The Prodigal Texan. Lynnette Kent

little, too late.” Ethan dropped his hands to his thighs and let his head fall back against the headrest. “I don’t see how anything useful can come of rehashing the past.”

      “What do you think he wants?”

      “To say he’s sorry?” He shook his head. “No. Jud wouldn’t feel responsible for anything that’s happened. He wasn’t here, he can’t be blamed— even though everything fell apart almost the minute he disappeared.”

      “Why did he leave?”

      “Because he finally went too far. He got a girl pregnant and then refused to marry her.”

      “Somebody in town?”

      “Della Bowie. She’s not here anymore. Once Jud left, Della and her family moved away. Nobody’s heard a word from or about them since.” Looking back, Ethan pulled in a deep breath. “Mom and Dad were completely torn up over the whole thing—they felt they’d lost a grandchild. Then Angela and I started getting sick, and everything went to hell.” He pounded a fist on the steering wheel. “Nothing I did made a difference. I tried—”

      Kayla closed her fingers gently over his, stopping the motion. “You know you’re not to blame for what happened. Not for Angela’s illness, or your parents’ despair. We’ve worked on this, Ethan. You were only fourteen—you did the best you possibly could.”

      “Right. My dad was losing his shirt over a ranch deal, Angela and I were getting lead poisoning from Mexican candy, and meanwhile Brother Jud’s out conquering the rodeo circuit. How’s that for fair?”

      Kayla tightened her grip on his fist.

      They sat in silence for a couple of minutes until Ethan could finally let go of the anger. For the time being, anyway.

      He lifted his hand to press a kiss on his wife’s knuckles. “I should’ve warned you about the emotional minefield you were walking into when you said you’d marry me. Second thoughts?”

      “Nary a one.” She gave him her sweet smile. “I know a good thing when I see it. You’re stuck, Ethan Ritter. For better or worse.”

      “Thank God,” he said, taking the kiss she offered, and a couple more, besides.

      But he couldn’t help thinking, as he and Kayla walked arm in arm toward the house that, with Jud in town, worse might be a lot closer than they realized.

      

      MIRANDA AND NAN SPENT most of Sunday in the barn, watching Flora and Kahlúa bond. Cruz walked over for a while when the vet came back to examine the foal, but Miranda deliberately avoided so much as a mention of Jud Ritter’s name. She’d be even happier to avoid thinking about him altogether. If wishes were horses…

      Monday morning, she pulled her truck into the parking space marked Mayor of Homestead, Texas at 9:00 a.m., and climbed the courthouse steps with her usual enthusiasm. Dusty followed right on her heels.

      “’Morning, Mayor.” Reba Howell, the town secretary and assistant to the mayor, set down her coffee mug as Miranda stepped into the Homestead Town Office. “I hear y’all have a new arrival at your place.”

      “Yeah, we do.” Miranda grinned as she took the morning’s mail out of her box. “Kahlúa is just the most perfect little colt I’ve seen. I could hardly tear myself away from the barn to come to work.”

      Reba followed her into the mayor’s private office. “Oh, you mean you have a new baby horse? That’s right, I noticed you and your mama weren’t in church yesterday.”

      Miranda looked up from the mail. “What arrival are you talking about?”

      “Jud Ritter, of course. I heard he’s staying out at your place. Too bad you missed it—he and Ethan got into a fight, right there on the church lawn after the service.”

      With great effort, Miranda kept her tone casual. “A fistfight?”

      “Well, no. But they were yelling at each other, and at one point it looked like Ethan shoved Jud, or vice versa—it was hard to tell.”

      “Jud always was something of a troublemaker.” An understatement if she’d ever made one.

      “I don’t know…I thought Ethan was the one who started the argument this time. I suppose he bears a grudge for Jud being gone all these years.” Reba sighed and shook her head. “But I tell you, I’ve never seen a handsomer pair of men. They looked real good, facing each other down outside the church yesterday morning.”

      “And you’ll get to see at least one of them again today. Wade and Jud are supposed to show up at ten o’clock for a meeting.” Miranda sat down at her desk, pulled a folder full of papers out of the file stand in front of her and opened it. “Until then, I’ll be going over these Home Free applications.”

      “Right.” Reba hesitated in the doorway. “Can you catch the phone for a couple of minutes? I need to…freshen up.” At one hundred pounds even and five feet two inches tall, with natural blond hair and a peaches-and-cream complexion, Reba spent a lot of her workday “freshening up.”

      “Sure,” Miranda said, without looking. She pretended to focus until she heard the outer office door close. Then she put her elbows on the desk and pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes. In the corner, Dusty circled three times and then collapsed into her dog bed with a contented sigh.

      Miranda was a long way from content. In the space of thirty-six hours, Jud Ritter had somehow managed to monopolize her life. He’d barged in on her friends’wedding reception and weaseled his way onto her property—well, her family’s property, anyway. He’d even become an important part of Kahlúa’s birth, which would link them forever in her thoughts.

      As if she hadn’t spent the last four years trying to forget the man. She might have gotten over the seduction scene—he’d been so drunk that night, he probably would have kissed any old stray dog that jumped up in the truck bed with him.

      But he’d made her feel dirty for surrendering. “I am not making the same mistake twice,” he’d said, comparing her to Della Bowie, the girl unofficially voted “Most Likely To” at Homestead High. Everybody knew Della was the easiest girl at school, and she’d reaped the rewards of her behavior—she’d left town pregnant, in disgrace. And though Della never said, everybody knew the father of her child was Jud Ritter. They’d dated all that spring, before graduation. Then Jud had gone….

      “I’m back,” Reba called from the outer office. Just a minute later, she said, “Hey, Wade. How are you this morning? And who’s this with you? Jud Ritter, it’s about time you came back. We all wondered where you got to.”