Brenda Jackson The Westmoreland Collection: ZaneCanyonStern

by Brenda Jackson

  “Yes, but I didn’t put it on your charge card. I used my own, but thanks for the offer.” She glanced down at Beau, whose hand she was holding firmly in hers as they went up the steps to the porch. She looked back at Canyon. “Was Beau a good boy?”

  “Of course. All Westmorelands are good,” he said, grinning.

  She rolled her eyes. “So you say.”

  “So I know. And speaking of Westmorelands, there’s something I want to discuss with you,” he said, opening the door and gesturing for her to go in front of him.

  She released Beau’s hand when he tugged for her to let go. She watched him scamper off to the living room where he flipped down on his stomach to stare at the huge fish tank, which was becoming his favorite pastime. Canyon had purchased several fish to add to the tank yesterday and that had fascinated Beau even more.

  When Canyon returned from placing the bags upstairs, he found her sitting down at the dining room table. “So what do you want to talk with me about, Canyon?” she asked, wondering what his discussion would involve.

  Instead of sitting down across from her, he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and leaned back against the huge breakfast bar that separated the dining room from the kitchen.

  “It’s about Beau.”

  Her stomach knotted at the serious look in his eyes and the firm set of his jaw. “What about Beau?”

  “I want my son to have my name, Keisha.”

  She swallowed. “Your name?”

  “Yes. He’s a Westmoreland, and I want his last name to reflect that.”

  * * *

  Canyon knew he had a fight on his hands, but he was ready for the battle. He had thought about it from day one and felt justified in what he was asking. There was no reason for his son not to have his name.

  He waited and watched Keisha study the floor before looking back up at him. “All right.”

  He blinked, surprised at her response. “All right?”

  “Yes, all right.” She stood. “I’m sure Beau hasn’t had a nap yet so I’ll take him up—”

  “Whoa. Wait a minute,” he said, straightening away from the breakfast bar.

  “Yes?”

  “Why?” he asked.

  She lifted a brow. “Why what?”

  He gave her a level look. “Why are you being so charitable all of a sudden?”

  She stiffened her spine. “Did you think I wouldn’t agree to it?”

  “Yes.”

  She held his stare and then turned away for a second before turning back to find his gaze searching her face. “Well?” he asked, staring her down.

  She eased down into her chair. “I owe you an apology, Canyon.”

  More surprise flashed in his eyes. “Do you?”

  “Yes. Beau is your son and no matter how things ended between us, I should have told you about him.”

  Canyon froze. Of all the things he had expected her to say, that wasn’t it. She was right. She should have told him about Beau. “Is that the only thing you’re apologizing for?”

  He watched her lift her chin. She fully understood what he was asking. Was she also apologizing for believing he had betrayed her?

  “Yes, that’s the only thing I’m apologizing for.”

  He stared at her for a long moment. In other words, she still believed him to be a cheating bastard. One day she would realize just how wrong she was about him. When that day came, what would she do? Would she think any words of apology could erase what she had put him through? Had put them both through?

  Holding in the anger he was feeling, he said, “I’ll contact a man who handles all the Westmorelands’ legal affairs. He will complete the paperwork for the change.”

  “That’s fine.”

  He bit back the words to tell her that she was wrong. It wasn’t fine. At that moment, he wasn’t sure if things between them could ever be fine again.

  * * *

  “Honest, Mom. Beau and I are okay,” Keisha said, talking into her cell phone. She and her mother made a point of talking every Sunday afternoon and Keisha knew she should tell Lynn what was going on.

  “And the police have no idea who’s responsible?” Lynn asked.

  “Not yet, but they’re on top of this.”

  “So you and Beau are living at a hotel?”

  Keisha nibbled on her bottom lip. “No, we aren’t at a hotel.”

  “Then where are you?”

  Releasing a deep sigh, Keisha spent the next fifteen minutes telling her mother everything, including her recent apology to Canyon for not telling him about Beau.

  When she finished, Lynn didn’t say anything for a long moment. “I’m glad everything’s out now, Keisha. I never felt you should keep Beau a secret from his father.”

  “I know, Mom, but during that time the pain was more than I could bear.”

  “I know, baby, but he had that right. Even I knew better than to do that to your father.”

  “Yes, but what good did it do?” Keisha asked curtly. “How could he have believed I wasn’t his?” It was something she had wondered about, but had never asked.

  “Because I was supposed to be on birth control, and he didn’t want to believe it hadn’t worked. And, unfortunately, at the time a woman had accused his older brother of the same thing and they’d found out she was lying.”

  “But he loved you, so he should have believed you,” Keisha said fiercely.

  “Um, that’s easy for you to say. You loved Canyon, yet you didn’t believe him when he denied sleeping with that woman.”

  Her mother’s words were a blow that Keisha felt in her belly, nearly knocking the wind out of her. “My situation was different,” she defended softly, while her insides struggled for normalcy.

  “Was it?”

  “Yes.” Keisha glanced out the kitchen window, again wondering if she’d done the right thing by staying here and not at a hotel. It was getting dark, but Canyon was still outside. She could see him working in his yard. Earlier, he had washed down the barn with a hose and before that he had washed his car. He was working off his anger. She understood and accepted his actions.

