Free A Cowgirl's Secret by Laura Marie Altom Page A

just spill the whole truth and get on with her life?
    How come every time she locked gazes with Luke’s powerful blue stare, her insides turned to mush and memories of better times consumed her? Even an act as seemingly benign as sharing ice cream sandwichesrecalled a lazy summer afternoon when they’d lounged on his bed, feeding them to each other.
    Luke’s mother, Peggy, had been out of town at a church conference and for a change of scenery, his dad had gone along. Her parents had believed she’d spent the weekend with a Tulsa friend.
    Home alone, Daisy and Luke had played house. Cooking together, cleaning together, making love and bathing together… Best of all had been waking up together. Being held safe in his strong arms.
    That weekend had been but a teasing glimpse into the life they might have shared if it hadn’t been for the fear Henry had made a permanent fixture in her. She was pretty sure Kolt had been conceived that long weekend. Just as she was sure that if she’d told Luke of her pregnancy, she would never have left. Daisy had been so afraid of carrying a girl that all she could focus on at that time had been her escape.
    Her office door creaked open and in walked the source of her current dilemma. Luke, in all of his handsome glory. “Henry said I might find you here.”
    â€œHe’s back? He knows I leased office space?”
    â€œYeah. You know Dallas gossips like an old woman. Besides me, Henry’s one of his best friends.”
    Panic swelled in Daisy’s chest, making it hard to breathe. She’d long since told herself she wasn’t that scared girl anymore. But the mere knowledge that her nightmare was back on the ranch left her pulse racing and her mouth dry.
    Sighing, Luke perched on the arm of the sofa he’d last occupied in her loft. Rubbing his whisker-stubbledjaw, he mused, “I honestly don’t know what to make of you.”
    â€œDid I hire you to psychoanalyze my every move?” Turning her back on him, she returned to her task of unwrapping framed photos, only to stop. Kolt grinned in every shot. Kolt as a chubby baby. His first day of kindergarten. Hamming it up with his friends on his riotous seventh birthday. Stacking the images, she carefully placed them upside down before returning them to the box. The last thing she needed was for Luke to be reminded of how many precious moments he’d missed. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to snap.”
    â€œThat’s my point,” he said. “Even though we’ve been apart for years, I like to think I knew you better than just about anyone. But this version of you—flighty, always on edge—makes me worry.”
    â€œThanks,” she said with a sad laugh, “but I’m good.”
    Are you?
    If Daisy didn’t tell Luke—her mom, Dallas, everyone—soon, the weight of her secret would eat her alive. She wasn’t sleeping. Rarely ate. Her heart constantly raced as if she’d spent hours running in hot sun.
    â€œIf you say so…” Glancing at their surroundings, he noted, “The stuff from your loft doesn’t exactly match this building’s turn-of-the-century ambiance.”
    â€œI probably should’ve sold it before moving out here.” She sat on one of a matching pair of designer lounge chairs upholstered in a black-and-white pinto-patterned leather that had reminded her of home. But since she’d been here, could she really say Weed Gulch was whereshe belonged? She felt in limbo. Never more so than when she and Luke shared the same air.
    â€œWhat had you in such an all-fired hurry to leave this afternoon?” The faded denim shirt he wore rolled up at the sleeves worked magic with his blue eyes. The same color looked equally as impressive on his son. Luke had given her the perfect opening to tell him about Henry, so why was her tongue refusing to work?
    â€œI, um, guess I was preoccupied with getting