ight now, no complaints at all.
And yet…
He looked at her again. She was sleeping deeply now, the frown lines smoothed into an utterly peaceful expression. He had a hard time reconciling the beautiful woman he saw now with his hazy memories of the carrottopped, gap-toothed, gawky little girl he’d known so long ago.
When he had paid any attention to her then, he’d thought of her as a sheltered, pampered, indulged daddy’s girl. She had been well behaved—friendly and happy and kindhearted. No tantrums or bratty behavior that he remembered, but her life experience had been so removed from his own that he’d had a difficult time identifying with her. Two loving, protective parents; an adoring older brother; a huge, supportive extended family; a nice, safe, relatively peaceful home filled with love and laughter and the smell of home-baked cookies—all so different from his own tumultuous, unsettled childhood.
That upbringing had produced a young woman who was headstrong, impulsive, uninhibited and blithely certain that everything would turn out just the way she wanted. She was young, pretty, happy with her circumstances. It was no wonder, he supposed, that she was in no hurry to entangle her life with anyone else.
She certainly wouldn’t want to get mixed up with a burned-out, battle-scarred, embittered ex-soldier with a painful past and a precarious future. And he couldn’t blame her for that.
He’d been driving for almost two hours when physical demands and an emptying gas tank made a stop necessary. He pulled into a clean-looking convenience store with gas pumps and a fast-food restaurant attached. “Molly,” he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Wake up.”
She opened her eyes and gave him a sweet, sleepy smile that went straight to his gut. “Where are we?”
“We’re in Texas. I need a break. I thought you might need one, too.”
She gave it a moment’s thought, then nodded. “I could use a stretch. Hand me the stupid crutches.”
He smiled slightly in response to her resigned request for the hated crutches. And then he opened his door. Barring any further unpleasant surprises, this would be their last extended stop before reaching the ranch.
He supposed he should be impatient to reach their destination—and he was tired of being in the car. But he couldn’t say he was looking forward to revisiting his past. Or to seeing Shane Walker again—which was definitely going to be awkward now, with the memory of making love with Molly so fresh in his mind.
The awareness that the journey’s end put him that much closer to parting with Molly nagged at the back of his mind, as well. He told himself he was ready to say goodbye—but deep inside, he knew that wasn’t true.
Chapter Ten
The lights were on inside Shane’s house as they passed it on the way to the main house. Molly had called a few minutes earlier to let her brother know they were close to arrival, so she knew Shane was watching to make sure they made it safely home. The windows of the building that served as the boys’ dormitory were also alight behind the blinds; the boys were all supposed to be inside at this hour, and it wouldn’t be long before lights out.
Lights were on at the main house, too, even though her parents were still away. Shane must have turned on the porch lights and a few lights inside for their benefit, so they wouldn’t have to return to a dark house.
She glanced at Kyle, trying to see his face in the pale green lights from the dashboard. She couldn’t quite read his expression. What was he thinking as he drove onto the ranch where he’d spent more than a year of his youth? Was he noting the changes or seeing it as it had been a decade earlier? Was he remembering the fun times he’d had here, or the unhappy circumstances that had brought him here in the first place?
“We’ve changed a few things since you lived here,” she said.
“So I see.” He nodded toward the dormitory, which had once been a barn. The new barn was now located behind the old one. “Shane’s house has a whole new wing on it, too.”
“Yes. He added that about five years ago.”
“You said there are four boys in residence now?”
“Right. Jacob, Colin, Elias and Emilio, who are brothers. They range in ages from eleven to seventeen.”
“And they all stay in that building?”
“The dormitory. Yes. There’s a very nice couple who live in one end of the building. Memo and Graciela Perez. They serve as dorm parents. Memo supervises the boys’ ranch chores and Graciela’s in charge of the kitchen and laundry. The boys take turns helping with those chores, too. They leave here completely prepared to take care of themselves.”
“Your mom made sure I could cook and clean for myself before I left here. Since I’ve been living on my own, I’ve put her lessons to good use.”
“She’ll be happy to know that.”
Following her instructions, he drove into the three-car garage and parked in her usual bay. He carried her crutches around to her side of the car and helped her out. The door that led into the kitchen opened just as Kyle closed the passenger door of her car.
Molly wasn’t particularly surprised that Shane had been waiting for them to arrive. As much as he’d tried to sound resigned to her encountering so many problems on her solo mission to Tennessee, she knew he must have been worried.
Though she was admittedly biased, Molly had always thought of her brother as one of the most handsome men she knew. A tall, lean cowboy, he had still-thick brown hair dusted at the temples with the merest hint of silver. His piercing blue eyes had been making feminine hearts flutter since he was fourteen, though the only females he had cared to charm lately had been his lovely wife, Kelly, and their adored young daughters.
Before he greeted their guest, Shane stepped forward and gave Molly a quick, but thorough, visual once-over, his attention lingering on her braced leg. “How bad is it?”