Destined To Be A Dad (Welcome To Destiny Book 9) (2 page)

“Abso-bloody-lutely.” The girl’s gaze was serious as she looked up at him again. “And you’re my father.”

* * *

Blimey, he still looked good.

After sixteen years, Missy Dobbs had thought he would have changed, but no, Liam Murphy had only grown more handsome than the boy who’d stolen her heart all those years ago.

She pulled in a deep breath. She had to do this. There was no gray area to fill with
could she
or
should she
when it came to this decision. The certainty of what lay ahead outweighed the fear, although not by much.

The hustle and bustle of the busy airport gate continued on around her as she waited for a flight that would take her to the last place on earth she’d ever thought she would see again.

Destiny, Wyoming.

She tightened her grip on the tablet as she stared again at Liam’s picture on the website for his family’s company. She tried to reconcile the wild and crazy cowboy she’d known as a teen with the serious man looking impossibly dashing in a business suit. The dark-framed glasses he wore couldn’t hide the sparkle in his eyes and his hair was shorter now, but a wayward curl or two still threatened to spill down over his forehead.

Her former love had done well for himself. CEO and president of his family’s business. She wasn’t surprised. Liam had been cut out for more than being a rodeo star, but at eighteen that had been his dream.

A dream that had torn them apart.

A dream that had sent her running home and into a fateful one-night stand with a former boyfriend. A man she’d ended up marrying because she believed—she’d been told—he was the true father of her child after finding out she was pregnant a few months later. Only now—after many years, she knew the truth.

Liam Murphy was her daughter’s father.

What a bloody mess!

She hadn’t even talked to Casey about what she’d learned before heading to Los Angeles on a last-minute work assignment. No, there’d only been time for a heated argument with her mother, who’d known the truth about Casey’s paternity all along.

That had been two weeks ago.

Her job on the film set had finished late yesterday and Casey was set to fly in on Monday to join Missy for an extended holiday here in the States. That meant Missy had the weekend to fly to Destiny, knock on Liam’s door with the hope he remembered her and break the news to him that he’d fathered a child.

The gentle chiming of her mobile phone came from deep within her purse. She didn’t recognize the number and offered a quick prayer that it wasn’t anything work related that would cancel her plans.

“Hello?”

“Mum, it’s me. Casey.”

Missy slammed the tablet’s cover closed, almost as if her daughter could see what she’d been looking at.

Other than texting back and forth, they hadn’t talked in the last few days. And when they had chatted during Missy’s stay in Los Angeles, she hadn’t mentioned anything about what she’d discovered to her daughter. Sharing the news about Casey’s real father had to wait until they were together again, face-to-face.

“Ah, hello, sweetie. Why aren’t you calling me from your mobile?”

“It died. Completely. I’ve got it charging at the moment.”

The airport’s loudspeaker came to life, blaring out information. Missy turned to the wall and ducked her head in hopes of muffling the noise. She quickly figured the time difference between California and London. It was after dinnertime there. “Are you home now? You need to start packing.”

“Not...exactly.”

Two words—and the nervous hitch in her daughter’s voice—sent a shiver of maternal alertness through Missy. “Laundry might be your least favorite chore for a Friday night, sweetie, but you can’t wait until the last minute to figure out what to bring for our holiday—”

Her daughter’s words cut her off midsentence. “Mum, I don’t have to worry about packing because I’m already here.”

Here? In Los Angeles?

Missy jerked to her feet, her leather tote swinging from her shoulder. She scanned the gate area for an airport map. “What do you mean,
here
? Are you at the LAX international terminal?”

“No, I’m in Wyoming.”

What?

Missy’s precarious hold on a reality that had been spinning out of control over the last few weeks slipped away. She dropped to the unyielding airport seat beneath her, the ability to stand gone as the blood drained from her head.

“Mum? Did you hear me?” Casey asked. “Mum?”

“How did—why are—” Missy pushed the words past her lips, unable to complete either question. She finally managed to squeak out, “Why on earth would you fly to Wyoming? Alone?”

