Read Online Forbidden Passions by India Masters - Free Book Online Page A

his best,” Alex answered. “But he had some news for Libby. Seems he’s leaving her the ranch.”
    “Really?” Arch said.
    “Well, it makes sense, in a manner of speaking. Libby spent most of her summers up there. Walt always doted on her. They’d camp and fish, he always kept lots of film around for her, and they’d go on photo excursions deep into the Shoshone National Forest.”
    Libby smiled wistfully. “He was probably my best friend when I was growing up. It’s hard, seeing him waste away like that.”
    Ty patted her knee. “I’m sure it did his old heart good to see you, though. You’re gonna be a land owner. You’ll quit that damn jet-set job and stay home where you belong.”
    “I’m hoping she will. I’d sure like her to stay,” Alex said.
    “Me too,” Bodie concurred.
    “Of course she will. She has family here, obligations,” Ty said, with a confidence that grated on Libby’s nerves. “Libby’s a good girl, comes from good Wyoming ranch stock. She don’t belong with all those fakes and phonies. She belongs here.”
    The group sat, silently waiting, and Libby couldn’t move a muscle.
    “I . . .,” she croaked. Her throat closed up, and she struggled to breathe, on the verge of hyperventilating. Synapses fired, and the words “obligation” and “good ranch stock” bounced around in her skull.
    Oh God, why couldn’t everyone just leave her alone? Why was she always the one expected to give up her dreams? Her father had been so pissed when she chose to go to college in LA, and even madder when she majored in photojournalism. He’d demanded she move back home, study range management and business, so she could help keep the ranch growing and prospering. When she’d defied him, he’d refused to pay for her schooling and cut her out of his life. Then he and Mama died in that accident before she could make amends.
    Libby shoved Ty. “Let me out, I need air.”
    “Lib—” Ty protested, but she cut him off.
    “No! Just let me out.” When he didn’t move, she growled with frustration. “Fine, don’t move, you asshole.” She swiveled on the bench, drew her feet up under, and climbed out over the back of the seat. Shocked by her behavior, no one spoke as she bolted from the restaurant.
     
    * * *
     
    Libby heard the crunch of gravel under boot heels and knew one of them had found her. She leaned against the back of the building, bent forward with her palms on her thighs.
    “Libby,” Ty said. “What the hell was that all about?” He started toward her, but she held up her hand, warding him off.
    “Don’t. Don’t crowd me.” She took a side step, shaking her head. “It’s too much, Ty. You and Bodie, Alex wanting me to stay, and now Uncle Walt and the ranch. I can’t . . . I don’t . . . I live the way I do because I’m not responsible to anyone but myself. I pick and choose my assignments; I go where I want, when I want. That’s the way I like it. I don’t like . . . I don’t want people needing me.”
    Ty folded his arms over that massive chest, and a ripple of desire shot through her, so strong she would have fallen to her knees had the wall not been holding her up. He was a danger to her, him and his brother. She had to remember that. Remember who they were.
    His voice was disdainful when he spoke. “Don’t you mean you don’t like needing people? Your family, Bodie, and me?”
    Anger coiled deep in her belly and struck. She pushed off the wall. “You think you know me, Ty Cade? You don’t know shit! You don’t know how hard I worked to earn that jet-set career you’re so scornful of. Or the danger, or the heart-wrenching agony of those poor people in Africa. Of the soldiers I faced down to get those shots. All you see, all anyone sees, is the end result. And I did that! Me. By myself, with no help from a big, strong man.”
    He thought she needed him and his brother? It would be a cold day in hell before she ever put herself at the emotional mercy of the