Always a McBride (19 page)

And it hurt—more than she'd ever thought possible. Sick at heart, she felt tears sting her eyes and desperately tried to blink them away, but she was fighting a losing battle. Her vision blurred, and before she could stop it, a single tear spilled over her lashes. Horrified, she tried to gain control. She wouldn't cry in front of him! she told herself furiously. She wouldn't let him see just how devastated she was by his betrayal, wouldn't let him guess how much she cared.

“I have nothing more to say to you,” she choked, pushing past him. “Just stay away from me.”

Hurrying outside, she rushed over to her grandmother's antique store next door, and had barely unlocked the front door and stepped inside before the tears started to flow. As a child, she'd always loved the store. Packed with old furniture and items from the past that had been strange and fascinating to a six-year-old, she'd found ways to entertain herself for hours, playing games of make-believe and what-if. While her grandmother tended to her customers, Phoebe had imagined herself in another time, another land, another life.

But she was no longer six, and as she escaped into the quiet shadows of the closed shop, she found little solace in the games of make-believe she'd played as a child. All she could think of was Taylor…and how much he'd hurt her. How could she have been so stupid? she wondered, furious with herself. She'd actually
begun to hope that he was falling in love with her, just as she was with him. Fat chance. The only thing Taylor Bishop loved was his need for revenge.

 

So she wanted to be left alone, did she? Taylor fumed as he put the ladder away and retreated to his room. That was fine with him. She was quick to defend the McBrides because they were her friends. Well, he was her lover, dammit! The least she could have done was consider his position. Did she think it was easy, growing up not knowing who his father was? And what about his mother? She could have at least sympathized with her and the hardships she'd endured.

But, no! he raged. She'd only been concerned with the McBrides and their pain. Well, here was a news flash for her. He
was
a McBride! And his half brothers and sisters had a right to know that. Granted, he'd hurt her and Sara McBride, and he deeply regretted that. The truth was finally out, though, and he wasn't sorry about that.

Even though you hurt an old woman?
a voice chided in his head.
And Phoebe? Are you really that cold?

He readily admitted that there'd been a time in the not-too-distant past when he'd had a reputation for having ice water in his veins. He'd been ruthless when he was in court, sometimes even with his own clients, and he hadn't apologized for that. The only thing that had mattered was winning. He hadn't cared about anyone…except his mother.

But that was before he'd come to Liberty Hill, before he'd let down his guard with his brothers and sisters, before Phoebe had showed him a side of himself he hadn't known was there. He'd let himself care, dammit, and he was afraid he was going to live to regret that.
Because he may have just blown any chance he'd ever have of having a relationship with any of them. He'd hurt Sara, and in all likelihood, her children would never forgive him for that. He couldn't say he blamed them. His father had hurt his mother, and he couldn't forget it, let alone forgive it.

As for Phoebe, he didn't think he'd ever forget the look in her eyes when she'd realized who he was and just how much he'd used her. If looks could kill, he'd have dropped in his tracks right then and there. He wouldn't have been surprised if she never spoke to him again. He'd given her every reason to hate his guts.

 

“What is it? Are you all right?”

“Mother, what's wrong? You sounded frantic on the phone.”

“You're as white as a ghost. Are you sick?”

“Dan, do you know what the problem is? How long has she been this way?”

“Ever since she got back from Myrtle's,” Dan told Zeke, frowning worriedly at his wife. “I tried to get her to talk about it, but she insisted that I call a family meeting. She was only going to talk about what was bothering her once—when the entire family was all together.”

Shooting his mother a sharp look, Joe growled, “Mother? What's going on? What happened at Myrtle's?”

In spite of her paleness and the agitation she wasn't quite able to hide, Sara had been in relative control of her emotions up until then. But when all four of her children looked at her with such love and caring, tears welled into her eyes. “I—I don't know how to tell you all this….”

“Whatever it is, it's okay, Mom,” Merry said, stepping forward to hug her. “Just tell us. We're here for you.”

