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“I think it’s pretty obvious.” Lee pulled away. “Go after her. She needs you more than I ever did.”

But he wouldn’t let her go. He jerked her back against him, wrapping his arms hard around her until she stood still, no longer resisting him.

“I wasn’t playing games with you, Lee,” he said roughly against her ear. “I would never do that to you.” He squeezed her for a moment, and she had to admit it felt good. It felt perfect. She wanted nothing more than to lose herself in him, pretend this morning hadn’t happened, that her world hadn’t just imploded. She wanted to pretend she didn’t know what she did, that trouble wasn’t coming for her sooner rather than later. She wanted to pretend that, if he had been playing games, it didn’t rip her heart right out of her chest to know it.

He kissed her jaw gently.

“That girl,” he said, his voice filled with more emotion than she’d seen him express since she met him, “is my half-sister. She just doesn’t know it yet.”

And then he let her go, and she felt as though she were in a freefall. Her knees went weak even as she turned and watched him chase after the girl. Clint was there. He somehow always knew where he needed to be just in time to save everyone from themselves. He caught her and helped her into the truck, offering her hand a gentle squeeze before he closed the door.

What was it her mother used to say?

When it rains, it pours.

Chapter 11

“Rena!”

Westin chased after Rena, surprised by how fast someone so small could be. They were halfway to the barn when he finally grabbed her, snagging her coat from behind and nearly pulling her off her feet.

“Will you stop?”

“Is it true? Were you with that girl last night?”

“You don’t understand,” he said, feeling like he was constantly repeating himself.

“What don’t I understand? That you’re just like my father said you were? A double-crosser? A liar? A user?”

“I never meant for you to get the wrong idea, Rena.” He wanted to touch her, but he was afraid that she would read too much into it, so he stepped back, shoved his hands in his jacket pockets. “You were the one who assumed it was a date. Not me. I wanted to tell you, wanted to explain everything, but you just… I didn’t know how to do it without alienating you.”

“Tell me what? That all you wanted from me was what I’ll inherit someday?”

“It’s not like that.”

“Then you weren’t just dating me to get close to my father, to Rocking D? You’re just like all these other fools around here, all these ranch hands who see themselves as some lord of the manor if they can just get me to marry them! But I thought you were different!”

“Did I ever say anything to you about marriage? Did I even kiss you?”

She turned away. “So, what? You didn’t kiss me so that makes you some sort of saint?”

“I’m as far from a saint as anyone could possibly be.”

“Why did you go out with me, then?”

“Because I needed a way to get your father’s attention.”

“See!” she cried, spinning on him. “You admit it. You were using me!”

“Not for the reason you think.”

“Does that make it better?”

“No. What I did is wrong. I know it was wrong, I knew it as I was doing it. But I was desperate, Rena.” He took off his hat and worked it in his hands, needing something to do with them. “I’ve been here for three years. Three years trying to find a way to get to your father. I tried applying for a job at Rocking D, but I couldn’t get past the foreman. I tried calling his office, tried ambushing him in town, but he never goes to town! I tried everything I could think of, and then you just… you were sweet to me, always seeking me out whenever we ran into each other in town, always talking to me when all those idiots from Rocking D looked down their noses at me.”

“Because I liked you!” she said, sniffing as her nose began to run. “You’re different from those other guys. I thought we were friends!”

“So did I.”