Katie didn’t know if she should laugh or run screaming. Her father wasn’t ever going to admit he’d been unnecessarily hard on his grandson. Nor would he believe anyone’s view but his own. Still, it was nice to know she hadn’t been banished from her home. This was as much of a concession as Aaron ever made.

“I appreciate that, Dad. Thanks. I love you, too.”

Katie arrived at the Darby ranch close to midnight. The flight from Los Angeles had been on time, and the drive from the airport had taken a little less than three hours. As she climbed out of her Explorer, she stretched, trying to ease the ache in her legs. She should be exhausted, but she was too keyed up to sleep.

Katie closed the car door quietly. She started for the house, then turned and walked toward the corrals. The night was clear, the stars hanging so low she could almost reach up and grab them. Maybe a short walk would ease her tension.

Her footsteps barely made any noise as she crossed the dirt path by the barns. A couple of the horses nickered as she moved past them. The familiar sound comforted her, as did the scent of hay and cattle. A slight breeze teased at her hair. She inhaled deeply, wanting to chase away the smells of the hospital. She hated the thought of her sister being confined there, but Josie wasn’t coming home for a long time.

She reached the end of the barn and saw a light on in a small house set away from the other buildings. The warm glow drew her steadily, almost as if she’d been lassoed. She told herself it was late-that she had no business intruding. Jack had moved into his own house years ago because he wanted privacy. She told herself to turn and walk away. But she couldn’t. She needed to talk, and he was the only one she could turn to.

She stepped onto the small front porch and knocked. There was no sound from inside, yet the door opened almost instantly. Jack stood in front of her, dressed in jeans and shirt, his feet bare, his hair rumpled.

“Did I wake you?” she asked.

“No. Mom told me you were coming back tonight. I was waiting up. I thought you might stop by.”

She wanted to ask him why. She wanted to ask him how he could know her so well and yet continually keep her at such an emotional distance. She had a thousand questions, but didn’t speak any of them. Instead she stood there until he opened his arms and she was able to step into his comforting embrace.

“Talk to me,” he said, drawing her into the house and closing the door behind her. “Tell me what happened.”

Words tumbled out without her being aware of all she was saying. She told him about the accident and what the doctor had said and how her sister had looked. Somehow she found herself on a sofa with a glass of brandy in her hand. Jack sat on the sturdy coffee table in front of her, leaning close, listening intently.

“I know she’s going to be okay,” she told him. “I spoke with the doctor myself. She was really lucky. No serious internal injuries to any of her vital organs. But her legs and face are a mess. The plastic surgeon said that she would look normal, but nothing like herself. I can’t even imagine what that would be like.”

“Will she walk again?”

Katie took a sip of brandy, then nodded. “It’s going to take a long time and several operations, but they’re pretty sure.” She cradled the glass. “I told her I could move to L.A. and help take care of her. She doesn’t want me to. Dallas is going to be out of school for the summer in a few weeks, so she can help Josie through the worst of it. I don’t know. Is that right? Should I go?”

His handsome face softened with compassion. “She’s your sister and you care about her, but you have other responsibilities. Do you want to move Shane to Los Angeles?”

She squeezed her eyes shut. “He’s barely settled here. Uprooting him would be difficult.”

“Would Josie ask for help if she needed it?”

“I don’t know.” Katie looked at him and shrugged. “I don’t know about anything.”

He touched her face, gently laying his palm against her cheek. The warmth from him seemed to flow into her body, healing her and giving her comfort. She nearly wept when he drew his hand away.

“You don’t have to decide tonight,” he told her. “Josie’s not going anywhere. Why don’t you think about it for a while? If Dallas is overwhelmed then you can reconsider your decision.”

“Maybe,” she said. She drew in a deep breath. “Thanks for listening. I just-”

“You just what?”

She shrugged. “It was so weird. The four of us were there together. I can’t remember the last time that happened.”

By four, she meant the children of Aaron and Gloria, but Jack would know that. He knew her family history nearly as well as she did. Robin and Dallas were Suzanne’s kids, and Blair and Brent were the babies-products of Aaron’s marriage to Suzanne. But the four oldest had been a team for the first eleven years of Katie’s life.