“I know, dear,” Sara sniffed, giving her daughter a watery smile. “I—I have always been so proud of all of you. I'd never do anything to hurt you.”

“Geez, Mom, we know that,” Zeke said gruffly. “You wouldn't hurt a fly. So what happened at Myrtle's? What were you doing there, anyway? She's not back from her trip yet, is she? Phoebe said she'd be gone at least another week.” Suddenly frowning, he growled, “Did Phoebe say something to you that upset you? That doesn't seem her style at all—”

“Let her talk, Zeke,” Janey cut in quietly. “She'll tell us when she's ready.”

“Thank you, dear,” Sara said thickly, reaching for Janey's hand to give it a squeeze. “This is just so hard! I don't know where to begin.”

“Who upset you, sweetheart?” Dan asked huskily. “Did someone say something to you? Or do something? I've never seen you so agitated before.”

“It was that man at Myrtle's,” she choked, fighting and losing the battle to hold back tears. “He was changing a lightbulb in the entry—”

“What man?” Joe interrupted, scowling. “Are you talking about Taylor Bishop?”

“Taylor did this to you?” Zeke demanded, shocked. “I thought he was a nice guy. He certainly seemed likable enough when he went camping with us. What did he say to you?”

Sara hardly heard his last question. Stunned, she gasped, “You've met him? When? How? What did he say to you?”

“We've all met him,” Janey said, frowning in con
fusion at the panic she heard in her mother's voice. “Phoebe introduced us. He's writing a book on the ranchers in the area.”

“What do you mean…
What did he say to us?
” Merry asked, perplexed. “What do you think he said? What's going on, Mom? And don't say it's nothing. I've never seen you so upset before.”

Wanting to protect them, knowing she couldn't, Sara would have rather cut off her arm than hurt her children, but she couldn't protect them from Taylor Bishop's claims. He would have his say, and the only way she could counteract the damage he was determined to cause was to tell Zeke and Joe and the girls first.

But it hurt, dammit! Gus should have been there to deal with Taylor Bishop.
He
should have been the one who had to tell his children the truth and give them the explanation they deserved. After all, he was the one who created this mess! Instead, it was left to her.

Just thinking about it clogged her throat with tears, but she could no longer put off the inevitable. “I'm upset with good reason,” she choked. “He claims he's your father's illegitimate son.”

For a long moment, the only reaction to her announcement was stunned silence. Then Joe growled, “That's a damn lie!”

“The son of a bitch!”

“Dad would never have cheated on you!”

“He was crazy about you!”

Touched by their faith in their father, Sara couldn't hold back the tears that filled her eyes. “I knew you wouldn't believe it,” she sniffed. “There has to be another explanation.”

“Of course there is,” Dan agreed, slipping his arm around Sara's shoulders. “I knew Gus all of his life. I
never saw him look at another woman after he met you, sweetheart. Obviously, this Taylor character's mistaken or you misunderstood him.”

If she hadn't loved him before, Sara would have loved him then for standing up for Gus. They had been good friends, and Dan had known Gus all his life. Unfortunately, all the faith in the world couldn't change what she'd seen with her own two eyes.

“Oh, I understood him, all right,” she sniffed, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “He didn't need to say a word. I saw the resemblance between him and Gus the second I laid eyes on him.”

For a second, her words didn't register. When they did, Zeke rasped, “What are you saying, Mom? You can't really believe that Dad would…that he…”

“Betrayed me and got another woman pregnant?” she finished for him when he couldn't find the words. “I don't want to believe it, but what else can I think? He looks so much like your father, it's frightening. I took one look at him and fainted.”

“Oh, Mom, no!” Merry said, moving to her mother's side to hug her. “That must have been awful for you.”

“It didn't get awful until he told me he was Gus's son.”

“That doesn't mean he is,” Joe retorted. “Maybe he's one of Todd Smith's bastards. People used to say he and Dad looked more like brothers than second cousins. And Todd certainly played the field when he was younger. Every time you saw him, he had a different woman on his arm. He's still a flirt, and he's got to be pushing seventy!”

