Home on the Ranch: New Mexico Secrets by Barbara White Daille

Author:Barbara White Daille
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-08-16T20:20:03+00:00

To my husband, Harrell, for all those times he’s taken me to the mall when he’d rather have been on his horse. I love you.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Epilogue

Chapter 1

Rebecca Hardaway swayed slightly on her fragile high heels and for one horrifying moment she feared she was going to topple forward and straight across the silver-and-white casket suspended over the open grave.

Dear God, give me strength, she prayed as she struggled to brace her trembling legs and stop the whirling in her head. She had to be strong. If not for herself, then out of an odd respect for the person who was about to be lowered into the earth.

Up until five days ago, Rebecca hadn’t even suspected she had an aunt much less known Gertrude O’Dell existed. If Gertrude herself hadn’t left strict instructions with a lawyer to notify Rebecca of her demise, she doubted she’d ever have known.

When the law offices of Barnes, Bentley and Barnes had called Bordeaux’s, the department store in Houston where Rebecca worked as a fashion buyer, she’d thought a coworker had been pulling a joke on her. Her mother didn’t have a twin sister in New Mexico! Surely there’d been some sort of mix-up.

But shockingly, there had been no mix-up and now questions continued to tear at Rebecca. How could such a secret have been kept for so long? Why had her mother, Gwyn, done such a thing? Her father had died eighteen years ago. Had he known about Gertrude? Or had Gwyn kept her twin sister a secret from everyone?

You don’t understand, Rebecca. Gertrude and I were never close. Even though we were sisters, we were very different people. She had her own life and I had mine. We chose to go our separate ways.

Her mother’s lame response to Rebecca’s grilling hadn’t answered anything. In fact, Gwyn was still evading her daughter’s questions. And each day that passed without answers filled Rebecca with more and more resentment and puzzlement. She’d thought herself alone in the world except for her mother and now she realized she’d been cheated out of the chance of knowing her aunt!

And now it was too late. Too late.

At the head of the casket, a minister finished reading the 23rd Psalm, then added a short, comforting prayer. As Rebecca whispered “Amen,” she felt a strong hand cup her right elbow.

Lifting her head, she looked straight into a pair of gold-brown eyes framed by thick black lashes. The face was partially shaded by the brim of a gray cowboy hat, but she recognized the man as one of the eight people who’d seen fit to attend her aunt’s simple graveside services.

“I thought you might need a little support,” he said softly. “The day is hot and grief has a way of draining a person.”

Grief. Oh, yes, she was feeling all kinds of grief. She’d lost more than an aunt. She’d lost the whole foundation of her family. And her mother was still evading the truth.

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