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

had been a momentary dampening caused by the shock of what she’d said, it had not created in him an instant disgust.

They needed to get this settled.

He needed her to be as sure as he was that there wasn’t any truth to her suspicions at all.

Fact was, he was sure he had more experience than Cricket when it came to sex. So maybe she was naive enough to think they could be related, but he was not confused about connections, chemistry and attraction.

And he knew what was happening here.

None of it was familial.

He opened the door to the tasting room and walked in. Cash Cooper was standing at the back of the room, examining the stock.

“Dad,” he said. “We need to talk.”

His father turned, shock registering on his face when he saw Cricket standing there. “What can I do for you?”

“Oh…” Cricket started to fidget. “I just had a question to ask.”

“What’s that, young lady?”

“Well, I kind of need to know if I’m… If I’m your daughter.”

* * *

It had happened. It had happened.

She was standing there in front of Cash Cooper, and she was asking him if she was his daughter. Except now… She hoped that it wasn’t true.

Because Jackson was in her blood. And she…she wanted him. And she had been so sure she could overcome that. That she could put all these feelings in their proper place, but she hadn’t managed to do it. She didn’t know if she ever could. She just didn’t know. She had tried. She had tried, and it had ended with her kissing him on the floor of her kitchen.

Everything was a disaster. It was an absolute and total disaster. But then it had been from moment one, hadn’t it? Because there were only two scenarios here.

One, she was hopelessly and utterly attracted to Jackson Cooper who was unobtainable in every way, who would never want her, and who would never keep her even if he enjoyed kissing her, and she was just out of place in her family because she was.

Or the second one, which was that she was unforgivably, irrevocably attracted to her half brother.

No, she couldn’t win.

“What made you think that, young lady?” Cash asked.

And he was so kind, it made her heart ache. It made her chest feel like it was being cracked in two, because James certainly wouldn’t have been this nice. She wanted Cash to be her father, but she did not want Jackson to be her brother, and she didn’t think that there was…

There was just nothing.

“My mother told me. She told me she was in love with you. She told me that she married James Maxfield and it was the wrong choice. And I’ve just never felt like I belonged. I’ve never felt like I fit. When she said that it all made a lot of sense. That… That maybe I’m not a Maxfield, and that’s why I don’t fit. That maybe I was supposed to be here the whole time. Because I want to be a rancher. I don’t want to spend my life in a stuffy winery. Because I want different things and I look different and I act different and I… I just thought maybe that was why.”

“Cricket,” Cash said, and his voice was so kind and gentle she thought she might break apart. “I’m not your father.”

She wanted to cry. In despair, with relief.

Jackson wasn’t her brother.

He wasn’t her brother. So that was… There was that.

Beside her, she heard him let out a huge sigh of relief. And that brought a skeptical look from Cash, but he didn’t say anything. Then he looked back at Cricket. “I did love your mother.” Then he turned to Jackson. “I… That was the problem, Jackson,” he said. “I loved Lucinda. And I never quite got over it. You know… You know that your mother and I got married because she was pregnant with you. I acted rashly because I was heartbroken. She and I both paid for it for years. We tried. And we love you kids. With everything. I cared for her. I cared for her a whole hell of a lot. But you know what makes me the most sorry? That I could never be the husband she needed. That she died being with someone who always had feelings for someone else. That’s what kills me.”

Cricket felt guilty. Standing there listening to this.

It was clearly a private conversation, one that needed to happen without her presence. But here she was.

All because she had been…

Because she had been so desperate to fix this thing inside of her.

What was wrong with her? Something was wrong with her. And there always had been something wrong, and this was just further evidence of it.

A tear slid down her cheek and she felt horrified. Horrified to be displaying this kind of emotion in front of not just Jackson but Cash. This man who wasn’t her father, who should feel nothing for her at all.

“You look like your mother,” he said softly.

She hadn’t expected that. It was like an arrow to the heart.

“No, I don’t,” Cricket said. “My mom is elegant. And pretty. And her hair never…does this,” she said, gesturing to her curls.

“She used to be like you, Cricket. And she was my first love. Just like I was hers. But love wasn’t enough. Not for her. That’s fine.”

“It wasn’t fine though, was it? She was miserable. She was absolutely miserable being married to him. I hope you weren’t miserable.”

“I wasn’t miserable,” he said. “I think I might’ve made my wife miserable. But I wasn’t. Still, I have a lot of regrets.”

“My father doesn’t have any. His only regret is that he’s lost everything. He doesn’t care about anything or anyone else. When I say everything, I don’t mean us. James Maxfield never cared about a damn thing. And he’s…he’s my father.”

Sadness settled deep in her stomach. Because for just a little while she had hoped. She had really, genuinely hoped…

“Did you ever cheat on Mom?”