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“I’ve been living with an elderly cousin and celebrated Christmas with her two years ago. It was very quiet.” She made a sound of amusement. “Everything about her house was very quiet. Last year I spent with Jayne at her house. It’s crazy there. So much coming and going I don’t know how they kept track of everyone.”
“And before your parents died?” Brand’s low voice evaded her defenses and took her back to Christmases past.
“We always had such a good time. My parents took me to Piccadilly Circus to look at all the toys in the shops. They bought me dolls and books. They each helped me choose gifts for the other parent. I was always so excited on Christmas morning, when we ate a special breakfast of waffles sprinkled with powdered sugar and covered with clotted cream. Father passed out the gifts and we sat around enjoying them while the cook roasted a goose.”
Brand turned to look at the water gurgling under the bridge. “You were a loved and adored child.”
Something in his voice made her feel she had pushed him away. She tried to think what she’d done to make him grow distant. It was on the tip of her tongue to ask when he spoke.
“It’s getting late.” He straightened and turned to indicate they should go back. He escorted her to Jayne’s house to meet Mercy. Then he hurried away with a barely murmured goodbye.
Sybil paused before the door to the cabin. Why had he retreated so quickly? Did he think she would look down on him because of the way he’d been forced to live?
As soon as she stepped inside the house, Mercy hurried to her side. “Tell us everything.”
Seth bolted to his feet. “I think the horses must need something.” He fled outside.
Jayne laughed. “Too many females around for him. Too much romance.” She clasped her hands together, looking starry-eyed, then took Sybil’s other hand. “Do tell us.”
She allowed them to lead her to a chair. “There’s nothing to report. I merely told him a few things about my childhood.”
Mercy groaned. “Now there’s a way to make a man feel insignificant.”
“What do you mean?” Sybil had no such intention.
“You adored your father. He could do no wrong. He gave you everything you ever dreamed of. How can a homeless cowboy hope to compete with that?”
Had she made Brand feel insignificant? Perhaps she inadvertently had. Now she must find a way to fix her mistake. To make him see that it was the love of her parents that blessed her, not their gifts.
It was love she wanted. Not things. Could she make him understand that?
Chapter Sixteen
Brand took his time about returning to the bunkhouse. He needed to think. And he couldn’t do it with the other cowboys asking questions or looking as if they’d die if they didn’t ask one. Though to be honest, none had done either. For the most part they weren’t any more interested in him than he was in them.
Sybil’s words tortured his brain.
Raised with privilege and prestige. Given everything. He’d always known that, so why did it now fill him with regret? Even with his name purged of the Duggan gang guilt, he was still a nobody cowboy with nothing to offer to a gal like Sybil Bannerman.
He eased open the bunkhouse door, but it squealed like a pig. Someone ought to oil the hinges. Half a dozen heads swung toward him, then returned to what they’d been doing. He was of no interest to any of them. Just a man doing a job.
He flung himself on his bunk and turned his back to the others. He had no wish to join them in a game of cards, or sing sad songs about lonely cowboys. His own sadness throbbed in his heart. Why sing of it when he lived it?
The truth could not be denied. Sybil was out of the realm of possibility. He should leave. Move on. But her challenge to forget being a Duggan rang in his ears. He was through running from the Duggan gang. Besides, he’d given his word to Eddie, and a man was only as good as his word.
The next day he still considered his options. Perhaps he could ask Eddie to send him to the far corner of the ranch. But Eddie had already dispatched riders to bring down the cows in preparation for the soon-to-be fall roundup.
Besides, somewhere deep inside Brand a happy thought warred with the lingering idea of riding away.
