Page 36 of The Rancher's Secret Relationship

She reached him. Slapped him again. Clawed at his face.

And he let her.

Because unlike all the other women that had thrown themselves at him, this girl hadn't done the same thing because he was a billionaire. She had done so because he was Slade, just Slade.

And when her rage died, and she fell to her knees, sobbing, he could only look down at her.

Because she still left him without a choice, and he could only remain cruel to be kind.

"Please," Penny whispered. "Please love me instead.Please."

Baby Now That I've Found You

"Talk low, talk slow, and don't say too much." ~ John Wayne

SLADE STRAIGHTENEDoff the truck the moment he saw Kady, the tension inside of him draining away at the first glimpse of her smile. But as she came closer, her smile started to fade, and then she was running."Your face..."Her voice was tremulous and her gaze fearful as it skimmed over his face, which no doubt bore the small but noticeably red impressions of Penny's clawing and slaps. And it wasn't that he had even taken the time to check them on the mirror; he didn't really have to, with the way those nicks and marks fucking stung.

"What happened?" Kady asked. "Have you called 911—-"

He shook his head. "It's fine—-"

"But—-"

He hauled her close, and she instantly quieted, as if instinctively sensing this was what he needed: her soft, pliant body in his arms, her trusting silence filling the gaps inside of him, and her goodness...it healed him, the way no fucking E.R. visit ever could.

With Kady close, he found himself able to think of the things that he had purposely and stubbornly blocked out of his mind.Penny smiling up at him...shyly inviting him to dinner...Penny going to pieces because he couldn't love her—-

A small hand pressed against his chest, right over his heart, just as she whispered, "It's going to be okay."

His hold tightened as he sought to pull her closer. It might as well be like a pet reaching out to comfort its owner, but...

He tucked her chin under his head.

It did help.

Her just being there...

The way another girl once told him she wanted to be there for him...

It hadn't worked with Penny, but it worked now.

It worked damn fine, Kady being there, Kady beingwithhim. It helped a fucking lot, helped enough for him to hear himself say, "I met one of your predecessors."

She stiffened, but when she tried to pull back a moment later, he wouldn't let her, and after another moment, he felt her yielding, and this time her arms went around his waist, her face rubbing against his chest.

Just like a pet that knew it didn't have the words to ease the pain.

He thought of telling her exactly that, and almost immediately he saw Kady in his mind, reacting in that uniquely contradicting way of hers.Slade,she would probably cry out indignantly, but at the same time her eyes would be soft and bright, her cheeks pink with emotion. Because she might be annoyed, but she would also be thankful that she was able to comfort him.

It made him smile, just thinking about it, and he realized all of a sudden that Kady had joined the small number of women able to make him smile with genuine pleasure outside the bedroom.

But more than that...

"We didn't part on good terms the first time, and we still didn't part on good terms now."

She was turning out to be the only person in his life that he could open himself to.

"It was never my intention to hurt her, but she left me with no other choice—-" His voice turned bitter. "And even now, nothing has changed."

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