“I doubt it.” Edna was too nice, too optimistic. Wes wasn’t hurt—just frustrated that she hadn’t fallen in line with his plan. You couldn’t hurt Wes Jackson with a sledgehammer. A person had to care to be hurt.
Like her daughter cared. Just as Isabelle had feared, leaving Texas had been a misery for Caroline. The drama from earlier that day was still playing through her mind.
“But I don’t want to go,” the little girl had wailed, bottom lip jutting out in a warning sign of a meltdown approaching.
“I know you don’t,” Isabelle told her. “But it’s time we left. We have things to do at home, baby girl.”
She sniffled dramatically. “Like what?”
“School.”
“I can go to school here. Wes says so.”
Oh, thanks so much for that, Isabelle thought with a new burst of anger at the infuriating man. “You already have a school. And Edna and Marco and your uncles miss us.”
“But I will miss Wes. And Abbey! Abbey sleeps with me, Mommy. She’ll be sad if I go away.”
Isabelle sighed. “The dog is not supposed to be sleeping in your bed.”
“We sleep on my couch.”
“Perfect,” she muttered and threw the rest of Caro’s clothes into the suitcase. A cab would be there to pick them up in twenty minutes, and the charter jet was waiting on the tarmac. Sometimes, she thought, it was good to be rich. At least she didn’t have to wait for a commercial flight and chance having to deal with Wes again. “Go get your doll, sweetie.”
“I don’t want to leave Wes. And Abbey. And Tony. And Bobbi. And Sid.”
Isabelle sighed. She hated putting Caro through this. Hated even more that it was all her fault for coming to Texas in the first place. For risking so much. For wanting to believe that she and Wes could share a future as well as a past. She should have known better. But apparently, one heartbreak in a lifetime just wasn’t enough for her.
“Mommy, I don’t wanna go!” Hands were flying and Isabelle wondered how her daughter managed to shout in sign language.
“We have to go.” My God, Isabelle could actually feel her patience dissolving. She understood what Caro felt, but there was nothing she could do to ease any of it. The best thing for all of them was to leave Texas as quickly as possible. Get back to normal. So she stooped to what all parents eventually surrendered to. Bribery. “When we get home, we’ll get you the puppy you wanted, okay?”
Caro’s little hands flashed like mad as her features twisted and her eyes narrowed. “Don’t want another dog. Want Abbey.”
Things had not improved from there. Caro had cried and pleaded and begged, then at last had resorted to not speaking to her mother at all. By that point, Isabelle had been grateful for the respite. But she knew that tomorrow morning when her darling daughter woke up, there was still going to be trouble.
“God, I’m an idiot,” she muttered and sipped at the tea Edna had made for her. Not only was her daughter miserable, but Isabelle’s own heart was breaking. How could she have been so stupid to love Wes again? To hope again?
“Oh, honey, you’re in love,” Edna said with a wave of her hand. “That makes idiots of all of us.”
She lifted her gaze to the other woman. “I never should have let Caro’s heart get involved. How could I have done that to my daughter?”
“She’s his daughter, too, honey.” Sighing, Edna added, “I know you don’t want to hear it right now, but the fact is, he has a right to know her and a right for Caro to know him.”
Disgusted with herself, Isabelle muttered, “Well, if you’re going to use logic...”
Laughing now, her old friend said, “Take the tea up to your room. A couple brownies wouldn’t hurt, either. Get a good night’s sleep. There’ll be plenty of time tomorrow to worry yourself sick over all this.”
“Maybe I will,” Isabelle said and stood up. She’d go to her room, but she knew she wouldn’t be sleeping. Instead, she’d be lying awake, remembering the last time she’d seen Wes and the flicker of guilt she’d read in his eyes.
* * *
“Where the hell did it all go sideways?” he asked the empty room and then actually paused to see if the universe would provide an answer.
