A Cowboy’s Homecoming

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For one brief second, Kate couldn’t react to the kiss. Noah had taken her by
surprise, and her emotions were too fresh to make sense of them. Yet she didn’t pull away
as he deepened the kiss, his strong arms holding her, until finally he began to ease back.
“I shouldn’t have done that,” he said.

“We shouldn’t have. Noah, I don’t want you to assume I’m looking for…what? A
quick fling until you leave the ranch?”

“I would never assume that. I like you, Kate. I always have.” Then he clamped his
mouth shut as if he shouldn’t say more.

Neither should she, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. “Even if I wanted to start
something with you, how could that possibly end?”

“We don’t have to figure everything out right now.”

“Maybe you don’t, but I have Teddie to consider.”

Still. It had been more than a year since she’d been embraced by any male except
her little son. Kate had spent that time protecting herself and Teddie, trying to forget the
horror of her husband’s death, but the warm gleam now in Noah’s eyes told her clearly
that he wanted more. What if she did too? What kind of longer-term arrangement could
she and Noah work out?

Sweetheart Ranch was her future, and Teddie’s. Not a new relationship that might,
in the end, hurt everyone.