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Sloan immediately stiffened with a kind of bitter anger. “It wasn’t to be—not unless I wanted to be one of those who pretended she didn’t know there was another woman. But I can’t and I won’t.”
“Well, in all honesty, I can’t say I was surprised when you told me Trey was stepping out on you.” His sigh had a trace of disgust in it. “Given the history of that family, I suppose it was inevitable.”
“You’re referring to the affair Trey’s father had with Jessy,” Sloan guessed at once. “I heard all about that. After meeting Tara, though, I could understand why he did it.” Pausing, she made a wry grimace. “It’s funny, but I feel sorry for Tara now. No one at the ranch liked her. Like me, she was never accepted into the family in anything but name.”
“And like you, Tara was too strong a woman to quietly endure that kind of humiliation. That wasn’t always the case in the Calder family, from what I’ve learned.” Max deliberately didn’t elaborate on that comment, confident that Sloan would take the bait.
She did. “What do you mean?”
He began with an apology. “Forgive me, Sloan, but when you first indicated there was some trouble in your marriage, I became concerned and did some checking into the Calders. After all, like most people, I only knew them by their reputation as giants in ranching. I never had reason to delve into their personal lives until this started.”
“What did you learn, Uncle Max?” A glitter of anger was in her eyes, the kind that said Sloan was ready to believe anything he told her.
“I’m afraid the Calder men don’t fare well as shining examples,” Max warned. “For instance, are you aware that Trey’s father was born out of wedlock, and it wasn’t until some fifteen years after the fact, when Chase found himself in need of an heir, that he bothered to acknowledge him as his son? He married the mother merely to avoid the stigma of ‘bastard’ being attached to his son. And it seems that Chase’s father wasn’t much better. He was shot and severely wounded after being caught with another man’s wife. There’s even some question about the true relationship between the Triple C founder, Benteen Calder, and Lady Elaine Dunshill. The family would like you to believe she was his mother, but it seems more likely that she was his mistress.”
“I didn’t know any of that,” Sloan admitted with a dazed and half-angry frown.
“I’m sure the family tries to keep its indiscretions hushed up. But I’m told such behavior becomes a kind of mind-set that passes from one generation to the next until it’s regarded as not only acceptable but expected. It will probably be a shock to them that you objected so strongly to the idea of your husband seeing another woman. In their eyes, it’s simply what men do.”
“Not in mine, it isn’t.” All taut and indignant, Sloan pushed out of the chair and crossed to the window. She stood there, rubbing her arms in agitation.
Max allowed the silence to stretch for a bit, then pretended to muse, “As old-fashioned as the Calders are, I can’t help but think that if your marriage hadn’t broken up over this, the split would have come over your career. Photography is something you love, and I can’t see you giving it up. I suspect it was only a matter of time before it became a source of contention between you.”
“That’s what Tara said,” Sloan recalled, “when she wasn’t lecturing me about the duties I needed to assume as the wife of a Calder.”
“No doubt Tara was speaking from her own experience, wouldn’t you say?” Max suggested.
Sloan turned back to him, uncertainty flickering through her expression. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.”
“I’m told Tara spent a good deal of time away from the ranch. I’m sure a part of her wonders if she hadn’t been gone so much, maybe her husband wouldn’t have become involved with Jessy. Perhaps her advice was meant as a warning not to make the same mistake she believes she made.”
“Probably,” Sloan agreed. “But it doesn’t change anything. Any man who expects me to give up my career for him doesn’t really love me, because it’s part of who I am.”
“Someday you’ll meet a man who will see that,” Max stated. “Unfortunately, the Calders are too selfish and self-centered. Everything has to be done the way they want it.”
“The Calder way. My God, how many times have I heard that phrase?” Sloan muttered thickly.
“You’re free of them now, so you don’t have to be concerned with that anymore.”
A heavy sigh broke from her, “I’d give anything if that were true. But I know it’s only beginning.”
He caught the blend of worry and dread in her voice. “Now that begins, doesn’t it? The fear that he’ll try to take the baby away from you.”
“I never would have been allowed to leave the ranch with little Jake. That’s why I couldn’t go back there—why I had to take my son and run while I had the chance.”
“You did the only thing you could do,” Max assured her. “We both know that. If you’re worrying that Trey will show up—”
“He doesn’t know I’m here. I never said anything in the note about where I was going.”
“By now he’s bound to have guessed.” Max had no illusions about that. “It hardly matters, though. He’ll never get within five feet of this house. I’ve hired extra guards to patrol the grounds and every access point on the Slash R. Your son will be perfectly safe here, and so will you.”
Surprised and confused, Sloan tipped her head to one side. “It almost sounds like you think Trey would try to kidnap Jake.”
“I wouldn’t put it past him,” Max replied. “The Calders have been the law in their part of the world for a long time. They probably think they can act with impunity. That’s why I insisted that you and your son come here. I knew I could protect you from anything they might try.”
“They aren’t taking my son from me.” The battle light was in her eyes, born of the fierceness of a mother protecting her young. “I have every bit as much right to him as they do. If they think otherwise, they have a fight on their hands.”
“I’m glad to hear it. This is one time when you can’t afford to be tenderhearted, because they aren’t going to worry about what’s fair,” Max warned, determined to feed her distrust of the Calders until it became an all-consuming thing. He doubted that this would be difficult to accomplish. “I have a top-notch divorce lawyer lined up for you, one of the best in the country. You’re to call him in the morning. It’s important that you remain the aggressor and keep the Calders reacting to your moves instead of making their own.” He handed Sloan a slip of paper with the lawyer’s name and telephone number on it.