But there was nothing. Just his own circling thoughts and the relentless silence in the house. He’d never minded it before. Hell, he’d relished it. Having this big place all to himself—but for Bobbi—had been like an island of peace.
Now it was more like a prison.
And he paced the confines of it all night as any good prisoner should. He went from room to room, staring out windows, listening to his own footsteps on the wood floor. He let Abbey out and stood in the cold January night, tipping his head back to look at the ink-black sky with the bright pinpoints of stars glittering down at him. Then he and the dog, who was yet another female ignoring him, went back into the house and were stuck with each other.
And in the quiet, Wes remembered the meeting that morning. Remembered everyone talking about the merger and how the pictures of him and his family had saved the situation with PlayCo. Recalled that even he had talked about it.
Mostly though, he remembered the look on Belle’s face when he caught up with her in the parking garage. The hurt. The betrayal. He took a breath, looked around his empty bedroom and knew what he had to do. Dawn was just streaking the sky when he picked up the phone.
* * *
“More news out of Texas this morning,” the stock reporter on the TV said. “Renewed talks of a merger between Texas Toy Goods Inc. and PlayCo have ended. Again.” The reporter smiled, checked her notes and continued. “This time though, it’s Wes Jackson, CEO of Texas Toy Goods, who’s backing away. Mr. Jackson confirmed the news earlier today. So far, Teddy Bradford hasn’t been available for a comment.”
Isabelle stared at the television as if she couldn’t believe what she’d just heard. “Why would he do that? Why would he call off the merger?”
Chance stood in the middle of the room and shrugged. “Maybe he finally realized there are other things more important.”
She looked at her oldest brother and wondered. About this time yesterday, she’d walked into Wes’s office for a surprise picnic only to have the world fall out from beneath her feet. Now, it felt like it was happening all over again. What was she supposed to think? Why did he stop a merger that he’d been so determined to pull off? Did he expect her to see that report and come running back to him? Oh, God, what did it say about her that she wanted to?
The doorbell rang, and since Chance was up already, he said, “I’ll get it. You stay here.”
Her brothers had circled the wagons as soon as she came home. While Chance kept her company, Eli and Tyler were with Caro in the kitchen while she had lunch. It was good to have family. Especially when everything seemed to be going so wrong.
“Okay, thanks,” she said, curling up on the couch to watch the financial reports, hoping for more of a clue as to what Wes was up to.
When she heard the argument from the front hallway, though, Isabelle jolted to her feet, one hand slapped to her chest, as though she could soothe her suddenly galloping heart. Two voices, raised.
“What’re you doing here?” Chance demanded.
“I’m here to see Belle. And my daughter.”
Wes’s voice. Hard. Implacable. Her heart jumped again, and the pit of her stomach came alive with what felt like thousands of butterflies. She couldn’t believe he was here. He’d come to her. Why? Isabelle turned to the doorway and stood completely still. Waiting.
“Get out of my way, Chance,” Wes grumbled.
“I warned you once what would happen to you if you made either my sister or my niece cry.”
“Don’t try to stop me.”
“You don’t deserve them, you know.”
“You�
�re probably right,” Wes said. “But they’re my family and no one can keep me from them.”
For a moment, Isabelle held her breath, shocked to the bone by what Wes had said.
“Don’t blow this again,” Chance warned.
A moment or two later, Wes was there, staring at her, and what she saw in his eyes stunned her. He’d always been so locked down. So emotionally distant that he was practically unreadable. But today, everything she’d ever dreamed of seeing was there, in his beautiful sea-green eyes.
Drawn by the loud argument, Eli and Tyler marched into the room, too, and Isabelle’s three brothers formed a half circle behind Wes. Supportive? Threatening? She couldn’t be sure, and at the moment, she didn’t care. All she could see was Wes and all she felt was a rising sense of hope that fluttered to life in the center of her chest.
