Page 53 of Drifter’s Heart

Sally opens her mouth to ask, but I forestall the question with a wave of my hand and try to pick a movie we both want to watch, knowing it’s unlikely that either of us will be awake when the Rand siblings are finished exchanging verbal blows in Cord’s office.

SEVENTEEN

WINNIE

Pitch

We don’t make it to the party back at Valiant Peak. I shouldn’t be surprised at that, but somehow I still am. Sally snores softly beneath the wolf blanket Lanie gifted her a while back when I tiptoe my way through the ranch house well after her bedtime while West harmonizes with her. I’m more than tempted to let him stay there, but he won’t thank me for the bad back he’ll sport in the morning if I do.

I know from firsthand experience and many nights spent on that sofa. It’s no good for sleeping anytime after your twenty-fifth birthday.

“Up. Come on.” I slide a hand beneath West’s shoulder and lever him upright. He grunts at me as I maneuver him around, trying not to wake my daughter. “Come on,” I hiss when he barely moves. “I thought you were more alert than this, Mister Coyote Foreman.”

One hand grips me tight to him as he rises suddenly, nearly pulling me off my feet. “Rand, I’ve been awake since you thundered down the hall from your brother’s study. I’ll tuck you in before I head to the bunkhouse.”

“You… What?” My voice rises. I forget my promise not to wake Sally.

“Christ, Winnie.” West shuts me up with a quick kiss that steals my breath. “Come on,” he mutters, gripping my hand tight and pulling me along with him into the darkness.

I’m glad he knows where he’s going because, even after living here for several weeks after Cord’s last set of operations, I have no idea where we are going. More than once I stand on the heels of his sock feet, and my apologies are to his broad back that’s little more than a solid outline before me on a cloudless night.

After a while I figure out our general destination. We’re in the hallway connecting the bedrooms that Sally and I use when we stay at Coyote. I count doorways and try to enter one.

West laughs dryly at me. “Not unless you want to sleep in the bathroom.”

I discover he’s right when my feet touch the tiled floor.

“Oh, damn.” I let him lead me to another door along the corridor.

“This one is yours.” He holds the door open with an arm braced over my head and catches my chin in his fingers with his other hand. “Good night, Rand.”

“I thought we were down to first names.” I stretch up and try to kiss him, but he pulls back.

I can’t see him in the darkness—there must be no moon at all tonight—but I’ll be damned if he’s staying anywhere but with me. “Don’t go. Please.”

West stills. “I don’t sleep in this house.”

I stomp on his socked foot. “Liar,” I hiss in a whisper. “You did that one night. I remember.”

Warm breath brushes by my lips, so close. I arch up, but he’s still not there despite being so close. I know he is. “That was one night, Winnie. Because we were all desperate for sleep. And because I didn’t want to leave you girls alone.”

My breath hitches at the loophole he just gave me. “Then don’t leave me alone. Or Sally. Not tonight. Please?” I’m so far below begging. On my knees. Whatever it takes.

Cord and I might be talking after five hours of fighting it out that was long overdue. Some of it was on West’s behalf, even though he’ll probably never find that out—oh, my God, I hope he never finds that out. Even so, I’ll do anything not to be alone tonight. And West is here. Right here.

“Please,” I whisper again, straining against his chest.

West holds me hostage like that, his breath brushing my skin, but doesn’t let me kiss him. His voice is low and sexy as all get out when he does finally break.

“One day, Winnie. I might then. But not tonight. You’re stronger without me here.” His kiss is soft, sweet, and damning.

And I cry. The sob that escapes me is muted by his deep kiss. He knows I’m crying. We both taste salt. And he still pulls away, brushes the tears from my eyes, and walks the dozens of yards along that pitch-black freaking corridor that he knows I won’t follow.

“West,” I whisper once, but he’s gone and I know he’s not coming back. “Shit.” I lean back against the doorframe, unwilling to turn on a light.

The darkness suits my mood, so I stay with it, straining to hear him leave the homestead. That’s how big the damn place is, so huge I can’t hear the front door open from here. And it won’t be locked. He can come and go all night if he pleases. That’s just how Coyote works. None of the ranch hands ever disrespect Cord, and he sleeps here alone, except for Sally. Snoring away under the wolf blanket back in the living area.

Suddenly I wish I’d stayed with her and consider making the journey back in the dark through the belly of the ranch house. But it’s pitch black in the labyrinthine corridors, and I’ll just wake her stubbing my toe on something and howling like a banshee. Sally’s settled and she knows the house better than I do for the amount of times that she’s stayed here. No, she’s fine without me.