Sara would have given anything to believe that, but she shook her head sadly. “Taylor Bishop's mother wrote him a letter before she died. I read part of it. It
clearly states that his father was Gus McBride of Liberty Hill, Colorado.”

“But Dad loved you!” Janey argued, tears glistening in her eyes. “He wouldn't have cheated on you. He wasn't that kind of man.”

“He certainly wasn't,” Joe said flatly. “Personally, I think this is all nothing but a scam Taylor concocted to try to get his hands on this ranch. Well, he can think again. It's not going to happen.”

His mouth set in a flat line, he stormed over to the phone and punched in Myrtle's number. When Phoebe answered, he growled, “Phoebe, this is Joe. I need to talk to Taylor. Is he there?”

“I'll put you through to his room,” she replied. “Is Sara all right?”

“She's fine,” he retorted. “She'll be a lot better when this garbage with Taylor is dealt with.”

“I'll put you right through,” she said, and patched him through to Taylor's room.

Taylor answered on the second ring. “Hello?”

“I want to know what the hell you think you're doing, lying to my mother about who your father is.”

Taylor wasn't surprised that Joe had called—he'd known one of the McBrides would call the minute Sara told her children what had happened. “It's not a lie,” he said coolly. “Gus
was
my father.”

“The hell he was! He loved my mother from the moment he met her when he was fourteen. He would never have cheated on her.”

“I didn't say he did,” Taylor retorted. “You can't cheat on someone you're not involved with.”

“What the devil are you talking about? I just told you that my father was in love with my mother ever
since he was fourteen. From the time they met, they were never
not
involved!”

“Oh, yes, they were,” Taylor growled. “If you don't believe me, ask your mother about the summer of 1962.”

“Why?” he asked, suddenly suspicious. “What happened then?”

“They broke up and Gus went to the Cheyenne rodeo. That's where he met
my
mother.”

“That's a lie!”

“Is it? Ask your mother.”

Even to his own ears, his voice was smug and confident, and there wasn't a doubt in his mind that Joe heard it, too. His half brother hesitated, and when he finally spoke, his words were cold and hard and held a warning that only a man who felt threatened by the truth would need to make. “If you're after the ranch, you can forget it. You're never going to get your hands on it.”

Whatever Taylor had been expecting, it wasn't that. Stunned, he said, “This has nothing to do with the ranch, Joe. That's not why I came here.”

“Yeah, right,” Joe sneered. “You come here pretending to be somebody you're not, and I'm supposed to believe you're not after what you can get? Do you really think I'm that stupid?”

“I never said you were stupid. I just want—”

“What?” he growled when he hesitated. “To be friends? For us to welcome you into the family like a long-lost brother? You're not our brother. You're a liar and we want nothing to do with you. If you come anywhere near the ranch or any member of this family again, you're going to find yourself in more trouble than you ever imagined. Leave us alone!”

Slamming the phone down, Joe turned to find his
mother and the rest of the family watching him with expressions of varying degrees of fear and anger. Merry asked the question they were all silently asking. “He still claims to be Dad's son, doesn't he? Even though you told him he would have never cheated on Mom.”

Frustrated, he nodded. “He claims Mom and Dad broke up in the summer of '62, and Dad went to a rodeo in Cheyenne. According to him, that's when his mother met Dad.”

Up until then, Sara had almost convinced herself that this was all some terrible mistake. But with Joe's words, the years rolled back, and in the blink of an eye, she was back in that awful summer of '62, when, without warning, her world had turned upside down and she'd almost lost Gus for good. “Oh, my God!”

Lost in her own private hell, she didn't realize she'd spoken aloud until Dan stepped to her side and took her hand. “What's wrong, sweetheart? You've gone pale as a ghost again.”

“Gus and I did break up that summer,” she said, stricken. “It was so many years ago, I'd forgotten about it. We didn't speak to each other for three weeks.”