by Lisa Jackson
At the mention of Jarrod Smith’s name, Patty’s expression changed. She avoided Mason’s eyes. “You know your old friend. He could find a black cat in a dark room on a moonless night.”
“I’m surprised he didn’t come back with you.”
Patty lifted a shoulder. “I didn’t invite him,” she said and reached into her bag for a pack of gum. She made a big show of unwrapping a stick before plopping it into her mouth. “I think he said he’d be back in a few days, in time for his mother’s wedding. I didn’t really pay a lot of attention. He made sure I got on the flight and I took off.”
She seemed to take sudden interest in the other cars on the freeway as Mason melded his truck into the flow of traffic, then slid lower in the seat, as if she intended to get a little shut-eye. “Jarrod did tell me that you were seeing Bliss Cawthorne again,” she said.
“She’s back in town.”
“Is that good news or bad?”
Definitely good, he thought, but kept his feelings to himself. He knew Patty was just trying to distract him and, damn it, her ploy worked. Now that his sister was safe and, for the moment, out of trouble, he could concentrate on other things. Terri was coming around about Dee Dee, and that left Bliss.
Bliss.
What in the world was he going to do with her?
Ask her to marry you, that’s what. You can’t take a chance on losing her again.
His jaw slid to one side and he adjusted the air conditioner to lower the temperature in the cab. He’d struggled with his feelings for over a week. She was the one woman he’d sworn to avoid and now he couldn’t get enough of her. Making love to her was pure heaven. Holding her close at night was something he wanted to do for the rest of his life. And she’d be leaving soon. John and Brynnie’s wedding was scheduled for the end of next week. Then Bliss was planning to return to Seattle.
That thought settled on him like lead. It was time to come clean. As soon as he’d deposited Patty at her apartment, he’d have it out with old man Cawthorne.
* * *
Bliss gave Fire Cracker her head and felt the hot summer air stream through her hair as the game little mare raced over the dry stubble of the field. The sky was on fire, deep shades of magenta and gold blazing over the western hills, as the sun set in a splash of brilliance.
It was a glorious evening and Bliss felt a rush of adrenaline as Fire Cracker’s hooves thundered over the dry acres. Cattle and horses dotted the hillsides, and shadows grew long at the base of trees. How could she ever leave? In the past few weeks she’d grown to love this ranch, just as her father did. And despite all her talk to the contrary, she’d fallen in love with Mason.
Not that he loved her.
She kneed Fire Cracker and the mare leaped over a dry streambed, sailing through the air and landing with a bone-jarring thud on the other side. A field mouse scurried for cover. Birds flew and scattered.
Bliss would be returning to Seattle in a few days, as soon as her father was married and off on his honeymoon. At that thought her heart twisted. She would miss this place; miss the freedom, the quiet nights, the smell of leather and horses, her father’s grumblings and the prospect of getting to know her half-sisters. But most of all, she’d miss Mason.
“Idiot,” she muttered as the barn, stables and outbuildings came into sight.
She pulled up on the reins and caught her breath as the mare slowed to a walk at the paddock near the stables. Dirty but exhilarated, Bliss climbed down from the saddle and walked Fire Cracker into the darkened interior.
She spent the next forty-five minutes cooling the horse down, then brushing her sleek hide before offering a measure of oats and bucket of water. “You know,” she admitted, scratching the mare between her ears and avoiding being swatted by the sorrel’s tail, “I’m going to miss you, too.”
She’d considered moving down here. Lord knew, her father was doing his best to promote it. Now that he’d moved back to the ranch and was feeling better, he’d thought of every bribe imaginable to keep her in Bittersweet. Not only had he given her the horse, he’d promised her land, offered her a job, suggested her sisters needed her; but she’d been undeterred. Her job, her friends, her entire life was in Seattle.
But Mason was here. Her soul darkened a bit. She loved him. More than she ever had. And that was a problem. Once before, she’d been involved with him and the love affair had been one-sided; now, since they were older, the only difference was that they were physically intimate. Just because they’d made love was no reason to think that they had a future together.
