To Desire a Wilde by Kimberly Kaye Terry Page A

marathon.
    At her frown, although the wicked gleam in his eyes remained, he explained. “The restaurants around town pretty much all use our meat. We take a lot of pridein our product.” His return to casual conversation was unsettling as it was welcome.
    It had been a long time, if one ever had, since a man had made Ellie feel the way Shilah had in the short time of their reunion. She wasn’t sure if she felt relief or disappointment at the easing of tension, tension that stemmed from his obvious attraction to her.
    She shook it off. She had no time in her life for the complication that she knew would come with Shilah. Despite their history, he was no longer the young man she’d grown up with, the one she could go to and talk about anything, the one who’d provided a safe haven for her when she’d needed it.
    And she was no longer that same girl who needed the safe haven he’d provided, she reminded herself.
    â€œWe’ve worked hard for our reputation as the best. Which is another reason my brothers and I decided against using synthetic hormones.” Both his tone and the expression on his handsome face grew somber. “At least until longer-term studies show there’s no harm to the consumer down the line. That’s more important to us, a hell of a lot more important than how much more in profits we could make, or our bottom line.”
    â€œWith the way the economy has been for the last few years, the fact that you and your brothers have chosen to put the needs and welfare of the consumer first is admirable.”
    â€œWhen I was younger, it seemed as though we always got the scraps, meat that was days away from spoiling.”
    â€œYou and your brothers? At the foster home?” she hazarded a guess.
    He shook his head. “No, at the home, the state took care of most of our needs.” He laughed, a humorlesssound. “At least the physical ones. I meant the reservation. Even though it was a fairly large reservation, my…family, along with a few other tribe members, lived on the outskirts,” he said, and she nodded.
    Ellie knew that the reservation he’d lived on was fairly large, and that it brought in a lot of money from the popular casino the consolidated tribes owned. She’d mistakenly assumed that Shilah had lived there, as well.
    She stored away the knowledge to think about later.
    â€œMy family, as well as the other tribe members who lived in the small community with us, got donations, for the most part, mostly from the local markets. Meat that wasn’t really fit to eat.” He shrugged his wide shoulders. “But, hell, beggars can’t be choosy, can they?”
    She reached out a hand to cover his. Shilah squeezed her hand lightly before deftly removing it, and again picked up his burger.
    â€œNow my brothers and I supply all the beef for the subcommunity I grew up on. It was the least I…we could do,” he said simply.
    Ellie wanted to push for more information, wanted to find out more about this part of Shilah’s life, the life he’d had before he’d come to the ranch.
    She’d always known he’d grown up as a young boy on the reservation, yet despite the amount of time they’d spent together when they were younger, he’d rarely brought up that part of his life. It was something she never pushed for, yet had always wondered about.
    â€œYou have a lot to be proud of,” she replied softly, deciding to allow him his privacy. When his glance met hers and she saw doubt flicker in their dark depths,she reached across the table again and took his hand in hers.
    His gaze snapped to her face. “And the fact that I can call you…friend—” she stopped, swallowing down an emotion she didn’t want to feel for him, much less analyze, before continuing “—means more to me than you’ll ever know.”
    Instead of removing her hand, he brought it to his mouth, kissing