“Harsh language, baby girl. I’m only looking out for you.”
If only that were true, she thought.
“Are you?” she asked. “Then you won’t mind telling me what T.J. has that you want so badly?”
Her father’s easy smile faded and his expression tightened. “Be careful, Skye. There are consequences for screwing with me.”
His cold voice combined with the threatening words drained all the strength and will from her. She could barely remain standing. Even after he returned to his study, she felt weak and afraid.
Without wanting to, she remembered being ten years old. It had been a good day, a happy day. The sun was bright. That’s what she recalled. The play of sunlight on the bathroom tiles.
Every day when she got home from school, she raced upstairs to her mother’s rooms. Only her. Izzy stayed in the kitchen with the housekeeper, but Skye flew into Pru’s room.
“I’m home, Mom,” she called. “Did you miss me?”
Pru would be on the bed or in the chair in the corner. She would always look up and smile and say she’d missed Skye more than anything. Even on the dark days when the smiles didn’t seem right, she said the words as if she meant them. As if she loved Skye more than anything.
But on that last day, Pru hadn’t been in her usual places. And deep inside, Skye had known something was scary wrong.
She’d walked into the bathroom. The first thing she saw was light on the tiles. Then she saw the letter… addressed to her. She’d picked it up and read.
He doesn’t love me, Skye. Jed doesn’t love me. No matter what I do or how I try, he doesn’t love me at all.
That was it. Those few words. Skye had read them again and again, not understanding but getting more scared by the minute.
It was only then she noticed the sweet sickly smell of blood in the room. Terrified but unable not to look, she approached the bathtub.
Pru lay inside, fully dressed and covered with blood. She’d slit both her wrists. Her face was so peaceful-that had been Skye’s last thought before she’d started to scream.
CHAPTER SIX
AFTER GETTING Erin on the bus for school, Skye walked back to the house for a last cup of coffee before leaving for work. When she returned to the kitchen, she found Izzy standing there, holding the paper. As the two of them weren’t exactly speaking, Skye wasn’t sure how to act.
Izzy solved the problem by putting the newspaper on the table and pointing to the headline-Titan Cattle Tainted With Mad Cow.
Skye felt her knees give way and grabbed the counter to keep from falling.
“Oh, no,” she breathed. “This is bad.”
“There’s an understatement,” Izzy said with a sigh. “You know what this means.”
Skye nodded. No Texas cattle ranch could survive even a whisper of the feared disease. Prices would plummet. Thousands of pounds of beef would be returned. Cattle would be tested and retested and in the end, even if there wasn’t a problem, people would remember the charge.
“Jed isn’t stupid,” Skye said, scanning the article. “His ranch manager knows high standards are required. Jed eats that beef, as do his guests. He would never risk himself or them. Just as important, he wouldn’t treat his cattle that badly.”
“They eat vegetarian diets.” Izzy walked over and poured herself a cup of coffee. “They have for years.”
“This is Garth,” Skye said, frustrated that he was still a problem. “How are we going to stop him?”
“I don’t know, but Lexi’s coming over. She called while you and Erin were waiting for the bus.”
Five minutes later Lexi arrived looking angry and frustrated.
“Our jerk of a half brother is taking this too far,” Lexi said as she tossed her purse on the counter and walked to the coffeepot. Halfway there, she paused, swore and detoured to the refrigerator where she pulled out a jug of juice.
Despite everything, Skye smiled. “Still missing the caffeine, huh?”
“Every day.” Lexi sat at the table with her juice.
“I called Jed on the way over,” she said. “Or at least I tried. He was busy and couldn’t be disturbed. He can’t be happy.”
“He’ll handle it,” Izzy said confidently. “That’s what Jed does.”
“What I want to know is how the story got out there,” Skye said, remembering the false leaks about her foundation. “Somehow Garth is able to convince the press he has the real story and they don’t bother to check with us. How can he do that?”
“Money,” Lexi said. “Influence. We’ll figure it out.”
They talked more about the “Garth problem” then Lexi picked up Skye’s mug of coffee and inhaled the aroma.
“Nice party for Erin,” she said.
Skye eyed her sister. “She had a good time.”
“Mitch was there.”
If Skye and Izzy had been getting along better she would have tried to get her sister to help distract Lexi. But under the circumstances, she was on her own.
“Yes, he was. He and Erin have met. She adores him and asked him to come, so he did.” She took back her coffee and gulped it. “Nothing more.”
“Uh-huh.” Lexi looked at Izzy and raised her eyebrows. “There was plenty of smoldering going on.”
Skye wanted to be anywhere but here. “In your imagination.”
“I think it was more than that, but you were only hanging with the other guy. What’s his name?”
“T. J. Boone,” Izzy told her. “He’s Jed’s latest pick for Skye. They’re going to get married soon.”
Skye clutched her mug. “That is neither true nor fair. Yes, Jed wants me to consider him, but I’ll be making my own decisions.”
“The way you did with Ray?”
Skye stiffened.
Lexi stared at Izzy. “Okay, what’s going on with you two? Izzy, that was just plain mean.”
“She won’t listen to me,” Izzy grumbled, looking uncomfortable but not apologizing.
“Right,” Skye snapped. “Make this my fault. God forbid you should take responsibility for anything.”
“I’m taking responsibility for this and you won’t listen.” Izzy flipped her long, dark curly hair over her shoulder. “I told her T. J. Boone is just messing with both of us. The first night he was here, he came on to me. I tried to warn Skye, but she’s not interested in that.”
Skye stood. “You didn’t try to warn me. You told me he couldn’t possibly be interested in me, that he was just doing what Jed told him and the only one who got him hot was you. That the only way I would get a guy was if Jed bought me one.”
“I never said that.”
“You implied it. You also implied I’m too feeble to figure out a guy’s intentions on my own.”
Izzy sprang to her feet. “You’re taking it all wrong. I’m trying to protect you. T.J. asked me out. There’s something going on. I can tell. I just want to help.”
“By telling me he’s going to totally fall for you because what man could look at the two of us and want me?”
Izzy hesitated just long enough to make Skye want to slap her.
Lexi got to her feet and rubbed her forehead. “You two both need therapy. Skye, do you really care enough about this guy to fight with Izzy about him?”
“Of course not. But it’s not about T.J.” She looked at Izzy. “I’m really hurt that you think I’m such a spaz that I can’t get a date on my own. And yes, you’re fun and beautiful, but somewhere on the planet there has to be at