He had his corporations, his ranches, his own life and a daughter.
“Oh, stop it,” she told herself as she finally let Fire Cracker out of her stall. Bucking and snorting, the horse romped to the middle of the corral and immediately dropped to the ground where she rolled back and forth, her legs kicking wildly in the air, a cloud of dust billowing from beneath her. “Great. All that brushing for nothing.” Bliss chuckled as she walked toward the back door of the house.
Lights were already glowing from the windows as the sky darkened and night crept over the landscape. Oscar, lying on the front porch, let out a quiet “Woof ” and thumped his tail, but Bliss barely heard him. Through the screen door she heard the sound of voices. Loud voices.
“Look, Lafferty, I don’t like the game you’re playin’ with Bliss.” John Cawthorne’s voice brooked no argument.
Bliss stopped dead in her tracks. Mason was here?
“I’m not playing any games.” Mason’s voice, clear, calm and cold.
“She’s falling for you again. Just like before.”
“This time it’s different, Cawthorne.”
Different? What was he talking about? Bliss’s heart was like a drum, pounding out a wild, erratic cadence.
“Trust me.” Mason’s voice was stern. Determined. Oh, God, how she loved him. She was about to walk inside, but held back. The air was charged and she knew, deep in her heart, that she should just walk back to the stables and forget every word that was being said. Or she should announce herself and barge into the kitchen. But still she hung back, her throat as dry as a desert wind, her heart pumping madly.
“The day I trust you is the day I give up the ghost, Lafferty. I wanted you as far away from my daughter as possible. I thought I made that clear a few years ago. Seems to me we had an agreement.”
“It’s off.”
“I paid you good money.”
Bliss bit her lip. She knew about the cash. So what was the big deal? She reached for the handle of the door.
“Just like the money you paid Terri to pretend she was pregnant?” Mason demanded.
What? Bliss’s heart stopped. Surely she’d heard wrong.
“Don’t know what you’re talkin’ about, son.”
“Sure you do, Cawthorne. Paying me to stay out of Bliss’s life wasn’t enough, was it? You bought yourself some insurance by sweetening the deal with Terri. Fortunately for you, she was only too willing to go along with the scam.”
No!
“You’re just blowin’ smoke, Lafferty.”
“Am I?” Mason snorted. “I only wish I’d been smart enough to demand the results of a pregnancy test before I married her.”
Oh, God, please, no! Bliss’s knees nearly gave out. With one hand she balanced herself against the post supporting the roof. Was she hearing correctly? Had her father actually talked Terri into lying? Paid her off? What?
“If I live to be a hundred,” Mason said, “I’ll never believe another woman.”
“Even Bliss?”
“I think we should leave her out of this.”
“She’s the reason you and I are at odds, boy.”
A few passing seconds seemed like an eternity. “Bliss wouldn’t set me up and try to trap me into marriage with a baby—even a nonexistent one like Terri did.”
Bliss’s insides were shaking.
“And besides, Terri was coached, wasn’t she? By you.”
N
o!
John clucked his tongue, then sighed audibly. “So Terri blamed me? Always knew she couldn’t be trusted.”
“I saw the records, Cawthorne. When I got suspicious I paid a kid who worked in the lab for a copy of all of Terri’s reports. When I confronted her, she told me the whole sick story.
“Of course by the time I got the news, it was too late.” Bliss heard the scrape of boots. “I was already married and guess what? By that time Terri really was pregnant.”
“And you ended up with a daughter.”
“The only bright spot in this whole sordid deal. In fact, Dee Dee was worth all of this. But now, it’s time to come clean.”
“You want me to tell Bliss.”
“I think it would be a good idea.”
“It’ll never happen, Lafferty,” her father said, but his tone was less firm than before. “Because, unless I miss my guess, Bliss will never believe you.”
Dear God. Was her father really so controlling that he would interfere in her life to the point of all this lying and deceit? Fury pumped through her blood and her fingers curled into fists of rage. To think that—
“It was Margaret’s idea.”
