by Linda Seed
“It’s a lot to deal with, I imagine. That kind of money.”
“Was it ever an issue with you and Liam?”
She turned on one side to look at him. “You mean, the fact that he’s rich and I’m not?”
“Well, yeah.”
She shrugged. “It must have occurred to him at some point to wonder about my motives. But if it did, he never mentioned it.”
He turned, too, so they were lying face to face.
“You know, I was thinking. I could move down here, and—”
“No.”
He froze in midsentence.
“No?”
“No.”
He felt a deep sense of dread like cold water running through his veins. He’d screwed up, he knew that. By trying to run away from this, from her, he’d made an enormous mistake. But when she’d brought him inside, to her bedroom, he’d thought there could be forgiveness. He’d thought she would give him a second chance. But now, she was saying no to him. No to their future together.
“Does that mean … Megan, I know I was an ass to leave. I know that hurt you. But if you’ll let me make it up to you …”
She laid one hand on his cheek and looked into his eyes. “I want you to make it up to me. But I don’t want you to move here until you do.”
“But …”
“Drew. Liam moved here from Montana when we’d barely been seeing each other for a couple of months. And look how that worked out. When you move here for me, I want it to be because we know each other—really know each other. And because we want a life together. And getting to that point takes time. I do want you—so much. But I have to know that it’s right. And I have to know that you won’t run away again.” She pressed a brief kiss to his lips. “It’s okay that you’re scared. But I don’t want you moving down here for me until you’re not scared anymore.”
A half grin tugged at his lips. “So, we date? Long-distance?”
“Why not?” She gave him a smile, the first since he’d come here tonight, and it warmed and soothed him. “You’ll come here, and I’ll go there. And we’ll give it time and just see what happens.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Might there be sex while we’re seeing what happens?”
“That might be one of the things that happens,” she agreed.
“I hope so.”
He pulled her into his arms and they lay there wrapped up in each other for a long time.
“Does this mean I have to go home?” he said.
“Oh … in a while. There’s nothing that says you can’t stay around for a bit so we can start all that dating.”
“Well, I might do that, then.”
After a while, she said, “And while you’re here, it would be a good idea to try to patch things up with Liam.”
He didn’t answer her, but he knew she was right. He needed to patch things up with all of the Delaneys.
“He’s the one who brought me here tonight, you know.”
“He did? But you said Ryan—”
“Ryan drove. But it was Liam’s idea.”
She sat up and stared at him. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“Yeah, it does.”
“How?”
Drew lay on the bed with his hands behind his head, looking up at her. “Because he loves you. A lot. Enough that when he saw you crying tonight, he just wanted to make it stop, even if that meant the two of us being together. Even if it meant letting you go.”
“Oh.” Tears glimmered in her eyes. “Oh.”
“Damn it,” Drew said.
“What?”
He shrugged. “I wanted to hate the guy, but now I really can’t.”
“Give him a chance,” she said. “You’ll like him.”
“Yeah, well, maybe.”
Eddie mewed and scratched at the inside of his carrier, which they’d brought into the bedroom to keep him safe from Megan’s various pets.
“You want to let him out?” she asked.
Drew sat up on the bed. “Yeah, he’d like that.”
“Well, if you’re going to be coming over here a lot, I guess we’d better introduce him to the gang.”
“You think your dogs will like him okay?” Drew said skeptically.
“Only one way to know.”
She opened Eddie’s carrier, then opened the bedroom door. Then they both winced as Eddie bolted under the bed with Bobby, Sunshine, and Mr. Wiggles chasing him in a cacophony of barking and hissing.
“I guess they’re going to need a little time, too,” Megan said.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Drew went to the Delaney Ranch the next day to talk to Liam. He no longer had his rental car, so he asked Megan to drive him out there and drop him off.
He reminded himself to lose the defensive attitude, regardless of how Liam might choose to greet him. Liam might have a habit of acting out in anger, but there was something underneath that, something that was actually pretty damned noble.
He found Liam out in the stables, hobbling around on his crutches and cooing to his horse. He was stroking the animal’s muzzle and softly whispering to it as though the two were sharing a particularly interesting secret.
When Drew came in, Liam looked up briefly, then turned his attention back to the horse without a word to Drew.
“Hey,” Drew said.
“What do you want?” Liam said. There was no hostility in his voice, just tired resignation.
“I wanted to apologize.”
“You did that last night.”
“Yeah.”
Liam still didn’t look at him, focusing instead on the horse’s big, dark eyes.
“I figured I should do it again,” Drew said. “For what I did to you … and for hurting Megan.”
“Yeah, whatever,” Liam said. For the first time since Drew had come into the stables, Liam turned to face him. “You hurt her again, I swear to God I’ll kick the shit out of you.”
Drew considered that. “If I hurt her again, I’ll let you.”
