A Child for Cade

“Joy doesn’t have to worry,” Chance said. “She knows how I feel about her. I was thinking about you. All you and Travis have been doing these past years is working hard and making lots of money. Aren’t you a millionaire yet?”

Cade glanced away. “A million doesn’t seem to be enough these days, bro,” he said. After all, Abby had come from money and chosen to marry into an affluent family, instead of marrying him.

“Took me a lot of years to learn that the right woman doesn’t care,” Chance said. “Not if she loves you.”

“That’s the key, Chance, but it never hurts to have the advantage of wealth.”

“I noticed you had your eyes on a certain woman.”

Cade looked at his boots. “Aren’t I a little old for you to be checking up on me?”

“Just habit, I guess. It’s hard not to watch over your younger brothers.” Chance grinned and pushed his hat back, allowing his hair to fall across his forehead. “Can you believe how much Travis has changed?”

Cade shook his head. “Seems like he was just a skinny college student not that long ago. Now he has his own business.” Travis and Chance looked more like brothers, Cade thought, the same sandy hair and light eyes like their mother. Cade had had the misfortune to inherit his daddy’s dark looks.

“Travis seems to be here, but not here,” Chance said, sobering. “There’s something bothering him.”

Cade smiled. “Yeah, probably trying to figure out how to spend all his money.”

Chance shook his head. “I think it’s more. He hasn’t said more than two words since coming home. And that cell phone of his is attached to his ear. Tomorrow I’m going to get it and bury the thing. That way he’ll be guaranteed a vacation.”

Both brothers laughed.

“Abby looked good tonight,” Chance said.

Cade knew his brother was fishing. Chance was the only one who knew about his past relationship with Abby Moreau. “History. It’s best left there. Besides, I’ll be gone in a few days.”

“You have to go back that soon, huh?”

“I have clients who depend on me.” That wasn’t completely true. As a financial adviser, he could handle just about anything by phone or e-mail, but he didn’t belong here anymore.

“You know, she divorced that jerk.”

Cade didn’t have to ask who Chance was talking about. “I’m not interested. She told me once that she didn’t want me.”

“Everyone makes mistakes, Cade. I think Abby’s daddy was more interested in hooking his daughter up with Garson than she was.”

“She had a choice.”

“Well, whatever, she’s had to pay a heavy price. I hear Joel was pretty free with his fists.”

Cade’s head jerked up. “You mean he hit her?”

“I’m not positive, but I heard stories, and I saw Abby one time with bruises on her face. She told me she fell.”

Anger seethed through Cade. How could a man strike a woman? He thought back to earlier, how Abby had trembled when he touched her. Now he understood her son’s reaction. Cade closed his eyes, trying to block out the pain. The pain he’d felt every day since she left him. But what kind of pain had Abby suffered?

“Tell Hank I’m going for a ride,” he said. “I need to clear my head.”

Chance patted him on the back. “Just remember I’m here if you need me.”

Cade saddled up Gus, a big bay gelding. Chance had told him the horse would get him back to the barn if they got lost. Once on the open range, with the bright moonlight to guide the way, Cade gave Gus free rein and let him fly.

Twenty minutes later Cade reined in the animal at the edge of a rise, then wandered to a grove of trees by the creek. He climbed off and led Gus to the water’s edge for a well-deserved drink. Cade sat down and looked out over the valley. Mustang Valley.

A place he and his brothers had come to a lot. Hank had told them stories about the wild horses who took refuge here because of the water and grazing land. Mostly because Hank didn’t chase them off as a nuisance. Some people had labeled the Randell boys the same way. Like their cattle-rustling father who’d been sent off to prison, they were no good. Branded with the stigma of those circumstances and with their mother deceased, they had no one willing to take them in—until Hank Barrett.

It had taken Cade some time, but he’d finally realized how good Hank was to them. How he made the Randell brothers think they were worth something. That if you worked hard, people would see it. Cade had worked hard in school, then college. But he’d wanted to leave San Angelo, where the Randell name held too many bad memories. But he hadn’t planned to go alone.

