Régine had accused Maddie of falling in love with a cowboy, had teased Maddie about succumbing to a pair of tight jeans.
How could she explain Boone’s haunted eyes, his nobility, the way he made her feel inside? Régine made him into a cliché, and Maddie had had to bite her tongue to avoid offending the woman who dangled a tantalizing future before her.
She wasn’t in love with Boone. She couldn’t afford to be. It was the road to heartache.
The phone rang and Maddie dove for it, grateful for the interruption.
“Hello?”
“Maddie, I’m in Morning Star,” Dev said. “Is Boone still gone?”
“Yes, but Jim doesn’t know if he’ll get home today or not.”
“Can you meet me in town, then?”
“Why? Have you found something?”
“I need to see you, Maddie. Meet me in the park, under the trees past the basketball court.”
“Dev, what have you found?”
“Not on the phone. How soon can you be here?”
“Give me thirty—no, twenty minutes.”
“See you then.”
Maddie hung up the phone, heart racing, and ran up the stairs to get ready.
Boone was headed north toward Morning Star, almost to the turnoff for the ranch, when he saw Maddie’s car tear onto the highway without even stopping at the intersection.
Something was wrong. She was driving like a bat out of hell. Was someone hurt? Where was she going?
He was dog tired after long days of examining stock and trying to plan out a future. After long nights when he imagined what Maddie and Marlowe were doing at the ranch while he was gone.
A part of him protested that Maddie was not like Helen, that even Helen had never flaunted her affair. Another part of him dug in claws, reminding him that he had no claim on Maddie, that she and Marlowe were two of a kind. That he had no right to care what she did or didn’t do in his absence.
He could have hit one more auction, but he’d done well at the ones he’d attended, buying stock to build a future, one whose emptiness he didn’t want to consider.
Boone wasn’t sure what was harder, being with Maddie or being without her. He missed her smile, her easy laughter. He missed the bright sparkle. He even missed her sass, damn it.
Seventeen days left before he’d have to miss her forever.
But memories reminded Boone of the furtive glances between her and Marlowe, the calls she’d hung up abruptly before he’d left. The unexplained absences, not that Maddie owed him any accounting for her whereabouts.
He had been an easy man to deceive once before. He knew that his desire for Maddie would make him an easy mark, once again.
Part of him said that Maddie was a big girl, that whatever reason she had for speeding north into town this afternoon was her own business. He was pulling a full trailer of stock behind his truck. He should turn off to the ranch.
But that wasn’t the part to which Boone was listening. Maybe she was in trouble. He had to find out. He pressed down on the accelerator, knowing there wasn’t a chance in hell that he could catch her, but if he was lucky, maybe he could keep her in sight. If not, Morning Star was plenty small. He would find her.
Maddie parked the car and barely remembered to remove the keys in her excitement. She saw Dev under the trees and raced across the grass.
“You didn’t have to break the land speed record,” he teased.
“Tell me,” she panted. “Have you found the baby? Is it real?”
Dev’s face grew solemn. “Maddie…” His voice went soft.
“Don’t coddle me, Dev. Tell me what you know.”
“All right.” Dev grasped her shoulders, his eyes twinkling. “There was a baby. Jenny left Morning Star and gave birth in Mineral Wells. She gave the baby up in a private adoption.”
“A boy or girl?”
“A girl.”
A sister. She had a sister. Overcome, Maddie threw her arms around Dev’s neck and cried out for joy. “I have a sister, Dev. I always wanted a sister. You have no idea how much.”
Dev held her awkwardly, patting her back.
Then his silence sank in. Maddie pulled back. “Where is she?”
His shoulders sagged slightly. “Maddie…” His voice held a note of warning that sent a chill to her heart.
“She’s dead.” Maddie put one hand to her mouth.
Dev shook his head and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “No, we don’t know that. She survived birth, at least. But I don’t want you to get your hopes up. It’s not going to be easy to find her.”
Maddie frowned. “Why not?”
“Her birth was never recorded where she was born. The adoption wasn’t done through the system. There was an old doctor in Mineral Wells who specialized in this type of cases. He delivered babies and placed them with parents who, for various reasons, did not want to go through normal channels.”