Read Online McCullen's Secret Son (The Heroes Of Horseshoe Creek Book 2) by Rita Herron - Free Book Online Page A

Brett, and that Brett didn’t seem to mind. “Maybe you do.”
    Panic tinged Doris’s voice. “Did something happen to Leo?”
    Willow shrugged. “Do you know anyone who’d want to hurt him?”
    Doris took a step toward Willow. “Where is he? What happened? Is he hurt?”
    For a millisecond, Willow almost felt sorry for the woman. Doris actually loved that lying bastard. “It’s possible.”
    Doris grabbed Willow’s arm. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    Willow extracted herself from the woman’s claws. “Just answer the question. Do you know anyone who’d want to hurt him?”
    Doris glanced at Brett as if she wanted assurance that Leo was okay, but Brett maintained a straight face.
    “Did he owe someone money?” Brett asked.
    “Maybe.” Doris’s voice cracked. “I know he got in some trouble a while back.”
    “What kind of trouble?” Brett asked.
    “Something with the law,” Doris said in a low voice. “He never told me exactly what.”
    Willow grimaced. He’d certainly never shared that information with her either.
    “And then there was his old man. The two of them didn’t get along.”
    “His father?” Willow asked, her breath catching.
    “Yeah,” Doris said as she snatched another cigarette and lit up. “I don’t know what happened between them, but there was some bad blood.”
    Willow forced herself not to react. Leo had claimed both his parents were dead.
    Was everything he’d told her a lie?
    * * *
    B RETT SCHOOLED HIS FACE into a neutral expression, although it was all he could do not to punch his fist through a wall.
    How had a man like Leo won Willow’s sweet heart?
    And why would a man cheat on Willow with Doris, when Willow was the most beautiful, tenderhearted, desirable woman in the whole damn world?
    “What was his father’s name?” he asked.
    Doris shrugged. “Hell, I don’t know. Every time I tried to ask him, he got mad. Told me it was none of my business.”
    Brett shifted. He wished she’d give him something concrete. Although this could be a lead. If Leo had been in trouble before, especially with the law, he probably had an arrest record.
    Another thought occurred to him. One of his buddies had won thousands in the rodeo circuit, but he’d lost it all in Vegas.
    “Was Leo into gambling?”
    Doris inhaled and blew smoke into the air, her gaze fixed on him. “You’re really scaring me now.”
    “Listen,” Willow said. “Leo disappeared with my savings and I need it for medical expenses for my son.”
    Brett admired the way Willow told the lie without giving herself away. He watched Doris for a reaction, anything that might tip them off that she knew where Sam was being held.
    “I have no idea where Leo is,” Doris said instead. “But if I talk to him, I’ll tell him about the kid.” Her voice grew low, almost sincere. “I hope it’s not too serious.”
    Willow gave a little shake of her head, but real tears glittered on her eyelashes.
    “Was he into gambling?” Brett asked. “It could explain the reason he stole from Willow.”
    “He gambled some, but I don’t think he was in big debt for it, if that’s what you mean.”
    “Did he leave any money with you?”
    Doris muttered a sarcastic sound. “If he left me money, do you think I’d be living in this dump or working doubles at Hoochies?”
    Good point
.
    Brett crossed his arms. “Did Leo have any friends he might have been staying with?”
    “You mean female friends?” She gave Willow a condescending look. “If he had other women, I didn’t know about it. Then again, I never thought he’d marry
you
.”
    Brett cleared his throat. “How about male friends?”
    “You mean friends who’d let him hide out with them?” Doris asked with a sarcastic grunt.
    Brett nodded.
    She stared at the burning tip of her cigarette for a long minute as if in thought. “He mentioned this guy named Gus a while back. But I don’t know where he is. I think he might have been in jail.”
    Brett’s