“I was planning to fly to LA alone, wasn’t I? Blimey, it’s not like it’s the first time I’ve traveled by myself.”

Yes, Casey had started joining her at film locations during school breaks a few years ago, but those were always nonstop flights around Europe.

“Of course, but again, why—” Missy’s heart pounded in her chest, the truth already settling like a rock in her belly. “Why are you in—”

“Why do you think? I overheard bits and bobs when you and Grandmum fought the night before you flew to California. About what you found in Granddad’s desk. I can’t believe they did that to you! To us!” Her daughter’s words came fast. “And you didn’t talk to me before your flight or the few times we’ve chatted since. Not one word!”

Oh, this was not how she wanted this to go. “Sweetie, I—”

“Not that I blame you, really. I mean, it’s not exactly a topic for casual conversation,” Casey barreled on. “I heard you say a man’s name and a town in Wyoming during your argument, so after some online searching I decided to change my flight plans. I arrived in Cheyenne this morning.”

Missy tried to keep up, but her daughter’s words blended with the loud rushing in her ears and the announcement that her flight was boarding. She gathered her items and got in line, the boarding pass shaking in a mad fit in her fingers.

Casey was in Wyoming. She knew about Liam.

Fix this! Fix this! Fix this!

The words thundered inside Missy’s brain as she made her way to her first-class seat, trying to think of what to say—what to do—next.

Casey could wait for her at the airport. They’d get a hotel room and talk. She’d figure out a way to get in touch with Liam tomorrow.

Slightly calmer after her hastily thought up plan, Missy said, “Okay, I want you to stay at the airport. I’m on a flight—”

“Mum, I’m not in Cheyenne anymore. I’m in Destiny! And guess what?” Casey’s voice rose in excitement before it dropped to a loud whisper. “I found him.”

Destiny! Missy’s impetuous daughter had traveled from London to a small ranching community in the American West and found the man who was her true father.

Missy dropped into her seat, staring numbly at the seat in front of her.

“Mum? Are you still there? Mum?”

She needed to answer her daughter, needed to know what had happened in the last twenty-four hours. Needed to know how Liam had reacted to the bombshell her—their—daughter had dropped at his feet today. But there wasn’t time. She would have to end this call soon and Casey still didn’t know Missy was making her way to Wyoming.

Pulling in a deep breath through her nose, she released it in a soft wisp past her lips. By the third one she was able to speak. “Honey, we need to talk.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

Missy gasped. The same deep, gravelly, sexy voice she remembered from her youth filled her ear and stole her breath. A heated flush that made no sense at all started in the center of her chest and rushed to every part of her body.

How could he sound exactly the same after all this time?

“Liam.”

She heard a swift intake of breath, and then silence filled the distance—both in miles and years—that stretched between them.

Up until the last few weeks, she hadn’t spoken his name aloud in a long time. Not when she and her girlfriends would gather for drinks and a chat, not to her daughter when they talked about things like boys and dating and growing up, and never to her parents.

Sometimes it felt as if that year in her life had happened to someone else.

“Casey tells me you’ve been in Los Angeles for the last few weeks.” Liam’s voice was clipped and businesslike now. “If you let me know where you’re staying, I’ll make arrangements to get you to the airport and on a flight to Wyoming right away.”

Bristling at his authoritative tone, she said, “I’m on a flight to Cheyenne scheduled to depart in a few minutes, actually. I land at half past five, local time.”

There was more silence as he processed her news. Was he surprised she’d already been on her way? How much had her daughter told him about the night Missy—and she—had learned the truth?

“I’ll be there when your plane lands,” he finally said.

Of course he would. And since she hadn’t thought far enough ahead to figure out how she would travel to Destiny, she wouldn’t fight him. Getting to Casey was the most important thing at the moment. “May I speak to my daughter again?”

His voice dropped away, and then Casey’s voice came back on the line. “You’re flying here? Like right now?”

“Yes, sweetie, and I promise we’ll talk about everything when I see you.” Missy tried to keep her voice light. “Including you changing your transatlantic flight. Please don’t cause any trouble for...for Liam in the meanwhile.”

