Destined (3 page)

****

“You’re nuts.” Candy Grant threw
her a glance that spoke volumes. “You can’t just take a bus up to Canada and
think things will work out.”

Slouching further back in her seat,
Sinclair adjusted the seat belt, and answered her best friend. “I just want the
next couple years of my life to work out. I was nuts to think I meant anything
to the brothers, Candy.
All those hours of study and classes,
with the goal of coming home and working here, on the ranch especially.
Bringing something of worth to a … relationship with them.”

“I’m not opposed to ménage, kiddo.
Lord knows I’ve had myself a couple of threesomes. And those men are fine. And
I know how much you care about them. But, Sinclair, maybe they’re right. I
mean, if they see you like a sister…”

“Yeah, it sounds gross. And they
used that against me, to keep me at a distance, when it was really about
Melinda Roberts. They should have simply told me they preferred her.”

“Skank.”

Candy’s older brothers knew all
about Melinda, and had passed on their opinion to Candy. Not because the older
woman was easy. Sinclair, too, didn’t have an issue with anybody who was honest
about their needs. Lord knew she wished she’d been honest about her own and
relieved herself of her pesky virginity, seeing as saving it for her men was now
a lost cause. Not that they’d ever been her men. It was the point that Melinda
turned brother against brother and friend against friend with her sexy
machinations. Men couldn’t seek to think past their little head when she was
around. The thought of the skank hurting Craig and Ashton, maybe tearing them
apart, made bile rise up her throat. How was it that they hadn’t learned?

“I hope they know what they’re
doing.” Her words came out thin and faint.

“Well, the whole area has done
nothing but talk about her coming back after some scandal in the big city.”
Candy snorted. “She married that politician type and probably wasn’t good for
his image.
Couldn’t keep her panties on in all likelihood.”

Sinclair didn’t reply. Gossip
wasn’t her thing, and she’d decided not to think about Melinda with her
brothers
. It killed her to call them
that, but that’s what they were to her in their minds, and she had to remember
it. Didn’t matter they were nearly six and eight years older than she was,
respectively, or that she’d never been adopted by their parents. She’d be
grateful for what she’d had for so many years. There was no way she could pay
them back financially, but she could sure clear out of their way and give them
space to get it on with Melinda. Marry her maybe, and raise little
Russells
. Her belly roiled.

“What will you do for money?”

“I still have the little fund Mom
Russell set up for me.
And one paycheck from my waitressing
job.
I’ll get a job.”

“I don’t know how you worked
and
carried such a big academic load.”
Candy slowed at a crossroads,
then
headed straight for
town. She’d better hope the new Sheriff wasn’t around, or even one of the other
patrol cars. Sinclair had been the recipient of several heated emails from
Candy, her friend acting all indignant about Reese Murdoch coming home after
his discharge from the military. Seems he didn’t kowtow to Candy in the same
way other men did, and she described him as obnoxious, arrogant, and
infuriatingly hot. Sinclair thought she’d avoid mentioned anything about Reese,
who she remembered as being a fairly close friend of Craig’s. Candy was correct
in one aspect thought. Reese was hot.
 

“School work isn’t hard for me, and
while college was somewhat tougher, I managed.” She thought about how hard
she’d worked, all with her eye on the prize.
Prizes.

“Yup.
Math nerd.
Chemistry, physics, you name it. If it wasn’t for
you helping me, I never would have graduated high school,” Candy said breezily,
her blonde hair catching the sunlight. Sinclair knew her friend came from
money, and that her dad had set her up with her own little shop in Barrister,
selling all those curious articles a person had to have lots of disposable cash
to afford. But graduating high school had meant something anyhow.

“You partied more than you studied.”
Craig and Ash hadn’t let her go to those parties, but she hadn’t minded. They
and the ranch had been her life, and her education was important.

“I did. And loved every minute of
it,” Candy agreed. “But seriously, Sinclair, I’ll make you a loan.”

“Only if you let
me pay you back.”

