“I just wanted to see you. I wanted to see how you weredoing.”
“I’mfine.”
She knew that tone. Threads of sadness bound his words together, but the underlying pain cut straight to her heart and stole her breath. The urge to step forward and pull him into her arms rolled through her like thunder. For a second, she forgot the real reason she’d come to the ranch. But the moment passed and she regainedcontrol.
She said, “The ranch looks good. Your mom always does a great jobdecorating.”
He grimaced. “She passed away twoyearsago.”
She flinched and took a step forward. “I’m sorry. I hadnoidea.”
“How could you? When I left for the Marines, you disappeared. You didn’t call. Didn’t write. I sent postcards to your mother’s house and I never heard anything. Did she give themtoyou?”
“Shedid.”
“And you chose to ignore them? Or maybe you’re just lying to protect your mom. She never liked me. She has a vendetta againstshifters.”
“A shifter killed her father. She has every right not totrustthem.”
He narrowed his eyes. “I should have listened to my brothers and stayed away from you. They wereright.”
She drew back. “Mack neverlikedme.”
“It wasn’t just Mack. My mom, God rest her soul, warned me that a human would never understand the life of a shifter. You never understood why I needed to join up, and youneverwill.”
“You were following in Mack’s footsteps. You’ve been in competition with him your whole life. When are you going to learn that life isn’t about competing with other people, it’s about competing withyourself?”
“I didn’t join the Marines because of Mack. I joined because it’s what shifters do. Giving up a few years to help defend our country is honorable. To turn away from that tradition would have meant turning away from myfamily.”
“What about me? I thought I was going to become part of your family. Ithought…”
He sighed and ran his fingers down his stubbly beard. “I tried to explain it to you back then and you didn’t understand. Once I fulfilled my obligation, I would have been free to move on with the rest of my life. But you weren’t willing to waitforme.”
“Four years is a long time.” Especially with a baby on the way. She’d worked up the courage to tell him that fateful night, but when he’d dropped the bomb about leaving, she’d been too stunned to sharehernews.
In a softer voice he said, “I needed you to wait. There was no reason to rush into anything, but you couldn’t wait.Ijust…”
“What?”
He shook his head. A mask of coldness dropped to guard his expression and the anger in his voice returned. “Never mind. What happened between us was a lifetime ago. I don’t know why you’re here and frankly, Idon’tcare.”
Stunned by his vehemence, she swallowed the growing lump in her throat. “I didn’t know you cared. The night you told me you were leaving, I wasshocked.”
“You said some horrible thingstome.”
“I was hurt andangry.”
“I needed you to understand why I had to join theMarines.”
She took another step forward, further closing the distance between them. “I’msorry.”
“Areyou?”
She froze. A rush of anger churned in her belly. “You don’tbelieveme?”
“I don’t know what to believe. You show up here after four years and claim you only want to see me. What do you really want? It must besomething?”
“I… I just have totellyou…”
