Chapter Fourteen
“I recognize that look,” a tall, slim, dark-haired woman with a face he imagined would be on one of those famous Renaissance paintings in a museum said, sidling next to him.
He’d been introduced when they arrived. She was the bride.
“What look is that?” He’d been standing off to the side so he wouldn’t be in the way.
Earlier, she’d been standing up on the rails of the chute taking pictures.
Everyone seemed to have a job but him, and he was surprised at the resentment humming through his blood.
He’d been robbed of this life twice—once before he was born and then again when his mother was murdered.
He’d been too young to handle the chute gate when his mother was training.
“The W-T-F look.” She smiled. Took a picture of him.
“Hey.”
“This is for family. I have standard release forms if I might use pictures, but that one and any others tonight are for Cash.”
“What for?”
“Assuming you are newly discovered family, or we are newly discovered to you, you might be Cash’s brother.”
Brother.
For some reason the word hit harder tonight than it had at the Graff. His knees nearly buckled.
“Cash was in that situation a handful of weeks ago. I was witness with him when he met the Telfords and understood the full extent of what he’d lost and what he’d found.”
He stared at her. Overwhelmed by the simple way she diagnosed the conflicted mishmash of feelings.
“I’m Madelyn, the bride”—she made jazz hands—“and I don’t think I ever expected to say those words.
Certainly not a month ago when I headed out on this odyssey with a man more potent than top-shelf whiskey, whom I was determined to both resist and redeem, but …
” She shrugged, turned, and took a selfie of them before he could protest again.
“Just in case you are a long-lost brother that Cash always dreamed of,” she said. “Get over it. Pictures and questions are my thing.”
“Thank you for the warning.”
She laughed. “More of an explanation.”
She turned back to the action at the chute.
She was easy to talk to if he felt like talking.
But he didn’t trust her. Had they sent her over, so he’d lower his guard?
He wasn’t hiding much. But holding information back was habit.
Gave any negotiator an edge. And it wasn’t like he had any intention of helping the man who claimed to be his bio dad.
Why would he?
But he wasn’t sure how the man thought he could hurt any of Telfords. Anger rose fast and fierce. He’d been curious about his dad when he’d been a kid. He’d hoped for a visit, a rescue, even a picture would have helped to know he existed.
“Look in the mirror in twenty years,” his mom had told him ruefully.
And here he was, not only looking into a mirror reflecting similar versions of the man, but on the legacy soil that had birthed ancestors for six generations, but not him.
One son had stayed. Built a family. And the other had … done nothing of note except drift, seduce, and run—from what Telford could tell.
“Is this everyone?”
“The sons and most of the wives,” Madelyn said. “And some business partners for the bull contracting. It’s a large enterprise, but …” She continued to work while he waited for more that didn’t come.
“And you all live on the ranch at the main house I drove by?”
“That would be a squash and a squeeze.” She laughed.
“The ranch used to be a lot bigger. Taryn’s grandfather got into some trouble and sold off some land, and his father struggled more and sold off more pieces.
He came home after his father passed, brought a wife, and he cobbled together a successful living and has purchased some parcels back, but not all.
Rohan bought some lost land, and he and Ginny are building a house there.
She has a house in town. Both Witt and Boone have acreage adjacent where they’ve built homes. ”
She looked at him over a shoulder, and her quicksilver smile made her look, for a moment, strikingly beautiful instead of interesting.
“Who would have pictured me as Telford family spokesperson a month ago?”
“My DNA test will take at least a few days.”
She continued to shoot pictures including a selfie of her, the men around the chute and then higher up, she included Ayana and the other women who’d joined them and had settled in to watch the first runs for the new bulls and broncs tonight.
“Except you feel it,” she said looking back at him.
Excitement lit his blood, though he wanted to deny it. The smells of the barn, the arena, the animals, and the dirt, leather, sawdust were familiar—like an echo.
“Yeah. You feel it.”
“Cash is the only other … maybe?” he asked when he could talk again.
“He’s confirmed. He had the last name as his middle name. So your moms both gave you a starting point to look if you wanted.”
God.