They faced off for a moment, and then Liam nodded. “Well, all right, then.”
With everything said that needed to be said, Drew turned to go.
“McCray,” Liam said.
Drew turned to look at him.
“Not for nothing, but you’re a goddamned hypocrite.”
“Why is that?” Drew said.
“Because you won’t forgive your mother for the same damned thing you did yourself. You both fell for the wrong person, acted on it, and got yourselves into a mess. When it’s you, everybody’s supposed to understand. But when it’s your mom? You barely talked to her all week, and when you did, you seemed pissed off. Like I said: You’re a hypocrite.”
“That’s different.”
“How?”
“Because she lied.”
Liam turned back to the horse and began stroking its forehead. “Yeah. She did,” he said. “She lied, you lied. We’re all liars at one time or another. But she’s your mother, and you only get one of those.”
Drew thought about defending himself, then didn’t see the point.
Why defend himself, when Liam was right?
He walked out of the stables and headed back toward the house.
When he got to the house, Sandra, Colin, and Julia were there. Colin and Julia were finishing boxing up their wedding gifts for shipping, and Sandra was helping, sealing up a big cardboard box with packing tape.
All of them fell quiet when Drew walked in.
“Is Mom still in town?” Drew asked Julia.
“Yeah. She is. But I didn’t think you were,” Julia said.
“I figure I ought to talk to her.”
Julia’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “You should,” she said. “Should I come with you? It might help to have a little backup.”
“Nah. I mean, thanks. But that’s all right.”
“Okay.”
And as long as he was facing his fears—his fear of a real relationship, his fear of rejection, his fear of a
true reconciliation with his mother—he figured he might as well deal with his fear of the many and awesome responsibilities of wealth.
He turned to his brother-in-law. “Colin? Are you two going to be around for a while? Because I thought we could talk about …” He cleared his throat. “I wanted help picking one of those financial advisers.”
Colin looked vaguely stunned. “Uh … yeah. Later this afternoon?”
“Good.”
He walked outside, thinking to get a little air before figuring out how he was going to get to his mother’s hotel without a car.
He was standing on the porch thinking about everything when Sandra came out and stood beside him.
“I don’t know what happened over the past twelve hours, but I’m thinking it was a lot,” she said.
Drew nodded. “Yeah. It was.” He told her what had happened with Liam—how Drew had tried to flee the country and had been dragged back to work things out with Megan.
“I figure it’s about time you faced up to things, instead of holding on to all that anger,” Sandra said, poking him in the chest with one finger.
“Me too,” he said.
“Hmph. You want a place in this family, boy, I figure you’ve got one. I know you haven’t always wanted it, but it’s yours, nonetheless.”
Impulsively, he reached out and hugged her, and she let out a little sound of surprise. Then she hugged him back.
“I was wondering if I could maybe stay here a while,” he said. “To learn about the ranch.”
“And to be close to Megan, I’m figuring?”
“Well … yeah.”
She nodded crisply. “I’ll fix up a room.”
“And, Sandra?”
“Mm?”
“Is there any way I could borrow a car?”
Isabelle was in the breakfast room of her hotel when Drew got there. He knocked on the door of her room, and when he didn’t get an answer, he found her sitting at a little table with a cup of coffee and a muffin.
When she saw him, her first expression was surprise—followed by her quickly composing her features into a polite smile.
“Mind if I sit down?” he said.
“Please. The breakfast is supposed to be for registered guests, but I’m sure if we offer to pay, we can—”
“That’s okay,” he told her. “I’m not hungry. I just thought we could talk.”
“Oh.”
“Where’s Matt?”
Isabelle made a tutting sound. “He wanted to take one more walk on Moonstone Beach before we leave. He’s quite charmed with Cambria.”
Drew nodded.
Isabelle stirred her coffee carefully. “What was it you wanted to talk about?” The tension in her face told him she was steeling herself for whatever he had to say.
“I just … I thought we could spend some time together. If you and Matt are going back today, then maybe … I don’t know. I could visit you in Montana.”
Isabelle’s eyes welled up with tears. Then she reached out her hand and squeezed his.
“I’d like that.”
“Yeah. I would, too.”
“Honey?” she said, her voice quavering.
“Yeah?”
“I’ve missed you.”
And all at once, he realized he’d missed her, too. All of the time he’d spent angry, all of the time he’d spent hiding—it was all time wasted in a relationship that wouldn’t last forever. She wasn’t young anymore, and he’d already lost so much when he’d lost his fathers.
He didn’t want to lose any more.
When Liam came back to the house, his mother was waiting for him.
Colin and Julia were off at the post office to ship their things, and the front room was empty except for them.
Sandra waited for Liam to settle himself into a chair, his leg extended in front of him, his crutches set to the side. She sat down on the coffee table facing him.
“You’re a good man, Liam,” she said.
