Texas Secrets
TEXAS SECRETS
Texas Hearts
Book One
By Jean Brashear
Copyright © 2011 by Jean Brashear
Kindle Edition
A revised version of A FAMILY SECRET, previously published by Silhouette Special Edition
Cover art by Angie Bare Graphic Design
E-book formatted by Jessica Lewis
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Table of Contents
TEXAS HEARTS
Chapter One
Morning Star, Texas
A man she'd never met had bequeathed her a house in Texas.
And then exposed her father's whole life for a lie.
On the heels of finding her business partner and lover in bed with the woman he'd deemed more proper to marry, Maddie Rose Collins would have thought nothing could surprise her now.
She would have been wrong.
Here she was in Texas after driving cross-country for three days. Halfway up the dusty road that led to the big white house on the tree-dotted hill, Maddie stopped, her heart drumming.
A shiver ran through her. In the deepest part of her dreams, she knew this place—never mind that she had never laid eyes on it before, had never even known it existed.
A picture of this house should be in the dictionary right beside the word
home
.
Ah, you're a hopeless romantic, Maddie
. Only one of Robert's scathing indictments. But she'd never been able to please Robert van Appel, and she was through trying to become someone she wasn't.
Yet here she was, staring hungrily at a house that might have stepped right out of her childhood longings. It was the haven her father's wanderlust had denied them, the kind of home she'd given up hoping for many years ago. She rolled down the car window and drew in a deep breath of country air.
Two stories, white, deep wraparound porch. Trees cast welcome shade, a lacy green overskirt billowing to either side of the structure. Spotting a porch swing curved Maddie's lips in delight. She could already picture herself there in the heat of the day with a cool glass of iced tea. Drops of moisture would roll down the sides of the glass, falling to her bare legs, cool and welcome.
I wronged your father, Maddie Rose, but it's too late to make it right with him, so I'm giving you the house that should have been his.
Thank you, Sam Gallagher. I need this
.
Her whole life was upside down. She had money from dissolving the partnership. She had restaurants lined up to hire her as chef. The whole world was open to Maddie...
And she had no idea what to do next.
So Sam's bequest was a godsend. She needed time and space to think, and here she would have both. Assured by her lawyer that it was all legit, Maddie had packed her car and left New York, here to explore a heritage she'd never known she had.
She would put Maddie back together here and figure out where to go next.
Just then, a piteous cry sounded, and she sought the source.
A calf in the pen to the left worried at something near its feet, but Maddie couldn't see anything for the weeds growing just outside the fence. She looked toward the house, wondering why someone didn't come to help.
The calf bawled again, and the heart Robert had damned as too soft wouldn't let her linger. She opened the door and emerged, her sandals turning whiter with dust with every step.
"What's the matter, sweetheart?" she crooned.
The calf's head reared up; it took a jerky step backward but couldn't move far, bawling louder.
A cow nearby stirred restlessly. Maddie gave her a glance, then looked back at the ugly stretch of barbed wire tangled around the calf's foot.
Maddie eyed the weeds with suspicion. Snakes. Texas had snakes. She'd never been here, but everyone knew that. Maybe she'd just go to the house for help.
The calf cried out again, and Maddie saw blood well in the new gash. The baby couldn't wait. "Hold on, sweetie. Just let me find something to—" She spotted a big rock and chucked it at the weeds, listening for a rustling sound.
The calf jumped back, bawling louder. The cow bellowed.
Smooth, Maddie.
She eyed the ground between her and them. "Hello? Anyone here?" She looked around, wishing someone would notice and come to help, but there wasn't a soul in sight and the calf was flailing around, ripping the gash deeper.
The section of weeds was sparse and only about two feet in depth. Surely she'd be okay.
Maddie took a deep breath and waded into her first taste of Texas.
* * *
Sitting in the kitchen of the place that had once been home, Boone Gallagher expected to hear his father's booming voice, unable to imagine anything bringing Sam Gallagher down. Sam had fought land and weather and lack of money to wrangle a living from this harsh country. Boone still couldn't believe that his father was gone.
Or that it was forever too late to heal the breach.
A cup of coffee he didn't need steamed on the scarred maple tabletop. He'd done his homework here all those years ago, listening to his mother hum church hymns while she worked, back in those golden days when this house had still been a home. So many years gone. So much loss. Exhausted by more than a day of travel from Asia to Texas, memories knotted in his chest, Boone sagged in the creaking chair.
He shouldn't drink this coffee. He should fall into bed and sleep around the clock, but he had to talk to Vondell first, had to find out if Sam had ever softened, ever regretted what he'd done.
"You look like something the cat dragged in," Vondell drawled, in a voice sandpapered by years of cigarettes. Barely five feet and topped by frizzy red curls, Sam's housekeeper had always ruled this place with equal parts of tyranny and affection. They all knew better than to tangle with her, but even she hadn't been able to make Sam see what he was doing to all of them after Boone's mother died.
