He shook his head and admitted, “I wasn’t.”
She smacked his shoulder now. “That was stupid, too,” she said. “Trish just got divorced. She’s pregnant and vulnerable. She shouldn’t be getting involved withanyoneright now—you, least of all.”
His pride stung, he had to ask, “Why me, least of all?”
“You and I aren’t like Blake and Maci and Liam and Elise. We’re not looking for arelationship.” She grimaced when she uttered the last word like it left a nasty taste in her mouth. “And we’re certainly not looking to havechildren.” She shuddered when she uttered that word, like just the thought gave her chills.
Truthfully, it gave him some, too. And Trish was about to have children, not just one like Lucy but two. Two infants who would be totally dependent on someone.
He already felt as though he had too many people dependent on him, dependent on him to be strong, to be stoic, to get things done.
“It’s best for people like us to stay uninvolved,” she said. “Instead of risking someone getting hurt.”
He wasn’t sure if that someone would be Trish or him, though. She had kissed him first and more than once. But his father had raised him to be a gentleman, so he wouldn’t share that with anyone.
“I know. You’re right,” he told Frankie.
“Of course I am,” she replied. “And just think of the mess you could cause if you two keep up with this…whatever it is.”
Like Frankie, he couldn’t think of a word to describe the attraction he felt for Trish Dempsey. Or maybe he just didn’t want to put a name to it.
“The estate has finally been settled,” Frankie continued. “We’re all working well together with this partnership. You don’t want to undo all of that for…”
Love?
He gasped as the thought popped into his head. Of course this wasn’t love. He didn’t even know what love was. He’d dated before, but he’d never been in a serious relationship, one that he had imagined going anywhere. And this one certainly couldn’t lead to marriage.
Trish had made it clear she would never marry again, in case it didn’t work out and her kids had to suffer the consequences. Which made sense.
She had to put her kids first.
And Brett…
He had to put the ranch and his family first, like he’d been doing all these years. He nodded at Frankie. “You’re right. I don’t know what that was…” He pointed toward the wagon where he and Trish had kissed just a short while ago. He could still taste her on his lips, still smell the scent of hay in her soft hair. But he could never risk a repeat of that.
While he’d been worried about her falling off the wagon, he was scared to death now that he was the one falling hard for Trish Dempsey.
* * *
The minute Bretthelped her off the wagon, Trish had headed straight for the house. She needed to press a cold cloth against her face to cool off her embarrassment and her attraction to the cowboy.
What was wrong with her?
Why was she forgetting the vows she’d made to herself during her divorce? She was never going to depend on another person, never going to link her life up with someone she might lose. Or with someone she might not have ever really had.
She couldn’t risk it. Not for herself and definitely not for her babies.
She didn’t want them to grow up feeling like the rope in the tug-of-war between adults. She didn’t want them to get so frayed from the struggle that they forgot who they were and what they wanted because they were trying to make miserable people happy.
She could not risk their childhood becoming the nightmare that hers had been. Except when she’d been here at the ranch.
At the Four Corners, she’d been so happy. And she was again, now that she was back. The camps were coming together. She just needed a few more activities that the kids would enjoy. And the hayride was a good one.
But Brett, as usual, was probably right about liability issues. She would need to add sides to the wagon and a gate across the back. She would ask the contractors working on the bunkhouse if they could take care of that, too.
After taking a shower to wash off the hay and the embarrassment of Frankie catching them kissing, she went back outside to find Brett already working on the wagon. Tears stung her eyes.
He was so sweet that it wasn’t fair. Even when he didn’t like what she was doing on the ranch, he helped her with it. Was that just who he was? Or did he have a reason for being so nice to her?