Wes didn’t care about her brothers, either. He’d known before he arrived that he’d have to force his way past the Graystone wall of protection, and he’d been prepared for it. The brothers had given him a welcome as icy as the Colorado weather, but it didn’t matter. He’d been willing to face anything to reach Isabelle.
Looking at her now, his heart thrummed in his chest and he took his first easy breath since the night before, when he’d found her gone and the world as he’d known it had ended. He crossed the room to her in a few long strides and stopped when he was within touching distance. God, he wanted to reach out to her, but there were things he had to say first. Things she needed to hear. Ignoring her brothers, he focused on the only woman he’d ever loved and started talking.
“I was wrong.”
She blinked at him, and he read the surprise on her face.
Smiling sadly, he went on in a rush. “I know. I don’t say that often. But I was stupid. Shortsighted. Stubborn. I never should have let you leave me five years ago. And I can’t let you go now.”
“Wes—”
“No,” he said, quickly interrupting her. “Let me say this, Belle. Say what’s needed saying for way too long.”
She nodded, and he felt a wild flicker of optimism in his chest. He couldn’t stop looking at her. Her beautiful eyes were wide with a mixture of disbelief and expectation. Her blond hair fell loose to her shoulders and the blue sweater she wore over jeans made her eyes look deeper, as if they held every secret in the universe.
Shaking his head, he began, “See, when my mother died, my father lived the rest of his life in misery. He never recovered, because he’d loved her too much.” He reached out, laid both hands on her shoulders and smiled because he was there, with her again. This was the most important speech he’d ever make and he hoped to hell he’d find the right words. “I promised myself I’d never let a woman mean that much to me. It was a kid’s reaction. A kid’s vow—and it guided me most of my life. Yesterday though, I realized that I had never looked beyond my Dad’s pain. But now I see that the happiness my father had before he lost my mom was worth the risk. Worth everything.”
God, it sounded pitiful, even to him. He’d lived his life in fear. Love had had him running for years. And he’d never realized that by evading it, he’d been missing out on the best part of life. Well, no more.
“I love you, Isabelle,” he said. “I loved you five years ago. I love you now. I will always love you.”
She took a breath and swayed slightly in place, lifting one hand to her mouth. Absently, Wes heard her brothers leave the room, and he was grateful. He wanted privacy for this. For the most important moment of his life.
“I want to believe,” she said, and he could see the truth of that in her eyes. “But how can I risk Caro’s heart? She was devastated when we left yesterday. She cried herself to sleep last night.”
He closed his eyes briefly and silently cursed. If he hadn’t been so stupid, he never would have hurt his child. Hurt the woman he loved. Created such a damn mess out of everything.
“It tears at me to hear that,” he said. “But you can trust me, Belle.” He looked into her eyes and willed her to see the truth. “You’ll never be rid of me again. Even if you tell me to go away today, I’ll just come back. I’ll keep trying for however long it takes to convince you that you’re all I want. All I need.”
She bit her bottom lip, and tears welled in her eyes. Feeling hope lift like a helium balloon in his chest, Wes kept talking. “I called off the merger.”
“I know. I saw it on the news. I couldn’t believe it.”
“Yes, you can. I put Teddy off. None of that matters to me anymore. The only merger I’m interested in is the one between us. Marry me, Belle. You and Caroline come home with me. Build a future and a family with me.”
“Oh, Wes...”
He smiled now, because he could see that she believed. That she was going to say yes. “You can design toys for the company, and together, we’ll make sure Caro’s Toybox is big enough that every child around the world has a toy to play with and a stuffed animal to cuddle.”
A short, choked laugh shot from her throat.
Now that he was on a roll, he just kept building on the future he could see so clearly. “I want more kids, Belle. Brothers, sisters for Caroline. I want us to build a family so strong, not even your hardheaded brothers could tear it down.”
She laughed again, louder this time, and reached up to cup his face between her palms. He closed his eyes briefly and released the last of his worries. The heat of her touch sank into him, reaching down into the darkest, loneliest corners of his heart, and left him breathless.
