Her Secret Cowboy. Marin Thomas

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      Buck’s face paled.

      “You’re my brother! You should have been looking out for me. Once you learned I was Ryan’s father you should have told me.”

      Buck’s brooding expression pissed Will off and he punched him in the face, splitting his lip. Buck stumbled sideways but didn’t raise a fist.

      “You’re right. I should have told you.”

      “Coward!” Will punched Buck in the chest. “You robbed me and my son of fourteen years together!” Will took an apple from the fruit bowl on the table and threw it. Buck dodged the missile, which hit the aluminum wall and made a dent.

      “Would it have mattered if you knew you’d fathered Ryan?”

      Will gaped.

      “You always said you never wanted to be a father.”

      Will cringed at Buck’s statement. His brother had hit a nerve and Will tried to defend himself. “What eighteen-year-old is ready to become a father? I didn’t have a steady job. I’d barely managed to graduate from high school.” And their mother had died earlier that year. The family had been in turmoil and he’d been in no shape to raise a child. “Go away.”

      “Let me make it up to you.” Buck’s pleading tone grated on Will’s nerves. “I’ll talk to Marsha and—”

      “No.” Will sliced the air with his hand. “You’ve done enough damage.”

      “Then tell me how to make it right.”

      “Leave.”

      “What?”

      “Get out of town,” Will said.

      “For how long?” The whispered question hung in the air.

      “Until I figure things out with Marsha and Ryan.” Will didn’t need his brother interfering when he was searching for a way to fit into his son’s life. If Buck hung around, Marsha might run to him when she had a disagreement with Will over Ryan.

      Buck opened his mouth but no words came out. It must have been a trick of the light that made his brother’s eyes look watery.

      The crushing pain in Will’s chest pushed the air from his lungs. Damn it, he wasn’t the bad guy. Buck had betrayed him.

      So why did he feel as if he’d just kicked his brother in the balls?

      * * *

      “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?” Will asked when he spotted Johnny walking along the path to the fishing hole.

      Shell-shocked after meeting his son yesterday and then brawling with Buck, Will had taken his pole and escaped to the one place he could find peace and quiet on the farm. Or so he’d thought.

      “I wanted to find out how things went with Ryan,” Johnny said.

      “I don’t want to talk about Ryan.”

      “Okay. Let’s talk about Buck. I heard you told him to take off.”

      “What if I did?”

      “Troy’s pretty pissed at you.”

      “Troy can find another mechanic to fix his cars.” Will expected his brother to do an about-face, but Johnny stayed put—he was as stubborn as Will.

      “You’d better learn how to deal with your situation, because I won’t let you tear this family apart.”

      “No one’s tearing anything apart. Besides, what does it matter if Buck’s gone for a while? These days we all go our separate ways.”

      “You might not care, but Shannon’s due date is two weeks away. I’d hoped to have my entire family here to welcome my son or daughter into the world.”

      Well, shit. Will had been caught up in his own situation and had forgotten about Shannon and the baby. “I’ll talk to Buck and apologize.”

      “Good luck with that.”

      “What do you mean?”

      “Buck’s not answering his phone, and I bet he won’t pick up when he sees your number.”

      Will set the pole on the ground, then paced in front of the pond. “What do you want me to do, Johnny?” The look of disappointment in his older brother’s eyes cut him to the core.

      “Buck told me the reason you sent him away.”

      “Hey, I’m not the one who was disloyal to a brother. Buck should have spoken up for me when I couldn’t.” Will winced. His shout had probably scattered the fish to the bottom of the pond.

      “Buck isn’t the one to blame, Will. Marsha hid your son from you.”

      Will searched for a rock and when he found a decent-size one he kicked it twenty yards. Johnny was right. Why was it easier to let Marsha’s trespass slide and nail Buck’s hide to the wall for his?

      Because Buck’s kin. And it hurts a lot more when family betrays you.

      Will didn’t want to care what Marsha thought of him, because he’d never measure up in her eyes or Pastor Bugler’s, but what Ryan thought of him mattered. He wanted a chance to earn his son’s respect.

      Johnny nodded to the pond. “While you’re fishing maybe you should consider your role in this situation.”

      “What are you talking about?”

      “The afternoon we caught Dixie and Gavin taking a shower together before they got married.”

      “What about that day?”

      “We all got into an argument in the hallway and Buck let it slip that Marsha had told him you’d gotten her pregnant.”

      “Yeah.”

      “You could have asked Buck when he and Marsha had talked.”

      “Why would I care when she told him?”

      “You didn’t care, Will, because you didn’t want to ask Buck if Marsha had kept the baby.”

      “Marsha told me she was getting an abortion and I believed her.”

      No, she told you not to worry about the baby, that she’d take care of it.

      Will rubbed a hand down his jaw. He’d wanted to believe she’d meant she’d abort the baby but fear that she might not had kept him from seeking the truth.

      Johnny quirked an eyebrow. “You having unprotected sex with Marsha set in motion everyone’s destiny— including yours.” Johnny turned away.

      “Wait. Tell me what to do. How do I make this right?”

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