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Until Dallas and his brothers knew who wanted Jessie out of the picture, he would keep the full truth from Jessie, even though he hated it.
* * * *
Dallas walked through the door of the Hotel Cactus and entered its lobby.
Aunt Maude looked up and put down the phone’s receiver she was holding. “I was just about to call you.” She shook her head as if she’d just seen the Devil himself.
“What’s wrong?”
Just then, Jessie rushed down the stairs. Her makeup had run down her face. She must’ve been crying.
The moment their eyes locked, she yelled, “You! Liar!”
“That’s what’s wrong, nephew. Someone called her and told her about your family. The whole thing.”
“Who the hell would do that?”
“Don’t know. She just rang me from her room and asked me if it was true. I had to tell her. She deserved to know.”
Fuck!
“You’re an asshole, Dallas. All you Wilde brothers are assholes. Were all of you in on this? Even Austin?”
“No. He didn’t know.”
His aunt shook her head. “Let me give you two some space.”
“Please, Maude. Stay. Everyone else in Wilde seems to know what’s going on in my bed.”
“No, hon. Not everybody. If you need me, I’ll be in the back.” Maude walked through the door behind the hotel’s reception desk.
Jessie glared at him. “Go figure. The brother I’ve not slept with nor have any intention of ever sleeping with is the only honest one of the bunch.”
“He called you?”
“No. I don’t know who the man was that called me. Doesn’t matter. Austin has made it really clear how he feels about me. I’m a professional nuisance to him. That’s all. At least he’s been honest.”
“Please, you don’t understand.”
“I understand plenty. I might’ve been duped into trusting you, and when you did finally throw me over to Denver, I might’ve fallen for it. If three, why not four. But Austin is a man I would never go for. Ever.”
“You don’t know that, love.”
“Stop calling me that.”
“All right. Whatever you say. Let’s go to your room and talk about it.”
“Alaska. That mean anything to you, cowboy? Let me say it again in case you didn’t hear. Alaska.”
He hated that she was using her safe word against him like a weapon. “It doesn’t quite work that way, Jessie.”
“It does now. You didn’t protect my heart, cowboy. You broke it.”
Knowing his deception had crushed her flat felt like being thrown down an elevator shaft. She just had to give him a chance to fix everything. “Jessie, there’s more to this than you know.”
“I know plenty. Besides, you’re good at holding important facts back from me. How can I ever trust you not to do it again? Right. I can’t.”
“What can I do?”
