The Secret Truth at Dare Ranch Read Online Free Page A

remembering
the most joyful and frightening moment of her life.
    "Vivian
stayed with me the whole time. She even helped me with the baby after the birth.”
Lexie chuckled as the memories of caring for a newborn came flooding back. "We
knew next to nothing about babies, but boy did we learn fast."
    He
leaned forward his hands resting on his thighs. "So everybody knew about
Dani but me." Scorn seethed in his voice.
    Compassion
for him at her deception nudged against her heart. She needed to finish this,
to tell him everything. "My father came to see me at Vivian’s house. He said
tongues were wagging about him abandoning his daughter and he wanted me to come
home. Since he'd been on the city council and even served one term as mayor, he
was worried about his precious reputation."
    I
don’t care what you want, girl. You and that brat are coming home with me. Now.
    Mitch
rose from his chair, placed his palms on the table and leaned close to Lexie. She
pressed against her back into the chair. She’d never seen him so furious.
    "How
could you hurt me like this? And my father was in on it too?” His voice rang
with pain.
    How
could she hurt him ? She was tired of shouldering the guilt about keeping
Dani a secret. Lexie straightened her shoulders and leaned forward until they
were eye to eye. "You didn't come back to Chimney Rock for seven years,
not even to visit your father. He always visited you. You didn't call or
even write me a letter. For all I knew you were never coming back. When
during that time of not receiving even one token communication from you was I
supposed to tell you about Dani?"
    He
turned his back and started toward the door. "I’ve got to get out of here
before I say something I’ll regret."
    # # #
    Mitch
stood at the edge of the yard, inside the back gate and watched his father,
Judson, tamp rich, black earth around a clutch of golden mums. Overhead, dark
clouds bunched and thunder rumbled.
    He
was a father. He had a little girl. Shock whirled through him along with deep
layers of unanswered questions. All of them beginning with why.
    Fragrant
smoke drifted from a pipe Judson had clamped in his teeth. His chestnut hair
was a bit grayer, but his build was the same, solid and muscular with maybe
just a little extra padding around the middle. Aggie, his chocolate brown
Labrador, lay at his feet. Mitch listened to her muffled snore as rain began to
fall.
    "Pop."
    Aggie
woke, jumped to her feet and barked, while her tail wagged in a lazy circle. Judson's
head whipped around. He snatched the pipe from between his teeth and started to
smile but the expression faded. In a slow movement, he stood up. Mitch watched
his father's gaze, a brilliant, piercing blue, move over him, reading his mood.
Love unfolded in his heart despite knowing his father had betrayed him.
    "You've
been to see Lexie." He stepped forward and gripped Mitch’s upper arms. The
scents of tobacco, aftershave and a light whiff of sweat surrounded him.
    Mitch
wanted to slap a hand down on his father's shoulder and feel the soft, red
flannel of his shirt. For a moment, he remembered them back on their land,
working side by side, tending a colicky horse, and laughing with Parker over
some stupid joke. His heart burned at the memory.
    "Let's
go sit on the porch,” Justin said.
    Mitch
settled onto the oak glider on the large, screened porch, sucked down a gulp of
iced tea he didn’t want and eyed his father.
    He
set his glass on a small table, leaned forward and rested his elbows on his
legs. "Why didn't you tell me Lexie had a daughter?"
    A
frown swept his father's face. He raised his feet and rested them on the
ottoman in front of his chair. "She asked me not to.”
    "That’s
not good enough.” Mitch didn’t try to temper the bitterness in his voice. His
father hurt him. Lexie hurt him and damn it they both deserved a boat load of
attitude.
    Judson
toyed with a picture of Mitch's mother on the table beside his chair and stared
at her face.