Carrying the Rancher's Heir Read Free Page A

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 lookedinto 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.”
    â€œNo 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.”
    â€œAgreed,” 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.”
    â€œDo 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? ButTagg 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.
    â€œI should go.”
    â€œProbably should.”
    â€œOkay, 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.”
    â€œWhy’d you stop so quickly?”
    â€œI had something else to say.”
    â€œSay 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.
    â€œI 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