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

he said. “You mentioned something about that.” He wasn’t sure he wanted to know. Because already he felt some kind of strange obligation to her. Deeper than his obligation to any other woman he’d ever had a physical relationship with. And he wasn’t sure he wanted to dig in any deeper, but sitting there under that brilliant blue sky, eating her homemade bread and ham sandwich, he didn’t know if there was any other option but to dig in. He didn’t know how not to be involved with her, and it was absurd. It had started with a bet, an assumption on her part that they might be related, a nefarious plan on his part to talk her into selling him her ranch…

But maybe that was it. The whole thing was so bizarre—how could they come away from it with neutral feelings about each other? Maybe it was impossible. Maybe the only option in a situation like this was to develop some kind of attachment. Maybe it was the only way.

“I’m pretty sneaky,” Cricket said. “I mean, I’m used to hiding what I feel from people. And you were no exception. I mean, the way that I felt about you. I would just tell my sisters that I thought cowboys were annoying. And that I didn’t want anything to do with any of them. It was a pretty convincing ruse, if I say so myself. Plus, I knew you were way off limits. A thousand years older than me.”

“Hey. Not a thousand.”

“Well, it seemed like it at the time. The gap feels a lot smaller now.” She smiled. “Oh, I didn’t like any of the boys at school. None of them. But how could I, when I already liked a man? And a Cooper at that. I knew nobody would understand. But nobody understood me, so that didn’t really bother me. And so I just…kept it a secret. And then I was so mad when Wren hooked up with your brother, because I felt for so long that being attracted to you was this great, impossible thing, another sort of deeply rooted difference in who I was. In my genetic makeup versus the rest of my family. And then she got to Creed before I could get to you. Honestly. It was an insult. But still, when she told me that I would maybe find my own cowboy… I played it off. I told her no. That I didn’t want anything to do with a man like Creed, and I didn’t. I just wanted you. So it feels right, you know? To start this new phase of my life with you… Though I’m not asking you for anything. I promise.”

“Well, happy to help.”

Except it made him feel… He didn’t even know. It kind of made him angry, because she was the younger one. She was the one without experience, and she made him feel like he had no idea what he was doing. It didn’t seem right. That was all.

He should be the one who knew what he was doing. He should be the one who had total confidence in everything taking place between them. But he couldn’t say that he did. He couldn’t give a reason. Couldn’t give a speech about what he was doing here. He had written it off as being male and basic and taking the sex that was on offer, but he knew that wasn’t true. It wasn’t how he did things. It wasn’t how he looked at women. And he had been telling himself a story, all this time. Cricket’s story made a lot more sense, and had a purpose behind it. And he just… He just wanted to touch her. It was a hell of a thing.

“You know, the way you were talking to your dad that day… Tell me about your mom. I mean, tell me about all that. Because you know about my dad, and you know all about my mom…”

“They were obligated to be together. And it was primarily because of me,” he said. Because he might as well tell her. She was right. He’d had a front row seat to all of her issues. He’d talked to Creed about it, sure. But Cricket? She could hear it all. Because she didn’t have a connection to the family, so why not? It was a safer place. This moment out here in the meadow.

“One day when I was sixteen, she was crying. Then I asked her what was wrong. We were the two that got up early. And we used to spend mornings together. I loved that. So I would have all this extra time with her. And one morning, I asked her what was wrong. And it was like everything I ever thought about my life broke to pieces. My father married her because she was pregnant. My father was in love with another woman. He’d told my mother that. Before they got married. He was honest, if nothing else. And she thought that he’d fall in love with her. But instead, it had just become years of the two of them stuck. Because they had a family. Because they had a business. Because they had all these things that were obligated to come before having feelings. Before love.

“And you know, I’m not over-bothered by my dad anymore. I think that was enough for him. He couldn’t have your mom, so he made himself a life he enjoyed. But I’m not sure my mother ever got to fall in love with anyone. Not for real. Not and have them love her back. She was just stuck. With a partner, sure. And when she was sick… I can’t fault my dad for how he was. He was a partner. He cared for her. And he stayed with her. And you know, plenty of marriages that are founded on love, they don’t end up that way. Somebody gets sick and they go through a years-long battle, and the other person leaps. It’s