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He studied the floor as if in deep thought. Then he glanced back at her. “Even believing you had wronged me, I offered you an olive branch, Charm. I invited you to my ranch in good faith, believing we were moving forward in spite of what had happened between us. But now I know you had no plans to do that. Like your father, all you wanted to do was get back at me. To get even for what you thought I had done to you. You were acting just as ruthless and manipulative as he was. You are definitely Bart Outlaw’s daughter.”
“But now that we know the truth we can—”
“Do nothing. Think about it, Charm. All it took was one text to make you believe the worst of me. For me, it took more than that. I still went to your hotel although I was confronted by your father’s hired men. And at the end of the summer, I flew to Alaska to see you after being warned of what would happen to my hands if I did. Because I loved you and truly believed in what we shared. But you let go so easily. You were so quick to believe the worst of me. And then years later, instead of asking me about what happened so we could talk about it, you plotted revenge.”
He glanced out the window for a moment before shifting his gaze back at her. Looking at her hurt, because he knew he had fallen in love with her again. If he were to guess, he’d probably done so the moment he’d seen her in Cancún. Hell, he probably had never stopped loving her.
“This week spent with you on the ranch meant everything to me, Charm. I thought it was a new beginning in spite of everything that happened in our past. But all it had been was a pretense. It was a sham, part of your plot for my downfall. None of it, your words or actions, was sincere.”
“Dylan, I’m sorry. I love you and—”
“No,” he said, holding up his hand to stop her from saying anything further. “You don’t know a thing about love, Charm. Not true love. Real love. Life is too short for game-playing, manipulations and scheming. I promised myself the last thing I wanted in my life was an insincere woman. Goodbye, Charm.”
He moved toward the door. Before opening it, he turned back around to say, “At least now you know the truth about that summer and so do I.”
He opened the door and walked out.
“How could you, Dad?” Charm shouted.
Everyone sitting at the dining table glanced up to stare at her when she entered the room. She had come straight to her father’s home from the airport. It was dinnertime and seated at the table with Bart were her mother, Claudia; her brothers-Cash, Garth, Jess, Sloan, Maverick and the latter four’s wives—Regan, Paige, Leslie and Phire. She had known Cash was here, but hadn’t known Jess was in town. Just as well. Everyone would know in a few what she thought of her father. Not only was she hurt by what he’d done, she was downright furious.
Bart stood with deep concern etched on his face. “Charm? What’s wrong? I thought you were flying to Cash’s ranch in Wyoming from Cancún.”
“I found out what you did to me and Dylan, Dad. I ran into him while in Cancún. Did you think I would never find out? How could you do such a thing? I trusted you.”
Bart’s features became stern. “And I trusted you. You and Dylan Emanuel sat here at this very table and I told you both that the two of you were too young to be in love and to end the nonsense. But the two of you didn’t end things, did you? Imagine how disappointed I was when I discovered two years later that not only had you disobeyed me but you and Emanuel were sneaking around seeing each other. I found out about that week the two of you spent together that second summer in Anchorage and the real reason you went to New York when you lied to me and said you and your girlfriends were going there to a Broadway play.”
Charm’s glare sharpened. If her father thought saying any of that in front of her mother and brothers and sisters-in-law meant anything then he was mistaken. She walked farther into the room. “Regardless. That was no reason for you to have done what you did, and I will never forgive you for it. And to have those men threaten Dylan...” She was fighting to retain her composure but was losing it anyway.
“Just what did you do, Bart?” That question was asked by her mother.
Charm had wondered if her mother and brothers were privy to her father’s scheme. She could tell by their expressions they were wondering the same thing her mother had asked.
Instead of answering Claudia, Bart said, “You and I need to talk privately, Charm.”
“No. I have nothing to say to you. In fact, I won’t be talking to you ever. What you did was cruel and manipulative, but I guess I should not have expected anything less. I don’t intend to set foot in this house again, and I also intend to change my last name.”
“Why?” Bart all but roared. “Emanuel asked you to marry him?”
His question brought tears to her eyes because she knew not only did Dylan not love her, but he also couldn’t stand the sight of her. “No. Even after finding out what you did, he still blames me because, thanks to you, I believed the worst about him. On top of that, instead of accepting the friendship he offered in Cancún, I took a rule from one of your playbooks and decided to get even.”
Unable to hold back her tears any longer, they flowed from her eyes. “I wronged him and then too late we discovered that we were both innocents who were played against each other by you. But now he doesn’t trust me because he thinks I’m too much like you.” She swiped away her tears. “I am changing my name from Outlaw to Mama’s last name of Dermotte and you can’t do anything to stop me.”
She turned to leave and suddenly felt dizzy. When the room began spinning, she tried reaching for one of the chairs before she lost her balance. Too late, she heard her brother Garth call out her name as she crumbled to the floor.
Twenty-Three
Charm felt the warmth of a cloth against her forehead. When she slowly opened her eyes, she stared up at her brother Garth hovering over her as she lay on the couch in her father’s study. “What happened?”
“You fainted,” Garth said. “Your stomach is growling like the dickens. When was the last time you ate anything?”
She saw her mother was also in the room. When she tried sitting up, Garth, who she knew received paramedic training while serving as a marine, placed a firm hand on her shoulder to keep her down.
“Yesterday,” she said.
“Yesterday?” her mother asked, coming to stand behind Garth. “Why didn’t you ask the flight attendant to serve you a meal on the plane from Cancún?”
“I didn’t come here from Cancún, Mom. I left Mexico a week ago when Dylan invited me to his ranch in Idaho.”