Abigail Moreau, the daughter of one of the richest men in the area, loved him. Cade’s gaze went to the oak tree and the memory of their last day together came flooding back…

It had been a June afternoon, perfect for a ride to the valley. Cade had spread a blanket on the ground for them to sit on. He was nervous as he dug into his pocket, trying to find the small diamond he’d worked for months to buy. It wasn’t a large stone, but it was all he could afford for now.

He looked at Abby and couldn’t believe she loved him. She was so beautiful with her long red hair, tied back with a blue ribbon. He held up the ring, and her eyes grew bright with excitement.

“I love you, Abby. I want us to get married so you can go with me to Chicago. I know I don’t have much now, just my college degree, but with my new job, I’ll be able to take care of you. I know it’s not what you’re used to, but someday…”

“Oh, Cade.” Abby blinked back the tears. “I love you, not what you have. Oh, yes, I’ll be your wife.”

Cade slipped the ring on, and she threw herself into his arms. He kissed her, then kissed her again, and soon they were lying on the blanket. He raised his head, trying to catch his breath. “I guess we better slow down.”

Her gaze searched his face. “I don’t want to stop, Cade. I want you to make love to me.”

His heart jumped into his throat. “But, Abby, you said you wanted to wait…”

“I’m going to be your wife, Cade. I want to show you how much I love you…”

Cade shook his head to erase the memory. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t erase Abby’s lie. She hadn’t loved him. The next day his ring came back with a note, saying they were too young for marriage.

Cade got up and walked along the creek and thought back to the naive kid he’d been when he hadn’t believed Abby’s note and had gone to her house. It hadn’t been until she told him to his face that he finally believed her. The clincher came a month later, when she married Joel Garson.

Cade picked up a flat rock and tossed it into the water. The last seven-plus years he’d worked day and night, driven because he hadn’t been good enough for Abby Moreau. And now he had a successful career. Guess he could thank her for that. He was wealthy enough to buy and sell people like the Moreaus and Garsons. But none of that mattered, because what he really wanted he couldn’t have. Abby. And it was too late, because he could never forgive her.

When Abby got home from the party, it was after eleven. By the time she got Brandon to bed, she was exhausted. But in the lonely silence of her old bedroom, sleep eluded her.

Abby went downstairs. Since her father’s death, only she and Brandon lived in the big ranch house. It was almost eerie, with so many empty rooms. She stepped into her father’s study, Tom Moreau’s private domain, and flicked on the lights, then walked past the cinnamon-colored leather sofa and matching chair. The large mahogany desk sat facing French doors that opened onto a large flagstone patio adorned with white wrought-iron furniture. An olympic-size pool and an ornate fountain took up most of the yard, and multi-colored flowers and a boxwood hedge surrounded the property. Nothing had been too good for Tom Moreau. He had loved the lifestyle. Too bad he hadn’t been able to pay for it.

Abby glanced over her shoulder at the pile of unpaid bills on the desk. In the past months she’d been trying to think of a way to pay off the debts. But with her limited financial knowledge, she hadn’t come up with a single idea. She needed a professional, which she couldn’t afford. But she also couldn’t afford not to hire one. It was either that or she’d have to sell the ranch, her last resort. The Moreau ranch was Brandon’s legacy. Since the divorce, Abby knew this was all her son would have. And she’d do almost anything to keep her boy from losing it. She’d already used most of her divorce settlement paying the inheritance tax, then some more on the enormous debt, but it had hardly made a dent.

Joel wasn’t about to help her, either. Besides, she didn’t plan on taking anything else from her ex-husband. As it was, Joel practically made her beg for her monthly check. She guessed that it took the place of working her over with his fists.

Abby shivered and moved away from the window, hugging herself. Closing her eyes, she’d tried to erase the ugly memory of her marriage. A marriage her father had coerced her into.

Instead, she thought back to the day she’d gone to Mustang Valley, the day Cade had asked her to marry him. She’d accepted quickly, unable to believe they were finally going to be together. They wouldn’t have to hide any longer.

But Tom Moreau hated the Randells, ever since Cade’s daddy had rustled his cattle. Abby knew he would fight her on the marriage, but never realized how far he’d go until that day.

Abby had arrived in the study with her new engagement ring. Her father was sitting behind his desk as usual. She was nearly twenty-two, and the man still frightened her. Well, she wasn’t going to let her father control her life any longer. She wanted a life with Cade, and she was going to have it.