Page 71 of The Rancher’s One and Only

He kissed her head. “I try.”

He really did. She wasn’t sure if he realized that. That not only did he try really hard, and she could see it, but he succeeded. Continuously.

No, she was pretty sure he didn’t. Because part of him carried around darkness from his past. Part of him felt so marred by what had happened in his childhood, and the blood that he had in his veins, that relationship with his father that existed, no matter how much distance he put between himself and his childhood.

And she knew there was nothing she could say. Nothing easy or simple, anyway.

“You really are,” she said, insistent.

He didn’t answer. He just tightened his hold on her. And she let herself be held.

Chapter Fourteen

Last night had been wildly erotic, and maybe it wasn’t the best thing in the world that he had gone ahead and christened the brand-new tent in the most carnal way possible. But hell, if you stayed in hotels, that was the risk you were taking. It really seemed right that he got to help break the bed in, considering a lot of his money had gone into buying this stuff.

When he woke up, Ernestine was gone. And he put his jeans on and wandered out of the tent. Everyone was sitting around the fire—even Dakota, with eggs and bacon, coffee. He never overslept. He didn’t know what the hell that was about.

“Good morning,” Dakota said meaningfully. “You overslept.”

“I guess I did.”

“Somebody was working the night shift,” said Jax.

He looked at Ernestine, worried that she would be upset, and while her cheeks were pink, she was laughing behind her hand.

“Yeah. Well. I’m going to need some of that coffee.”

“Don’t worry,” Jessica said. “We brewed you a second round. Figure you would want a fresh cup.”

“I do, thank you.”

“I was actually filling them in on the significance of the discovery that I made.”

“Sounds good,” Rowdy said. “I mean, even I’m interested in it. Who doesn’t like dinosaurs?”

“Probably the lawyer in Jurassic Park,” Jax said. “I mean, not at this point.”

“Please,” Ernestine said, fixing him with a very teacher-like glare, and he couldn’t say he didn’t like it. In fact, he liked it quite a bit.

“She doesn’t like Jurassic Park,” he said.

“I imagine it’s not scientifically accurate,” Dakota said.

“Who cares?” Jax asked.

“Would you watch a movie with bad fighting?”

“Trick question. I have to do that all the time. Because a lot of movies have bad fighting in them. And I just have to deal with it.”

“Well, I don’t like it,” she said. “And I think that’s reasonable. It’s an entire franchise built around the idea that people would simply ignore the threat of dinosaurs in order to be able to see them.”

“Have you met people?” Jax asked. “That is perhaps the most realistic part of the movie. People make dumb decisions all the time either because they think it will make them rich, or because they want to feel something.”

“Ouch,” Rowdy said. “That’s quite a statement on humanity.”

“It’s true. My profession, and yours, kind of speaks to that.”

“Again, ouch,” Rowdy said.