He gaped at her in surprise. “Well, hell. What’s this about?”
“You know what it’s about.” She patted his good knee with her hand.
“I guess I do,” he grumbled.
“I think you feel the most of any of my boys,” she said. “And that can’t be easy. It’s why you had such a hard time with Redmond’s death. And it’s why you’re so angry.” Her eyes grew a little pink, and her tight mouth moved as she thought about what to say. “You’ve got a good heart, Liam. You try to hide it, but sometimes it just shows anyway.”
She stood up and kissed his forehead before bustling off to the kitchen.
“Well, hell,” Liam said.
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Chapter One
Liam Delaney had a reputation as a temperamental asshole, but that didn’t mean he actually was one. For instance, he didn’t especially want to fire the poor bastard standing in front of him in the Delaney Ranch stables.
But Liam’s father was retired now, and his brother Ryan was too damned nice for his own good. So, that left Liam to do what had to be done.
“We’re gonna have to let you go, Kev.” Liam leaned his butt against the metal railing of one of the horse stalls, his arms crossed over his chest. A light rain drummed onto the roof.
Kevin, an annoyingly cocky guy in his early twenties, reacted first with surprise and then with belligerence. “Don’t give me that ‘let you go’ bullshit. What you mean is, you’re firing me.”
Liam nodded. “That’s what I mean.”
“This is crap.” Kevin’s face was turning red, and he was starting to puff up a little the way men did when they wanted to scare each other. “What the hell, man?”
“Look.” Liam pushed off from where he was leaning against the stall and let his hands fall to his sides, unconsciously preparing for a potential fight. “You’ve been here, what, six weeks? You’re not catching on the way we’d hoped you would. Don’t take it personally. This work isn’t for everybody.”
And that was God’s honest truth. Not everybody could spend a whole day from sunrise to sunset dealing with the stink of cow shit, let alone the messier parts of ranching, like delivering calves. The first time this guy had to castrate a bull, he was going to pass out like a 12-year-old girl at a dogfight. Not that Liam had ever been to a dogfight.
“You didn’t give me a chance,” Kevin said. The guy was shorter than Liam, maybe only five-foot-ten, and he had a kind of permanent pout that made Liam want to punch him. “You didn’t give me time to learn. I could—”
“You’ve had time.” Liam kept his tone mild. “I’ve been doing this long enough to know when it’s not a good fit. We’ll give you two weeks severance—that’ll help you get settled somewhere else.”
In fact, he hadn’t needed six weeks to know Kevin wasn’t going to work out—he knew the first day. The guy showed up late, left early, and was about as comfortable with a herd of cattle as Liam was performing classical ballet.
“Aw, fuck you.” Kevin took a step closer to Liam. “You and your brother think you’re so much better than everyone else. He’s a pussy, and you’re a goddamned gimp.”
Liam knew what he was supposed to do at this point, according to the rules of what it meant to be Liam Delaney. He was supposed to shove this dickhead up against the wall, his forearm crushing the asshole’s windpipe. But his heart wasn’t in it, so instead, he stood his ground and glared at the guy.
“You’d better think about it before you say anything else about me or my brother.
”
Liam was vaguely aware of someone coming into the stables, and then he heard Ryan speak. “What’s he saying about us?”
“That you’re a pussy and I'm a gimp.” Liam didn’t take his eyes off Kevin.
Ryan looked from Liam to Kevin and then back again.
“You doing okay?” Ryan asked Liam. The real question—the one left unsaid—was, Am I going to have to stop you from knocking this guy’s teeth out?
“I’m good,” Liam said. “But I think Kevin here had better leave.”
Ryan nodded. “Go on, now,” he said to Kevin.
Kevin glared at both of them, spat a big wad of saliva onto the ground between them, and walked out of the barn and into the drizzling rain.
When he was gone, Ryan clapped Liam once on the back.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.” Liam nodded.
“Huh. I’m just asking because a year ago—hell, even six months ago—you’d have had ol’ Kevin on his ass before he’d even gotten out the g sound in the word gimp.”
Liam glared at Ryan, his hands on his hips. “You give me shit if I fight, now you’re giving me shit when I don’t.”
Ryan scratched the back of his head. “Well … you just don’t seem like yourself, is all.”
Gray morning light streamed in through the stable’s big doors. The place smelled like fresh hay, dirt, and horse piss.
Instead of answering his brother directly, Liam said, “I can’t fuckin’ stand that guy.”
“Well, I don’t much like him, either, but that’s not my main concern right now,” Ryan said. He put a hand on Liam’s shoulder and gave it a quick squeeze. “You want to talk, I’m here.”
“Talk about what? I don’t need to talk.”
“All right.” Ryan nodded. “It’s just … it’s gotta be hard, man, knowing it’s really over. That she’s not coming back.”