Read Online A Family Kind of Guy by Lisa Jackson - Free Book Online

fault him for that, I suppose.”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œBut rumor has it he’s trying to get back with his ex-wife. You remember her? Terri?”
    How could she ever forget? “Of course I remember.”
    â€œGood.” He looked back to the pages again.
    Why it should bother her that Mason was seeing Terri, she didn’t understand, but the old wounds in her heart seemed to reopen all over again. Straightening a hurricane lantern sitting on the mantel, she said, “Okay, so what was this business about a deal between you two? As far as I knew, you didn’t want anything to do with him.”
    â€œStill don’t.” Her father hesitated a fraction. “I had to do something to get him out of town. So I paid his medical bills and gave him the old heave-ho.”
    â€œThen he left to marry Terri Fremont,” she said, feeling an odd sensation that something else in the past wasn’t what she’d thought it was. But that wasn’t much of a surprise, was it? Hadn’t her entire life been a lie?
    â€œI just gave him some extra incentive.” He cleared his throat. “It wasn’t too hard to figure out what was going on between the two of you and it worried me because I knew about the Fremont girl. So…I upped the ante a little, offered him a deal and he rose to the bait like a brook trout to a salmon fly.”
    â€œNo—”
    His lips pursed in frustration. “It was for your own good, Bliss. That’s why I did it. Remember, he already had a baby on the way.”
    Bliss rested her hands on the back of the couch. “You shouldn’t have gotten involved.”
    â€œHe needed surgery on that arm of his and his kid needed a father.”
    â€œYou’re a fine one to talk,” she sputtered. Then, seeing the pain in his eyes, she wished she could take the words back.
    â€œIs that what you think?”
    â€œYes,” she admitted, not wanting to hurt him but knowing that the lies would stop with her. “You fathered two children with women you didn’t marry.”
    â€œAnd I didn’t want to see anyone, even a snake like Lafferty, make the same mistakes I did.”
    â€œBut—”
    â€œNo buts, Blissie,” he said, signifying that the conversation, as far as he was concerned, was over. He tilted his head to ensure that his bifocals were in the right position for reading. “Now, what have we got here?”
    Bliss couldn’t believe her ears. It was as if her father would use any means possible to get his way. She’d always known he was stubborn and determined, but this side of him was new to her and she wasn’t sure she liked it very much.
    â€œYou know, for a man who swears up and down that he’s not interested in selling this place, it’s odd that you can’t put down that offer.” Bliss swatted at a cobweb that floated between the old blinds on the window and the ceiling.
    â€œJust thought I’d see what Lafferty thinks the place is worth.” With practiced eyes he skimmed the printed text and his eyebrows jammed together in concentration. “There’s somethin’ wrong here. The figures don’t add up and… What in thunder? Is he out of his mind? This—” he snapped the crisp pages “—this is only for the north half of the property. I thought he wanted the whole place.”
    â€œDidn’t you say that part of the ranch was in Brynnie’s name?”
    Every muscle in John’s body tensed. His gaze shot up to hers. “What do you mean?’
    â€œWell, if he wanted the whole ranch, he’d have to deal with her for her part.”
    â€œFor the love of—” John scowled, rubbing the edge of the documents against the stubble of his chin and as he squinted, Bliss could almost see the wheels turning in his mind. “Brynnie’s not like your mother, Bliss,” he said, though his voice lacked conviction. “She