Free Forbidden Passions by India Masters

the door and stepped out. “Come on, let’s take a walk down yonder trail, set a spell, and talk.”
    Libby followed reluctantly. “I really don’t want to talk about your brothers, Arch.”
    They walked side by side as they started up the trail. “I know you don’t, honey, but you’re about all they’ve been talking about for the last five years. Has Alex heard from you? When are you coming home for a visit? Are you involved with anyone? Like to drove me crazy.”
    Libby’s brow puckered. “I don’t get it. They hated my guts in high school. Seemed like they went out of their way to make my life a misery.”
    Archer wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “I know, and I’m real sorry about that. I should have done something, but I had my hands full runnin’ the ranch and tryin’ to keep ’em alive, what with the folks dyin’ like they did.”
    “Not your fault, Arch, and I don’t think you could have stopped it anyway. Those boys sure hated my cameras. Never was able to figure that, with them being so pretty and all. And why is it so important that they make up for it? It’s water under the bridge.”
    They wandered off the trail and perched atop a flat slab of granite. “Is it? I mean, you haven’t been home in all these years, Libby. I reckon the twins figure into that somewhere.”
    Libby stretched out on the sun-warmed granite and studied the clouds, pondering Archer’s question. The Cade twins had been a big reason why she hadn’t come back, but so was the unfinished business with her father. Truth to tell, she’d been afraid she couldn’t handle it. The memories of growing up here. Her daddy’s booming laughter, and the bitterness of his anger when she chose photography over the ranch. Her parents’ death in a fiery crash that ended any hope of reconciliation.
    “I won’t say they weren’t part of it, but there were other reasons too.” She looked up at him and smiled. “I just got used to the travel, the money, the luxury. I mean, you have to admit it’s a cake job.”
    Archer chuckled. “I reckon it is if you’re into all those mud baths and herbal wraps. But as for what changed the boys’ minds, it was those pictures you took when you were freelancing. I bought the book, and when they saw those photos, something in them changed.”
    “What?”
    Archer shook his head. “Ain’t my place to tell, buttercup, but I’d consider it a favor if you’d give ’em a chance.”
    “Yes, but they want—”
    “I know what they want, honey, and you don’t have to do that if you don’t want to. They’d never force you.”
    Libby shook her head. “It’s not even that, not really. It’s the pressure everyone’s putting on me to stay. Bodie and Ty, Alex, and now Uncle Walt. I haven’t made a commitment to anything but my career for a long time.”
    Archer hopped down off the rock and held out his hand. “Well, maybe it’s time you thought about it. Come on, gal. I reckon everyone’s about settled down now. You hungry? Gotta get your strength up for your trip tomorrow.”
    Libby let him swing her down off the rock. “I could eat.”

Chapter Eight
     
     
    There was a distinct chill in the cab of the truck as Bodie drove through Sylvan Pass and up to the east entrance to Yellowstone. He checked the rearview mirror to make sure Ty and their crew were still behind them with the other stock trailers, then cleared his throat.
    “He didn’t mean to upset you last night. Ty, I mean. No one did.”
    Libby kept her eyes on the road ahead. “Everyone seems to think they know what’s best for me except me.”
    “It’s just that we—”
    She gave him a talk-to-the-hand gesture. “I really don’t want to talk about this, Bodie.”
    Bodie glanced at her from the corner of his eye. Her jaw was clenched so tightly, he figured it would take a crowbar to pry it open, and her usually flawless posture was rigid as a spinster’s on her first date. He’d thought they were making some progress,