They stopped at Tricia’s car, an expensive white model. She’d graduated from a sporty convertible to four-door luxury. As she searched the interior of a leather handbag for her keys, Jesse caught a whiff of her perfume. The scent was unfamiliar, but it sparked a weakness in him he couldn’t deny.

Damn her. Unable to stop himself, he cupped her face.

Her eyes flashed. “Don’t touch—”

He silenced the rest of her protest with his lips, crushing them brutally against hers. The kiss was demanding, hard, hungry and lustful—filled with years of pain. He pressed her against the car and felt a shiver slide from his body to hers. She responded to his blatant tongue thrusts and melted like warm, scented wax, her hands gliding down his arms.

Satisfied that he’d made her as weak as he, Jesse tore his mouth away. “Don’t come back, Tricia,” he said, forcing air back into his lungs. “I don’t want to see you again.”

He turned and left her standing at the car, hating that a part of him still missed her—a flaw he intended to keep buried. Forever.

After a long, shaky drive, Patricia parked her car in the circular driveway on her father’s estate and willed herself to take control. Jesse’s kiss had left her skin tingling and her heart pumping, conjuring needs and feelings that were best to ignore. She twisted the end of a lipstick tube, leaned toward the rearview mirror and attempted to camouflage his aftertaste with an icy-mauve hue.

The feminine maneuver failed. Jesse was still there, hard, sexy and demanding. Patricia sighed and checked her appearance. Hopefully no one would know. She looked cool and polished, as always. She’d learned long ago how to keep her nerves inside where they belonged. She was, after all, Patricia Boyd, the daughter of the most prestigious man in the county. She had an image to uphold. And she’d fought to preserve that image even when she’d become the object of raised eyebrows and none-too-subtle whispers. Giving birth to an illegitimate child wasn’t what the citizens of Marlow County had expected from Patricia Anne Boyd. Attending Princeton and marrying a Harvard man was more her style, but she’d done neither. Instead she’d stayed in Arrow Hill, become an active member of Boyd Enterprises and raised Jesse Hawk’s son.

Patricia made her way to the front door and opened it, grateful her father’s domestic staff didn’t work on Sundays. Because she’d been raised with cooks, housekeepers, chauffeurs and nannies, she’d always wondered what being part of a “normal” family would feel like. Patricia’s mother had died before Patricia’s second birthday, and as far as she was concerned, there wasn’t a nanny alive who could replace what she’d lost. Raymond Boyd had done his best, though. And Sundays were special in his house—no staff, just family—a union that now included Dillon.

The Boyd mansion was stereotypical of old money and power: fresh flowers at every turn, a marble foyer, a winding staircase with a slick wood banister. The white-tiled kitchen was a cook’s delight with its industrial-size refrigerator, abundant counter space and center isle. Copper pots and pans dangled above the stove—a kitchen cliché that lent the massive room a homey appeal.

Patricia found her father in his office, a room rife with masculine furnishings. Since he rarely worked at home, the ornate antique desk seemed like a rich man’s prop, decked with brass ornaments and a humidor filled with imported cigars. The French doors that led to an impressive flower garden were open, inviting a blend of summer fragrances.

He glanced up and smiled. He sat at the desk with impeccable posture, a handsome man nearing the age of retirement, trim and fit with manicured hands and neatly styled graying hair. He looked like what he was, Patricia thought, domineering and headstrong, yet, below the surface, capable of immense kindness. And from what she remembered, Jesse had similar personality traits, only the younger man’s were packaged in a more rugged appearance with long, windblown hair and large, callused hands. Neither would appreciate the comparison, she knew, although under different circumstances, Jesse Hawk and Raymond Boyd might have found each other admirable.

“I took Dillon into town for a new model, then dropped him off at the Harrison estate,” her father said. “They called and invited him for a swim.”

Mark Harrison was Dillon’s best friend. He was a nice, enthusiastic boy, and her father approved of the family. The Harrisons, too, came from old money. It sounded snooty, but things like that mattered in Raymond Boyd’s world. Patricia also knew her father overlooked Dillon’s illegitimacy, something the Harrison family had done.

“That’s fine.” She sat in a tuck-and-rolled leather chair and absently ran her fingers over the brass tacks. Not having to face Dillon immediately after facing Jesse seemed like a small blessing. At times, her eleven-year-old son appeared capable of reading her emotions, no matter how well hidden. No one but Dillon could do that.

“Did you eat?” Raymond asked. “It’s past the lunch hour.”

Patricia glanced at her watch. Food was the furthest thing from her mind. This was, she decided, a perfect opportunity to tell her father who and what occupied her thoughts. Dillon was gone, and the household staff wouldn’t be poking about, dusting furniture or offering entrées from a carefully-selected luncheon menu.

She scooted forward. “Dad, Jesse’s back.”

He turned his chair slowly, although she imagined his heart had taken a quick, unexpected leap. “For good?” he asked.

Patricia nodded. “He bought the old Garrett place. I went by there this morning.”

“So you’ve seen him, then?”

“Yes.”

“Did he come back for you?”

She kept her eyes steady and her expression blank. The question hurt almost as much as the answer. She had insisted years before that Jesse would do right by her, and her father had called her young and naive for believing so. Jesse would forget about her. Eighteen-year-old boys often confused lust for love. For Patricia the lesson had been a difficult one. Jesse had seemed so sincere. He had even offered to sacrifice his scholarship to be with her. That alone had convinced her it was true love.

“No. He’s opening a veterinary clinic behind his house.”

Raymond squared his shoulders as though preparing for an emotional battle. “Did you tell him about Dillon?”

“No. Not yet.” She held up her hand in a failed attempt to confront her father’s disapproval. “Jesse and Dillon have the right to know each other.”

“Oh, Patricia.” He let out a long sigh. “Do you honestly think someone like Hawk is going to make a suitable father?”

“But Jesse was raised in foster care. Establishing roots was important to him. He wanted children more than anything.” For Dillon’s sake, she prayed that was still true.

“Really? So is he married with a family now?”

She dropped her gaze. “No.” A happily married man wouldn’t have kissed her like that. And as far as children went, the strays he took in were as close as he got, of that she felt certain.

Raymond drummed his fingers on the desk.

Tricia looked up. “What am I supposed to do? Keep my son a secret? His name is Dillon Hawk, Dad.”

“Giving the boy that name was a mistake. Dillon should be a Boyd.”

Patricia rubbed her temples. That useless argument always resulted in a headache. “It’s too late to turn back the clock. And somehow I’ve got to get Jesse to agree to see me again.”

Her father’s eyes hardened. “What happened? Did he toss you off his property?”

“Not exactly, no.” She pressed her temples again. Worse than having been told not to come back, was Jesse’s admission that he’d never really loved her. After all these years, hearing it out loud had been like a blow to the heart. “He told me he didn’t want to see me again.”