“What?” Bliss couldn’t stop the word and suddenly there was silence—hollow, soul-numbing silence. Steeling herself, she yanked hard on the door handle and marched, ready to do bodily harm if necessary, into the house. Oscar gave out an excited yip and followed her inside, but she ignored the dog and glared at her father. “Why are you lying?” Bliss asked her father.
“So that’s the way it was. I wondered,” Mason said. His face was set and hard, his eyes slits as he stood, his hips balanced against the kitchen counter, his arms folded over his broad chest.
The odors of day-old coffee and floor wax drifted to her nostrils. The only noise for a few long seconds was the hum of the refrigerator and the ticking of the clock.
“I didn’t know you were listening,” her father said.
“I didn’t mean to, but I think you’d better explain.”
Sighing loudly, John reached into his breast pocket for a nonexistent pack of cigarettes and avoided the accusation in Bliss’s gaze. He found a plug of tobacco in his back pocket.
“It’s the truth,” he admitted with a lift of one thin shoulder. “Margaret was undone when I let it slip that you were getting involved with one of the ranch hands. She was certain you were going to make the same mistake she did, and since she knew all about Brynnie . . . Well, she threatened to expose Brynnie as my mistress, divorce me and take me to the cleaners. In addition to all that, she was determined to make sure that you never spoke to me again.”
Trembling with rage, Bliss leaned over the table and stared at her father—so old, so tired, so forlorn. “I don’t believe a word of this.”
He blinked before looking at her again. “It’s true, Blissie, and you meant so much to me that I caved in and bribed Terri to claim she was pregnant. Then, after the accident, when you were so hurt. I worked a deal with Mason.” He wiped a hand over his brow and closed his eyes for a second.
“Oh, Dad, how could you?” Bliss suddenly felt cold to the marrow of her bones. She didn’t want to believe that either of her parents would be so manipulative.
“It was for your best interests,” her father said.
“My best interests? Didn’t I have a say in them?” Stunned and reeling, she nearly fell into one of the chairs at the table and fixed her gaze on the man who had sired her.
“You were seventeen. Didn’t know up from sideways.”
“But it was my life. Mine!” She thumped her fingers against her chest. “You had no right—”
“I saw you with Lafferty and knew it would only be a matter of time before you got yourself into big trouble, so I went along with your mother.”
“I can’t believe it.” Bliss cradled her head in her hands. All these years. All the lies. “You . . . you could have ruined so many lives. Mine. Mason’s. Terri’s.”
“No one was really hurt,” John argued.
“Untrue. We were all hurt.” She felt the sting of tears behind her eyes at the thought of her parents’ betrayal. Whatever were their reasons, there was no excuse, no explanation good enough to justify their actions. “Just because I wasn’t ‘of age’ or whatever you want to call it, didn’t mean I didn’t have feelings, that I shouldn’t have some say in my life!”
Her father’s jaw was rock hard. “I did what I thought best.”
“Because you were coerced into it by Mother.”
“She loved you more than life itself, Blissie. You know that.” He blinked, as if the thought of his wife and how he’d treated her brought tears to his eyes. “We were the best parents we knew how to be.”
“I can’t believe this,” she whispered.
“Believe it.” Mason’s voice was hard and the wrath in his gold eyes reflected his years of pain. “We were both deceived, Bliss.”
“And what about you?” she demanded, hurting and raw, as she stared at Mason. “Taking money from Dad, staying away from me and never looking back.” Mason, too, had used her.
“I’m sorry,” Mason said. “I should have come to you in the hospital and explained—”
“Explain what? That twenty-five thousand dollars meant more to you than I did? That . . . that you were willing to marry another woman rather than face me again? I never thought I’d say this,” she whispered, anger burning through her, “but you’re a coward, Mason Lafferty, and I thought I loved you. For years I believed . . .” Hot tears stung against her eyelids. “I—I mean—Oh, just forget it.” She couldn’t stand to remain another second in the house, turned and hurried out the door.