“It’s not my brothers you have to worry about, Wes,” she said, with a slow shake of her head. “It’s me. Because once I say yes, I’m never letting you go.”
Wes grinned. “That is the best news I’ve ever heard. So are you saying yes?”
“How could I not? I love you, Wes. I always have. So yes, I’ll marry you and have babies with you and build a future filled with family.”
“Thank God,” he whispered, then reached into his pocket. Showing her the small blue velvet box, he opened it to reveal a square-cut emerald surrounded by diamonds.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered.
He slid it onto her finger. “Now it’s beautiful.”
Then he kissed her, and she melted against him while Wes gave silent thanks for whatever gods had blessed him with a second chance at the love of a lifetime.
“Hey, you two,” Eli called out. “Come up for air. There’s a little girl here who wants to say hi.”
They broke apart, and Wes looked down into the shining face of his daughter. Caro was staring up at him with pleasure in her eyes and a delighted smile on her face. She wore the red plastic heart that had first started him out on the journey that had led him here to this amazing moment. Shooting a quick look at Belle, he grinned. “I can’t believe you saved that necklace.”
Her smile was soft, tender. “It was the first thing you ever gave me. And Caro loves it. She loves you too, Wes. It’s time she knows who you are.”
Nodding, Wes went down on one knee in front of his daughter. Weirdly, nerves rattled the pit of his stomach. “I missed you,” he said and signed.
“Me too,” she answered, then threw her arms around his neck.
The force of that hug freely given shook Wes to his soul. Tears burned his eyes, so he closed them, reveling in the knowledge that he would never lose Belle and his daughter again. Then he pulled back, looked into her eyes and said softly, “I’m your father, Caro, and I love you very much.”
Her eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open. She shifted her gaze to her mother and asked, “Really?”
“Really, baby,” Belle said through her tears.
The little girl looked at Wes again and gave him a bright, happy smile. Her fingers flying along with the words pouring from her, she asked, “You’re my daddy?”
“Yes,” Wes s
aid and signed.
“I wished that you were,” she said, grinning now. “And my wish came true! I love you, Wes. I mean, Daddy.”
His heart burst in a sweet blast of love and joy as Wes reached out to scoop her up and stand, still holding her close. Balancing his daughter on one arm he draped the other around Belle’s shoulders and knew he’d never been more complete.
Completely shattered still as his daughter’s simple words made him feel like the luckiest man on the face of the planet, he paid no attention to Belle’s grinning brothers, still watching. He simply handed Caroline to her mother to free his hands and then he carefully signed, “I love you, too, baby girl.”
Caroline clapped, Belle laughed and sighed all at once, and the Graystone brothers were applauding.
Wes wrapped his arms around his girls and told himself he was never letting go.
Back in Royal...
Brandee Lawless left her foreman in charge of the mare and her new foal and walked through her ranch house with a smile on her face. Though the birth had gone well, she wanted to email her vet, Scarlett McKittrick, to come give the new mother and baby a once-over.
She snatched her Stetson off, letting her long, wavy blond hair tumble free to the middle of her back. Shrugging out of her jacket as she walked toward her ranch office, Brandee grinned to herself. How could she not?
Everything was going great for her. After the tornado that had caused so much damage to the town of Royal and so many ranches—including her own—things were looking up. She’d rebuilt and now was bigger and better than ever, with plans for even more.
“Basically,” she said aloud as she walked into her office and hit the light switch, “everything’s coming up Brandee.”
She laughed a little, sat down behind her desk and booted up the computer. A couple minutes later, she had her email open and scanned her inbox. But one particular email had her frowning as she read the subject line.
ARE YOU READY TO PLAY?
Wary, because she didn’t recognize the sender—who the heck was Maverick? She opened the email and read the brief, yet somehow threatening missive.
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