A Woman's Touch

what I wanted. That’s all.“
    „Why is it so important for you to have Harmony Valley?“
    Kyle looked out over the valley, his eyes reflective. „Because.“
    „That’s a compelling reason, all right,“ Rebecca observed sarcastically.
    Kyle turned his head to look at her. „When a man wants something, when he knows in his gut it belongs to him, that’s all the reason he has to have to pursue it. It’s only women who insist on dissecting a perfectly normal desire, trying to figure out what makes it exist.“
    Rebecca sat down on the cold granite and folded her legs tailor fashion. The coffee cup was comforting and warm in her hands. „I think there’s room for disagreement on that subject, but I don’t plan to get into it now. Did you ever bring your wife up here? Or Darla?“
    Kyle didn’t move for a long moment. Then he slowly lowered himself into a sitting position beside Rebecca. „There
    ’s no point rehashing the past, Becky.“
    „I’d like to talk about it.“
    „Why?“ He sounded aggressive, as if he were bracing himself for battle. „You already know I haven’t got much of a track record in the marriage department.“
    „Tell me about your ex-wife,“ Rebecca insisted gently. „According to Alice’s journal, her name was Heather.“
    He gave her a startled glance. „Alice wrote about my marriage?“
    „Alice kept close track of the Ballards and the Stockbridges,“ Rebecca explained. „You might say that keeping track of the doings of Ballards and Stockbridges was a hobby of hers. She was probably operating on the principle of knowing one’s enemy.“
    Kyle grunted his disapproval. He looked out over the valley. When he finally started speaking, his voice was clipped and unemotional, as if he had distanced himself from the circumstances surrounding his first marriage.
    „Heather was a little slip of a thing. Pretty, blond, big blue eyes. I met her in college. Couldn’t wait to bring her home to show her the ranch and have her meet Dad. Dad took one look at her and told me she was too soft for me. No staying power, he said. Too much like my mother. I explained to him that Heather was gentle and delicate. She needed protecting and I wanted to protect her. I was going through an idealistic phase, I guess.“
    „What did your father say?“
    „He asked me who was going to protect her from me.“ Kyle bit down savagely on a biscuit.
    Rebecca studied his hard profile. „You married her over your father’s objections?“
    „He didn’t object, exactly. He just predicted the whole thing was going to be a disaster. Said I was too young to know what I needed in a woman. He was right. To make a long story short, times started getting rough in the cattle business. Then Dad died. I dropped out of college in my senior year to go to work. Heather began to cry a lot.“
    „That must have gone over real big with you,“ Rebecca murmured. Kyle was not the kind of man who would have a lot of patience with sobbing females.
    „Things weren’t working out the way she had planned,“ Kyle explained soberly. „Money was short. She was young and wanted to have some fun. I was working long hours trying to hold on to the ranch land. I didn’t have the time or inclination to indulge her childish whims.“ He shook his head. „I guess I got impatient. Lost my temper a few times. Told her it would greatly help the family finances if she went to work. She cried some more. I yelled at her some more. Things went downhill rapidly. Then I made the mistake of talking about babies.“
    „Babies?“
    „Yeah. I thought maybe a baby would settle her down. Besides, Stockbridges always have sons, and I figured it was time to have one of my own.“
    „And she didn’t agree?“
    „Hell, no. She panicked. Said she was too young to start a family. There wasn’t enough money. She wanted to have some fun before she got tied down to a baby, et cetera, et cetera. We had one last big fight during which I really lost my temper, and she ran home to her parents. She filed for divorce the next day.“
    „Did you love her?“
    Kyle rubbed his jaw. „I thought I did in the beginning. As I said, I was in my idealistic phase. But whatever I felt for her at the start of the marriage was long gone by the time the divorce papers arrived. Fact is, it was kind of a relief when it was all over.“
    „You might be interested to know that Alice predicted the same ending to your marriage that your father did. She thought