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Tyler swung away from the placid meadow and the rolling hills.
“Damn you to hell, you son of a bitch,” he shouted, but the angry imprecation did nothing to relieve the pain and rage inside him. He pounded his fist on the glass-topped patio table but the glass was tempered and wouldn’t break. And he wanted it to break, wanted to see it break, shatter into a thousand pieces, the way his life had been shattered.
And his heart.
If only he’d never begun this damned stupid quest for closure. If only he’d accepted Adrianna’s birthday gift. If only he’d accepted his life. Most men would have been pleased with what he’d accomplished. The wealth. The power. The name people respected, and what did it matter if he’d created his name himself? He was Tyler Kincaid. The boy named John Smith was long-gone.
Except, there’d never been a John Smith. There’d been a boy born to Jonas and Juanita Baron, and the boy’s mother had died knowing his father intended to abandon him.
Tyler picked up his briefcase, walked down the patio steps and across the grass.
A couple of weeks ago, the investigator’s report would have had him cheering. He’d have had all the answers he needed, all the proof he wanted before he took his revenge on Jonas Baron.
And then he’d fallen in love with Caitlin.
What sense was there in denying the truth? He loved her, and once he did what he’d come here to do, she would hate him. He was going to destroy the stepfather she loved, make enemies of the brothers she adored and he’d never known, and strip her of the thing that was as much a part of her as her soul.
Espada.
“Jonas is willing Espada to me,” she’d told him, and when he’d looked into her eyes, he’d known she was telling him something she thought wonderful.
Tyler stood still, his arms at his sides, his head bowed.
They said a drowning man’s life flashed before his eyes but he knew now that you didn’t have to feel your lungs filling with water for that to happen. The old man was naming her the heir to Espada, she’d said, and Tyler had seen a score of images blaze to life inside his head. Himself, the night of his birthday party. The private investigator, when he’d promised to get all the facts. Jonas, boasting of how he’d tormented his first wife by telling her he’d give her child away. Caitlin, oh, Caitlin, her lovely face taut with passion as he took her virginity.
And, at the last, he’d seen the face of a woman he’d never known, a woman who’d given her life for his.
How could he abandon Juanita Baron? How could he dismiss her sacrifice and walk away? Closure? Closure didn’t matter anymore. He’d come looking for some sordid little tale about a girl who’d gotten herself knocked up but he’d found a story that might have come out of the old Greek tragedies. A despairing wife. A cruel husband. A child whose first breath was taken as his mother’s last breath left her body…
“Oh, God,” Tyler whispered, lifting his face to the sky.
If he took Espada, he would break Caitlin’s heart.
If he didn’t, he’d never be able to live with the knowledge that he’d failed the woman who’d given him life.
He turned and stared blindly back at the house, at the patio where he’d held Caitlin in his arms and made love to her.
If only he’d told her everything that morning. The truth about himself. About his past, as ugly as it was. About what he intended to do. What he had to do. Most of all, most of all, he should have told her that he loved her.
She loved him, too. He knew it. Her love for him had shone in her eyes. Her kisses had tasted of it.
All right. She loved Espada. But maybe—maybe, she loved him more.
Tyler drew a deep breath, then let it out.
He’d sat in the dark, listening to her sweet voice on his answering machine. That first message, bright and joyful. The second, less certain but still loving. And the last message, when she’d said she’d understand if he didn’t return her call…
Hell, no. She didn’t understand. How could she? And how could he simply turn his back and walk away from her?
“I love you, Cait,” he whispered.
The words seemed foreign as he spoke them. He’d never said them to another woman. Hell, he’d never said them to another human being.
She did love him. She did. He was sure of it. Okay. Okay, he thought, as he ran his hands through his hair, he wasn’t sure. How could he be, when he’d never let her say the words, never said them to her?
It wasn’t too late. But it was risky.
What if he was wrong? If she didn’t love him? If what he’d seen glowing in her face was just the joy of a woman sexually fulfilled?
