Love's Deception Read Online Free Page A

he kept her in his sights while he worked. She labored alongside him and Ricardo, never once complaining, making Ty wonder how such a skinny body lifted the heavy bales. Her complete absorption in the task amused him. Her son must have tired of playing in the cab because he soon climbed on top of the hay to watch.
    “Your name’s Danny, right?” Ty asked.
    “Yeah,” the kid answered.
    “Why does your mom need so much hay?”
    “She boards horses.”
    “How many does she have?”
    “I dunno. A lot.”
    “We have sixteen right now,” Cat said, flashing him a smile.
    “My older sisters had horses, when we were kids,” Ty explained. “Do you live here or just manage the barn?”
    “We live here, with my mom.”
    He stepped across the tongue of the trailer and pulled a bale off the truck bed. With three of them working they were nearly done. “What about your dad?”
    “He divorced my mom about the time Danny was born.”
    Ty hoped to get Cat talking about herself, but all he had gotten so far were clipped responses. Maybe this question would do the trick. “How did you feel about that?”
    She stopped walking and bent to rest her bale on the side of the trailer for a moment. “What . . . are you a psychiatrist or something, now?” Ty smiled and chuckled, leaving the question open while she added her bale to the growing stack. Finally, she continued. “I don’t know. He left my mom for another woman he met at work. So, to put it lightly, you could say I was mad. Actually, I try not to think about him. Or see him, for that matter. Frankly, Mom and I were working so hard at the time to come up with the money to buy out his share of the property that I didn’t have the luxury or the time to think about how I
felt
.”
    “I take it your mom likes horses.”
    He followed Cat as she picked up another bale and walked it to the stack. “For my mother, life revolves around the horses.”
    Ty lifted the bale over his head and tossed it up to Ricardo. “Any brothers or sisters?”
    “No, it’s just me,” Cat replied. “My parents got a late start, and there were complications after I was born, so my mom wasn’t able to have any more children. How about you?”
    “I’m the youngest of four. I have three older sisters.”
    She smiled again and his stomach did one of those flip-flops that reminded him of the crazy high school days. “I’ll bet they spoiled you rotten,” she said.
    He couldn’t help but grin back at her. “Maybe, but I always wished I had a brother to share the work with.”
    Cat lifted the last bale, balancing it against her thigh. “I suppose growing up on a farm would be a lot of work.”
    “Probably no different than this.” Ty stepped in front of her and slid his hands over the twine, next to hers. “I can get that for you.”
    She tipped her head up to look at him and relinquished her hold. “Thank you.”
    He paused, holding her gaze. He couldn’t get enough of those big brown eyes. “You’re welcome.”
    During the second load, she turned the questioning on him. “So, you must farm with your dad, huh?”
    Ty debated what answer to give. He’d learned the hard way that some women’s affections were directly related to a guy’s paycheck. Three years ago, he’d dated a girl who seemed perfect. She was everything he ever hinted at liking, but it was all an act. When he broke it off, her true personality came out. She showed up on his doorstep less than a month later and tried to convince him she was pregnant with his child. Thankfully, Ty had always been careful, so he held his ground. The woman finally backed down, admitting he wasn’t the baby’s father.
    Cat had already hinted that her finances were tight, and it was clear their property could benefit from a financial investment into repairs and maintenance. She didn’t seem like the type to take advantage of a guy, but with women you could never be too careful. Ty threw another bale onto the ever-growing stack and