“I never see A.J.,” she said. “I guess Josie does because they’re twins, but he’s disappeared from the ranch. And Josie’s been on the other side of the country since leaving for college. David is here in Lone Star Canyon, and I barely see him. Everything changes.”

“That’s the nature of life.”

“I don’t like it.”

He gave her a smile. “I’ll report that to the appropriate authorities.”

For the first time in days, she felt her mouth curve up. “Thanks. I don’t mean to be weird, it’s just that everyone is going in a million different directions. I want that to stop. We’re all getting married and divorced and moving on. Dallas told me that before the surgery Josie was asking for Del, but when I talked to her about it, she didn’t want me to call him.”

“He’s her ex-husband, right?”

“Yeah. So I did what she said and left it alone. But I don’t know if that was right.”

“It’s her decision.”

“That’s what she told me. I guess I need to mind my own business.” She took another sip of the brandy. For the first time she noticed how close he was. Her knees bumped against his. She raised the glass. “Thanks for this.”

“You’re welcome.”

She looked at her surroundings, taking in the brown and blue decor. The sofa and chair were covered in a serviceable plaid. The coffee table and end tables were made of oak. No rugs blurred the smooth hardwood floor. Except for family photos, there weren’t any pictures or artwork. The room proclaimed that a man lived here alone and that was how he liked it.

She set down the glass and crossed her arms over her chest. “How can people come and go with such ease? I married a man and had a child by him, and yet he barely made a ripple in my life. If it wasn’t for Shane, I could forget I ever knew him. I have no regrets about him being gone. Again, if not for Shane, I would be happy to have never met him. How is that possible?”

“We change.”

“So much? Are you different now than you were when you got married? Do you remember her? Did she make any kind of mark in your life?”

Jack knew that Katie’s questions were the result of the trauma of her sister’s accident. His instinct was to deflect her by changing the subject. Then he realized he didn’t mind talking about his past as much as he would have thought.

“Melissa mattered,” he said slowly, thinking that the woman who had made the biggest mark in his world hadn’t been his ex-wife, but Katie. She was the one who had brought him to his emotional knees when she’d left. Melissa’s leaving hadn’t been a surprise. He’d been waiting for the relationship to end from the day they got married.

“How?” Katie asked earnestly, her blue eyes fixed on him. “Did you love her?”

“Yes. At first. I thought we would do well together. She was part of the geological team that came out here scouting for oil.”

“So what happened? What went wrong?”

He frowned. “I don’t know. She was gone a lot. After a while I figured out she would rather be somewhere else than here.” He shrugged. “I thought I would be the one to do the leaving in the relationship, but it was her.”

“I don’t understand. Why would you leave?”

He shifted uncomfortably. They were getting close to topics he didn’t discuss with anyone. He didn’t want to open any more doors than he already had. Somehow Katie had found her way back into his life, and he was going to have to work damn hard to make sure she didn’t find her way into his heart. He wasn’t about to be that stupid again. Not if he could stop it. Love was for fools. He’d learned his lesson.

“I’m my father’s son,” he said evenly. “Russell walked out on his wife and kids after thirteen years. There wasn’t any warning, just some lousy note.”

“What does that have to do with you?”

“Everything.” He grimaced. “Don’t you ever look at Aaron and wonder how much of him is in you? Don’t you ever get scared that you’re going to start acting like him?”

Now it was Katie’s turn to squirm. She rotated her shoulders. “Some, I guess. I don’t like to think about it. I tell myself I’m a lot more like my mom. I would never say the things he says to people and I try not to be that stubborn. I’m not always successful.”

“I’m Russell’s son,” he reminded her again. “Sometimes I wonder if I’m capable of making anything work over the long term. I don’t want to get that far into something and one day walk out on my responsibilities.”

She smiled. “Then don’t.”

If only it were that easy.

“You’re nothing like your father, Jack,” she continued.

“You don’t know him well enough to say that. I could be exactly like him. That’s what scares me to death. That’s why I keep my life simple. No emotional complications, no involvements.”

She leaned forward and rested her hands on his thighs. “I’ve got news for you, cowboy. You have a five-foot-three-inch complication sitting right in front of you. You can deny it all you want. You can run, you can even try to hide, but I’m back in your life. What are you going to do about that?”