Welcome to Mills & Boon. Jennifer Rae

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СКАЧАТЬ try and raise the money to...” Cassie stopped and thought about what she was suggesting. She’d never be able to commit to such a large debt. Her minimum wage job and the cost of child care put that option out of reach. She shrugged again. “I thought perhaps the insurance might have covered the mortgage.”

      “No,” he said quietly. “There was some other debt and—”

      “The Ducati,” she said and sighed. “Doug bought it the last time he was home.”

      “Yes,” he said, still quiet. “I’m sorry about the house, Cassie. I know it was your grandfather’s home and means a lot to you.”

      Heat pinged behind her eyes and she blinked quickly. She didn’t want his sympathy. Or his pity. If the house needed to be sold, then she had no option but to go along with his plans. She wanted to ask him about the “other debt,” but didn’t. What difference did it make now? Her home was going to be sold and there was nothing she could do about it.

      “I’ll need some time to arrange things,” she said and concentrated her gaze on her smiling son. “Perhaps a month to sort through my—”

      “There’s no rush.”

      * * *

      Tanner saw the emotion in her stare. He didn’t want to alarm her or make her life complicated. In fact he wanted the opposite. He’d come to Crystal Point to right a wrong. To forgive and find a kind of peace so he could get on with the rest of life.

      She stared at him over the rim of her mug. She really does have the most amazing colored eyes. Eyes easy to get lost in. Eyes that made it even easier to forget that Doug had loved her. And that she had loved his brother.

      “I guess that depends on how long it takes to sell,” she murmured.

      “I have an appointment with Doug’s lawyer on Wednesday,” he explained. “We’ll know more after that.”

      “We?” She looked skeptical. “The house belongs to you, Tanner. It’s your decision. Your call. I’ve got nothing to do with it.”

       You’ve got everything to do with it...

      Guilt pressed between his shoulders. And rage toward his brother that he quickly pushed back down. “On paper, perhaps. However,” he said and touched Oliver’s cheek, “there’s more to this situation than an out-of-date last will and testament. And there’s little point in imagining the worse outcome before we have all the facts.”

      “But the mortgage—”

      “We’ll see what happens. And any money left from the insurance will go into trust for Oliver.”

      “But that’s not what Doug wanted,” she replied quickly. “He left everything to you.”

      Tanner knew it had hurt her. How could it not? She was in a relationship with his brother and Doug had failed to provide for her and her child when she needed it the most.

      In typical Doug fashion.

      It wasn’t the first time his brother had betrayed a woman he’d professed to love.

      “He would have changed things,” Tanner said, lying through his teeth as he looked down at the baby. “If he’d had the opportunity and the time. But he was in a war zone and on a covert mission, Cassie...and probably not thinking clearly.”

      She sighed heavily. “I know that. He was...surprised... I mean, when I told him about the baby.”

      Surprised? Tanner knew that wasn’t the half of it. Doug had called him at three in the morning in a rage, ranting about how Cassie had deliberately gotten pregnant and probably planned to trap him into a marriage he didn’t want. He played devil’s advocate as best he could, insisting that Cassie wouldn’t be so manipulative. But Doug was unswayed. He didn’t want marriage. Or children. And Tanner knew his brother intended telling Cassie as much, had he lived. He had the proof via several emails Doug had sent before he was killed.

      The baby gurgled and he grabbed on to the distraction. He couldn’t tell her the truth. He wouldn’t. It was better she believed Doug wanted to do the right thing by her and his son.

      “This little guy is my nephew and I promised Doug I’d look out for him,” he said softly and touched Oliver’s head. “And you.”

      She visibly stiffened. “I don’t need looking out for, Tanner. I can take care of myself and Oliver.”

      The air crackled and Tanner didn’t miss the edge of resentment in her voice. Not that he really blamed her. Cassie Duncan had no real reason to trust him. But he didn’t want to be at war with her, either.

      “Can you at least meet me halfway, Cassie?” he asked. “I know you’ve been through a lot these past few months, but I’m not your enemy.”

      “Then what exactly are you, Tanner? My knight in shining armor?”

      “How about your friend?” he suggested and the moment the words came out, he felt like a complete fraud. He could never be friends with Cassie. He’d do what he’d returned to Crystal Point to do and then hightail it back home.

      She stared at him. “Friends? Sure...”

      But she looked as unconvinced about the idea as he was.

      He placed Oliver back in the rocker. “I’ve got a few errands to run. But I’ll come back a little later to see this little guy again and get my bags, if that’s okay?”

      She nodded. “Okay.”

      Then he left her alone.

      His leg ached, and Tanner pressed down heavily on his heel to help ease the pain as he walked from the house and headed for his rental car. He needed to clear his thoughts for a while. And knew just where to do that.

      Five minutes later he turned the car into a familiar driveway. The old farmhouse looked much the same, as did the seventy-five-year-old woman who stood on the porch, waving at him to come inside. Tanner waved back and got out of the rental car.

      Ruthie Nevelson had lived just out of Crystal Point for over sixty years. A widow for more than a quarter century, she’d been a friend and neighbor when his folks were alive and a much needed friend to him once they were gone. From her front gate, in the distance Tanner could see the rooftop of the home he’d lived in as a young boy. It was still a working sugarcane farm and he breathed in a heavy, nostalgic breath. If his parents had lived he would have taken over the farm and been the fourth generation McCord to do so. Instead, the place had been sold to another neighboring farmer three months after their deaths and Tanner was shipped off to boarding school a couple of weeks later. After that, he spent the holidays with Ruthie. Doug was in the army by then and returned whenever he could. But there were times when Tanner didn’t see his brother for six or more months.

      It was Ruthie who showed him kindness and offered comfort and understanding while he grieved the loss of his parents. Not really a grandmother, but as close to one as Tanner had known. It was she who’d pushed him to pursue his talent with horses and arranged the opportunity for him to work with her brother-in-law, a horse breaker and rancher, in South Dakota. After traveling through Europe for a couple of years, Tanner settled in Cedar Creek ten years СКАЧАТЬ