Expecting His Brother's Baby. Karen Rose Smith

felt a kinship with the land.

      “With the holidays comin’,” Dix continued, “Kylie’s driving herself harder. She’s on a committee for the First Night celebration in town. She has presents to make, as well as things to ready for the baby.”

      “The last thing she needs to be worried about is Christmas presents, decorations and a New Year’s Eve party.”

      “Don’t go tellin’ her that, or you’ll get your head handed to you on a platter. You might anyway,” he muttered. “She likes to do everything on her own.”

      “Didn’t you call me so I’d get back here and talk some sense into her?”

      “Not exactly. I called you because she needs help. I need help. You’ve got a vested interest in this place—”

      “The terms of the will apply to Kylie the same as they did to Alex. I’ve only got a vested interest if she sells it.” Brock zipped up his windbreaker. He’d have to get warmer clothes if he was going to stay here through the winter.

      Through the winter. When had he made that decision?

      “You are going to help, aren’t you?” Dix asked now, looking worried, maybe wondering if the boy he’d known had become a man who was different from that boy.

      “Yes, I’ll help. I have paperwork to finish on a project and a few loose ends to tie up, but nothing else is pending right now.”

      “It won’t be a hardship to take some time off?”

      Brock knew Dix meant financially. He made more money than he knew what to do with. Maybe because he worked all the time, more often than not in locations where most men wouldn’t go. Maybe because saving had always been more important than immediate gratification. He’d also invested in a few wells over the years that had hit big. A few months on Saddle Ridge wouldn’t be a problem. A few months until Kylie’s baby was born…until Alex’s baby was born.

      “No hardship.”

      “Kylie’s had a lot on her shoulders, son. Remember that,” Dix warned him.

      He’d remember that. Unfortunately, staying at Saddle Ridge he’d remember a lot more. He’d have to face the fact those memories still might have power over him.

      While he was here this time, he’d shake loose of their power for good.

      An hour later Brock stepped over the threshold once more into the two-story ranch house. Immediately he spotted Kylie on the sofa, stretched out, asleep. She looked like a pregnant princess. But he knew she’d never been coddled like a princess. He knew she’d always been a hard worker, intent on living each day to its fullest.

      Now what? His brother’s wife was smack-dab in the middle of a ranch that needed manpower, capital and something much more intangible to invigorate it. Why hadn’t Alex done something about the condition of the place? Why hadn’t he asked for help if he’d needed it? Because of pride? Whether he and Alex had wanted to admit it or not, Jack Warner had fostered competition between them. There was nothing to compete over. As a child, Brock had known he’d never have his father’s affection.

      This place brought back memories Brock didn’t want to revisit, and he focused on the physical surroundings. Some of the furniture was newer than the rest. Dix had informed him that new furniture had been Alex’s wedding present to Kylie.

      Some wedding present, Brock thought. It was striped teal-and-wine with huge, rolled arms and Brock suspected Kylie had chosen it rather than Alex having picked it out as a surprise. Automatically, Brock thought about the strand of Tahitian pearls he’d given Marta before their wedding. She’d loved them. She’d said she loved him. But she couldn’t have walked away so easily if she had. He couldn’t have gotten over her so quickly if he had loved her the way a husband should love a wife.

      Love. Lust. Convenience. Need. Physical satisfaction. Who knew how much any of that played into a relationship? Who really knew how to figure out what was love and what was something else?

      Watching Kylie like this, he was transported back to a night in the barn when she’d been seventeen and he’d been twenty-two, home for her graduation…and Alex’s. Proud of her, he’d given her a present. She’d kissed him. For a few moments he’d forgotten she was underage and he was a hell of a lot more experienced. But after those few moments, he’d ended it, backed away and done what was best for both of them. Later that weekend, Alex had informed him he was going to marry Kylie someday.

      Brock had returned to his Ph.D. work, focused on life away from Saddle Ridge and married Marta shortly after he’d met her. Too soon, too fast, too different.

      As if Kylie could feel his gaze on her, she opened her blue eyes, then pushed herself into a sitting position. Her hair fell over her shoulders as she did, and Brock remembered tugging her ponytail to tease her. He remembered how the night she’d kissed him, he’d threaded his fingers into the silky strands.

      “I thought you might be hungry,” he said gruffly. “How do you feel? And don’t tell me fine.”

      “My shoulder’s hurting,” she admitted, adjusting the sling.

      As she began to rise, he moved toward the sofa. “What do you need?”

      Her eyes were troubled when they met his. “An ice pack.”

      “The doc gave you something for pain, didn’t he?”

      “I won’t put medication in my body if I don’t have to…because of the baby.”

      “Stay put,” he ordered. “I’ll get the ice.”

      Returning to her with the pack wrapped in a towel, he asked, “Do you want to take the sling off?”

      “I guess I have to.”

      Before he reconsidered what he was doing, he sat next to her and helped her remove the sling. As she lifted her hair and he slipped the sling over her head, his palm brushed the side of her cheek. His pulse raced, and he decided it was an adrenaline shot because he didn’t want to hurt her. However, when the sling lay in her lap and he pressed the ice pack to her shoulder, the adrenaline didn’t stop and his heart pounded hard against his chest.

      Her cornflower-blue eyes shimmered a bit before she closed them.

      “Kylie?”

      “I’m fine,” she murmured, not opening her eyes.

      “Those are two words you’re not going to use around me. Remember?” Ever since he’d known her, she’d never let anyone know she wasn’t fine.

      “When did you become such a bully?” she grumbled.

      “When I moved to Texas, I found life on my own and getting my own way was a heck of a lot more fun than trying to please anyone here.”

      Her eyes opened then and a bit of the shimmer remained. “You always get your own way in Texas?”

      He chuckled. “Most of the time.” Then when he considered his life there, he became serious. “There are people in Texas who respect me.” His friends and colleagues didn’t care that he had Apache blood…and didn’t look at him as if he were an outsider.

      “There are people here who respect you.”

      “I needed to be away from Saddle Ridge to find my life.”

      “Have you found it?”

      “Yes,” he answered tersely, then changed the subject. “Are you hungry?”

      “No. But I have to eat for the baby.”

      Although he’d been trying to ignore her rounded tummy, now his gaze dropped to it. “Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl?”

      “I want to be surprised.”

      “What did Alex want?” he asked, curious.

      “I’m sure he wanted a boy.