Montana Creeds: Logan by Linda Lael Miller Read Free Book Online Page A

you,” he said.
    Briana barely knew Dylan Creed, but she had every reason to be grateful to him since he’d given her a place to stay when she needed it most, along with a generous supply of groceries and an old pickup to drive, and the faintly critical note in Logan’s voice put her on the defensive. “I guess the subject never came up,” she said stiffly.
    “With Dylan,” Logan countered dryly, “the most important subjects often
don’t
come up.”
    “I’ll watch out for Cimarron
and
the bears,” Briana said.
    There was more Logan wanted to say—she could sense that—but he must have quelled the urge. “Good,” he said, after several seconds had ticked by. Nothing more, just
Good.
    A man of few words, then.
    Call-waiting clicked in. Since Briana didn’t have caller ID, and since her better angels whispered that Logan
had
warned her and she had no cause to be hostile, she ignored the beeps. “Maybe you’d like to join us for supper tomorrow night,” she said, to make up for her bad manners.
    A flush climbed her neck while she waited for Logan’s reply.
    “Can I bring anything?” he asked presently.
    “No need,” she said, strangely jubilant at his tacit acceptance. It was only supper, a simple neighbor-toneighbor courtesy. Mustn’t make a big fat deal of it. “Sidekick’s welcome, too, of course. Six-thirty? I get home from work at about five-fifteen, and I’ll need time to shower and cook and everything.”
    More information than he needed, Briana reflected, blushing even harder. What was the
matter
with her?
    “Six-thirty,” he agreed, with a smile in his voice. It was almost as if he
knew
she was red from her throat to the roots of her hair.
    They said goodbye and hung up, and the instant the connection was broken, the phone rang again.
    “Hello?” Briana said. Had Logan changed his mind about supper already? Remembered a previous commitment?
    “Hey,” Vance said. “I just tried to call and—”
    Briana let out a long breath. “I was on the other line.”
    “Did you get my message?”
    “Yes. You’re thinking of dropping in for a visit.” She lowered her voice, since the boys’ room was nearby and she wouldn’t put it past either or both of her sons to be glued to the other side of the door with their ears on broadband. “Alec is going to be
seriously
disappointed if you don’t show up.”
    “How about you, hon?” Vance drawled, playing up the cowboy routine that had sucked her into his orbit the first time. “Would
you
be disappointed if I didn’t show up?”
    Briana’s blood pressure surged. She waited for it to peak and go into a decline before she answered. “Not in the least,” she said. “We’re divorced, Vance. D-I-V-O-R-C-E-D.”
    Atypically, he backed off. He was playing it cool, which meant he wanted something.
    “What’s up, Vance?” she asked, as calmly as she could. If she came on too strong, he’d simply hang up on her, but she wasn’t going to roll over, either. “You didn’t make it to Stillwater Springs when Josh had his tonsils out last fall. You were a no-show at Christmas, Thanksgiving and both the boys’ birthdays. What’s so important that you’re willing to swing this far off the circuit to sleep on my couch?”
    Vance’s answer was underlaid with one big, silent sigh of long-suffering patience. He was
so
misunderstood. “I just want to talk to you face-to-face, that’s all. And see the boys.”
    And see the boys.
    Always the afterthought.
    “About what?” Briana demanded, still struggling to keep her voice down. “So help me, Vance, if it’s about wriggling out of paying your child support again—”
    “It isn’t,” he interrupted, sounding put-upon. “Why does everything always come down to money with you, Bree?”
    “If everything ‘came down to money’ with me, Vance Grant, you’d be in jail right now. Josh and Alec are your
sons.
Don’t you feel any responsibility toward them at all?”
    “I love them,” Vance