Carrying the Rancher's Heir / Secret Son, Convenient Wife. Charlene Sands

lifted, a question in her expression as she looked at him.

      “Why’d you do it, Callie? We barely knew each other. Why me?”

      Deep in thought, she studied him, and Tagg wondered if she would tell him the truth. A moment ticked by and then she tilted her head slightly. “When I saw you sitting on that bar stool … you looked how I felt.” She stood with set shoulders near his mare. “Lonely. Disappointed. Wishing things in your life were different. I thought we needed each other. That maybe we could help each other.”

      Tagg hadn’t expected that much honesty. Callie had looked into his soul and really seen him. He never spoke of Heather to anyone. It was as though if he didn’t say the words aloud, they wouldn’t be true. They wouldn’t hurt as much. Except now, with Callie, he felt a need to explain, if only this one time. “It was the anniversary of my wife’s death. She was everything to me. I went to Reno on the pretense of business, to forget.”

      Callie cast him a sympathetic look, her eyes filled with under standing. “I’m sorry.”

      “No sorrier than I am.” He looked away, gazing out the barn doors to the land that had belonged to the Worths for generations, not really seeing any of it. He pushed images of that fiery split-in-two plane on the tarmac out of his mind. He’d seen it enough in his nightmares. He turned to her then, looking deep into her pretty brown eyes. “When I said that night shouldn’t have happened, I meant it. Nothing’s gonna come of it, Callie. It’d be best if we put it out of our heads.”

      “Agreed,” she said instantly, her eyes firm on his. “Like I said, I’m here to break the ice. In case we should bump into each other at Penny’s Song. I’m not good with awkward.”

      Tagg smiled. “Me, neither. Never had any social skills.”

      She chuckled deep in her throat and nodded in agreement. He almost took offense but then Callie’s lips parted slightly and she spoke soft words that couldn’t be misconstrued. “You make up for it in other ways.”

      “Do I?” Always nice to know a female companion had no complaints when he took her to bed. Tagg’s mind drifted to the beautiful brunette with soulful caramel eyes moaning his name as he drove deep inside her. Oh, man. He shook those thoughts free before Callie caught a hint of what he was thinking.

      He wondered what she needed to forget. What kind of loneliness and pain had she been clinging to that night? But Tagg wasn’t going down that road. He didn’t want to know. He didn’t want any more involvement with Callie Sullivan, pretty as she was.

      Callie pursed her lips and nodded. They stared at each other silently.

      “I should go.”

      “Probably should.”

      “Okay, then.” She walked out the barn door and Tagg followed quietly behind her.

      But then she stopped, turned on her heels abruptly and he nearly mowed her down. Their bodies connected; his chest knocked her backward. On impulse, he shot both arms out to keep her from falling. “Damn, woman. Give a man some warning.”

      And there he was, holding soft, pretty Callie Sullivan in his arms. Her hair fell back, and when he righted her, the shiny strands came forward and tickled his fingers.

      She blinked. Looked up into his eyes. “Thanks.”

      “Why’d you stop so quickly?”

      “I had something else to say.”

      “Say it.” That musky flowery scent invaded his senses and reminded him once again about their night together. He released his hold when he was sure she was on level footing. Callie set her hands on her hips, the exact place where his hands had been. It was an unconscious gesture on her part, but one that tugged at his cold heart.

      “I don’t usually pick up men in bars.” She shot him a bold look that dared him to doubt her.

      Tagg arched his brows.

      Color rushed to her face. “I mean to say, I’ve never had a one-night stand before. It’s not my—”

      “Got it.” He wanted out of this conversation and the reminder of that night.

      “You do? You believe me?”

      “Doesn’t make a bit of difference if I believe you or not, but yeah, I do believe you. I may not have social skills but I’ve got good instincts.”

      “It makes a difference to me. I’m glad you believe me. I mean, since we’ll be seeing each other from now on. Your opinion matters.”

      It shouldn’t, he wanted to say, but kept his lips sealed.

      His cell phone rang and he was glad for the interruption. Callie had a vulnerable expression on her face and Tagg was a sucker for a female in distress. He lifted up the phone. “Gotta get this.”

      She smiled weakly and nodded. “Goodbye, Tagg.”

      He watched her walk to her car and get in. Once she started the engine and circled around to the gravel road, he answered Clay’s call. “What in hell were you thinking hiring on Sullivan’s daughter?”

      “I’m so glad you called, Sammie. I really needed to hear your voice today.” Callie leaned back on her bed, resting her head against the daisy pillow sham, speaking on the phone with her best friend and onetime college roommate.

      Her bedroom on Big Hawk Ranch looked the same as it did when she was a child. The pale yellow and cornflower blue walls spoke of a brightness that Callie didn’t feel these days. She’d come home from Boston because her job there had ended just about the same time her father’s health had taken a turn for the worse. She felt the timing was right. She’d missed living in Arizona. She’d missed the ranch. But once she’d returned, she’d found that while everyone else had moved on with their lives, Callie’s life had remained stagnant. The room her mother had decorated when Callie was just a girl was one of many perfect examples. The Hawk never wanted the room changed and Callie had acquiesced.

      “Yeah, you sound down this morning. There’s something wrong. So what’s going on?” her friend asked.

      “I … I just miss you.”

      “I miss you, too,” Sammie said. “And you know there’s nothing holding you there. You can come back to Boston anytime. I’ve got an extra room in my apartment that has your name on it. But, hon, I know that missing me isn’t what’s putting that tone in your voice. What’s up?”

      “You know. The usual. My father.”

      “The Hawk? He’s at it again? What did he do this time?”

      “It’s a little complicated right now.”

      Callie wasn’t ready to share everything with Sammie, especially the guilt she felt about her secret. But she could tell her the most basic truth, which was that she’d reached her boiling point with her father last month. She’d thought that having a college degree, having lived off the ranch for several years and having reached her twenty-sixth birthday would have made a difference with her father. But she’d come to the bitter realization that he would never change. Oh, she did love him. In many regards he was a good father, but his need to control the outcome of her life had gotten out of control lately.

      “You know I was dating a man named Troy, right?” she asked.

      “Right. The tall, blond carpenter.” He’d come to the ranch to build a new pool house and Callie had hit it off with him. “I thought you were still dating. I mean, the last time we talked you didn’t say you weren’t.”

      “I didn’t tell you what The Hawk did because I was so furious with him, I needed some time to let it sink in. My daddy just doesn’t get that I can make decisions for myself.

      He can’t see it as a control issue. He thinks he’s looking out for me the way a father should.”

      “He’s overcompensating for you not having