  “I don’t see how. You never saw them in bed together and only went with what that woman said. Getting back to your father, when he saw you for the first time, he knew you were his.”

  “Yes, but I was fifteen by then.” She had gone over this with her mother plenty of times. Granted, her mother had moved away from Texas, which had made it impossible for her father to see her, but as far as she was concerned the timing and the distance had been his fault. All he’d had to do that day when they’d run into him and his brother in a restaurant was to look at her to know how wrong he’d been. He had spent the past fourteen years since that day trying to undo that wrong. But she’d refused to meet him halfway. A part of her couldn’t let go of how he’d rejected her before she’d been born.

  Needing to change the subject, she asked her mother how things were going at the hospital where she’d worked for more than twenty years. Keisha then inquired about the ladies who’d worked with her for years and whom Keisha considered honorary aunties. The same women who’d been there to give their support during Lynn’s breast cancer scare. She knew her mother wanted to return to their discussion of both Canyon and her father, but Lynn knew when to back off. After all, Keisha was her mother’s daughter, and although the mother might have mellowed over the years, her daughter had not.

  When Keisha heard the kitchen door open and close she didn’t have to turn around to know Canyon had come inside. “Okay, Mom, we’ll talk again later. It’s time for me to put Beau to bed.”

  “All right, sweetheart. Tell Beau that Gramma loves him. And say hello to Canyon for me.”

  Keisha nodded. “I will.”

  Keisha clicked o
ff her phone and slowly swiveled around. Canyon was leaning against the refrigerator with his hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans, staring at her. A rush of awareness swept through her. It sizzled her insides and sent a gush of blood through her veins. “That was Mom. She told me to tell you hello.”

  He nodded and said nothing.

  “Beau wanted to wait until you came in to eat.”

  Canyon glanced around. “Where is he?”

  “Sitting at the dining room table listening to his books.” Canyon had bought Beau a stack of audio storybooks with colorful pictures, which he was enjoying. “I’ll let him know you’re here so he can eat and get into bed at a reasonable time.”

  She made a move to walk past Canyon and he snagged her arm. When she glanced up at him, he moved to stand directly in front of her.

  “I accept your apology.”

  Ten

  Keisha was still mulling over Canyon’s words hours later, even after she’d taken a shower and gotten into bed. Why did his acceptance of her apology make her feel worse instead of better? And why did her mother have to bring up her father?

  A mental image of the man who’d fathered her flashed through Keisha’s mind. The physical resemblance was there for even a half-blind man to see. She had her father’s eyes, nose, lips and forehead. He’d seen it that day, and she had seen it for herself. That day he had discovered just what a fool he’d been to think her mother had betrayed him. The sad thing was that it had taken him fifteen years to realize the truth.

  Since then, he’d made several attempts to reach out to her, but she didn’t want anything to do with him. She’d even gotten upset when she’d found out her mother had given in and let him back into her life. Her mother didn’t think Keisha knew, but she did.

  Easing out of bed, Keisha decided to go downstairs and grab her ereader off the coffee table where she’d left it earlier. It was past midnight, so she would read a novel until she got sleepy. She didn’t have any court cases this week, which was good, and she had spoken to Mr. Whitock. After explaining the situation, he had agreed that she should take the week off.

  Sliding into her robe, she checked on Beau one last time before leaving the room to go downstairs.

  * * *

  Canyon stood at his bedroom window, staring up at the sky. He resented the seesaw of emotions coursing through him. One minute he was filled with so much anger about all Keisha had done, and then the next minute he was overcome by a need for her that could erupt into desire with very little effort.

  And that kiss last night hadn’t helped matters. It had only proved that the physical chemistry between them was stronger than ever. His need had flared up so swiftly he could have taken her then and there. That was why he had ended the kiss the way he had. His desire for her had been so sharp it had cut into everything, including his common sense. She could ignite desire in him without even trying.

  Like earlier that day, when he’d come in from outside and she’d been talking on the phone to her mother. He had stood leaning against the refrigerator, feeling tightness in his loins. A warm rush of heat had flowed through him. She looked damn good in her jeans, which emphasized her lush curves and shapely backside. He could have ogled her for hours. And when she’d turned around he’d been captured by her incredibly beautiful face. His senses had been reduced to mush.

  And then he had accepted her apology. While he was working off his anger outside, he had remembered how he and his brothers used to fuss and fight and how his mother would make them apologize to each other. His mother always told them not to apologize or accept an apology if they didn’t really mean it.

  Canyon rubbed a hand down his face. He had accepted Keisha’s apology because he believed she’d been sincere in making it and regretted keeping Beau from him. To continue to feel bitterness and anger toward her wasn’t healthy, not for him and not for his son. And very quickly Beau had become the most important person in his life.

