Country Bride. Debbie Macomber

and I signed all the papers the day before he married Dorothea Murphy.”

      Kate felt like bolting from her chair, the shock was so great. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she demanded, her heart racing. “Why didn’t my father? I shouldn’t even be here now. This is your home. Yours. Bought and paid for and—”

      “Kate.” He set his mug aside and wearily rubbed the back of his neck. “You’re welcome to stay as long as you need. If you insist on leaving, that’s fine, too, but there’s no rush.”

      She brought her hands to her cheeks, which were feverishly hot one minute, numb and cold the next. “I’ll be out as...as soon as I can find someplace to move.”

      “Kate, for heaven’s sake, why do you persist in being so stubborn?”

      She shook her head, hardly understanding it herself. All she knew was that this house, which had been a part of her from the time she was born, no longer belonged to her family. Despite everything Luke said, she couldn’t stay on at the Circle L, and she had nowhere else to go.