“Of course.
Because if I’ve learned anything, it’s that you can’t do it differently in
business. And that way you’ll stay in touch.”

“I will, Candy. I always did while
I was away. Only you and my
brothers
kept in touch. It’s important to me.”

And
you were so damn lonely you misinterpreted their interest. Thought it compared
to your own.
Talk about seeing the world through one’s own lens. She’d
missed them terribly, and contact had been all the sweeter.

“You don’t have very much with
you.”

She looked in the back seat.
Two pieces of luggage, her laptop.
“I didn’t unpack, not
really, so just picked up my bags. There was nothing else to bring.”
Nothing that belonged to you,
anyhow.
Tears built behind
her lids, and she blinked furiously.

“I’m sorry.” Candy didn’t miss
much, and she sounded so sad.

“
Me
too,
Candy. I’m such a fool.” She’d shared everything with her best friend over the
years, and Candy had thought she was correct in believing Ashton and Craig were
interested in her and hence amenable to her proposition when Sinclair finally
worked up the courage to present it. God, that’s what it had been.
A proposition.
How had she ever thought to measure up
against those sexy, suave women Craig and Ashton played with?

“Not a fool,” her friend argued.
“But maybe love is blind. You do love them, right? It’s not just about sex.”

“I can’t imagine loving anyone
else.” And sex was something she only understood from a clinical viewpoint, her
wet panties whenever she thought of them aside.

Candy had nothing to say to that,
and Sinclair stared out the side window, breathing past the gnawing in her
chest.

The bus depot came into view, not
really a station, but a sign in the hardware store window, the curb lane marked
as “no parking” on certain days and certain times in the week.
For when the Greyhound came through.
Sinclair thanked her
lucky stars—she still had luck from some venue—for the fact it was Friday, and
the bus stopped that day. She’d made her decision, and she wouldn’t have to
wait to act on it. Or face Ashton and
Craig’s pitying
faces. Sinclair and Candy parked and got out, unloading the bags.

“I don’t want you to stay,” she
urged Candy. “You can tell my brothers you dropped me here when I asked you for
a ride, but stay clear, okay? I couldn’t stand it if I caused you any
problems.”

With a ladylike snort, Candy tossed
her hair back. Her curvy body filled out her trendy outfit, and Sinclair’s eyes
were drawn to the amazing shoes.
No wonder Ashton and Craig
didn’t waste any time on
her
.
With the exception of her abortive attempt today at wearing something sexy,
Sinclair wore jeans and shirts and boots.
All the time.
Her hair was either hanging without a care around her shoulders, or hauled up
in a ponytail. Makeup consisted of lip balm, and sometimes a wisp of mascara if
she thought about it. Aside from good personal hygiene, she was a tomboy who
planned to work with big animals. Lord. All those years of pink and sparkle
until Mom Russell died were long gone. Maybe if she’d been more of a girly
girl, showing off her assets and acting all flirty, like Melinda Roberts…

“Those boys won’t get anything from
me but the cold shoulder. They don’t deserve you.”

“They took me in—”

“Their momma and dad took you in,
Sinclair. All they had to do was act like my big brothers, and it took them a while
to do even that if I recall.”

“But after the
Russells
died they did.”

“They carried out their parents’
wishes. Not like you were a burden. You carried your weight on the ranch and
got through school early. You didn’t even bother them for clothes and such. And
you got scholarships.”

“No, Candy. That’s not fair. They
gave me what I needed, everything I let them give me.” She knew what her friend
was doing, but couldn’t let her blacken Ash and Craig.

“I remember it differently,
Sinclair, but maybe that’s because you’re looking at me as though your world
has ended. You keep in touch and I’ll email you money, once you set up an
account, okay?”

There was no point in arguing, and
Sinclair didn’t want to, anyhow. It was good to have such a loyal friend. Once
Candy had seen how determined Sinclair was, she’d helped her out instead of
trying to dissuade her. Candy seemed to understand what it was like to have a
broken heart. “I’ll keep in touch all along the way. I promise. Love you,
girlfriend.”

