Coming Home by Leslie Kelly Read Free Book Online Page B

finally acknowledged how difficult it must have been for her that summer...only seventeen, feeling as if he'd used and abandoned her, leaving her to face her parents with the pregnancy. Even with her father’s love and support, Nicole would have had a hard time standing up to her controlling mother. Hell, Josh had never been able to stand up to his ex-wife, and had moved to Florida just to get away from her after their divorce. So how could Nicole have stood firm against such a force of nature?
    If he’d been around? Yes. She could have. They could have.
    But Wyatt hadn’t been around when she needed him.
    And that was what most haunted him about the whole ugly mess.
    He hadn’t been there to support her. Hadn’t been there to make sure she took care of herself—and their baby. If he had been, he sure as hell wouldn’t have let her do any dangerous trick riding in the early months of her pregnancy.
    He hadn’t wanted to believe she’d done it intentionally—taken chances with her health that had resulted in her miscarriage—despite the fact that her mother hinted that had been the case. And it hadn’t taken long to convince himself her scheming mother was lying through her teeth. So he couldn’t hate Nicole for the loss of their child.
    Resent her? Yes. Be angry with her for not trusting him, not believing him, despite the bullshit lies she’d been fed? Oh, hell, yeah.
    But he didn’t think there was enough malice in the world that could have made Nicole risk something so precious.
    “All right, let's just agree to disagree about your mother," he said finally. "We can both agree, however, that your father is one terrific man."
    Nicole smiled slightly, watching as the tension eased out of Wyatt's stiff body. He even smiled back, something he didn't seem to do much of lately. That crooked grin brought every emotion she'd thought she'd buried for the past decade flooding into her mind. Nicole took two steps backward and leaned against the wooden railing, astounded that one honest to God smile from this man could make her knees weak.
    Wyatt leaned closer to a graceful horse standing next to him and ran a flat palm across the mare's chocolate brown flanks. Watching his firm stroke, Nicole swallowed hard. Her mouth felt dry as she saw the tender way he stroked the horse's face, his touch looking almost like a caress.
    "You're a beauty,” he whispered to the horse.
    She shivered in spite of the intense heat of the day, hearing the echo of similar words, spoken by this incredibly attractive man at a much more intimate moment.
    You’re beautiful . He'd murmured that in her ear, his unshaven cheek scraping against hers. His touch had been as tender and soft on her body as it appeared to be on Sultan's Daughter. His hands had explored parts of her that she'd never even known she had, arousing feelings she didn’t know she’d been capable of experiencing.
    "I'm hot," she muttered out loud, trying to tear her eyes away from Wyatt's strong hands.
    "Let's go up to the house and get something cold to drink."
    Nodding wordlessly, Nicole hurried out of the stables. The heat outside assaulted her immediately. Her clothes, crisp and new when she'd arrived, hung wilted and limp on her body. Though the stables were climate controlled, she'd gotten overheated through her exertions...and, she had to concede, through her own overly vivid imagination.
    "Listen, we don't have to go up to the house," Nicole said quickly. "I can wait until I get home to get a drink. I'm sure you've got more important things to do."
    Nicole really didn't want to spend any more time with Wyatt. While they worked, she'd almost been able to forget who it was she was spending the afternoon with. But those last few minutes, watching him stroke that horse, had reminded her of every last moment they'd shared. Good and bad. In his company, it was hard to hold on to the bad and force the good out of her memory.
    "I need to go up to the house anyway. Come on, I