Landon turned back to her. “I’m not going to argue with you about this. In fact, let’s just go talk to your grandfather.”
Landon was making way too big a deal out of a kiss—acting like they’d committed a crime. “What I do with Jaxon is none of my grandpa’s business, and it’s none of yours, either.”
Landon stepped closer to her, each bit of gravel sounding like it was being ground to dust under his boots. “You’re on this cattle drive with my men, and that makes you my business.”
His men? Landon had made himself king as well as the morality police. The guy was only nineteen. It wasn’t like he’d hired everyone.
“You,” Landon pointed at Jax again, “get back to your tent. Dad is going to kill you if Cal doesn’t do it first. You,” his finger swung to Kate, “come with me.” Landon marched back toward camp without waiting to see if she followed.
Jerk. He had no reason to be so upset about this.
Jaxon picked up Kate’s flashlight and handed it to her. “Sorry I got you into trouble.” All the spunk had drained from his voice.
“It’ll be okay.” There wasn’t time to say much else. Landon was heading straight to her grandfather’s tent. She needed to go defend herself.
But she really did think everything would be okay. Her grandfather would give her time to explain. She’d only kissed Jaxon for a couple of minutes. Plenty of girls her age kissed boys. Besides, her grandfather liked Jaxon.
She didn’t want to follow Landon, but she had no choice. The only thing more embarrassing than being hauled in front of her grandfather was having her grandfather hunt her down in the middle of the night in order to hear her side of the story. It was better just to go face him now.
By the time Kate reached her grandfather’s tent, he’d already come outside. He and Landon were walking away from the rest of the camp, probably to speak out of earshot. Her grandfather wore an old pair of sweats that he used as pajamas, and his thinning gray hair was mussed, which meant he’d been asleep. Instead of a flashlight, he carried an electric lantern that circled him and Landon in light. Time to go join that spotlight.
When Kate caught up to her grandpa, Landon was relating that he’d been out looking for Jaxon. He turned to her. “Do you want to tell him how I came upon the two of you?”
This was so unnecessary. Kate crossed her arms. Her flashlight was on, but her beam had been swallowed by the lantern’s reach. “We were kissing. That’s all.”
Landon tilted his chin down. “He was lying on top of her with a blanket wrapped around them.”
“We fell.” Kate attempted a more detailed explanation, but in her nervousness, she left out the part about how the blanket had tangled them together. Her grandfather just gaped at her like she was making up a convoluted excuse.
The shadows on his face had turned his eyes to coal and switched the lines at his mouth into slashes. “You’re only fifteen and were taking a roll in the hay with Jaxon?”
Why was her grandfather mad about the hay? She was certain she and Jaxon hadn’t done anything to ruin it. “The hay is fine. We only sat on it for a little bit.”
This answer didn’t appease him. His nostrils flared in anger. “What kind of morals is that mother of yours teaching you?”
Her mom was suddenlythatmother? Kate didn’t know how to answer.
Her grandfather didn’t wait for a response.“Is this what passes for normal in Seattle? Babies making babies? Well, you’re not doing that sort of thing on my watch.”
“I wasn’t…” Kate sputtered. She didn’t know what to say in the face of his anger. “All I did was kiss him.”
“Thank goodness Landon found you before anything worse happened.” Her grandfather shook his head in disappointment. “You must have heard Jaxon talking about his girlfriend earlier. I guess that didn’t matter to you.”
Should she protest that Jaxon had told her he was keeping his options open? Should she explain that he was just teaching her how to kiss? Landon had outright scoffed when she’d gone that route, and the last thing she wanted to do was seem easyandstupid. She couldn’t bring herself to look at Landon now. She didn’t want to see his facial expression of what—pity? Smug satisfaction?
Her grandfather switched the lantern from one hand to the other, a motion that made the shadows around them twist. “First thing in the morning, you’re going back to Grandma. I don’t have time to guard your tent, and I can’t trust you out here anymore.”
And just like that Kate had been judged and condemned. She hadn’t stayed to hear more. She’d spun on her heel and stormed off to her tent while the wordsI can’t trust you anymoredug into her soul and kept burrowing. Angry tears filled her eyes. Her grandfather had obviously never trusted her to begin with, or he would have listened to her explanation.
The next morning, as soon as she emerged from her tent, Landon fetched her to drive her back to Coyote Glen.
Landon. The guy who’d been present for her humiliation—that was who Grandpa chose for the road trip home. Perhaps he thought Landon was the only one who wouldn’t be susceptible to her wiles. Grandpa didn’t even show up to tell her goodbye.
She got into Landon’s truck, folded her arms, and kept her head turned toward the side window. She wasn’t going to look at him, let alone speak to him.
After they’d been on the road a few minutes, Landon said, “Listen, I’m sorry about how this turned out. You’re just a kid, and you don’t know what you’re doing, but one day, you’re going be glad I stopped you. Jaxon’s not old enough for this, and neither are you.”
She turned to Landon long enough to roll her eyes. “If you’re about to give me the birds and bees talk, you can spare me. Jaxon and I were just sitting on the hay with the blanket wrapped around us, and when we heard your footsteps, I startled, fell, and accidentally pulled him on top of me. We only stayed that way because we hoped if we didn’t move, you wouldn’t see us.”