Lone Stallion's Lady by Lisa Jackson Read Free Book Online Page B

Larry had proven to be wayward and ornery, selfish and lazy. Even worse, he’d never been able to keep his hands off women, even as a teenager. But that had been a long time ago.
    “This isn’t easy, you see. Burying a child, no matter how difficult he was, is painful.” Garrett frowned and stared into the dark depths of his coffee. “When Larry died, it about killed me,” he admitted, acknowledgingthat black hole in his heart. “It hadn’t been long after Laura had passed away and I was just thankful that she wasn’t alive.” His lips folded over his teeth and he tamped down the pain that was always with him when he thought of his wife and firstborn. “Anyway, I went through all of Larry’s things after he died and I found a safe-deposit box key for a local bank. Larry had asked me to sign on the box years ago and I’d forgotten about it. When I opened it, I discovered a letter from Larry to me or Collin—”
    “Who is his legitimate son?” Trent guessed.
    “Right. Anyway, there was a smaller box inside the one in the bank and the most important document in that was a letter that explained about the other kids Larry had fathered.” He lifted one hand. “There were names, dates, and some addresses, pictures and canceled checks, notes, baby photos, birth certificates…even copies of old report cards. He must’ve kept everything he ever laid his hands on, and I guess he kept it in the safe-deposit box so when he died someone in the family would know about you and your brothers.”
    “Thoughtful of him,” Trent said sarcastically.
    “It was something. Not much, I’ll grant you that,” Garrett admitted, wishing there was some way he could defend his son. “But at least I found out about you.”
    “No one else knew about us?”
    “Just the mothers, near as I can figure, and they all kept their mouths shut.”
    “Why?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Some of them were paid,” Gina said.
    “You’re trying to tell me they bribed him or they were given hush money? Is that it?”
    Gina lifted a shoulder.
    “Who knows,” Garrett said. “I didn’t figure I should bother them. It’s between them and their boys.”
    Trent let out a snort of disdain. “This family exceeds the limits of dysfunctional.” He tossed the rest of his coffee onto the parched grass.
    “Then I guess it’s time we fixed that.”
    “Or maybe it’s too late.”
    “Well, I guess we won’t know until we try, now, will we?” Garrett asked as Trent cast Gina one last look and strode inside.
    Gina attempted to act disinterested but Garrett had been around enough men and women in his life to recognize when two people were interested in each other. In Trent and Gina’s case, they were way beyond interested.
    Gina had admitted to meeting Trent in Dallas.
    Garrett wondered what had happened. But he didn’t ask. He figured he might just be better off not knowing.

Four
    S o much for the quiet of the country lulling her to sleep. Gina tossed off the covers in her tiny bed and padded barefoot across the room to grab her robe—a short cotton thing that worked better as a beach cover-up but was lightweight and easy to pack. Without making a sound, she walked downstairs and out the back door. The moon rode high in an inky sky littered with millions of stars—more stars than she’d ever seen.
    Wrapping her arms around her, she hurried along a well-worn path to the stables and there, leaning over the fence railing, she watched the dark shapes of the horses shifting in the night. The air was warm, a light breeze dancing across the fresh-mown hay and playing in the overhead branches of a pine tree.
    Peaceful. Serene. Panoramic. So different from the bustle of L.A., a city that was filled with the hum of traffic, beep of keyless locks and scream of sirens at all hours of the night. Here, the chirp of crickets, croak of frogs and occasional nicker from the horses were the only obstructions to a pure, almost ethereal silence.
    And Trent