the roof.
“What you doin’ soaking wet?” His rheumy gaze settled on her shirt. “You been playin’ out in the storm?”
“No.” There was no point talking with a drunk. Karen bent to retrieve her briefcase, hoping to escape further conversation.
“You wait a minute here. I asked you a question.” Slade heaved himself out of the chair where he’d been sitting and staggered toward her before she could get away. “What were you doin’ over by the Bar C?”
“The Bar C?” Did he know, or had it just registered in his alcohol-soaked brain that she drove in from a different direction than usual?
“You know, the place those no-good Cadens have stolen from their neighbors piece by piece over the years. Don’t you play stupid with me.”
She thought fast. “I—I took that farm road because it’s raining so hard, Pop. You know that road’s kept up better than the one I usually use, even though it takes me a little out of my way.”
When Slade staggered toward the front door, mumbling about Cadens having too damn much clout to suit him, Karen let out her breath. As she watched him make his way inside and pass out in his favorite reclining rocker, she realized once again that there was absolutely no chance she could ever hope for a future with Bye.
Chapter Four
“What the fuck do you mean, you’re my father’s mistress?” Bye couldn’t hold back the words, but he wasn’t surprised. After all, he’d figured out a long time ago that Four wasn’t spending his time in Lubbock sniffing the stench of the feed lots. He looked from the middle-aged brunette to Jack Duval, who sat beside her, and on to his shocked sister and Four, who for once was speechless.
It seems my old man isn’t God incarnate after all.
The woman smiled, a predatory expression on her face as she turned to face Bye. “Your father and I have been lovers for over thirty-three years.”
That long? Had Four been screwing this woman regularly for all those years? Alarms went off in Bye’s head when he caught the implication.
“I see your mind working. You’re right, my son Jack is your half brother. It’s good that you two are friends.”
Friends? Bye had thought they were, but that had been before…
He turned to face his father, but when he noticed Four’s clenched fists and saw his face turning red, he recognized the man was anything but thrilled that his mistress had decided to spill her secrets hardly an hour after he’d finished burying his wife. “Is she telling the truth?”
Four let out a sigh. “Yes.”
Bye could hardly believe Jack Duval was Four’s biological son. The greasy, no-good, slithering snake had drunk with Bye. Fuck, Jack had even played at the Neon Lasso with him and Karen. More than once the bastard had offered Bye free legal advice over beer at The Corral in town. Jack, who was building himself quite a reputation in these parts by drafting wills and defending accused criminals, made Bye look like a slacker by comparison, living off his old man’s money. Bye didn’t like coming in second to anybody, and it pissed him off to realize he’d be trailing his half brother in a lot of people’s eyes.
Not that Duval looked much like Bye or Deidre. He was dark haired and brown eyed like his mother, while Bye and Deidre both had light hair and eyes. No one who didn’t know would guess they all had the same blood running through their veins, unless they looked hard for a resemblance. Then they just might recognize that Jack and Bye shared their father’s deep-set eyes and the stubborn set of his jaw.
Bye dragged his gaze away from Jack’s jaw that pretty much mirrored his own. He didn’t know what he could say in mixed company and he couldn’t just sit and stare, so he got up and paced the distance of the long, narrow garden room whose pale colors and restful tapestries usually calmed and soothed him. There was no respite here today. His mom’s memory hung heavy in the room she’d loved,
“What you doin’ soaking wet?” His rheumy gaze settled on her shirt. “You been playin’ out in the storm?”
“No.” There was no point talking with a drunk. Karen bent to retrieve her briefcase, hoping to escape further conversation.
“You wait a minute here. I asked you a question.” Slade heaved himself out of the chair where he’d been sitting and staggered toward her before she could get away. “What were you doin’ over by the Bar C?”
“The Bar C?” Did he know, or had it just registered in his alcohol-soaked brain that she drove in from a different direction than usual?
“You know, the place those no-good Cadens have stolen from their neighbors piece by piece over the years. Don’t you play stupid with me.”
She thought fast. “I—I took that farm road because it’s raining so hard, Pop. You know that road’s kept up better than the one I usually use, even though it takes me a little out of my way.”
When Slade staggered toward the front door, mumbling about Cadens having too damn much clout to suit him, Karen let out her breath. As she watched him make his way inside and pass out in his favorite reclining rocker, she realized once again that there was absolutely no chance she could ever hope for a future with Bye.
Chapter Four
“What the fuck do you mean, you’re my father’s mistress?” Bye couldn’t hold back the words, but he wasn’t surprised. After all, he’d figured out a long time ago that Four wasn’t spending his time in Lubbock sniffing the stench of the feed lots. He looked from the middle-aged brunette to Jack Duval, who sat beside her, and on to his shocked sister and Four, who for once was speechless.
It seems my old man isn’t God incarnate after all.
The woman smiled, a predatory expression on her face as she turned to face Bye. “Your father and I have been lovers for over thirty-three years.”
That long? Had Four been screwing this woman regularly for all those years? Alarms went off in Bye’s head when he caught the implication.
“I see your mind working. You’re right, my son Jack is your half brother. It’s good that you two are friends.”
Friends? Bye had thought they were, but that had been before…
He turned to face his father, but when he noticed Four’s clenched fists and saw his face turning red, he recognized the man was anything but thrilled that his mistress had decided to spill her secrets hardly an hour after he’d finished burying his wife. “Is she telling the truth?”
Four let out a sigh. “Yes.”
Bye could hardly believe Jack Duval was Four’s biological son. The greasy, no-good, slithering snake had drunk with Bye. Fuck, Jack had even played at the Neon Lasso with him and Karen. More than once the bastard had offered Bye free legal advice over beer at The Corral in town. Jack, who was building himself quite a reputation in these parts by drafting wills and defending accused criminals, made Bye look like a slacker by comparison, living off his old man’s money. Bye didn’t like coming in second to anybody, and it pissed him off to realize he’d be trailing his half brother in a lot of people’s eyes.
Not that Duval looked much like Bye or Deidre. He was dark haired and brown eyed like his mother, while Bye and Deidre both had light hair and eyes. No one who didn’t know would guess they all had the same blood running through their veins, unless they looked hard for a resemblance. Then they just might recognize that Jack and Bye shared their father’s deep-set eyes and the stubborn set of his jaw.
Bye dragged his gaze away from Jack’s jaw that pretty much mirrored his own. He didn’t know what he could say in mixed company and he couldn’t just sit and stare, so he got up and paced the distance of the long, narrow garden room whose pale colors and restful tapestries usually calmed and soothed him. There was no respite here today. His mom’s memory hung heavy in the room she’d loved,
Similar Books
