She bumped her shoulder against his. “And you’re a good liar.”
Her sarcasm earned her another smile, a wide one that showed a flash of his teeth and brought out crinkles at the corners of his eyes.
Her breath hitched. Ugh. Why did his smiles have to make him look so roguishly charming?
She couldn’t think about that. “You must have done a lot of dancing when you were growing up.”
“We had lots of good, old-fashioned barn dances back in the olden days.”
“Back in the olden days.” She scoffed. “Like fifteen years ago when you were in high school?”
He shrugged. “Barn dances, cow tipping, and tractor races. What else was a rowdy high-school guy supposed to do up here in the high country?”
She tried to picture Tyler being rowdy and couldn’t imagine it. “I bet you were chasing girls.”
“Guess I did my fair share of that too.”
“Is that when you met Stephanie?”
At the mention of his ex-wife’s name, he stiffened. She’d only heard a little about Stephanie from T.W., and most of it had been positive because that was just the way T.W. was. He probably didn’t want to criticize Stephanie, especially in front of Wyatt.
“T.W. told me she’s really sweet to Wyatt.”
“When she’s around.” Tyler’s voice held a note of bitterness.
Kinsey waited for him to say more, but he let the silence stretch so that the cheerful conversations of the other guests filled the space.
She could admit she’d been curious about the woman who had won Tyler’s heart. But it wasn’t her place to pry, and in the long run, it didn’t really matter who Tyler had once loved. “I’m sorry for bringing her up.”
“It’s all right.”
“Clearly it’s not.”
He blew out a taut breath. “It’s past time to move on.”
She’d told that to her mom more times than she could count, especially when it came to Madison’s room, which remained unchanged.
Maybe Mom’s inability to move on was why Kinsey liked moving on—to prove she wasn’t stuck in the past the same way her mom and dad were.
Tyler stared off into the dark distance beyond the waterfall. “Stephanie was a beautiful woman, and I was crazy about her.But beyond the attraction we felt for each other, we had little else in common.”
A beautiful woman he was crazy about? A strange jealousy pinched Kinsey, although she wasn’t sure why. Tyler didn’t mean anything to her.
“She came up here for me and had lots of ideas for the ranch.” This time Tyler’s voice held a note of something else. Was it regret? “But it didn’t take her long to realize she didn’t enjoy the ranch lifestyle and being away from the fast pace of a big city.”
“So she didn’t grow up here?”
“She was from New York City. We met in college.”
“I spent several weeks in New York City earlier in the year on a job there. It’s a whole other world.” But it hadn’t bothered her, since she was from the Chicago area and used to big-city life.
Tyler was silent for several long heartbeats. “I know my dad wants me to get remarried…but…”
“You want to be careful to find someone who isn’t intimidated by the West?”
“Exactly.”
“I’m sure plenty of women would enjoy living on your ranch and having this in their backyard.” She nodded at the waterfall.
