Starlit Secrets by Sherryl Woods

Author:Sherryl Woods
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin Enterprises ULC
Published: 2024-01-12T21:44:40+00:00

Thirteen

Maddie left Delacourt Oil and headed to the family’s estate, determined to have it out with Bryce Delacourt before he left town.

“Please don’t let Tyler be there,” she repeated over and over as she drove.

But as she was parking her car along the edge of the curving driveway, she saw Tyler leave the house, shoulders hunched dejectedly, his expression bleak. His father, hers, the revenge she’d plotted for years, now all of it flew out of her head as she fought the need to go to him. She was forced to face the past versus the here-and-now.

She knew exactly what he must be feeling, because she had been there. Tyler, a man she cared for deeply, was hurting, and it was because she had deliberately stirred up a hornet’s nest in his family. He had to be devastated by the discovery that his father had been having an affair. Once she linked that to the conspiracy to frame her father for embezzlement, his anguish would be even worse. She had set out to prove that his father had feet of clay and, in so doing, she had caused nothing but pain for an innocent man.

Just as Bryce Delacourt’s insensitive actions had caused pain for her and her family, she reminded herself, but she couldn’t take any comfort in that. Not any longer. The old adage about two wrongs never making a right had never seemed more true.

She stepped from her car, and the movement was enough to catch Tyler’s attention. He stared at her as if he’d never seen her before or, worse, as if she didn’t matter at all. That hard, flat look rocked her as nothing else could have. It was hard to believe that only a few days ago she had lain in his arms, and he had looked at her as if she were the most precious thing in his life.

“Tyler...”

He waved her off. “Not now, Maddie. I can’t deal with you now.”

“I need to explain.”

He shook his head. “There is nothing you could say right now that I want to hear. Nothing.”

He turned his back on her, climbed into his car, gunned the engine and sped down the driveway at a rate of speed that sent gravel spewing in every direction.

She leaned against her car and watched him go. “Dear God, what have I done?”

She glanced at the house and knew with sudden and absolute clarity that she couldn’t go inside, couldn’t even knock on the door and demand to see Bryce Delacourt, much less accuse him of destroying her father with his lies. She had spent years looking forward to this moment, and now that it was here, she found no satisfaction in it. In fact, she felt sick at heart.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, even though there was no one to hear, even though the man it was meant for was who-knew-where, suffering all alone.

She doubted that Tyler would ever want to see her again. As powerful as their passion was, she doubted it was strong enough to weather what he had to consider a betrayal.

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