A Child for Cade. Patricia Thayer

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      Cade wasn’t in a party mood anymore. He needed time alone. He headed toward the barn and some privacy. Damn, he didn’t want these feelings for Abby stirred up. After all this time, he’d thought he could come back, no strings, just a nice visit with his brothers and Ella and Hank. No demons from his past. Cade walked down the center aisle and stroked a few of the horses in the stalls.

      He’d left San Angelo and last seen Abby Moreau eight years ago. Now her hair hung to her chin, and was much tamer than the wild red mane that used to hang to the middle of her back. He groaned as memories of the silken strands draped over his body came rushing back. How she’d been able to make him forget all the cruelty in the world with just her touch. Then just as quickly he recalled Abby’s parting words. “It will never work between us, Cade,” she’d said with tears in her eyes. “I don’t love you.”

      “You were right, Abby,” he said to himself. “We wouldn’t have worked. Not when you wanted a man with money. And one without the last name of Randell.”

      “Hey, what are you doing out here by yourself?”

      Cade swung around to see his older brother, Chance, coming toward him. “I’m not sure I know all those people anymore,” he lied. The real reason was he didn’t know if he fit in. Had he ever?

      “Hell, the neighborhood hasn’t changed that much. It’s the same ranching families, though some of the kids have grown up. Got some pretty women here tonight.”

      “Whoa, better not let your wife hear you say that,” Cade said, realizing his brother qualified as one of the lucky ones to have found Joy. Chance had also been the only one of the three brothers who stayed on the Circle B, totally content to ranch.

      “Joy doesn’t have to worry,” Chance said. “She knows how I feel about her. I was thinking about you. All you and Travis have been doing these past years is working hard and making lots of money. Aren’t you a millionaire yet?”

      Cade glanced away. “A million doesn’t seem to be enough these days, bro,” he said. After all, Abby had come from money and chosen to marry into an affluent family, instead of marrying him.

      “Took me a lot of years to learn that the right woman doesn’t care,” Chance said. “Not if she loves you.”

      “That’s the key, Chance, but it never hurts to have the advantage of wealth.”

      “I noticed you had your eyes on a certain woman.”

      Cade looked at his boots. “Aren’t I a little old for you to be checking up on me?”

      “Just habit, I guess. It’s hard not to watch over your younger brothers.” Chance grinned and pushed his hat back, allowing his hair to fall across his forehead. “Can you believe how much Travis has changed?”

      Cade shook his head. “Seems like he was just a skinny college student not that long ago. Now he has his own business.” Travis and Chance looked more like brothers, Cade thought, the same sandy hair and light eyes like their mother. Cade had had the misfortune to inherit his daddy’s dark looks.

      “Travis seems to be here, but not here,” Chance said, sobering. “There’s something bothering him.”

      Cade smiled. “Yeah, probably trying to figure out how to spend all his money.”

      Chance shook his head. “I think it’s more. He hasn’t said more than two words since coming home. And that cell phone of his is attached to his ear. Tomorrow I’m going to get it and bury the thing. That way he’ll be guaranteed a vacation.”

      Both brothers laughed.

      “Abby looked good tonight,” Chance said.

      Cade knew his brother was fishing. Chance was the only one who knew about his past relationship with Abby Moreau. “History. It’s best left there. Besides, I’ll be gone in a few days.”

      “You have to go back that soon, huh?”

      “I have clients who depend on me.” That wasn’t completely true. As a financial adviser, he could handle just about anything by phone or e-mail, but he didn’t belong here anymore.

      “You know, she divorced that jerk.”

      Cade didn’t have to ask who Chance was talking about. “I’m not interested. She told me once that she didn’t want me.”

      “Everyone makes mistakes, Cade. I think Abby’s daddy was more interested in hooking his daughter up with Garson than she was.”

      “She had a choice.”

      “Well, whatever, she’s had to pay a heavy price. I hear Joel was pretty free with his fists.”

      Cade’s head jerked up. “You mean he hit her?”

      “I’m not positive, but I heard stories, and I saw Abby one time with bruises on her face. She told me she fell.”

      Anger seethed through Cade. How could a man strike a woman? He thought back to earlier, how Abby had trembled when he touched her. Now he understood her son’s reaction. Cade closed his eyes, trying to block out the pain. The pain he’d felt every day since she left him. But what kind of pain had Abby suffered?

      “Tell Hank I’m going for a ride,” he said. “I need to clear my head.”

      Chance patted him on the back. “Just remember I’m here if you need me.”

      Cade saddled up Gus, a big bay gelding. Chance had told him the horse would get him back to the barn if they got lost. Once on the open range, with the bright moonlight to guide the way, Cade gave Gus free rein and let him fly.

      Twenty minutes later Cade reined in the animal at the edge of a rise, then wandered to a grove of trees by the creek. He climbed off and led Gus to the water’s edge for a well-deserved drink. Cade sat down and looked out over the valley. Mustang Valley.

      A place he and his brothers had come to a lot. Hank had told them stories about the wild horses who took refuge here because of the water and grazing land. Mostly because Hank didn’t chase them off as a nuisance. Some people had labeled the Randell boys the same way. Like their cattle-rustling father who’d been sent off to prison, they were no good. Branded with the stigma of those circumstances and with their mother deceased, they had no one willing to take them in—until Hank Barrett.

      It had taken Cade some time, but he’d finally realized how good Hank was to them. How he made the Randell brothers think they were worth something. That if you worked hard, people would see it. Cade had worked hard in school, then college. But he’d wanted to leave San Angelo, where the Randell name held too many bad memories. But he hadn’t planned to go alone.

      Abigail Moreau, the daughter of one of the richest men in the area, loved him. Cade’s gaze went to the oak tree and the memory of their last day together came flooding back…

      It had been a June afternoon, perfect for a ride to the valley. Cade had spread a blanket on the ground for them to sit on. He was nervous as he dug into his pocket, trying to find the small diamond he’d worked for months to buy. It wasn’t a large stone, but it was all he could afford for now.

      He looked at Abby and couldn’t СКАЧАТЬ