“Everyone does.” Surprisingly, he didn’t seem to judge her.

Folding her arms under her breasts, trying to maintain some semblance of poise, she fought tears. “So, cowboy from Texas, what does it matter to you?”

“I already told you that I knew Dave. Worked for years for Dave’s father, Ralph.”

“Uh-huh.” She didn’t like the way this was heading.

“And you know I bought my place from him.” Luke seemed as tense as she. His shoulders were rigid, his eyes watching her every move.

“Maybe you should tell me what I don’t already know.” She was careful. Wary. Where was the warm man to whom she’d made love only a few days before?

“As I said, I didn’t buy the place with cash, really. I worked for him, he withheld part of my paycheck with the understanding that I’d one day use that money as a down payment on a place outside of Dallas. However, that didn’t work out and he offered me full ownership out here instead. It was a deal I couldn’t pass up.”

He’d told her all this before, but nothing he’d said so far explained the rigid set of his jaw or the lines of silent anger that bracketed his mouth. “So?”

“He asked a favor of me before I headed west.”

Here it comes. “What kind of favor?” she asked, not really sure she wanted to know. Her pulse thundered through her brain.

“Ralph asked me to do some checking when I came into town. Before his death Dave had mentioned that he might have fathered a child back here and Ralph wanted to locate that grandchild if he had. That’s why I came over here tonight. To get this all out in the open. It’s been a secret too long.”

Katie’s chest was as tight as if it had suddenly been strapped in steel bands. “I had already decided to talk to the Sorensons,” she said, though she still felt cornered, as if tracking hounds had been put on her trail and she had no place to run to, her back against the face of a sheer cliff. “But first I had to talk to Josh.”

“He didn’t know?”