The Rancher Next Door. Susan Mallery

slid from under the truck. Jack stood, then held out his hand to help the boy scramble to his feet. Shane shifted his weight from foot to foot.

      “What if they don’t like me?” he asked without looking at Jack. “My mom’s boyfriend didn’t like me much. He never said anything, but I could tell.” He glanced up, his eyes bigger than usual, his expression troubled. “I think that’s why we moved away. And now that we’re here, I don’t think Grandpa likes me very much, either.”

      Jack’s chest tightened, but he didn’t have any words of wisdom to offer. Instead he put his hand on the boy’s shoulder and squeezed.

      “Shane, there you are.”

      They both glanced up and saw Katie standing in the entrance to the garage. She looked at them, then at the truck.

      “So what have you two been getting into?” she asked with a smile.

      “Shane’s been helping me change the oil. He’s really good with engines,” Jack said, earning a quick smile from the boy.

      “Is he? I’m not surprised. Shane is bright and generally successful at whatever he tries.”

      She stood with the light behind her so it was impossible to read her expression. Probably a good thing. Her body was distraction enough. Jack told himself that he wasn’t interested in women in general and Katie in particular. He told himself that the thrust of her breasts and the roundness of her hips didn’t interest him. He told himself that the fact that he knew she kissed hotter than any other woman he’d ever known was meaningless.

      He lied.

      As much as he didn’t want to acknowledge the truth, he couldn’t help the fire that seemed to spring up from nowhere and settle in his groin. He’d managed to ignore it the past couple of times he’d seen her, but now it threatened to consume him. It was just desire, he told himself. A lust for sex didn’t much matter. It was only biology. At least she no longer engaged his heart.

      Misty, the Lab-shepherd mix ranch dog, trotted into the barn. She went up to Shane, sniffed him once then licked his hand. The boy giggled and, when she ran out of the barn, he chased after her.

      “Was he a bother?” Katie asked when they were alone.

      “No. I meant what I said. He was a help.”

      She smiled. Again he noticed how time had changed her face, age adding beauty by defining her bone structure more clearly. Experience and wisdom darkened her eyes, making him wonder about the years she’d been away. What lessons had she learned and how had they made her different?

      Wait a minute, he told himself firmly. He was not interested in Katie in any way and he didn’t want to know about her personal life—changes or no changes.

      “I doubt he did more than get in the way,” she said, “but thank you for being kind.”

      “I wasn’t. I like him. He’s a good kid. You’ve done a great job.”

      “You think so?” She tucked her hands into the pockets of her tailored slacks. Even in her low-heeled pumps she barely came to his shoulder. “My father wouldn’t agree. He thinks Shane isn’t man enough.” She hesitated, then looked at him. “I heard what Shane said. About Aaron not liking him.”

      “Is it true?”

      “I don’t know.” She shook her head. Her blond curls fluttered around her face. “Actually I do know. I just don’t want to admit it to myself.”

      “Shane isn’t what your father is used to. He’ll come around.”

      Katie raised her eyebrows. “I know you don’t believe that for a second. My father invented the word stubborn.” She dropped her hands to her sides, then moved closer to the truck. She rested a hand on the hood and studied the windshield. “Shane likes to read and do things on his computer. I don’t think my father has read a book in years, and he still does his account books by hand. They don’t have much in common. Shane is a child of the future, and Aaron is firmly entrenched in the past.”

      “That doesn’t mean he can’t love his grandson.”

      “Maybe.” But she didn’t sound convinced. She looked out the open door. “You’ve made a lot of changes around here. Not that I was a frequent visitor, but I can tell you’ve updated a lot. Obviously you don’t share my father’s love of the past.”

      “Agreed.”

      Jack avoided the past whenever possible. If he didn’t he could get lost there. Even now it taunted him with memories of how it had been between Katie and himself. How she’d looked and tasted when he kissed her. The feel of her skin again his hand. He remembered their first kiss and their last, the first and only time he’d touched her breasts. If he let himself, he could get caught up in the longing to have been the first man to know her intimately.

      “I admire what you’ve done here,” she said.

      He told himself the compliment didn’t matter even as he enjoyed hearing it. “I had good role models. Old Bill Smith was the foreman for nearly twenty years. He believed in using new technology if it saved time and money.”

      “Any regrets about staying?” she asked.

      He didn’t like the question. “I told you before. I’m content with my life.”

      “I know, but I was hoping for something more.”

      “A confession? I don’t have any.”

      She tried to smile, but it wobbled at the corners then faded altogether. “Gee, and I have too many.” She took a step toward the door and paused. “Thanks for taking the time with Shane. I know you’re busy.”

      “I meant what I said, Katie. I enjoyed his company. He’s a bright boy.”

      “Not everyone has figured that out. You were one of the good guys back when I was Shane’s age, and it looks like you still are.”

      He watched her walk away. Her hips swayed. Her curls danced. She moved into the sunlight like an angel of God returning home.

      Jack blinked. Where the hell had that thought come from? Was he getting soft or something? No way was he interested in Katie. Except for occasional sex, he did not do relationships, and he wasn’t going to risk any entanglements, sexual or otherwise, with someone like her. She’d always been trouble and that hadn’t changed. Besides, he’d learned his lesson. Women didn’t stay with him very long. Why get all wound up about something that was bound to end?

      He stared through the open door, saw her call for her son, then step into her Explorer. He ignored the unexpected ache in his gut, ignored the fact that it was mighty similar to the ache he’d felt when she’d left eleven years before. There was no way she still mattered. Not after all this time.

      Even so, he would do his best to avoid her. Keeping his distance had always been the safest route. If he hadn’t known that when he’d been a teenager, he’d learned it in spades as a man.

      

      Katie closed Shane’s bedroom door and sighed. Her son was finally asleep. Despite his usual quiet demeanor at dinner, the rest of the evening had been spent with him chattering about his time with Jack. How he’d helped with the oil change. How Jack had explained the different parts of the truck engine to him. How Jack seemed to like him.

      It broke her heart that her nine-year-old son worried that adults didn’t like him. Unfortunately she knew exactly where that fear came from. First from Shane’s father, who had walked out of his life before he was born and had never reappeared, then from her father, who couldn’t say a single pleasant word to the boy.

      “Katie?”

      Speak of the devil, she thought as she turned and saw her father approaching.

      “Hi, Dad.”

      Her father didn’t respond to her greeting. Judging by his closed, angry