“It’ll cost you.”

He had no doubt. “Whatever it costs. I need those records and any others you find.”

“On it. Bad moms are the worst.”

He felt like shit for doing this. From what he’d seen, Sarah was a good mom. She’d done nothing to warrant this kind of intrusive probe into her past.

He just couldn’t live without knowing who she really was. He wasn’t even sure he’d share whatever he found with Margaret.

“Just get it done discreetly and quickly.”

“I’ll let you know as soon as I know.” Dean hung up.

Luke wondered if he’d just made a huge mistake.

He glanced around the arena. All of a sudden, the ranch felt quiet and empty.

He wanted it to feel like home, not just a place to hang and sleep. But he feared it would never really feel that way because home included the people who loved you.

And he lived alone.

Maybe he deserved it for some of the shit he’d done in his career. Like picking apart a woman’s life for no good reason. He was proud of most of his cases. He’d helped a lot of people, but a few of his clients left a black mark on his heart.

He really hoped he didn’t make things worse with Sarah.

He took Stella’s and Mandy’s reins and led them out of the training ring toward the barn to put them back in their stalls so he could check on Ace and deal with the vet. But all he really thought about was how badly he’d handled things with Sarah.

Chapter Ten

Sarah heard the doorbell downstairs. Though she expected Sean’s sister, Bridget, and her daughter, Sophia, to arrive sometime in the next half hour, she still had to tamp down the anticipation that it might be Luke. She hated the way they’d left things yesterday, and especially didn’t like that he thought her reckless and anything like the woman Margaret made her out to be.

Since school had started a few weeks ago, the kids were working on the packets their teachers had given her before they left for the trip. She hated taking them out of school for this extended time but Margaret hadn’t left her a choice.

She handed Jack his math worksheet. “Do all the problems you can on your own. I need to go see who is at the door.” She checked on Nick, lying on the bed with his clipboard in front of him. “How are the b’s coming?”

Nick stopped tracing the next one on the sheet and looked up at her, smiling. “I did it.” He’d traced the dotted letters about twenty times now.

“Great job, buddy.” She handed him a blank sheet. “Now try to write them on your own.”

He took the paper and did the first one, then showed her the shaky but definitely proper lowercase b.

“Don’t forget to do a line of uppercase ones, too. I’ll be back soon.”

Sarah rushed down the stairs just as Margaret came out of the kitchen. “I’ll get the door.”