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YOUR LOVE (ROMANTIC SERIES) HER SECRET 30
‘Sierra, you have told me everything about what happened, about why you married Ben, haven’t you?’‘What else do you want to know?’Matt felt her holding her breath, tensing in his arms.‘Whatever you want to tell me,’ he said, skating his fingers across her shoulder.Sierra was sure Matt must be close to guessing the truth. But she couldn’t bring herself to confess now and ruin everything. She kept feeling time was running out for them as it was.She buried her damp face in his chest. ‘No,’ she lied. ‘There’s nothing else.’Matt suspected she was holding something back. Lord, but he wanted to trust her. He told himself his funny feelings stemmed from his own inability to trust anyone.‘I’m glad we came out here,’ he said.She rolled over on her back. ‘God, I love you.’His hand grazed her bare breast. ‘I plan to spend the rest of the weekend erasing any doubts you might have as to how I feel about you. You might be begging to go home soon.’Smiling through her tears, she slipped her
YOUR LOVE (ROMANTIC SERIES) HER SECRET 31
She wished Matt were here so she’d at least have a comforting hand to hold on to. She had to tell him she didn’t blame him for confronting her father. This was her fault. She should have told him Matt was back.As the ambulance had raced away. Matt had merely told her to go ahead and be careful not to drive so fast she killed herself, assuring her he’d see about Will.Amidst all the commotion, she’d nearly forgotten about her son. She told herself he should have been her first concern. He’d come rushing downstairs at the noise, and seeing his grandfather lying there on the floor must have conjured up terrible images about Ben for him. What would she have done if Matt hadn’t been there? But then, if he hadn’t . . .No, she couldn’t blame him for this. He didn’t have to hide from her father or anyone else. Her father had over-reacted, brought this upon himself. She still stung from his calling her a whore. Matt was the only real man she’d ever slept with. The only man she’d ever slept w
YOUR LOVE (ROMANTIC SERIES) HER SECRET 32
‘I don’t want him to be mad at me. But I can’t leave Mom by herself. She’s been sad for a long time, since before Dad died. Sometimes I think she didn’t like him much. He made her cry a lot. She likes the ranch, especially since you came to help her.’Sierra tried so hard to see the best in people; she had accepted her father’s attempts at reconciliation as a gesture based on love. She needed to be warned what her father was up to, but considering his condition, this was no time to confront her with the ugly truth.‘Can he make me leave Mom?’ Will’s voice was small in the night.Matt didn’t know what to tell him. He longed to reassure the kid, yet he prided himself on being truthful. William Ross was a powerful man. From what Sam had told him, he’d driven his own wife out of the country. He could afford to hire shrewd lawyers, and Sierra was on shaky financial ground.‘I don’t know. But I know your mother would fight to keep you with her.’Will blinked rapidly. ‘I don’t want them to f
YOUR LOVE (ROMANTIC SERIES) HER SECRET 33
‘I haven’t had a chance to wrap it properly,’ she apologized, handing him the flat package wrapped in brown paper.Matt began tearing the wrapping off. The phone rang, and Sierra went to answer it.He heard the distant sound of her voice as he uncovered the oil painting, a portrait of Sam in his younger, vibrant days, the glory of Texas’s vast blue sky and open spaces in the background.Staring at it, he swallowed a thick lump in his throat. His normally steady hands were shaking.Sierra returned. ‘That was someone wanting to rent the carriage for a party tomorrow night,’ she reported brightly. As she glimpsed his solemn expression, her tone dropped. ‘Like it? The newspaper had an old photo of Sam on file and let me borrow it. It’s the first thing I’ve done in a long time, and I’m afraid it’s not my best work.’‘It’s fine. Sierra. Real fine. Thank you. I didn’t think there was anything I wanted for Christmas until I saw this. I love it. When did you start working on it? This must have
YOUR LOVE (ROMANTIC SERIES) HER SECRET 34
Damn it, he should have guessed. Sierra had been wrong, but he knew this was his fault as well. And he couldn’t blame this one on his father. He’d been too quick to believe Sierra had been trifling with him, when he’d known in his heart she loved him. Instead of uncovering the reason behind her hasty marriage to Ben, he’d nm off.He cradled his forehead in his palm. The air here smelled of the woods, and it was a scent he would always associate with Sierra’s body and the sweetness of making love to her.Shifting, he raked a hand through the soil. Here he was, thirty-two years old, and nothing belonged to him. He should have made something of himselfby now instead of drifting from town to town, never building anything or forming any ties. Sam had started out with little education and no money and built an empire by devoting himself to a place.Thirty-two years and he had nothing to show for it, except the money he’d saved. Living as he did, his expenses were minimal, so he’d had a bro
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The acrid smells of the hospital burned in Matt’s nostrils. He looked down on Sam, small and shrunken in the bed, plugged into monitors and bottles. Pain was etched in the old rancher’s weathered face despite the barrage of drugs intended to mask it.‘I knew you’d come,’ Sam said, his voice barely audible, fading out.‘You should have let them call me sooner, Sam. I wanted to be here.’‘I don’t want a lot of moanin’ and cryin’. I had a good life. Matt.’‘I don’t know where I would have been without you.’‘Thank you for bein’ a part of it. I want ya’ to know you’ve never let me down.’‘Yeah, I did, Sam. I stayed gone so long . . .’‘Don’t make no difference. You’re here now. Matt, I lied when I told ya I didn’t care what ya do with that land. You take it and make yourself a home. Show this town what you’re made of.’‘Sam, I don’t know . .‘I won’t make you promise. Wouldn’t be fair. I’ve always believed in you. Matt. Enjoyed watching you grow into a man. But I’m gonna have to give it
YOUR LOVE (ROMANTIC SERIES) HER SECRET 36
'You were never in touch with any of us. We were like little toys you played with when you were at home. I don’t think we were ever a part of your life,’ Matt said, tossing his cigarette to the ground and crushing it out with his boot heel. ‘All I ever wanted to do was be able to love you, and you gave me reason after reason not to. Well, yes, you won. I don’t love you. God knows why, but Ma did. All I can do is believe there was something good in that.’‘Things were tough when you kids were growin’ up, Matt. There’s things you can’t understand.‘No. The problem is, I always understood too much.’Lester pulled a box of cigarettes out of his shirt pocket. He flipped it open, offering one to Matt. Matt shook his head. ‘Lost my taste for ’em. Do you have a pen? I want to go ahead and sign this check over to Leeann so I can leave first thing in the morning.’ He glanced at his father’s face and saw nothing of himself in it. ‘You should be with your family tonight. If you’d asked me, I coul
YOUR LOVE (ROMANTIC SERIES) RELUCTANT WIFE 1
SYNOPSIS ‘I want you to have my baby. Give me an heir and I’ll offer Petros a deal which will save his skin!’‘You must be mad! ’ Carrie floundered for words; she was so shocked by his proposition. ‘I couldn’t marry you!’As he raised a dark, sardonic eyebrow Alexis’s low voice drifted across to her,‘I want an heir, not a wife!’But Petros had other ideas and Carrie and Alexis soon found themselves bound for a wedding neither of them wanted...CHAPTER 1A grey shadow of doubt settled unceremoniously onto Carrie’s slim shoulders. Was she doing the right thing? There zvas no other alternative. She’d gone over this with a fine-tooth comb since her return to Greece, and each time she’d come up with the same answer. Alexis Stephanides held the key; he was the only man rich enough!‘Miss O’Riordan, Mr Stephanides will see you now,’ said the pleasant dark-haired girl, in heavily accented English, as she emerged from the office with CHAIRMAN engraved on the gold plaque of the heavy mahogany
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