Wild Girl (Wild Men Texas #3) - Melissa Belle Page 0,48

me from continuing. “You may be able to lie to Gigi and her entire crew of relatives. But you can’t lie to me. Your mother’s noticed, too. Now stop shutting down and tell me what in the hell is going on with you.”

What’s going on with me is that Macey’s face has been in my head ever since I walked away from her at Brick’s. I’ve barely slept, and when I have, I’ve dreamed about her. The reality of being married to a woman who isn’t her—even if it’s not real—is shattering me.

I look at my father’s gruff but familiar face, and I finally crack.

When I’m done telling him the truth, Dad takes a long breath.

“This is some heavy burden you’ve been carrying around,” he says.

I shrug. “It’s no big deal. I just wanted to help Macey. That’s all.”

“That’s noble,” he says. “And it’s courageous. Ingenious. Very cowboy. But also like a cowboy, it’s stupid.”

I jerk my head up and glare at him. “I can’t believe I told you, of all people, the truth. You’ve always been such an ass to me.”

“About that,” Daddy says.

We end up talking about stuff I never thought he’d bring up. The drinking, the hitting, the way he criticized me for painting—attacked me really—all of it.

We walk in circles around the hotel and the Florida palm trees as he tries to explain he only wanted the ranch for me because the family business is all he has to give to his kids. I tell him that he can’t shove it down my throat like that because then it’s not a gift; it’s a prison sentence. He nods like he gets it.

“If I can’t give you the ranch,” he says, “let me help you with this pickle you’re in. Your heart’s so invested that you can’t think straight. However, I think between the two of us cowboys, we can come up with a darned good solution.”

Another hour later, we have a plan. Breathing freely for the first time in weeks, I tell him I’ll run it by Gigi after she returns from her hen party, and then I return to my room.

While I wait, I check my email.

What’s sitting in my inbox nearly sends me on a flight back to Darcy right then.

Macey Henwood’s first novel.

Fully finished.

And what’s inside it tells me more than I was expecting.

It’s not just a straight or even a flush.

It’s the full fucking house.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Macey

My phone rings at four-thirty a.m.

“Hey.” I feel more than hear Logan’s slow drawl come through the receiver.

“What’s wrong?” I say automatically.

“Nothin’,” he says. “I just wanted to talk is all.”

I struggle to wake up and clear my head.

“I’m in the lobby of the nicest freaking hotel any of us have ever laid eyes on,” he says to me.

“Oh, yeah?”

“My dad’s shitting himself,” he says.

I smile. “Better than the ranch life?”

“Just…different. He needed a change of pace after thirty years and no vacation.”

“How’s your mom liking it?”

“She went on the upside-down coaster three times,” he says. “We dragged her on the first time, and she swore she’d get us back once we got home. All’s you could hear the whole ride was her screaming her head off.”

I laugh.

“As soon’s the ride ended,” he continues. “She got right back in line to do it again.”

“You’re joking.”

“No,” he says. “And then a third time. She took my dad with her every time. He went to bed right after.”

“Nauseous?”

“And a headache. But she’s convinced him to do a flume ride tomorrow. They’re getting their money’s worth off of that day pass the hotel concierge talked them into.”

“I’m glad your dad was able to go,” I say. “I ran into Reid.”

“He said,” Logan says, and I can tell he’s about to say something.

“Don’t say anything. You don’t owe me any explanation.” I laugh. “I went to the airport, though, to try to catch you.”

“You did?”

Does he sound happy? Or just polite?

“Yeah,” I say. “The desk attendant quickly steered me away from any hope of getting on that plane even to say goodbye. He must have known what he was doing.”

Logan breathes in, and my breath catches in my throat at the same time.

“It rained red today here, Lo,” I say.

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope. Red rains. First time in three years.” My tears are coming hard, but I charge ahead and try my best to run over them. “I got wet.”

“That sounds…” he starts to say.

“That sounds…” I prompt him after a moment. “It sounds what?”

Silence.

“Are you there?”

No answer.

“Logan?” I say almost desperately. “Are