Summoning her resolve to hold on to some vestige of control, she said, “No. She’s no relation.”

“A friend, then?”

She grasped on that. “Yes-” It was the truth, after all, but she was already growing too emotional and he sensed it.

“I noticed from the rim of your license plate you bought this car in Reno. Is that where you live?”

The man’s radar didn’t miss anything. Whether she chose to tell him or not, he’d be able to find out the pertinent details about her with one simple phone call to the authorities. Considering the nature of his job on such a renowned ranch, the man probably had an inside track. Since he would have friends in high places, she’d save him the trouble.

“Yes.”

“Did the teenager in question give birth there too?”

“Yes.”

He shifted his weight, an ominous sign which could mean any number of unpleasant things. “Does this cowboy have a name?”

She craned her head in order to look at his brooding features.

“I think he probably made it up so Terrie would never know who he really was for fear she’d try to trace him.”

“Out with it, Ms. Arnold.” He’d come to the end of his tolerance for what had turned out to be a fencing match. In truth she was tired of dancing around the subject too.

“If I tell you, and you recognize it, you have to promise me you won’t reveal it to anyone else-” she cried, then moaned inwardly, wishing she hadn’t sounded like she was begging.

“Why do I get the feeling you’re trying to protect him?” came the silky question.

Her jaw clenched. “I have no love for this man, believe me. But even he has rights I have to honor.”