"Thanks a lot."
"Go to bed, Boone. It'll all be here when you wake up."
He scrubbed both hands over his face. "Did he know it was coming, Vondell? And he still wouldn't send for me?"
For a moment, her hand hovered as if to touch his hair. "Boone, I wish..."
Vondell seemed troubled, glancing away toward the window over the ancient porcelain sink. Suddenly she came to attention, her gaze caught by something outside. "Would you look at that?"
Whatever Vondell saw, Boone couldn't imagine anything on Sam's ranch that could be worth having to rise to look at right now.
Then it struck him with the force of a hammer blow that it wasn't Sam's ranch anymore. It was his ranch, his and Mitch's—that is, if he could ever find his brother and coax him back. Boone had found Mitch's whereabouts several years ago before leaving on the mission that had ended his military career. Mitch's trail had gone cold before Boone had gotten back on his feet. Then he'd met Helen and started down the road to disaster.
Too many years, too much misery. Boone had been fourteen, Mitch sixteen when their lives blew apart. Sam had roared out blame and hatred, lashed out in unreasoning, raging grief. It had been the beginning of the end the day he drove Mitch away.
"Boone, she's gonna get herself hurt."
"One of the cows or a mare?"
"Neither. A woman."
A woman?
Last he knew, Vondell was the only woman on this place. He rose and crossed to the window, the flash of reds and purples snagging his eye.
It was a woman, all right, one like he'd never seen around here. Her slip of a dress sparkled bright with gypsy flair. She was out in knee-high weeds in sandals, for Pete's sake, risking chiggers and ticks, never mind that a mama cow stamped restlessly only feet away from the woman reaching through the fence toward the cow's calf.
And right now that woman was headed straight for trouble.
"What the—" Boone turned to Vondell. "Who is she?"
"I don't know." Vondell shrugged and frowned. "I didn't hear anyone drive up."
Boone crossed the kitchen.
"Wait, maybe— Boone, there's something I should—"
"No time now. I'll be back in a minute." He was already heading out the screen door toward the small pasture by the barns.
Long strides brought him close enough to see a very shapely backside as the woman started climbing the pipe fence headed toward the calf, oblivious to her danger.
"Get away from that calf," he shouted.
But she didn't seem to hear him over the bawling.
Boone broke into a run as she neared the top. "Don't go near that calf!"
She jerked around at the sound of his voice, losing her balance and tumbling inside the pasture. Boone closed the distance and vaulted the fence. He landed beside her as she scrambled to her feet, scooping her up and using his body to shield her. Half-shoving, half-carrying, he got her over the fence and followed with only seconds to spare.
Roaring her outrage, the cow hit the fence. The metal clanged and shuddered.
The woman in his arms shivered, the color draining from her face. Slender fingers clutched his biceps.
Her head just reached his chin. Over the adrenaline roaring through his system, Boone registered soft, tempting curves that felt much too good. "Are you all right?"
Eyes wide, the woman looked over at the cow now sniffing at her calf. Then she glanced sideways at Boone and did the damnedest thing.
She smiled.
Here Boone was, still trying to get his heart to slow down, and the crazy woman...
smiled
. Her eyes sparkled, her generous lips curved as though she had no clue how close she'd come. "My first day in Texas and already an adventure."
He lost it.
"Damn it, lady—don't you have a lick of sense? You don't ever get between a cow and her calf unless you're itching to get hurt." His hands tight around her slender shoulders, Boone quelled the urge to shake her.
"I was only trying to help the baby." Her chin went up in the air, and her eyes sparked. "How was I supposed to know he belonged to one of them?"
Her voice was pure sex, low and throaty.
He bent to her, all but growling. "You don't climb into pens with animals you don't know. That cow weighs over a thousand pounds. She could crush you without even trying."
She didn't back up an inch. "I called for help, but no one answered. Only a total jerk would leave that poor thing to suffer." Her tone went frosty. "You'll have to excuse my inexperience. There aren't many cattle in Manhattan."
"You're from New York." An accusation, not a question.
"Most recently. I've lived all over."
A city girl. Just like his wife, who had hated every second spent in this place. At least his wife hadn't thrown herself into dangerous situations, though. Not here, anyway.
In the end, he'd still lost her, and the memory turned his voice sharp. This woman shouldn't be here. He wanted to know why she was.
"Who are you? What are you doing on my ranch?"
Gray eyes went wary, studying him for a long moment that made Boone's spine tingle with unease. Fringed with thick dark lashes, a striking black ring around the irises, her eyes softened.
"Are you Boone or Mitch?"
He stared at her. "I'm Boone," he replied, frowning. "How do you know my name?"