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very probably she'd never slept with anyone. God! he thought, and his body reacted sharply to the thought.
Kit pulled the covers back over her and averted her face. "I'd like to get dressed, if you don't mind," she
said hesitantly.
"What? Oh. Certainly." He went out the door without a protest, and Kit thanked God for small miracles.
She couldn't quite believe what had almost happened. She had to be very careful from now on. Logan had
made his opinion of Betsy quite clear, along with his commitment to the woman. Why he'd tried to kiss
her, she couldn't comprehend. All she knew was that she mustn't, for her own sake, ever let him get close
enough to try again.
Unrequited love was something she'd lived with for three long years. She knew Betsy and she didn't want
Logan to fall victim to the woman, but there had to be another way to stop it. She really couldn't allow
herself to become embroiled in a hopeless affair with him, even to save him from financial ruin. She'd
certainly lose him that way. And when he'd had his fill of Kit's inexperience, probably Betsy's
sophistication would snare him for sure. The thought was depressing, but it had to be faced. She couldn't
let herself dream about him anymore. She had to get used to being without him in her life, in any capacity.
She got dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt, and went to the dining room where the rest of the family, Logan
included, was sitting down to an enormous breakfast.
"Can he cook, or can't he?" Tansy enthused over the biscuits. "Emmett, you've missed your real vocation.
God meant you to be a chef."
"I'd get dishpan hands." He chuckled. He glared at Logan. "That was a low blow, what you did in the
hall."
Logan didn't look up from his scrambled eggs. "Yes, it was. I'll kill myself if you like."
Emmett didn't believe he'd heard that from his staid cousin, so he ignored it.
Kit didn't. Logan didn't sound like himself. She stared at him until he lifted his head, and what she saw in
his eyes then made her blush furiously and look away.
Logan felt his fingers tremble on his fork. Damn it, what was happening to him? Only this morning, he'd
been in complete control of his life. Or had he? He hadn't phoned Betsy to say he was leaving for San
Antonio, or offered to bring her with him. He hadn't even phoned the office to tell them where he was.
Chris would be dragged in to sub for him, which would make his brother furious. And why had he come
dashing out here in the first place? To save Kit from Emmett.
That threat, at least, certainly seemed real enough. Emmett stared at her dreamily and kept making veiled
references to how well he could provide for a new wife. The kids wanted to take her hunting with them,
he added, which was a real honor.
"No, thanks." She chuckled. "I'd look sad with arrows sticking out all over me."
"Oh, none of that," Emmett protested. "They hunt with those electronic spotting guns. Toys, you know. I
wouldn't dream of turning them loose with real bullets!"
"Did you know that if you get close enough with a radio signal you can ignite a dynamite cap?" Polk asked
conversationally, which caused his father to choke on his biscuit.
"Out!" Tansy told the three, who had finished eating, while she hit Emmett on the back to dislodge the
biscuit.
"I didn't say we'd ever done it," Polk muttered defensively. "Anyway, we couldn't get the man to sell us
any dynamite."
"Oh, my God!" Emmett wailed.
"Wouldn't you like to enlist them in the Marine Corps?" Logan suggested. "You could lie about their ages."
"You won't feel like that when you have kids of your own," came the droll reply. "Flesh of your flesh,
blood of your blood..."
"Speaking of blood, they're after the cat again," Tansy remarked.
Emmett muttered something violent and went to yell out the window. When he came back, he looked even
older.
"I can't stand it. Please, for God's sake, marry me!" he pleaded with Kit, dropping to his knees by her
chair and draping one long, muscular arm over her lap. "I'll reform. I'll stay home and cook barbecued
ribs and breakfast and manage old man Regan's ranch. Anything. Just save me from those kids!"
Kit doubled over laughing. She just shook her head. "Thank you for the offer, but I really can't. I have to
find missing people."
He looked up at her thoughtfully, his lips pursed, one eye narrowed. "Find people, do you? Okay. How
are you at the reverse? Couldn't you hide me where those kids can't find me?"
"Why, you craven coward," Tansy chided. "Get off your knees and act like a proper father."
"I did try, Tansy," he said good-naturedly as he got gracefully to his feet. "But just as I broke the switch,
one yelled to distract me, the second one positioned himself behind my knees and the third one knocked
me over the second one into the river. I haven't really tried to hit one of them since."
"You don't have to hit them," Tansy continued, unabashed. “You could discipline them in other ways. Take
away their television privileges."
He stared at her. "We don't have a television. Those kids threw a bowling ball through it. Thank God we
have a good volunteer fire department here."
"Emmett, you're not the man I remember," Logan said, shaking his head.
"I'm not sure I ever was. Things have gone from bad to worse since she left me," he said, obviously
referring to his ex-wife. "Since I got custody, no sane woman will have me. Maybe I could lock the kids
up until I got one to the altar. Too late for you, of course," he said with a wistful smile in Kit's direction.
"It's got to be a woman who doesn't know they exist until we're legally married!"
"Buffaloed by three children," Logan scoffed. "Imagine that."
"You try dealing with them," Emmett dared.
"Not me. I'm on the first plane to Houston this afternoon."
Emmett put down his coffee cup. "Why not stay until tomorrow?"
"Yes, why not?" Tansy seconded. "You and I get no time together these days, Logan. You're either too busy
making money or traveling around the world or escorting that taffy-brained woman friend of yours around
town."
He glared at her. "Let's leave Betsy out of this, shall we?"
"Suit yourself," Tansy replied. "You could fly back tomorrow with me. I can't stay around much longer.
I'm only filling in for the housekeeper."
"My housekeeper," Emmett said. "The only woman west of the Pecos who isn't terrified of those kids."
"She had to have some minor surgery, but she'll be back tomorrow. Come on, son," Tansy coaxed. "You
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