Harlequin Desire January 2019 Box Set, 2 of 2 by Maureen Child

Author:Maureen Child
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

Emily took the letter, her warm fingers brushing his, and began to read while he waited.

“Oh, my word.” She looked up and her eyes were wide. “You and Thane were half brothers,” she said, sounding as stunned as he felt.

“And I never knew it until I read that letter.”

“Oh, my heavens. Ben Warner is your father. No one knows this?”

“No one knows except my mom, Thane’s dad, a doctor somewhere, and now you and I know.”

“Wow. You’re not a Ralston.”

Jake smiled as he nodded. “That’s right and suddenly people who have hated me will like me.”

“That makes the feud even sillier.”

“Maybe so, but we won’t be the shining example now of how a Ralston and a Kincaid can get along,” he replied.

“We can be if we don’t tell anyone about your discovery. No one has to know. Thane is gone. It won’t change your life. You don’t want to hurt Ben Warner. You don’t want to hurt your mother or Mrs. Warner. None of them will know if you keep it a secret—at least for a while longer. Mr. Warner has lived with it all these years. So has your mother. You might think twice before you reveal it to anyone else.”

“I agree. I guess that’s why Mr. Warner was always so interested in me and how I was getting along. I wish Thane had known, but we were like brothers, anyway. Maybe that’s why the man I thought was my dad wasn’t interested in me. I just thought he was cold.”

“What about your birth certificate?”

“It says Dwight was my dad, but my guess is that a big sum of money exchanged hands to get that birth certificate and the doctor signed off on it.”

Jake tilted his head to look intently at her. “I don’t want to hurt Mom and I don’t want to hurt the Warners. I think I should destroy the letter and keep it a secret.”

While she sat thinking about it, he did, too.

“I think you should keep the secret,” she said finally. “It should be up to your mom if she ever wants to tell. Besides, you may do more good about ending the feud if you don’t tell.”

“True… I’m not going to tell anyone, except you, for a while. Once it’s said, it can’t be taken back.”

“That’s true and it could hurt Thane’s mother.”

“I never want to do that. I might just shred the letter.”

“Well, you might want to think about that one. The letter is the only proof you have.”

“We can always have a DNA test. I’ll put the letter in the safe and keep it for now.” He shook his head as a thought came to him. “I’m glad I never wanted to date Camilla Warner.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t, except she’s—as you would say—not your type.”

He shrugged. “She was always around and she seemed young. There just were no sparks at all and I never thought about taking her out,” he said. The moment he mentioned sparks, he thought about the sparks flying each time he was near Emily.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.