The Billionaire Cowboy's Christmas Surprise [Wives for the Western Billionaires 10] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic) by Paige Cameron

Author:Paige Cameron
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance
Published: 2013-11-26T05:00:00+00:00

* * * *

As Mrs. Brodie expected, Clay arrived at her house not too long after they’d gotten home. “Did you finish your meal?” she asked.

“Yes. Gloria stayed in town. She had her car. Where’s Suzette?”

“Quit calling her Suzette. No one else does. I think you do it to keep distance between you. At first, I thought, as we all did, that it was special for the two of you. But it isn’t. She’s Susie, a perfectly good name.”

He sat in one of the living room chairs and leaned his head back. “You like her.”

“I do, very much.”

“Why?”

“Why not?”

“I’m not going to marry her.”

“I agree. You certainly aren’t acting like a man in love. But tell me why is marriage so repugnant to you. Your father and I had a good marriage and your siblings glow with happiness. Don’t you want the same?”

“I’m a loner. I like my personal space. During my earlier engagement, when Priscilla started wanting to stay over, I realized marrying wasn’t for me. I couldn’t visualize spending all my time with her or any woman for that matter.”

“I can understand with Priscilla. She was snobbish and cold.”

“You never told me you didn’t like her.”

“She was your choice. I tried to see what you saw in her. I must admit I was happy when you broke off the engagement. But why have you refused to consider any other woman as a wife?”

Clay stared at his mother standing in front of him. “Mom, I look the most like Dad.”

“Yes, you do.”

“Dad died at fifty. I’m thirty-seven. I don’t intend to leave a wife with a houseful of children alone. It’s better this way. I enjoy being an uncle, and I like my own company.

“I’m as much a loner as Graham, only in a different way. I can stand dealing with people in business, but I need a respite after too much of it.”

His mother knelt in front of him and took hold of his hands. “You are not going to die at fifty.”

“How do you know? We didn’t expect Dad to die. He seemed healthy as a horse.”

“Get up.” She pulled on his arm. “I need some fresh air.” They put on their jackets, and his mother led him out and down the walkway to the gazebo. Once there, they sat at the picnic table and faced each other.

“I never told you or the others how angry I was at your dad after he died. I hid it from you. But I boiled inside. I’d begged him to go to the doctor on and off for a month.” She stared out over the small lake by the gazebo. “I’d caught him rubbing his chest several times. He kept saying it was nothing. He told me he’d pulled a chest muscle.

“Like the rest of us, he thought he was invincible. Just that morning, he agreed to let me call and make an appointment with the doctor. He was feeling better, or so I thought. He and Grace were going on a short ride.

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