Harlequin Desire January 2021--Box Set 1 of 2 by Maisey Yates (inspirational books .TXT) 📗

kissed him. And now she was telling him that she thought she was his sister.

“You better explain yourself, and quick.”

“I just… I found out something about our parents. My mother and your father… They used to be… Did you ever wonder why your father hated mine so much? I mean, beyond the fact that James is a real piece of work, there had to be something else. And I knew there had to be. Well, my mother started talking about it more. And since she and my father got divorced… Well, she told us. She told us that she used to be with your father. She was in love with him, but he was poor, and she chose to marry James instead. Why am I so much younger than my sisters? It doesn’t make any sense. I don’t fit with them. I fit with you.”

“Cricket,” he said. “You are not my sister.”

“I pretty much have to be,” she said.

“You pretty much don’t,” he said. “There is no way, no way in hell, that you could possibly be my sister.”

“Why not? I think it makes plenty of sense. Seems to me that it’s reasonable enough.”

“There is nothing reasonable about any of this.”

“I have always…thought that I didn’t fit. And I think this is why.”

“So why did you psychotically decide to kiss me?”

“To prove it would be gross!”

The way his blood was burning through his veins made a mockery of that statement. He just stared at her.

“Hey,” she groused. “You almost kissed me earlier. Why do you think I ran away? It’s wrong, Jackson. And I was just trying to make it right and now I messed it all up!”

“Get in the truck.”

“What?” she squeaked.

“Get in the truck. There’s one person who can settle this.”

“I mean,” she said, using that same arch, certain tone she’d used many times she’d been certain, but wrong, in the time he’d known her, “there are DNA tests that can settle it. Many men in labs could settle it…”

“We’re talking to my father.”

“Oh…”

“I’m going to have him tell you, once and for all, you couldn’t be his daughter.”

“I…”

“Did you talk to your mother?” he asked.

“I… No. I didn’t ask her directly. But you have to understand that she… It took her so long to tell me any of the specifics about her life. About her relationship with your dad. We’re not really all that close. And I just didn’t… Talking to her won’t mean a lot to me. I won’t believe that it’s true.”

“I’m sure that if you told her you were considering jumping my bones, she might give you the straight answer.”

“Don’t say that. Anyway, I never said I wanted to do that. I just kissed you.”

“You’re not in high school, Cricket, when does it end with just a kiss?”

“Well.” She didn’t know what to say to that, and it was clear. And he was being mean, but he…

Hell. His father had cheated on his mother…

Would it really surprise you?

He didn’t think Cricket was his sister. End of story. He knew too much about women and chemistry to think it, even for a moment.

His certainty in his libido was sound.

His certainty in his father? Less so. And even though he knew Cricket had the wrong end of the stick here, he was worried that one piece of it might be true.

He had enough of a hard time with his old man without having to believe he’d been unfaithful to his mother.

“Get in the truck,” he said. “I’m not repeating myself again.”

They marched out to the truck, and he jerked the passenger side door open for her.

“Thank you,” she said softly.

“No problem.”

He started the truck and pulled out of the driveway much faster than necessary. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you tell me right away when you had a suspicion?”

“Because. Because I knew that… It doesn’t bother me to think about my mom cheating on my dad. I wouldn’t blame her. I think she loved your dad, and she made a terrible mistake. And I can see how… When someone gets under your skin, Jackson, it’s not that easy to get rid of them. I can understand that.”

“Can you?”

“Yes,” she said, filled with fury. “I can. I don’t judge my mom. Except… Except on behalf of yours. Because I know how much you love your mom. And she was a lovely woman from what I remember. And she’s gone, and I just didn’t want to… I wanted to get to know you better first. I wanted to figure out the whole situation.”

“Why didn’t you just ask Creed?”

“I’m not even that close with Wren and Emerson. I’d like to be closer. But… That’s the thing. We’re not a normal family, and we never have been. They’re close with each other because they’re close in age. Because they had more in common in their upbringing. I’m different. I always have been. So I’m not just magically close with Creed because he married my sister. I’m not even magically close to my sister.”

“What? You thought you’d become magically close to me?”

She made a sputtering sound. “I’ve always… I… I don’t know. Forget it.”

He thought back to how she’d trailed after him. Like a damn puppy when she’d been young. Had she thought he was her brother even then? No, she’d said that it only occurred to her recently. And all his thoughts, all his intentions toward buying her ranch, everything…just kind of faded away.

Because handling this was what mattered.

Settling it was what mattered.

He pulled up to the winery and saw that there was still a light on in the tasting room. He was sure that his dad was still in there.

“Come on.”

“Okay,” she said, clearly filled with trepidation.

He gripped her arm, and propelled her forward.

“Can you not touch me?” she said, jerking her arm out of his hold. She was as disgusted by the whole thing as he was.

Except.

Except, the problem was his body wasn’t all that disgusted.

His blood was on fire from that kiss. And while there