Texas Heroes_ Volume 1(55)

His problem was trapped inside his skin.

A sister. Half-sister. His mother’s child, with a man he’d grown up believing a murderer.

Maddie, why the hell couldn’t you leave it alone?

But he knew why—she had no family. She hadn’t enjoyed the benefit of knowing where she belonged as he had. Right or wrong, despite all the harm Sam had done after Boone’s mother had died, Boone had grown up with a sense of place, had known his roots. He’d grown up with a grandfather who had taken him fishing and let him smoke his first—and only—cigarette. He’d known a sense of community. Maddie had been moved around all her life.

But thinking about his mother having a child with another man didn’t go down easy. She had often said how much she wished for a girl, but Boone and Mitch had taken it as teasing. All those years, had she longed for a daughter she’d had to give up?

A sister. Boone had been thinking of her as a baby, yet he realized with a shock that she would be older than either him or Mitch. Would she have his mother’s blonde hair? His own blue eyes or the gray eyes that Maddie said she’d inherited from her father?

Would she want to be found? It would break Maddie’s heart if she didn’t, if she turned away. No matter how the news had rocked Boone’s memories of his mother, how much a part of him wished he’d never forced Maddie to answer, another part of him wanted to step in and protect her from this woman’s potential to hurt her.

She would be devastated if this sister denied the connection. Boone pictured the look on Maddie’s face when she’d told him that she had to know.

While part of him wanted all of this to go away, another part of him realized he had cause to rejoice.

If this sister were real, he and Maddie would have a connection for as long as they lived. Not that she might welcome it, after how he’d taken her news.

Nor did he want to think about a lifetime of crossing paths with Maddie and some other man. Or having to hear about Maddie bearing some other man’s children.

But there wasn’t another man yet. At that moment, Boone let himself feel the full impact of Maddie’s insistence that there was nothing between her and Marlowe, and his spirits soared. She hadn’t been having an affair behind his back. For a few seconds, he let himself feel a fierce spurt of hope.

Then he remembered how rough he’d been tonight. Maddie forgave easily, but where did her tolerance end?

And how could he claim it, yet again?

He had to try. Rising from his makeshift bed, he pulled on his boots, then realized that it was well after midnight. Not a good time to go begging, hat in hand.

Even if Maddie forgave easily again—not that he’d earned it—she deserved her rest.

There would be no sleep for him, however. Dancer snorted restlessly in her stall. Might as well go check on her, since he couldn’t sleep, anyway.



At two in the morning, Maddie gave up on sleep and headed for the kitchen to get a glass of water. Through the window she saw a light on in the barn. Maybe Boone couldn’t sleep, either. Little wonder.

She’d handled it wrong. She’d known all along that the news of this sister would be rough for Boone to swallow. What she hadn’t realized was that the stories Vondell and Jim had withheld revolved around Boone’s unfaithful wife.

Maddie had known that the woman named Helen had hated it here, but never once had anyone told her that she’d cheated on Boone. No wonder he’d been upset about the whispered phone calls, the times when she’d made an excuse and driven into town.

She’d really botched it, the whole business. Boone was right—she was making decisions for him as though he couldn’t make his own. With good intentions, sure, but Maddie kept hearing his voice in her head.

Why are you doing this? You’re leaving.

What right did she have, really, to dig up old secrets when they impacted him as much as her? He was right. She had no place here, but everything she did left a mark on him, too.

I have to know. And she did. If there was a chance in the world that she had a sister out there somewhere, Maddie would scour the ends of the earth looking for her.

That didn’t mean, however, that she could continue to forge ahead without talking to Boone. She owed him an apology. Maybe now was as good a time as any. If that light in the barn didn’t mean he was awake, she’d turn right around and come back.

But maybe, just maybe, she could settle things down and let each of them get some sleep.

So Maddie ran upstairs and threw on jeans and a shirt, not even bothering with underwear or socks. Then she ran to the barn, grateful for the moonlight that paved her way.

When she walked inside, she heard his voice, talking soft and low. She headed in that direction, stopping only long enough to pat Fancy’s head. Fancy nickered to her, and Boone stepped out in the aisle at the noise.