Vendetta (Mills & Boon Love Inspired) (Snow Canyon Ranch, Book 2) by Roxanne Rustand

Author:Roxanne Rustand [Rustand, Roxanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Suspense, Thrillers
ISBN: 9781408966884
Google: bYenKvlp4A4C
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2012-08-22T15:38:02.990000+00:00

* * *

The move to the Brownley place had seemed perfectly logical to Leigh. To Claire, it approximated an act of treason.

“How could you even think of moving there?”

she snapped the moment Leigh walked in the door at Snow Canyon Lodge. She propped her hands on her bony hips, stalked to the windows overlooking the mountains, then folded her arms across her chest and whirled around. “And don’t think I didn’t hear about it, young lady. If not for that man, Gray never would have sold out. Not like he did, sneaky and underhanded, without a word to me. And ask yourself—if that deal was fair, where’s all the money?”

Leigh opened her mouth, then shut it, unable to fire back a logical response.

It was true. Gray had always talked about leaving the ranch to Leigh and her sisters, and probably Claire as well. If he’d needed the money, why hadn’t he at least offered to sell it to them? He hadn’t told anyone, even though he and Leigh had talked on the phone at least once a month the year before he’d died. Then again, given their lifelong bickering and the undercurrent of competition between Gray and Claire, maybe he’d considered this the moment to have the final word.

But the money—that was another issue.

Cole was a handsome, charming man with un-

Roxanne Rustand 147

deniable charisma. Even as a teenager, he’d drawn the attention of all the girls in town with his dark, brooding good looks. Now, he was successful. Ac-complished. And a loving father. Had she fallen under his spell, only to forget the true circumstances of his presence in Wolf Creek?

Claire’s eyes narrowed. “See? Something was really wrong about that deal. And you running off to set up house on that man’s property is wrong, too.”

“It’s only temporary, and it was the best option I could find in a hurry. And I’m not staying in his house, if that’s what you think.” Leigh fingered the keys in her pocket. “So, are you set to go? You have an appointment at four o’clock.”

It was Claire’s turn to fall silent.

“With your doctor.” Leigh started for the door, hoping her mother would follow, but she stubbornly held her ground. “We’ll be late, Claire.”

“I…think I’ll just stay here.”

“Janna told me this appointment has been set up for months. The doctor only comes to Wolf Creek once a week, and it’s been a long time since you’ve been seen.” She turned back and gently looped her arm around Claire’s elbow. “Please?”

“Why do you care? Why do any of you care? Just let me be.”

“Because we l—” Leigh stumbled over the word, one that was so foreign in her relationships with her mother and sisters. The emotion was buried so

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deep, beneath layers of hurt and anger, that the word lodged in her throat.

“Because we love you,” she said firmly. “Because we care about you, and want you to stay healthy and strong and happy.”

Claire’s eyes blazed with sudden anger as she looked around the bedroom that she had made her own prison because she so rarely agreed to leave it.

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