Liam tried once more to soften his tone. “She’s at the rodeo with her gran—with my folks. My family. She had a good time today and didn’t want to miss the finals, presentations to the winners or the fireworks afterward.”
“Hmm, yes, I remember well how a rodeo works.” Missy’s smile was rueful as she continued up the steps toward him. “How can a mother compete with all that?”
She remembered because of him. Because of their time together. That thought caused a burst of heat to ignite right in the center of his chest.
“They also figured you and I would appreciate the opportunity to talk privately about...well, about everything.”
“Saying we have quite a bit to discuss seems a bit of an understatement, doesn’t it?”
Liam stepped back when she joined him on the porch but not before a summery floral scent with a hint of peach invaded his head. Damn, she still wore the same perfume. Swallowing hard against the rush of memories, he took a step back and gestured toward a seating area set up at the far end of the porch.
She moved past him, walking in that same graceful way she’d had as a teenager. Years of ballet training, she’d once told him. Her hair was the same honey-blond color, but she wore it up off her neck, a few long pieces curling around her face. He wondered if it was as long as it’d once been, halfway down her back.
As if she could read his mind, Missy paused when she reached the wicker sofa, one hand tucking back a strand of hair that had fallen free as her chin rose in an almost regal attitude before she sat.
Yeah, she still possessed that British reserve that had made it hard for her to make friends when she first came to Destiny all those years ago.
He’d noticed her the first day of his senior year in high school. Every guy had. She’d been so different from the rest of the girls in their class. Some of his friends had made fools of themselves, trying to capture her attention, but the more they tried, the more she shot them down.
As someone who never had any problem getting a pretty girl to notice him, he’d liked that about her.
After a few months of watching her, he’d been determined to melt that icy reserve—and brave enough to try thanks to a dare from his buddies at the winter semiformal.
It’d taken until the night was almost over before he asked her to dance. She’d surprised him by accepting, and like a klutz, he’d tangled his boots with her delicate shoes. She’d laughed it off, stepped into his arms and he’d been a goner.
“You’re staring at me.”
Her words—the same ones spoken by her daughter earlier today—had him shaking off the memories as he joined her, taking one of the chairs. “I’m sorry. After all these years...to see you again. I guess I’m comparing the photos Casey showed me to the real thing.”
Missy rolled her eyes. “Her and that mobile. I think she must have five hundred pictures on it.”
“Many of them are of the two of you. Some going back years.”
She nodded, a soft smile on her face, and then her gaze met his again. “You look just like your photo, too.”
It took him a moment to figure out where she might have seen a picture of him. Online. Thanks to their office manager’s insistence, the company’s site had been updated this summer with new pictures, including formal portraits of the management team.
Liam liked that she had done a Google search on him. “You visited the Murphy Mountain Log Homes website.”
“Very corporate looking.” Her gaze traveled over him. “You look good in Hugo Boss.”
“They cut a good suit.”
Silence stretched between them as they studied each other in the fading light of the sunset. Was she looking for the cowboy he’d been back then? Wild and reckless and so full of himself he couldn’t see beyond his own wants and needs? His own dreams?
She looked exactly the same. Older, yes, but still the same ethereal beauty as when he’d last seen her. It was easy to see the features she shared with her daughter.
Their daughter.
His throat suddenly dry, Liam rose and went to the antique dresser that held pitchers of tea, water, an ice bucket and glasses, all thanks to his mother. “I’m sorry, I should’ve asked. Would you like something to drink?”
Missy let loose with a delicate humph from behind him. “Do you have anything a wee bit stronger? I think you’re going to need it.”
He shot her a look over his shoulder, and then opened the door below and pulled out a bottle of wine and his drink of choice, whiskey. She gestured for the wine and he poured her a glass, then whiskey for himself.
“You know, Casey tried to explain how she’d only found out a few weeks ago about me being her...” His voice trailed off as he returned to his seat, handing Missy her wine. “The more she talked, the more upset she became. I gather from your shock at her announcing she’d traveled to Destiny and found me that you hadn’t shared this news with her yet?”
Missy placed her cell phone on the table and took the glass. “No, I didn’t have the chance before my job had me flying to Los Angeles. I’ve barely had time to absorb everything myself. After all these years...to think, it never occurred to me to question the test results—”
It was at that moment his cell phone chirped from inside his pants pocket, cutting her off. Damn, now was not the time for business. He ignored the phone and it went silent for a moment, but came back to life again right away.
“You can get that,” she said. “If you need to.”
He probably should. A typical day for him ran long past five o’clock, especially for a select few clients who had his direct line. Or was it someone from the rodeo committee looking for him, despite his hasty explanation about a business emergency?
“It might be Casey,” he said, the thought just coming to him.
Missy flipped over her phone, checking it. “I tried to ring her when I landed. All I got was voice mail.”
He pulled the now silent phone out and looked. Two missed calls, both from the same client, who wouldn’t hesitate to move on to his brother Nolan if he couldn’t reach Liam. A press of a button and the phone would stay quiet.
“It was work, but it can wait,” he said. “Now, you were saying something about test results? Casey mentioned overhearing a fight between you and her grandmother, but like I said, she was pretty distraught. I told her we’d get everything straightened out when you got here. After that, she seemed to relax and enjoy the rodeo.”
“And you introduced her to your family?” Missy sipped her wine. “Just like that?”
“I wasn’t about to leave her on her own to wander around the fairgrounds. I told them she was the daughter of an old friend from high school.” He took a swallow from his own glass, the familiar warmth sliding easily down his throat. “As soon as I said your name my folks remembered you. So did my younger brother Bryant. It was my mom who...well, who put it all together, especially when I said you were on your way to Destiny.”
“And here I am.”
“Yes, here you are.” And here he was waiting for his first love to explain how he—they—had a child he’d never known about until today. “After all this time, not hearing from you, I can honestly say I never expected something like...this.”
“I can understand. Please, let me start at the beginning. Well, the most recent beginning.” She sighed, her gaze lowered. “My father passed away suddenly from a heart attack on August first.”
“I’m sorry,” Liam said automatically, surprised at how little emotion was in her voice considering that was just three weeks ago. “Was he ill?”
“Thank you, and technically