A Woman's Touch

through his teeth.
    „Give me one good reason.“
    „You want reasons?“ he shot back, „I’ll give you a few – you owe me a little trust, Rebecca Wade. I’m the man you’
    re sleeping with. The man you say you love.“
    „Why should I throw good love and trust after bad? At least I know now why you’ve never told me that you loved me. I’ll give you some credit for honesty in that department.“
    His hands tightened roughly on her shoulders.
    „I’ve given you everything I have to give a woman,“ he rasped. „Everything.“
    „Well, I’ve got news for you, Kyle Stockbridge. It’s not enough.“ Rebecca stepped away from him quickly, taking several steps back as his hands fell to his sides.
    „Don’t run from me, Becky,“ he ordered softly.
    „I do not run from anything or anyone. But I am going to get as far away from you as possible.“
    „I’ll come after you.“

    She read the implacable intent in his eyes and smiled grimly. „You won’t follow me for long. As soon as I get rid of Harmony Valley, you’ll forget all about me. Don’t worry about it, Kyle. Whatever you think you feel for me will vanish into thin air as soon as the land is no longer between us.“ She whirled and started down the hall to the bedroom.
    Kyle was after her in a flash, hard on her heels as she hurried down the hall. „Where do you think you’re going?“
    „To a hotel tonight. Tomorrow I think I’ll take a little trip up into the mountains. I’m curious to see the land that Alice Cork and her mother fought so hard to hang on to.“
    „They didn’t want to hold on to Harmony Valley so much as they wanted to keep it out of Stockbridge or Ballard hands,“ Kyle said.
    „Well, I can certainly understand them not wanting a Stockbridge to get hold of it. But, I, for one, have nothing against Ballards yet. Perhaps this Glen Ballard doesn’t take after his ancestors the way you take after yours.“
    „Stop issuing vague threats, Becky. It’s not your style.“
    „Who’s threatening?“ She rounded the corner into the bedroom and went to the walk-in closet to drag out her suitcase. When she swung around, she collided with Kyle who was almost on top of her. The edge of the suitcase caught him squarely in the midsection.
    Kyle sucked in his breath, wincing. „Believe me, Rebecca, Glen Ballard is just as big a bastard as his father and his grandfather. I know it for a fact.“
    „Is that right?“ Rebecca dumped the suitcase onto the bed, opened it and began tossing clothes into it willy-nilly.
    „How do you know that? What’s he ever done to you except fight for the same business deals you wanted?“
    „He seduced the woman I was engaged to marry, for one thing,“ Kyle said in a voice so cold it could have frozen hellfire.
    Rebecca was so shocked she didn’t move for an instant. She stared at Kyle, her arms full of lingerie. „Ballard stole your fiancée?“ she finally repeated blankly.
    „He and Darla have been married for nearly four years.“
    Rebecca moved slowly back to the open suitcase and dropped the lingerie inside. „I’d heard rumors that you’d been engaged once. No one said much about it.“
    „No one at work knows much about it,“ Kyle retorted. „It’s not something I talk about on the job.“
    „Or anywhere else. I wondered when you’d get around to mentioning it.“ She closed the suitcase, locking it with unnecessary precision. „I heard rumors of a marriage, also. I dismissed the stories as idle gossip at the time. Now I’m not so sure. Is the tale true, by any chance, Kyle? Have you been divorced?“
    He raked his fingers through his hair. „Yeah.“
    „Yeah? That’s all the explanation I get for one divorce and a broken engagement?“
    His eyes burned into hers. „What do you want me to say? That I’m a two-time loser when it comes to women? All right. I’ll admit it. Stockbridge men don’t make good husbands. Just ask anyone who knows us. The Stockbridge luck doesn’t seem to apply when it comes to women,“ he concluded bitterly.
    „Maybe the Stockbridge men shouldn’t have relied on their luck when it comes to women. Maybe they should have tried being honest, instead.“ Rebecca picked up the suitcase. It was so heavy she had to use two hands to carry it.
    „Put that down, Becky. You’re not going anywhere.“
    „How are you going to stop me? Brute force? Don’t try it, Kyle. It didn’t work with the other women who owned Harmony Valley and it’s