LITMIR.BIZ

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      “You were busy with that kid. How…many…times…do I—”

      “And how many times do I have to tell you Darcy is here for good? She’s been with me for four years and is legally my daughter. Why can’t you understand that?” Shay didn’t know why she even asked the question. Her mother was very jealous and resented the time Shay spent with Darcy.

      “Who was at the front door earlier?”

      “Just someone wanting directions,” Shay said, hoping to keep the Calhouns out of the conversation.

      “Don’t lie to me,” Blanche snapped.

      Shay resisted the urge to bite her nails. “Okay. It was Chance Hardin.”

      Her mother sat up. “From the Southern Cross?”

      “The one and only.”

      “Why didn’t you invite him in?”

      “He was here to have me arrested if I didn’t tell him why I was looking through the safe. That’s not someone I want to invite in.”

      “But don’t you see he could be our way to get my rings?”

      Our way? “Excuse me?”

      “If you fixed yourself up, you could look halfway decent.”

      “Thank you,” Shay said through clenched teeth, while straightening the bed, that was littered with glamour magazines.

      “Don’t you see a woman can make a man do anything she wants?”

      “I must have missed that class in school.” But she’d certainly learned it from her mother. Maybe that’s why Shay was still single.

      Blanche leaned back, her eyes narrowed. “You’re a pitiful excuse for a daughter and for a woman.”

      “Yes, you’ve told me that before.”

      “If I had been like you, I would never have gotten Jack. But I went after him with every trick in a woman’s arsenal and I got him…until he met that bitch again.”

      Shay held up a hand. “I’m not listening to the Jack, Renee and Blanche story again. I’ve heard it a thousand times. And for the record, I’m not ever going back to Southern Cross. The past is the past and we both have to accept that.”

      “Get out of my room, you no-good daughter!” Blanche screeched, and dissolved into a bout of coughing.

      Shay waited until she stopped, and then walked out. This type of environment wasn’t good for Darcy, but they had few options.

      What a life.

      “Shay,” her mother called, before she could make it to the kitchen. Shay sucked in a patient breath and went back.

      “What?”

      “Did you tell Mr. Hardin why you were there and who you are?”

      Oh, God, her mom never listened or let up. “Yes.”

      Blanche rubbed her hands in glee. “We should be hearing from the mighty Calhouns then.”

      “If we hear from them, it will be to have me arrested.”

      “Oh, silly, don’t you see we have them over a barrel? You’re Jack Calhoun’s daughter and we’re going to get what’s coming to us.”

      “I didn’t tell him I was Jack’s daughter. Only that you were my mother.”

      “Well, that was stupid.”

      “Don’t you understand I broke into their safe? They could have me arrested.”

      “You were so close. I don’t know why you didn’t just grab them. You’ve let me down once again.”

      Shay shook her head and walked out again before she screamed. There was no talking to Blanche in this mood. There was no talking to her in any mood. When Blanche became so verbally abusive, Nettie had suggested that Shay put her in a nursing home. But there was a bond between mothers and daughters, and no matter how bruised, battered or bent, the tie was still there. Shay couldn’t do it in the last stages of her mother’s life. That would be cruel.

      Even though Blanche had been embittered by the divorce and Jack’s rejection, she’d lived life to the fullest. In her later years that bitterness had turned to hatred—not at Jack, but Renee. Blanche held Jack on a pedestal, and Shay didn’t understand that. She didn’t understand a lot of the past, because she looked at it through her mother’s rearview mirror. Most of it had been glossed over to Blanche’s benefit.

      While at Southern Cross Shay could have told Renee several times who she was, but she hadn’t. Instead, she’d lied. Somehow she’d sensed that Renee would be hurt, and Shay couldn’t do it.

      Over the years she’d often wondered why her mother had never told Jack or Renee about her. When she’d asked, Blanche had said that if Jack knew, he’d take Shay from her. He was supposedly that powerful. He’d once taken Judd from Renee, in fact. So Shay never broached the subject again. But there was a tiny worry in her head—why hadn’t Blanche told Renee after Jack’s death?

      Soon the Calhouns would know about her. Shay was positive Chance would tell them. What would their next move be? Could Chance keep them from having her arrested? She really liked the cowboy. When he looked at her with those dark eyes, she felt as if she were floating in warm chocolate. She’d never felt such a strong sexual attraction before and it was an exhilarating feeling.

      Entice him?

      Her mother would explode if she knew Shay had tried and it hadn’t worked. Chance would protect the Calhouns to the bitter end. His loyalty was with them. Not her.

      WHEN CHANCE GOT BACK to the Southern Cross, he explained Shay’s situation to Walker. They agreed to wait for Judd’s decision. Chance didn’t tell Renee what he’d found out. He felt Judd needed to be there before he did.

      On Monday Renee went in to Austin to shop, and Chance was glad. Judd and Cait should be home soon, and he’d tell them about Shay.

      A part of him wanted to keep her secret, but the one he was already keeping was eating him up, and he wasn’t doing that any more. Not even for a woman he couldn’t stop thinking about. If she was Jack’s daughter, why hadn’t Blanche told Jack about her? A lot of the story didn’t make sense. But he knew one thing: he was caught smack-dab in the middle.

      He saddled up and headed out to check the Brahman cows that were about to calf. They kept records on each cow and calf, and had to know when a calf hit the ground. The cows looked good, knee deep in early coastal, but there were no new births. They had a tendency to all give birth around the same time. Then it was rodeo time as the cowboys branded and tagged each calf.

      Chance rode back to the barn and dismounted. “Felipe, rub Chief down for me.”

      “Yes, sir.” Felipe led the horse away.

      As Chance reached the office, Brenda Sue, Judd’s secretary, came out. “Do you know when Judd is coming back?” she asked. “I have all these messages and I don’t know what to tell people anymore. Looks like Judd could have left a date so I could tell people, but oh no, they just take off and—”

      Chance held up a hand to stop her. If he didn’t, she’d ramble on. “I don’t know when he’s coming back. Just take the messages. Okay?”

      “Okay,” she replied, and muttered “men” under her breath as she stomped off.

      Removing his hat, Chance swiped a hand through his hair. He’d rather deal with an ornery bull than Brenda Sue. He heard the sound of a car and turned to see Cait’s Escalade roll into the garage. They were home.

      Chance went into the office, but couldn’t concentrate. He wanted to give Judd and Cait time to settle in before he hit them with the news. After several minutes, he couldn’t wait any longer. He strolled toward the house.

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