  As far as the issue of Keisha still believing that he was a cheating bastard, that was something that would not keep him up at night. She could think whatever she wanted, he didn’t care anymore. As long as she didn’t keep him from his son then he could deal with anything else. Besides, he no longer loved her. But he did want her. Lusty thoughts were keeping him up, making it hard to sleep. He’d already told Dillon he was taking tomorrow off. He had spoken with Roy McDonald, who had agreed to meet with him and Keisha at noon tomorrow to complete the paperwork to change Beau’s last name.

  When he’d mentioned the appointment to Keisha earlier tonight she’d said she would need Beau’s birth certificate, which was at her home. So he would take her there in the morning to get it. He’d gotten the okay from Pete earlier yesterday that all prints had been lifted and it was okay for Keisha to bring order to her home. Canyon had already made arrangements to take care of that, as well.

  He stretched his body, deciding to go downstairs and walk outside for a while. Seeing the sky from his bedroom window was nice, but on a night like this he preferred being beneath it.

  * * *

  Keisha made it across the living room before she collided with a hard muscled body. A spark of desire flashed through her the moment they touched. When she reached out to grab Canyon, to stop herself from falling, she touched his bare chest and heard his quick intake of breath. His arms went around her waist to steady her.

  “Oh, sorry, Canyon. I didn’t know you were still up.”

  “I wasn’t. I couldn’t sleep and thought I would take a stroll outside,” he said in a deep, husky voice.

  “Oh. And I came downstairs to grab my ereader off the table where I left it earlier.”

  “Couldn’t sleep again?” he asked.

  “No, I couldn’t sleep again.” Why were they still standing here with her hands on his chest and his hands around her waist? And why was his heart beating so fast beneath her palms and why was hers beating just as rapidly? And why were so many too-lusty thoughts flowing through her brain, causing heat to stir and making every cell in her body throb as she inhaled his manly scent?

  “You want to go with me outside?” he whispered.

  She swallowed. She couldn’t. She shouldn’t. But in an instant, she knew that she would. Dropping her hands from his chest, she said, “Okay.”

  He let go of her waist and entwined his hand with hers. “Come on.” He led her across the room and out the door.

  * * *

  The moment they stepped onto the porch Canyon stopped to breathe in the warm August night air. He then glanced up at the sky and a sense of calm flowed through him. Something else flowed through him, as well. An affirmation of the thoughts he’d had earlier this evening.

  “This sky still holds special meaning to you, doesn’t it?”

  He glanced over at her. “You remember?”

  She chuckled softly. “How could I not. Because of you, I’ve grown fond of the sky, as well. I haven’t gone so far as to buy a telescope or anything like that, but I find myself staring up at it a lot.”

  “Still certain you’ll see the man in the moon?”

  She snickered. “Yes.”

  One night he had brought her up here and she’d been convinced that if she kept looking hard enough then she would see the man in the moon. It had all been in jest, the kind of fun they’d enjoyed together. They’d shared all their secrets...even the silly ones. Later they had made love in the backseat of his car. “Let’s sit down on the steps.”

  Other than the sound of crickets chirping, the night was quiet. There was a gentle breeze coming off the mountains, twirling around the canyons and valleys. He had a feeling it would rain later in the week. He could deal with any kind of weather, other than a heavy snowstorm. All Westmorelands detested snow, except for Riley. His brother actually looked forward to blizzards.

  Canyon glanced over
at Keisha. He hadn’t allowed himself to think that one day she would return to Denver and sit beside him under his sky again. Underneath Flash. But she was here. Now if she could only get beyond the hurt and anger she felt were justified.

  She was leaning back on her arms and staring up at the sky. What she was thinking? How she was feeling? There had been so much animosity between them, but he hoped they could continue to find common ground without hostility and bitterness, for their son’s sake.

  “What are you thinking?” he decided to ask her.

  When she glanced over at him he saw a semblance of regret in her eyes. “I was thinking of how things could have been.”

  If you hadn’t screwed up, he figured she didn’t add. He was fully aware that she still placed the blame for their three-year separation at his feet, but it wasn’t justified. However, he refused to think about that tonight. “Sometimes it’s best not to go back, Keisha. The best plan of action is to let go and move on.”

  “Is it?”

  He gave her a tight smile. “I think so. It’s a matter of forgiveness on all accounts...especially if it’s a past you can’t change.”

  She arched her brow, but didn’t say anything as she stared at him. He knew how that analytical mind of hers worked. She assumed he was hinting that she should forgive him...but that was far from the truth. As far as he was concerned he hadn’t done anything that needed to be forgiven. And to give himself credit, unlike Zane who hadn’t tried getting Channing back when she left town, Canyon had done everything he’d known how to do to get Keisha back.

  He figured she had run home to her mother in Texas, and he had tried calling but she’d changed her cell phone number. He’d even gone to see Bonita and pleaded with her to contact Keisha and tell her the truth but she’d refused. Bonita wouldn’t even tell him why she had blatantly lied about the entire situation. And when he had sought out Bonita’s ex, to see if Grant could shed light on why Bonita had done what she’d done, he’d only learned that Grant had moved away.

  Finally, bitterness and resentment had settled in and he’d decided that if Keisha assumed the worst about him so be it. He would not try to run her down and plead his innocence. If she didn’t trust him, then he was better off without her.