Page 21 of At the Rancher's Pleasure

“Yes, ma’am. I didn’t have a conventional upbringing so I think convention is overrated. But why do you think that?”

She chose her words carefully. “Well, I started cooking for us because I hate microwave meals and I like cooking, but you never asked and best of all, you don’t expect me to cook. Or clean.”

“Should I?” Brett asked, picking up the grater and cheese.

“No, of course not. I like that you don’t, but so many men would.”

“You’ve been hanging out with the wrong type of guys,” he said, his big hands making short work of the cheese.

“Tell me about it,” she muttered, gently stirring her corn bread mixture. “You’re the most normal guy I’ve been with for years. Hell, you’re theonlyguy I’ve been with for years.”

“Really?” Brett asked, obviously surprised. “But you are drop-dead gorgeous.”

Sarabeth put the cheese, onion and chilies into the mixture and stirred it through the batter. She laughed as she tipped the mixture into a greased skillet. “You are so good for my ego, Brett.”

“Tell me about your marriage to Rusty,” Brett asked and because it was a quietly posed question, not a demand, she decided to answer him.

“I was very young, eighteen, he was a lot older. I was naive, he was not. I was there to look good and produce kids and to keep my mouth shut. And I listened and obeyed and I thought we had a good marriage. Then I caught him in our bed with a so-called friend and, with a little digging, I found out he’d had a series of mistresses since we were first married. Apparently, everyone in town knew but me.”

And knowing that she was the last person to know really hurt. And she still felt like a fool.

Sarabeth made herself meet Brett’s eyes, and she was grateful to see sympathy within those mesmerizing green depths, not pity. “But if I thought he was a bastard during our marriage, it was nothing compared to his fury when I walked out on him. Rusty decides when a relationship is over, no one else. He vowed to punish me and he did. He managed to get custody of the kids, the judge was a friend of his father’s, and then he did everything possible to drive a wedge between the kids and me.” She cursed the tears in her eyes. “And he succeeded. Damn, I still feel guilty for that.”

Brett didn’t say anything but instead picked up her wineglass and pushed it into her hand. Sarabeth took a sip, a deep breath and raked her hair back from her face. “So, according to the Royal Reporters, via Jaynie, he’s not happy I’m back in town. Apparently, he’s telling everyone that I’m looking for money, that I’m broke and that he’s waiting for me to come crawling back.”

“What a prick,” Brett muttered.

Yeah, he was soooo good for her ego.

“Does he know about us?” he asked.

She shrugged. “According to Jaynie, everybody knows about us so I supposed he’s heard. Is that a problem for you?”

“Hell, no. I don’t give a crap.”

Yeah, so blunt and so decisive.

“But he can’t be happy about it, and he’s going to be really pissed when he finds out I’m ridiculously rich,” Sarabeth said. Damn. She hadn’t meant to tell him that. Hell, she’d had no intention of telling anybody about the sale ofSarabeths!. But Brett was so easy to talk to, and around him, she felt her emotional barriers dropping. She had to be careful, however, because she couldn’t start letting multicolored feelings into their monochromatic fling.

They were friends having sex. Period.

But she’d have to tell her kids aboutSarabeths!at some point, but for now, she was just enjoying knowing that she was financially secure and free.

“I haven’t told anyone about my financial situation,” she informed Brett, who sat on one of the stools opposite her.

“Why not?”

She looked at him and immediately noticed the blatant curiosity in his eyes. He covered her hand with his and squeezed. “I’d love to hear more but if you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine too. And it goes without saying that whatever you say on the ranch stays on the ranch.”

Sarabeth smiled at his turn of phrase. She walked around the island before coming to stand between his legs. His arms immediately wrapped around her and she leaned into his chest, feeling secure and safe. She was strong, feisty and independent but sometimes it was nice to lean on someone, to confide her worst fears.

He was proving to be her friend as well as her lover...

“Rusty never believed I could do anything, and my mom raised me to capitalize on my looks. Beauty pageants or a good marriage to a very rich man... Those were my two choices. Rusty often told our friends and his business associates I was so lucky to be born beautiful because I was brainless.”

Brett released a low, annoyed growl. “A lot of people underestimated me because my mom was a drunk and we were poor,” he quietly said. “People are morons.”

Weren’t they just? “How did you come to own all this?” Sarabeth asked, curious.

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