Tyler swallowed hard. He’d never know, unless he asked. Unless he took the risk. Dammit, he’d spent his life risking his neck, risking his wealth and his corporations. Admitting his love for Caitlin, counting on her love for him being its equal, would be the greatest risk he’d ever taken. If he was wrong…
If he was wrong, he’d lose her. But he’d lose her anyway, if he did nothing. And if he was right and she loved him, if she’d stand by him, once she knew the truth…
Tyler jumped into his truck, put it in gear and took it to its top speed in nothing flat.
* * *
Marta flung open the door as Caitlin came up the steps.
“There you are,” she said, and put an arm around her stepdaughter’s shoulders. “We held lunch for you.”
Caitlin smiled. “You shouldn’t have bothered. Actually I’m not even hungry.”
“Actually,” a deep voice said, “you’re as skinny as a beanpole, sugar.”
Caitlin squealed with delight and launched herself into Slade Baron’s arms. “Slade,” she laughed. “Slade, what a wonderful surprise.”
“You just turn around, darlin’, if you want to feast your eyes on a really wonderful surprise.”
Caitlin spun out of Slade’s arms. “Travis?”
“You bet,” Travis Baron said, grinning as he opened his arms to his stepsister.
“Listen here, babe. You want the best surprise of all? Just take a gander at me.”
Caitlin clapped her hand to her heart. “Gage,” she said, and flung her arms around the neck of her youngest brother. “Gage, I can’t believe it!”
Jonas, standing behind his three sons, gave a gravelly laugh. “Didn’t I tell you I had somethin’ special for you, missy?”
“Yes, but I never dreamed…” Caitlin smiled, kissed Travis again, grabbed hold of Gage and Slade and led them into the library as Marta made a discreet exit. “What are you guys doing here? How’d you all manage to get away at the same time? Where are Alexandra, and Natalie, and Lara? Gage, where’s my gorgeous new niece? And Slade, where’s my beautiful nephew? Travis, isn’t Alex due any day now?”
The Barons all laughed. “That’s our Catie,” Gage said. “Always askin’ a hundred questions in the time it woul
d take most folks to ask one.”
Caitlin sat down in the middle of a leather sofa. Slade took up residence in one corner, Travis in the other. Gage pulled the straight-back chair out from behind Jonas’s desk, swung it around, straddled it and folded his arms along the top.
“Jes’ make yourselves at home,” Jonas said sarcastically.
His sons looked at each other. “Thanks,” Slade said lazily. “We already have.” He cleared his throat. “So, Catie darlin’, how’re you doin’?”
Not so good, she almost said, but caught herself in time. This unexpected visit was too wonderful to spoil and besides, her love life wasn’t her stepbrothers’ problem.
“I’m doing just fine.” Her smile took in all three of them. “And you guys?”
“Oh, fine,” Gage said.
Travis and Slade both nodded. “Fine,” they said, in unison.
“And my wonderful sisters-in-law? My nephew? My niece?” She looked at Travis. “Do we get to know the sex of yours ahead of time, or what?”
He grinned. “Alex wants to do this the old-fashioned way. She told the doctor to keep the information to himself.”
Caitlin laughed. “Good for her. Oh, I wish they’d all come with you. I wish…” She saw the three men glance at each other and the realization came, hard and fast. This wasn’t just a visit, it was a meeting. She looked at Jonas. “Jonas? Is this about—is it about—”
“Espada.” Jonas nodded as he opened a bottle of bourbon. “It sure is.”
“Oh.” Color rushed to her face. It was silly, but she suddenly felt flustered. “You told them?”
“I did.”
She looked at the faces of the men she loved as much as if they really shared the same blood, hoping to read something in their expressions, but she couldn’t.
“Guys, look, if any of you has changed his mind, if you want Espada, I’ll understand. I mean, I’ll be pleased, because you all certainly deserve the land more than I do—”
“Sugar,” Slade said gently, “we couldn’t be happier.”
She nodded. “I’m glad, because I’d never want to take anything from any of you.”
Gage reached out and took her hand. “We’re happy for you, Catie.”
