Married in Name Only
Page 16
He didn’t like it.
“You’re not going to say hello?” she asked.
The voice that had haunted his dreams. The woman who had haunted everything in his life. Caden felt a sharp stab of betrayal. She’d walked out on him five years ago and never looked back. Now she said hello like nothing had changed between them? Were they supposed to go have a drink? Catch up on old times? Maybe she’d ask him to babysit. Well, screw that.
Beside him, Gracie had a death grip on his arm, her fingers digging into his skin right through the fabric of his heavy brown coat. Reminding him where his loyalties lay now. Gracie had stayed. Had taken care of everything that Emma had walked away from. So he’d stand with her against the woman who had left them both.
“What’re you doing here, Emma?”
She lifted her chin, kept her gaze fixed on his and said simply, “This is my home.”
“Not for five years.”
She chewed at her bottom lip and that action tugged at something inside him, too. Heat bubbled in his gut but Caden ignored it.
“I’m back now,” Emma told him. “I’m not leaving again.”
“Is that right?” He didn’t believe her.
“It is. I’m done with Hollywood.” Her chin was still lifted in self-defense mode.
She’d had success, though he didn’t want to admit it. So what had changed her mind? What had chased her home? And why the hell did he still care after all this time?
“What changed?” he asked, before he could stop himself.
“I guess I did,” she said.
He nodded. “Right. You changed five years ago. And now you’ve changed again. When’s the next change coming?”
“There won’t be one.”
“Don’t believe her,” Gracie murmured.
“Oh, I don’t,” Caden assured her and had the satisfaction of seeing Emma’s eyes flash. Anger? Insult? Didn’t matter which. As long as she knew where he stood.
Even knowing he couldn’t trust her didn’t stop Caden from wanting her with a bone-deep desire that had never really left him. “Why don’t you go inside, Gracie? I want to talk to Emma.”
She gave him a long, speculative look, then did as he asked, skirting past her sister still standing in the doorway.
“Wow.” Emma’s gaze locked on him. “You and Gracie must be really close these days. She’s taking orders from you now?”
“It wasn’t an order,” he told her. “It was a request.”
“That she hopped to fulfill.” Tipping her head to one side, she kept her eyes on him. “What’s going on between you two?”
Caden stared right back, and folded his arms across his chest. He hadn’t missed the temper in her tone. “You don’t get to ask that question, Emma. It’s none of your business.”
“She’s my sister.”
He laughed shortly. “You’ve been gone for years, Emma. All of a sudden now, you’re sisters?”
“I didn’t leave the family, Caden,” she argued and her chin lifted a little higher. “I left Montana.”
“And me.”
She took a breath, nodded and said, “Yeah. And you. But I explained why I had to go.”
Anger whipped through him like a lightning bolt. “That makes it okay that you took off? As long as you ‘explained’?”
She took a breath, stuffed her hands into her jeans pockets and stared at him for a long moment before asking, “What is it you want from me, Caden?”
Well, now, that was the question, wasn’t it? He’d come here to have his say. To set things straight with Emma and let her know exactly where he stood. But being here, with her, was making it hard to think.
He looked her up and down, felt a stir of need and squashed it. When he held her gaze again, he leaned in and whispered, “Absolutely nothing.”
Copyright © 2019 by Maureen Child
Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to Jules Bennett for her contribution to the Texas Cattleman’s Club: Houston miniseries.
ISBN-13: 9781488046643
Married in Name Only
Copyright © 2019 by Harlequin Books S.A.
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