Candy yanked her in for a hug, and
Sinclair returned the warmth. Her friend squeezed one final time before
trotting back to the car and pulling it away from the spot reserved for the
bus. That vehicle was rolling down the road, and the realization of the
enormity of her decision hit her squarely. The driver halted with a sigh of air
brakes, and the door cranked open. He cast
her a
jaundiced look before heaving up from his cushioned seat to tread down the
stairs.

“Both of these
going underneath?”
He gestured at her duffel and suitcase.

“Please.”

“You got a ticket?”

“No. I thought you sold them?”

“Supposed to get them all online
but not for another couple weeks. You get on and I’ll catch up with you at our
next rest stop.”

She watched him pull up the
undercarriage door and heave her luggage inside to join a myriad of boxes and
suitcases,
then
hastened up the steps, ignoring some
curious glances from the other passengers. The bus wasn’t full. In fact she
could choose a seat to herself near the back, and she settled in, putting her
purse and laptop case beside her. She’d need to call the vet school. It was
only fair to free up her space for some other student looking to finish out
their field work. But it felt like the final blow to do it, and a sob shook
her. Why didn’t they want her? Her parents hadn’t wanted her either, and then
the
Russells
hadn’t fought for custody. She guessed
she was unlovable. And self pity didn’t get a person anywhere, so she swallowed
down her pain and tried to consider her future.

Chapter Two

“Sinclair?” Ashton rapped on her
bedroom door, and it swung open. Empty. The comforter bore a vague outline of
where she must have lain down, but she wasn’t there. Sinclair still slept in
the twin size bed, and they hadn’t been able to convince her to allow them to
buy her a bigger one. In fact when she’d heard Craig ordering one, she’d raised
such a stink his brother had backed down. They figured it had something to do
with her wanting to keep things the way they were, savor the memories of their
parents.

The cute little shorts and silky
top she’d worn earlier were tossed in a heap across the bottom of the bed, and
he had an absurd desire to go over and stroke the fabric.
 
Her fresh scent greeted him, and his cock
stirred.
Fuck.
Her earnest plea to be
with him and Craig had affected him considerably, and the several hours of
riding fences and hard work of repairing a few areas had barely managed to cool
his jets.

Craig emerged from the kitchen, a
loaf of bread hanging from one hand. Tension crackled. “She
throw
you out?”

“She’s not there.” Her little car
was parked out front, too small for the interstate driving she did when she
came home to visit, in his opinion, but she wouldn’t let them buy her anything
bigger. In fact when he’d insisted she told him she’d sooner take the bus or
walk, so he’d settled on the compact with the best safety rating and as many
bells and whistles as he could fit in it. He should have done more for her,
their stubborn girl.

“Huh.
Maybe in
the barn.
She was out to see Joy already and probably saddled her up,
took her out. She always said she thought better riding the range.”

“Make me a sandwich, too, and a
couple for Sinclair.” Their girl could eat like a stevedore and burned calories
as quickly as they did. She worked hard, no doubt about it, pulled her weight,
and not for the first time it struck him how she never wanted to appear
beholden. “I’ll go see if she’s wiping the mare down.”

Craig vanished back into the
kitchen, and Ash went in search of Sinclair. He was dreading the talk they had
to have, and wanted to get it over with. He and Craig had
kinda
rehearsed the speech, like idiots, before his brother went to check on the herd
and he rode the fence. Dust boiled around his boots as he sauntered to the
barn. She was going to cry, he knew it, and it was going to kill him. But he
would do right by her.

Joy’s long nose poked over the
stall, her bridle hanging by the door. The horse whickered at him, and Ash instinctively
knew Sinclair hadn’t been out riding. He ran his hand down the mare’s neck,
regardless, but detected no sign of heat or moisture. Given the temperature,
Joy would have shown evidence of being ridden. Frowning, he strode down the
center of the stalls to where two of the hands were working on his and Craig’s
mounts. It spoke to how anxious they were to have the chat with Sinclair that
they’d turned their horses over to the hired men to take care of.