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His mouth quirked in that hard, familiar way Tara remembered “Not anymore”

“No, not anyth of his features “This is your element I realized that the first ti roundup, too Remember?”

“I re roundup”

“With mud everywhere,” Tara recalled “I couldn’t put a foot doithout sinking up to my ankles in it At least this time it’s dry”

“Too dry” His glancesweep of the sky, but there wasn’t a cloud in sight

Tara glanced up as well, but not for long The sky was huge, blue, and ely so, in her opinion, but she didn’t voice that

“I know you need rain, but I confess, I greatly appreciate the sunshine this ”

“I iine you do” His mouth crooked in an absent smile

The continued briefness of his ansas irritating, indicating, as they did, that she had only half of his attention The rest was centered on those damned cattle

Tara let the silence stretch between them for a while, and chose her next subject with care “This area,” she began on a curious note, “isn’t this part of the land that you’re seeking to gain title to?”

His dark gaze pinned her, sharp and probing “How did you know that?”

Tara sotten, Ty, that I lived on this ranch for a while, too”

He relented a little “You never seemed that interested in the ranch”

“I was always interested, Ty Too often, though, that interest ran at cross-purposes with yours—or your father’s”

There was too much truth in that for Ty to deny—not that he wanted to rehash it all again Yet he hadn’t expected that kind of an admission from Tara