You’d better start at the beginning.”

      Amid the birds’ intermittent chirping came a soft cry. She tensed. “What was that?”

      Releasing her, Tom strode in the direction of the lane. Jane picked up her skirts and tripped after him, dense carpet of ferns catching on the delicate lace. “Sounded like a child. Do you think someone’s lost?”

      Intensely focused on the wagon that came into view, he went directly to the rear and held out his arms. Jane’s steps slowed when she caught sight of a blur of pink calico and bouncing brown curls rushing into his hug.

      “It’s okay, Clara. I’m right here.”

      Planting a quick kiss on the little girl’s head, he eased away and jerked his chin in Jane’s direction. “There’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

      Her frock wrinkled and creases from her blanket lining one cheek, the girl lifted a shy gaze to Jane. Her green eyes matched Tom’s exactly.

      Jane pressed a trembling hand to her middle. He had a child? Mind racing, she tried to calculate the girl’s age. Four, maybe five years old? It didn’t add up. Unless, like Roy, he’d been harboring a terrible secret before he left.

      No, she couldn’t let Roy’s perfidy influence her outlook. Tom had been desperately in love with her sister. Besides, he was an honorable man who patterned his life after the Bible’s teachings.

      “Who is she, Tom?”

      Countenance solemn, he said, “In the eyes of the law, you might say she’s my daughter.”

Chapter Two

      This second, mountain-size shock robbed her limbs of strength. Jane sank onto the ground, skirts puffing around her like a giant, satiny cloud.

      His face a mask of concern, Tom swung Clara down and quickly approached, crouching to her level. Open at the collar, showing the column of his throat, the gray-and-white-striped shirt hugged his broad, sturdy shoulders and defined chest. She recalled the leashed strength in his arms as he’d propped her up.

      There was one question answered. Wherever he’d gone, he hadn’t been working in a barbershop. That kind of indoor profession didn’t add bulk to a man’s frame.

      “I’ve never known you to swoon, Janie girl, but you look seconds away from it right about now. I’ve got a canteen in the wagon. Water’s not cold, but it might help. Want me to get it?”

      “No, thank you.”

      Behind him, Clara edged closer, eyes wide with wonder. Such a pretty, delicate child, with a round, inquisitive face and a pert nose.

      “Clara, this is my friend Jane O’Malley.”

      Friend. An innocent word that sounded hateful when he spoke it. Had he had the same reaction when Megan insisted on being nothing more than friends?

      “Hello, Clara.” She dredged up a smile. “It’s nice to meet you.”

      Clara continued to stare first at Jane’s hair—no doubt a wild mess since she’d plucked all the pins out to rid herself of the flowers—and then at her apparel.

      “You have the same eyes,” Jane told him quietly. “And hair.”

      Shadows gathered in the green depths. “She’s my niece. I’m her legal guardian.”

      Tom’s only sibling, a brother named Charles, was ten years older than him. He’d left town years ago and hadn’t returned.

      “You were with Charles and his family all this time?”

      He gave a short nod, lips tightening. “On his ranch in Kansas.”

      She’d imagined him in all sorts of places and situations, none of them as ordinary as Kansas. Piloting a riverboat in Louisiana. Cutting hair in New York City. Sailing to Europe on a huge ship. Those pursuits would’ve kept him so busy he couldn’t be blamed for not thinking of her. But working on a ranch in the middle of nowhere?

      The reality stung. He’d had ample opportunity to contact her—he’d simply chosen not to. She bit back the urge to ask about Clara’s parents, to ask anything more of him. Pride prevented her, as did consideration for the girl’s feelings.

      Clara dared touch one of the seed pearls on Jane’s sleeve. “Are you a princess?”

      “No, sweetheart.”

      Tom’s perfectly formed, expressive mouth softened into a slight smile that held affection for the little girl. “She sure does look like one, though, doesn’t she?”

      Then he turned that smile on Jane, and her foolish heart hummed a happy tune.

      She flinched.

      No. She couldn’t do this. Not again.

      “Jane?” Confusion colored his tone.

      Struggling to her feet, she shook out her skirts and tugged the tight bodice down, backing away as she did so. “I have to go.”

      He stood to his full, impressive height, one hand outstretched. “Let me take you home.”

      “No.” Her harsh tone elicited a frown from Clara. Tempering it, she continued her retreat. “I mean, no, thank you.”

      “Jane—”

      “I don’t need your help, Tom. I’m perfectly capable of finding my own way home.”

      She hadn’t finished expelling him from her storybook dreams. If she allowed him to reclaim what progress she’d made, she’d never know true peace or contentment.

      And for the second time that day, she fled.

      Frustration pushed Tom to call after her. “I don’t remember you being this hardheaded.”

      She paused long enough to glance over her shoulder. Her luminous eyes challenged him. “People change.”

      Framed by the forest’s varying shades of green, her startling white wedding garb and flowing red mane carved an image on his brain he wouldn’t soon forget.

      He, more than anyone, was acquainted with the truth of that statement. His brother had transformed into someone unrecognizable after Jenny’s death, and there’d been nothing Tom could do to stop it. As for Jane, the sweet, adoring girl who’d followed him around like a lamb after its mother had been replaced by a self-assured, stunning young woman.

      With a dismissive shake of her head, Jane ventured deeper into the forest, hem flaring with each stride of her long legs.

      He didn’t like the thought of her on her own out here, especially considering her current mental state, but he couldn’t very well tie her up and toss her in the wagon.

      “I’m hungry, Uncle.”

      Clara СКАЧАТЬ