“You’re a tad late for that bit of advice, Mum.” Casey offered a staged sigh, an expression the teen had perfected in the last few years. “I’d say me showing up out of the blue is just the start of trouble.”

* * *

Missy popped a breath mint into her mouth and made stopping by the loo her first priority as soon as she landed in Cheyenne.

After using the facilities and washing her hands, she redid her hair, making neat the messy chignon style she favored. When she found herself leaning toward the mirror to reapply her lipstick, she froze.

Did she care what Liam Murphy thought of her after all this time?

Not wanting to answer that question, she hurried to the baggage claim area and found her case still circling the carousel. She retrieved it and then checked her phone. No calls or texts from her daughter or Liam. With a thirty-minute stopover in Denver, she’d only had time to ring her mother and have their first real conversation since Missy had left London.

Wise enough to keep her opinions of Casey’s actions to herself, her mother had insisted she had no idea what her granddaughter had been up to. But Elizabeth Ellington had been shocked to find out Missy was also on her way to Wyoming. Before she could say anything more, Missy had ended the call with a curt promise to get in touch as soon as she found a place for her and Casey to stay for the weekend.

“Ms. Dobbs?”

Missy spun around and found a gentleman dressed in a dark suit holding a placard with her name on it. She’d traveled enough over the years to recognize a car service when she saw one.

Liam wasn’t here. She should be grateful for more time before she saw him again, but it bothered her more than she cared to admit that he hadn’t kept his word. “Yes?”

“Mr. Murphy was unavoidably detained in Destiny due to business,” he said. “I’m to make sure you arrive safely. I have a car waiting outside.”

Resentment burned that not only had Liam stood her up, but he hadn’t sent Casey along to meet her either. Bollocks! What did he think she’d do? Grab her daughter and take the next flight out of here?

“Could you give me a moment, please?” she asked.

The gentleman nodded and stepped away. Missy found a quiet corner and called Casey’s mobile. It went straight to voice mail. She left a message that she’d landed and was on her way to Destiny. She then tried the number her daughter had used when she’d called earlier today, assuming it was for Liam’s cell phone, but it just rang and rang.

Seeing as she didn’t have any other choice, she followed the driver outside and moments later was seated in the back of a luxury town car. They soon were out of the city and on the motorway. Out the window the land was flat and wide and empty with a blue sky that seemed to go on forever.

So different from the hustle and bustle of London, where she’d lived all her life. She remembered feeling very lost and vulnerable when she’d first arrived in Wyoming all those years ago.

She’d almost cut her visit short after a trip home for Christmas, but had decided to return to Destiny.

Because of one boy. The one she’d been crushing on from the time she’d seen him in the school hallway the very first week.

Liam Murphy, a real cowboy who spent his weekends riding in rodeos, had finally asked her to dance during the last slow song at the winter semiformal, and she had promptly tripped over his boots—

No!

Missy gave her head a quick shake. There would be no trips down memory lane. It was bad enough she’d spent the last few weeks remembering how she and Liam had met, started dating and fallen in love.

Of course, steering clear of their shared history wasn’t going to be easy. Goodness knew what kind of questions Casey was going to have for her—for them—over the next few days.

Missy tried once more to reach her daughter, but again she got only voice mail. She grew more nervous as they arrived in Destiny, which she had to admit looked much the same as the last time she was here.

They drove down the charming main street with its many businesses, around the gazebo in the center of town, past the firehouse and the sheriff’s office and the Blue Creek Saloon, a bar and restaurant whose roots went back to the town’s founding in the late 1800s, a fact that had fascinated Missy the first time she’d been there.

When the car passed over the rushing waters of the blue creek the town landmark was named after, she realized the turnoff to Liam’s family ranch and business headquarters was just ahead.

She tensed, expecting a large crowd. Liam was one of six boys, most of whom worked for the log-home business as well, so there must be wives and other children in the family by now. Would they be here? What about his parents? Were they still alive and living here, too?

When the car bypassed the oversize parking lot and slowed to a stop in the half circle drive in front of the massive two-story log home, only one figure waited on the front porch that ran the length of the building.