“Bliss, wait!” Mason yelled. “Oh, before I forget why I came here, Cawthorne, this is yours.” There was a slap of paper on a hard surface. “The deed to this place, signed back to Brynnie. Now it’s official. I don’t want your spread anymore, Cawthorne. I don’t want anything of yours.”
“Includin’ my daughter?”
Bliss didn’t wait for Mason’s answer. She ran down the steps, across the yard to the paddock where Fire Cracker was grazing. Run. Get away now. You’ve already lost your heart to Mason, but you can’t let him know. Tears streamed from her eyes. Dear God, she’d fallen in love with him all over again. The one man she didn’t dare trust with her heart seemed to have it in a crushing grip that she couldn’t pry open. How many nights had she dreamed of lying naked in his arms, oblivious to anything but the feel of his breath against her bare skin? How many hours had she spent thinking of him, wondering if there was any way they could have a future together?
“Wait a second!” Mason’s voice and the sound of his boots crunching on gravel caught up with her.
She headed straight for the mare. Hearing the commotion, the horse snorted and pricked her ears forward. Overhead, swallows disturbed from their nests, dipped and fluttered near the eaves of the stables.
“I said, ‘Wait,’” Mason nearly yelled as he caught up with her.
She whirled and almost ran into him in the darkness. “Why?”
“Because we should talk this out.”
“We could have. When you found out the truth—which, it sounds like, was years ago. But no, you kept it a secret. Were you ever going to tell me?” she demanded, angling her furious face upward and feeling heat pulsing in her cheeks. Curse the man! He was just too damned sexy with his thin lips, thick-lashed eyes and taut, tanned skin over high, angry cheekbones. Just staring into his lying eyes caused a rolling, needy sensation deep inside her. A sensation she suddenly hated.
“If and when I thought it was necessary.”
“If you thought it was necessary. What about me? This was my life, too, you know.” Brushing the condemning tears from her cheeks, she added. “I don’t need any man—not my father and certainly not you—trying to protect me or keep secrets from me, or do whatever it is you thought you were doing. Okay?”
“I did what I thought was best.”
&n
bsp; “Yeah. Just like Dad. Next time, ask me. Better yet, don’t. There won’t be a next time.”
She strode into the stables and grabbed a bridle. Mason followed and took hold of her arm. “Slow down, Bliss. We need to talk.”
She whistled to the mare—the way she’d learned from Mason so many years before.
“You should have thought of that before,” she said as the mare clomped up to her. Deftly, she snapped the bridle over Fire Cracker’s lowered head. “Goodbye, Mason,” she said, untying Fire Cracker’s reins.
“Maybe you should listen to my side of the story.”
“And maybe you should go straight to hell,” She swung onto the mare’s dusty back.
His eyes were dark with old, hidden demons. “I’ve already been there and back.” He stepped forward as she jerked on the reins and dug her heels into the mare’s sides. “Bliss—”
“Hi-ya!”
Fire Cracker took off in a thunder of hooves and over the noise Bliss thought she heard Mason call after her. “Damn it, woman, I love you.” The words toyed with her mind, but she shoved them aside and told herself she hadn’t heard anything but the voice of the wind.
Mason experienced a sense of déjà vu as he watched her race away. The mare galloped through the twilight-dark fields and he felt every muscle in his body grow tense. Though it was a hot, sticky night, with only a few clouds drifting over the glittering stars, he was reminded of another time, in this very spot, when heavy raindrops had veiled his vision and Bliss had ridden, hell-bent for leather, into the heart of a lightning storm.
This time was different.
Or was it?
A deep, frightening dread inched up his spine and though he told himself he was every kind of fool, that he didn’t believe in fate, or premonitions, or anything remotely touching predestination, he couldn’t shake the feeling.
He’d come here to give the old man his deed back, and that accomplished, he should just have left, but instead of his footsteps taking him to his truck, he half ran to the tack room, snagged a saddle, blanket and bridle and found Lucifer grazing in a nearby field. With a sharp whistle, he gained the stallion’s attention and within minutes he was astride the blue-eyed pinto, chasing after Bliss and feeling his fear mount with each of the animal’s swift strides.