Why that thought when he’d never been spiritual or religious. Life was what he fought for.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Madelyn said. “Cash is, too, but he’s dealing with it in the way he deals—working, letting time sift through so he can find the answers.”
She was perceptive. By her explanation, she and Cash hadn’t been together more than a month, and yet they were marrying soon.
Why? So he’d have a mother for the baby he’d seen the viral video of?
He looked at the man who just might be a brother and didn’t know what he felt—too many things to describe.
They were so different. Cash was all cowboy—all he’d ever dreamed of being at one point.
He’d loved riding—first up with his mom, and then a pony and then a bigger horse.
And then his life, his dreams, his family had been stolen.
“You can go closer,” Madelyn said.
“I’d be in the way.”
“Maybe you’d be where you belong,” she said cryptically.
*
Telford looked like he smelled something bad.
Well, he did literally. They were in a barn or an arena.
And even though it was clean, it still was primarily for animals.
The buckin’ bulls had been something. Weirdly cute but scary and impressive—the power.
And the bucks and twists all seemed to have names.
She’d need to learn the vocabulary and rhythm of the life and the people in it, if Telford was going to stay.
Unless he doesn’t need me anymore.
She swallowed down the pain that thought brought.
She’d known this was temporary. And if he’d paid her a staggering amount for two weeks of work, she could hardly complain.
But her time with Telford had become more than a job.
She wanted him. His strength, smarts, and vulnerability sucked her in.
And she who had avoided connections with people, first due to fear and betrayal, now craved this glimmer of a possibility—family, belonging, building a home.
She looked over at Telford, who returned with a glass of red wine and a slice of veggie pizza—peppers, olives, and artichoke hearts. He’d even brought napkins.
He was so dang solicitous. She wasn’t used to being served or consulted. But she was getting used to it.
He was a lovely person even after the adversity of his childhood, a survivor like she was. Maybe that was why they clicked. But if he knew the truth …
Her instinct was always to shut down. Her past didn’t define her. She didn’t let it. But she was deceiving herself on that. Maybe if she told Telford what she was running from, she’d be able to stand still if she wanted.
But discussing the Family made her skin crawl.
“Whatever you’re thinking, stop,” he said lightly. “I’m the antisocial one, but even I know that during a pizza dinner with family, friends, and staff you are supposed to have nothing heavier on your mind than toppings, the weather, and what bull shows the most promise.”
“I was more focused on the cowboys,” she said lightly, and smiled when he paused before taking a sip of his beer. “That’s what the women were rating. Not the bulls or broncs.”
“They are married,” he protested, his expression a little shocked. “Mothers.”
“Good to know checking out the opposite sex eye candy is not high on your to-do list.”
“Of course not.” He looked affronted. “I indicated that throughout our contract I would not seek other women whether we”—he looked around then back at her—“engaged in a sexual relationship or not.”
He spoke formally but didn’t seem embarrassed or prudish.
Good to know. Telford had indicated she’d need to make the first move.
And she definitely wanted to, but it was the after that concerned her.
Her emotions were already all over the place.
Sex might pull her over on one side of the equation—his side.
And then what? He was building a legacy for another man.
Cam’s ashes still sat on a box on a shelf in their room.
And he had a family. She had him for an agreed-upon time.
Could they renegotiate? Would she want to? Could she keep messy feelings locked down?
Sneaking a look at him as he took a bite of pizza and placed it neatly back on his plate and dabbed at nonexistent residual sauce on his lip, she definitely wanted to kick his bedroom door wide open.
She had a vibe that when he loosened his leash, he’d be powerfully primal.
Making a man like Telford lose control for a night or longer was a challenge that heated her blood.
She wanted to lose herself in him, become something different.
But she was no experienced siren. And she’d never had a relationship so the next day and beyond that could pose a problem.
Or a possibility.
Ayana inwardly sighed. Feelings were already part of the equation.
*
It was strange feeling comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time. Telford tried to be analytical about it.
Ayana stood close to him, her body brushing against his like they belonged. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten pizza by the slice on a paper plate while standing around with a local microbrew in his hand.
“Thanks for coming.” Cash approached him, Madelyn by his side. “What’d you think?”