Heartbreak Ranch by Kylie Brant Page B

jumped up and slapped you in the face. Slap back.”
    â€œDon’t tempt me,” she muttered meaningfully.
    â€œYou returned to the ranch to regroup. Use that time to make a mature decision about what you want. Make sure you have a plan before you take off again.”
    She cocked her head challengingly. “What makes you think I plan to leave?”
    He said nothing for a moment, just brought the cigarette to his lips and watched her. Of course she’d leave. He ignored the quick churn in his gut at the certainty. Everybody did, eventually. Just as Kimberley had left. His birth mother hadn’t exactly left him, she’d just given him away, when he’d been little more than a mass of burnt flesh and sullen bruises. Life had taught him it was infinitely easier to be the one to do the leaving. Since that wasn’t always possible, the next best thing was not to give a damn.
    He dropped the stub of the cigarette and ground it out carefully. “You’ll leave,” he said with certainty. “But this time you’ll be wiser, more careful. Think before you act. That’s all I’m telling you.”
    She raised her chin. “You don’t know me half as well as you think you do. I’m a hell of a lot more than a half-brained idiot chasing after my impulses.”
    â€œGood. I’m glad you realize that.”
    â€œYou know something, Jed?” she said, taking a step toward him. “I’m not ashamed of marrying Andrew. I may not have been the best judge of character, but I tried to do the right thing. I don’t have to apologize to anyone for that. Maybe it wasn’t the right choice to stay with him as long as I did, hoping he’d change. Maybe it wasn’t the safe one. But at least I tried. I took a risk. Haven’t you ever gambled on anything? Haven’t you ever played the odds, taken a risk that just maybe wasn’t the smartest, the safest?”
    He watched her unblinkingly. “Sure. The most recent time was the other night on the terrace.”
    He had the satisfaction of seeing the response on her face, her eyes widening slightly, her cheeks blooming with a fascinating shade of pink. And then she brushed carefully at the blades of grass clinging to her jeans. The act seemed to require an inordinate amount of concentration.
    â€œOh, that. Well, as risks go, a kiss isn’t exactly dare-devil material. Especially with someone who’s almost your sister.”
    â€œYou’re not my sister,” he said flatly, and studied the renewed burst of color in her face with intense interest.
    â€œI’m not lying to myself about it. Why should you? I kissed you because I wanted to, even though I knew it was a bad idea. The worst.”
    His words had her eyes shooting sparks, and he paused for a moment, prepared to see her get a great deal more irritated. “I’m used to regarding you as a pest, a worry and a sometimes major pain in the butt. Wanting you was a shock. And it’s not a habit I’m going to allow myself to get into.”
    Her mouth opened, then closed again. He could see the confusion, amazement and fury work over her face. If the emotions hadn’t mirrored so closely the ones he’d experienced in the hours since he’d followed that particular impulse, he would have been amused. But he was dead serious.
    Her voice, when she found it, was lethally dangerous. “Kissing you didn’t exactly make the top ten of my personal billboard chart of smart moves, either.”
    The statement almost made him smile. Julianne in a snit could do that. “I just don’t want you reading more into it than was there.”
    She sighed gustily. “How will I ever get over the disappointment of not bearing your children?”
    â€œI don’t want you getting sidetracked while you’re here. You’ve got a lot of thinking to do, and that’s where you need to focus your concentration. To