bash - Exclude a column when pasting two data files -

i have 1 file "dat1.txt" like:

0 5.71159e-01 1 1.92632e-01 2 -4.73603e-01

and file "dat2.txt" is:

0 5.19105e-01 1 2.29702e-01 2 -3.05675e-01

to write combine these 2 files 1 use

paste dat1.txt dat2.txt > data.txt

but not want 1st column of 2nd file in output file. how modify unix command?

paste  dat1.txt <(cut -d" " -f2- dat2.txt)

using cut remove column 1, , using process substitution use output in paste

output:

0 5.71159e-01   5.19105e-01 1 1.92632e-01   2.29702e-01 2 -4.73603e-01  -3.05675e-01

Brent